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Sample records for non-native phonetic contrasts

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

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    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

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

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    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.

  3. 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.

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

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    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.

  5. Semantic and phonetic enhancements for speech-in-noise recognition by native and non-native listeners.

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    Bradlow, Ann R; Alexander, Jennifer A

    2007-04-01

    Previous research has shown that speech recognition differences between native and proficient non-native listeners emerge under suboptimal conditions. Current evidence has suggested that the key deficit that underlies this disproportionate effect of unfavorable listening conditions for non-native listeners is their less effective use of compensatory information at higher levels of processing to recover from information loss at the phoneme identification level. The present study investigated whether this non-native disadvantage could be overcome if enhancements at various levels of processing were presented in combination. Native and non-native listeners were presented with English sentences in which the final word varied in predictability and which were produced in either plain or clear speech. Results showed that, relative to the low-predictability-plain-speech baseline condition, non-native listener final word recognition improved only when both semantic and acoustic enhancements were available (high-predictability-clear-speech). In contrast, the native listeners benefited from each source of enhancement separately and in combination. These results suggests that native and non-native listeners apply similar strategies for speech-in-noise perception: The crucial difference is in the signal clarity required for contextual information to be effective, rather than in an inability of non-native listeners to take advantage of this contextual information per se.

  6. 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.

  7. Dissociating Cortical Activity during Processing of Native and Non-Native Audiovisual Speech from Early to Late Infancy

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    Eswen Fava

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Initially, infants are capable of discriminating phonetic contrasts across the world’s languages. Starting between seven and ten months of age, they gradually lose this ability through a process of perceptual narrowing. Although traditionally investigated with isolated speech sounds, such narrowing occurs in a variety of perceptual domains (e.g., faces, visual speech. Thus far, tracking the developmental trajectory of this tuning process has been focused primarily on auditory speech alone, and generally using isolated sounds. But infants learn from speech produced by people talking to them, meaning they learn from a complex audiovisual signal. Here, we use near-infrared spectroscopy to measure blood concentration changes in the bilateral temporal cortices of infants in three different age groups: 3-to-6 months, 7-to-10 months, and 11-to-14-months. Critically, all three groups of infants were tested with continuous audiovisual speech in both their native and another, unfamiliar language. We found that at each age range, infants showed different patterns of cortical activity in response to the native and non-native stimuli. Infants in the youngest group showed bilateral cortical activity that was greater overall in response to non-native relative to native speech; the oldest group showed left lateralized activity in response to native relative to non-native speech. These results highlight perceptual tuning as a dynamic process that happens across modalities and at different levels of stimulus complexity.

  8. English Phonetics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    potential applications helping to provide solutions to problems encountered in the real world. An area of prime importance was the teaching of pronunciation to language learners, and in particular the acquisition of English pronunciation by non-natives. Apart from works devoted to second...... Melville Bell, Isaac Pitman, Alexander J. Ellis, and Henry Sweet—the emphasis was on what is now known as articulatory phonetics. (See further Phonetics of English in the Nineteenth Century (Routledge, 2006), compiled by the editors of the current collection.) These pioneers regarded their task......-language acquisition, and in particular to the teaching of English as an acquired language, this emphasis also led to the production of important English pronunciation dictionaries, including the Afzelius dictionary reproduced as Volume I of this collection. Other areas covered in the following volumes include key...

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

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    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.

  10. 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.

  11. Non-Native Japanese Listeners' Perception of Vowel Length Contrasts in Japanese and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

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    Tsukada, Kimiko

    2012-01-01

    This study aimed to compare the perception of short vs. long vowel contrasts in Japanese and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) by four groups of listeners differing in their linguistic backgrounds: native Arabic (NA), native Japanese (NJ), non-native Japanese (NNJ) and Australian English (OZ) speakers. The NNJ and OZ groups shared the first language…

  12. Native fruit traits may mediate dispersal competition between native and non-native plants

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    Clare Aslan

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Seed disperser preferences may mediate the impact of invasive, non-native plant species on their new ecological communities. Significant seed disperser preference for invasives over native species could facilitate the spread of the invasives while impeding native plant dispersal. Such competition for dispersers could negatively impact the fitness of some native plants. Here, we review published literature to identify circumstances under which preference for non-native fruits occurs. The importance of fruit attraction is underscored by several studies demonstrating that invasive, fleshy-fruited plant species are particularly attractive to regional frugivores. A small set of studies directly compare frugivore preference for native vs. invasive species, and we find that different designs and goals within such studies frequently yield contrasting results. When similar native and non-native plant species have been compared, frugivores have tended to show preference for the non-natives. This preference appears to stem from enhanced feeding efficiency or accessibility associated with the non-native fruits. On the other hand, studies examining preference within existing suites of co-occurring species, with no attempt to maximize fruit similarity, show mixed results, with frugivores in most cases acting opportunistically or preferring native species. A simple, exploratory meta-analysis finds significant preference for native species when these studies are examined as a group. We illustrate the contrasting findings typical of these two approaches with results from two small-scale aviary experiments we conducted to determine preference by frugivorous bird species in northern California. In these case studies, native birds preferred the native fruit species as long as it was dissimilar from non-native fruits, while non-native European starlings preferred non-native fruit. However, native birds showed slight, non-significant preference for non-native fruit

  13. Contrasting xylem vessel constraints on hydraulic conductivity between native and non-native woody understory species

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    Maria S Smith

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available We examined the hydraulic properties of 82 native and non-native woody species common to forests of Eastern North America, including several congeneric groups, representing a range of anatomical wood types. We observed smaller conduit diameters with greater frequency in non-native species, corresponding to lower calculated potential vulnerability to cavitation index. Non-native species exhibited higher vessel-grouping in metaxylem compared with native species, however, solitary vessels were more prevalent in secondary xylem. Higher frequency of solitary vessels in secondary xylem was related to a lower potential vulnerability index. We found no relationship between anatomical characteristics of xylem, origin of species and hydraulic conductivity, indicating that non-native species did not exhibit advantageous hydraulic efficiency over native species. Our results confer anatomical advantages for non-native species under the potential for cavitation due to freezing, perhaps permitting extended growing seasons.

  14. Sign Lowering and Phonetic Reduction in American Sign Language.

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    Tyrone, Martha E; Mauk, Claude E

    2010-04-01

    This study examines sign lowering as a form of phonetic reduction in American Sign Language. Phonetic reduction occurs in the course of normal language production, when instead of producing a carefully articulated form of a word, the language user produces a less clearly articulated form. When signs are produced in context by native signers, they often differ from the citation forms of signs. In some cases, phonetic reduction is manifested as a sign being produced at a lower location than in the citation form. Sign lowering has been documented previously, but this is the first study to examine it in phonetic detail. The data presented here are tokens of the sign WONDER, as produced by six native signers, in two phonetic contexts and at three signing rates, which were captured by optoelectronic motion capture. The results indicate that sign lowering occurred for all signers, according to the factors we manipulated. Sign production was affected by several phonetic factors that also influence speech production, namely, production rate, phonetic context, and position within an utterance. In addition, we have discovered interesting variations in sign production, which could underlie distinctions in signing style, analogous to accent or voice quality in speech.

  15. 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.

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

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    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.

  17. Contrasting Pollinators and Pollination in Native and Non-Native Regions of Highbush Blueberry Production.

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    Gibbs, Jason; Elle, Elizabeth; Bobiwash, Kyle; Haapalainen, Tiia; Isaacs, Rufus

    2016-01-01

    Highbush blueberry yields are dependent on pollination by bees, and introduction of managed honey bees is the primary strategy used for pollination of this crop. Complementary pollination services are also provided by wild bees, yet highbush blueberry is increasingly grown in regions outside its native range where wild bee communities may be less adapted to the crop and growers may still be testing appropriate honey bee stocking densities. To contrast crop pollination in native and non-native production regions, we sampled commercial 'Bluecrop' blueberry fields in British Columbia and Michigan with grower-selected honey bee stocking rates (0-39.5 hives per ha) to compare bee visitors to blueberry flowers, pollination and yield deficits, and how those vary with local- and landscape-scale factors. Observed and Chao-1 estimated species richness, as well as Shannon diversity of wild bees visiting blueberries were significantly higher in Michigan where the crop is within its native range. The regional bee communities were also significantly different, with Michigan farms having greater dissimilarity than British Columbia. Blueberry fields in British Columbia had fewer visits by honey bees than those in Michigan, irrespective of stocking rate, and they also had lower berry weights and a significant pollination deficit. In British Columbia, pollination service increased with abundance of wild bumble bees, whereas in Michigan the abundance of honey bees was the primary predictor of pollination. The proportion of semi-natural habitat at local and landscape scales was positively correlated with wild bee abundance in both regions. Wild bee abundance declined significantly with distance from natural borders in Michigan, but not in British Columbia where large-bodied bumble bees dominated the wild bee community. Our results highlight the varying dependence of crop production on different types of bees and reveal that strategies for pollination improvement in the same crop can

  18. Contrasting Pollinators and Pollination in Native and Non-Native Regions of Highbush Blueberry Production.

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    Jason Gibbs

    Full Text Available Highbush blueberry yields are dependent on pollination by bees, and introduction of managed honey bees is the primary strategy used for pollination of this crop. Complementary pollination services are also provided by wild bees, yet highbush blueberry is increasingly grown in regions outside its native range where wild bee communities may be less adapted to the crop and growers may still be testing appropriate honey bee stocking densities. To contrast crop pollination in native and non-native production regions, we sampled commercial 'Bluecrop' blueberry fields in British Columbia and Michigan with grower-selected honey bee stocking rates (0-39.5 hives per ha to compare bee visitors to blueberry flowers, pollination and yield deficits, and how those vary with local- and landscape-scale factors. Observed and Chao-1 estimated species richness, as well as Shannon diversity of wild bees visiting blueberries were significantly higher in Michigan where the crop is within its native range. The regional bee communities were also significantly different, with Michigan farms having greater dissimilarity than British Columbia. Blueberry fields in British Columbia had fewer visits by honey bees than those in Michigan, irrespective of stocking rate, and they also had lower berry weights and a significant pollination deficit. In British Columbia, pollination service increased with abundance of wild bumble bees, whereas in Michigan the abundance of honey bees was the primary predictor of pollination. The proportion of semi-natural habitat at local and landscape scales was positively correlated with wild bee abundance in both regions. Wild bee abundance declined significantly with distance from natural borders in Michigan, but not in British Columbia where large-bodied bumble bees dominated the wild bee community. Our results highlight the varying dependence of crop production on different types of bees and reveal that strategies for pollination improvement in

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

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    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.…

  20. 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.

  1. Invasive non-native species' provision of refugia for endangered native species.

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    Chiba, Satoshi

    2010-08-01

    The influence of non-native species on native ecosystems is not predicted easily when interspecific interactions are complex. Species removal can result in unexpected and undesired changes to other ecosystem components. I examined whether invasive non-native species may both harm and provide refugia for endangered native species. The invasive non-native plant Casuarina stricta has damaged the native flora and caused decline of the snail fauna on the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. On Anijima in 2006 and 2009, I examined endemic land snails in the genus Ogasawarana. I compared the density of live specimens and frequency of predation scars (from black rats [Rattus rattus]) on empty shells in native vegetation and Casuarina forests. The density of land snails was greater in native vegetation than in Casuarina forests in 2006. Nevertheless, radical declines in the density of land snails occurred in native vegetation since 2006 in association with increasing predation by black rats. In contrast, abundance of Ogasawarana did not decline in the Casuarina forest, where shells with predation scars from rats were rare. As a result, the density of snails was greater in the Casuarina forest than in native vegetation. Removal of Casuarina was associated with an increased proportion of shells with predation scars from rats and a decrease in the density of Ogasawarana. The thick and dense litter of Casuarina appears to provide refugia for native land snails by protecting them from predation by rats; thus, eradication of rats should precede eradication of Casuarina. Adaptive strategies, particularly those that consider the removal order of non-native species, are crucial to minimizing the unintended effects of eradication on native species. In addition, my results suggested that in some cases a given non-native species can be used to mitigate the impacts of other non-native species on native species.

  2. Cross-modal Association between Auditory and Visuospatial Information in Mandarin Tone Perception in Noise by Native and Non-native Perceivers

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    Beverly Hannah

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Speech perception involves multiple input modalities. Research has indicated that perceivers establish cross-modal associations between auditory and visuospatial events to aid perception. Such intermodal relations can be particularly beneficial for speech development and learning, where infants and non-native perceivers need additional resources to acquire and process new sounds. This study examines how facial articulatory cues and co-speech hand gestures mimicking pitch contours in space affect non-native Mandarin tone perception. Native English as well as Mandarin perceivers identified tones embedded in noise with either congruent or incongruent Auditory-Facial (AF and Auditory-FacialGestural (AFG inputs. Native Mandarin results showed the expected ceiling-level performance in the congruent AF and AFG conditions. In the incongruent conditions, while AF identification was primarily auditory-based, AFG identification was partially based on gestures, demonstrating the use of gestures as valid cues in tone identification. The English perceivers’ performance was poor in the congruent AF condition, but improved significantly in AFG. While the incongruent AF identification showed some reliance on facial information, incongruent AFG identification relied more on gestural than auditory-facial information. These results indicate positive effects of facial and especially gestural input on non-native tone perception, suggesting that cross-modal (visuospatial resources can be recruited to aid auditory perception when phonetic demands are high. The current findings may inform patterns of tone acquisition and development, suggesting how multi-modal speech enhancement principles may be applied to facilitate speech learning.

  3. Development of phonological constancy: 19-month-olds, but not 15-month-olds, identify words in a non-native regional accent.

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    Mulak, Karen E; Best, Catherine T; Tyler, Michael D; Kitamura, Christine; Irwin, Julia R

    2013-01-01

    By 12 months, children grasp that a phonetic change to a word can change its identity (phonological distinctiveness). However, they must also grasp that some phonetic changes do not (phonological constancy). To test development of phonological constancy, sixteen 15-month-olds and sixteen 19-month-olds completed an eye-tracking task that tracked their gaze to named versus unnamed images for familiar words spoken in their native (Australian) and an unfamiliar non-native (Jamaican) regional accent of English. Both groups looked longer at named than unnamed images for Australian pronunciations, but only 19-month-olds did so for Jamaican pronunciations, indicating that phonological constancy emerges by 19 months. Vocabulary size predicted 15-month-olds' identifications for the Jamaican pronunciations, suggesting vocabulary growth is a viable predictor for phonological constancy development. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  4. One Way or Another: Evidence for Perceptual Asymmetry in Pre-attentive Learning of Non-native Contrasts

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    Liquan Liu

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Research investigating listeners’ neural sensitivity to speech sounds has largely focused on segmental features. We examined Australian English listeners’ perception and learning of a supra-segmental feature, pitch direction in a non-native tonal contrast, using a passive oddball paradigm and electroencephalography. The stimuli were two contours generated from naturally produced high-level and high-falling tones in Mandarin Chinese, differing only in pitch direction (Liu and Kager, 2014. While both contours had similar pitch onsets, the pitch offset of the falling contour was lower than that of the level one. The contrast was presented in two orientations (standard and deviant reversed and tested in two blocks with the order of block presentation counterbalanced. Mismatch negativity (MMN responses showed that listeners discriminated the non-native tonal contrast only in the second block, reflecting indications of learning through exposure during the first block. In addition, listeners showed a later MMN peak for their second block of test relative to listeners who did the same block first, suggesting linguistic (as opposed to acoustic processing or a misapplication of perceptual strategies from the first to the second block. The results also showed a perceptual asymmetry for change in pitch direction: listeners who encountered a falling tone deviant in the first block had larger frontal MMN amplitudes than listeners who encountered a level tone deviant in the first block. The implications of our findings for second language speech and the developmental trajectory for tone perception are discussed.

  5. Epistemologies in the Text of Children's Books: Native- and non-Native-authored books

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    Dehghani, Morteza; Bang, Megan; Medin, Douglas; Marin, Ananda; Leddon, Erin; Waxman, Sandra

    2013-09-01

    An examination of artifacts provides insights into the goals, practices, and orientations of the persons and cultures who created them. Here, we analyze storybook texts, artifacts that are a part of many children's lives. We examine the stories in books targeted for 4-8-year-old children, contrasting the texts generated by Native American authors versus popular non-Native authors. We focus specifically on the implicit and explicit 'epistemological orientations' associated with relations between human beings and the rest of nature. Native authors were significantly more likely than non-Native authors to describe humans and the rest of nature as psychologically close and embedded in relationships. This pattern converges well with evidence from a behavioral task in which we probed Native (from urban inter-tribal and rural communities) and non-Native children's and adults' attention to ecological relations. We discuss the implications of these differences for environmental cognition and science learning.

  6. 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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. Community-level plant-soil feedbacks explain landscape distribution of native and non-native plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulmatiski, Andrew

    2018-02-01

    Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) have gained attention for their potential role in explaining plant growth and invasion. While promising, most PSF research has measured plant monoculture growth on different soils in short-term, greenhouse experiments. Here, five soil types were conditioned by growing one native species, three non-native species, or a mixed plant community in different plots in a common-garden experiment. After 4 years, plants were removed and one native and one non-native plant community were planted into replicate plots of each soil type. After three additional years, the percentage cover of each of the three target species in each community was measured. These data were used to parameterize a plant community growth model. Model predictions were compared to native and non-native abundance on the landscape. Native community cover was lowest on soil conditioned by the dominant non-native, Centaurea diffusa , and non-native community cover was lowest on soil cultivated by the dominant native, Pseudoroegneria spicata . Consistent with plant growth on the landscape, the plant growth model predicted that the positive PSFs observed in the common-garden experiment would result in two distinct communities on the landscape: a native plant community on native soils and a non-native plant community on non-native soils. In contrast, when PSF effects were removed, the model predicted that non-native plants would dominate all soils, which was not consistent with plant growth on the landscape. Results provide an example where PSF effects were large enough to change the rank-order abundance of native and non-native plant communities and to explain plant distributions on the landscape. The positive PSFs that contributed to this effect reflected the ability of the two dominant plant species to suppress each other's growth. Results suggest that plant dominance, at least in this system, reflects the ability of a species to suppress the growth of dominant competitors

  8. Non-Native & Native English Teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    İrfan Tosuncuoglu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In many countries the primary (mother tongue language is not English but there is a great demand for English language teachers all over the world. The demand in this field is try to be filled largely by non-native English speaking teachers who have learned English in the country or abroad, or from another non native English peaking teachers. In some countries, particularly those where English speaking is a a sign of status, the students prefer to learn English from a native English speaker. The perception is that a non-native English speaking teacher is a less authentic teacher than a native English speaker and their instruction is not satifactory in some ways. This paper will try to examine the literature to explore whether there is a difference in instructional effectiveness between NNESTs and native English teachers.

  9. Neighbour tolerance, not suppression, provides competitive advantage to non-native plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golivets, Marina; Wallin, Kimberly F

    2018-05-01

    High competitive ability has often been invoked as a key determinant of invasion success and ecological impacts of non-native plants. Yet our understanding of the strategies that non-natives use to gain competitive dominance remains limited. Particularly, it remains unknown whether the two non-mutually exclusive competitive strategies, neighbour suppression and neighbour tolerance, are equally important for the competitive advantage of non-native plants. Here, we analyse data from 192 peer-reviewed studies on pairwise plant competition within a Bayesian multilevel meta-analytic framework and show that non-native plants outperform their native counterparts due to high tolerance of competition, as opposed to strong suppressive ability. Competitive tolerance ability of non-native plants was driven by neighbour's origin and was expressed in response to a heterospecific native but not heterospecific non-native neighbour. In contrast to natives, non-native species were not more suppressed by hetero- vs. conspecific neighbours, which was partially due to higher intensity of intraspecific competition among non-natives. Heterogeneity in the data was primarily associated with methodological differences among studies and not with phylogenetic relatedness among species. Altogether, our synthesis demonstrates that non-native plants are competitively distinct from native plants and challenges the common notion that neighbour suppression is the primary strategy for plant invasion success. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  10. 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...

  11. Leaf gas exchange and water status responses of a native and non-native grass to precipitation across contrasting soil surfaces in the Sonoran Desert.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ignace, Danielle D; Huxman, Travis E; Weltzin, Jake F; Williams, David G

    2007-06-01

    Arid and semi-arid ecosystems of the southwestern US are undergoing changes in vegetation composition and are predicted to experience shifts in climate. To understand implications of these current and predicted changes, we conducted a precipitation manipulation experiment on the Santa Rita Experimental Range in southeastern Arizona. The objectives of our study were to determine how soil surface and seasonal timing of rainfall events mediate the dynamics of leaf-level photosynthesis and plant water status of a native and non-native grass species in response to precipitation pulse events. We followed a simulated precipitation event (pulse) that occurred prior to the onset of the North American monsoon (in June) and at the peak of the monsoon (in August) for 2002 and 2003. We measured responses of pre-dawn water potential, photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance of native (Heteropogon contortus) and non-native (Eragrostis lehmanniana) C(4) bunchgrasses on sandy and clay-rich soil surfaces. Soil surface did not always amplify differences in plant response to a pulse event. A June pulse event lead to an increase in plant water status and photosynthesis. Whereas the August pulse did not lead to an increase in plant water status and photosynthesis, due to favorable soil moisture conditions facilitating high plant performance during this period. E. lehmanniana did not demonstrate heightened photosynthetic performance over the native species in response to pulses across both soil surfaces. Overall accumulated leaf-level CO(2) response to a pulse event was dependent on antecedent soil moisture during the August pulse event, but not during the June pulse event. This work highlights the need to understand how desert species respond to pulse events across contrasting soil surfaces in water-limited systems that are predicted to experience changes in climate.

  12. Comparison of root-associated communities of native and non-native ectomycorrhizal hosts in an urban landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lothamer, K; Brown, S P; Mattox, J D; Jumpponen, A

    2014-05-01

    Non-native tree species are often used as ornamentals in urban landscapes. However, their root-associated fungal communities remain yet to be examined in detail. Here, we compared richness, diversity and community composition of ectomycorrhizosphere fungi in general and ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi in particular between a non-native Pinus nigra and a native Quercus macrocarpa across a growing season in urban parks using 454-pyrosequencing. Our data show that, while the ectomycorrhizosphere community richness and diversity did not differ between the two host, the EcM communities associated with the native host were often more species rich and included more exclusive members than those of the non-native hosts. In contrast, the ectomycorrhizosphere communities of the two hosts were compositionally clearly distinct in nonmetric multidimensional ordination analyses, whereas the EcM communities were only marginally so. Taken together, our data suggest EcM communities with broad host compatibilities and with a limited numbers of taxa with preference to the non-native host. Furthermore, many common fungi in the non-native Pinus were not EcM taxa, suggesting that the fungal communities of the non-native host may be enriched in non-mycorrhizal fungi at the cost of the EcM taxa. Finally, while our colonization estimates did not suggest a shortage in EcM inoculum for either host in urban parks, the differences in the fungi associated with the two hosts emphasize the importance of using native hosts in urban environments as a tool to conserve endemic fungal diversity and richness in man-made systems.

  13. 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.

  14. Credibility of native and non-native speakers of English revisited: Do non-native listeners feel the same?

    OpenAIRE

    Hanzlíková, Dagmar; Skarnitzl, Radek

    2017-01-01

    This study reports on research stimulated by Lev-Ari and Keysar (2010) who showed that native listeners find statements delivered by foreign-accented speakers to be less true than those read by native speakers. Our objective was to replicate the study with non-native listeners to see whether this effect is also relevant in international communication contexts. The same set of statements from the original study was recorded by 6 native and 6 nonnative speakers of English. 121 non-native listen...

  15. NATIVE VS NON-NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masrizal Masrizal

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Although the majority of English language teachers worldwide are non-native English speakers (NNS, no research was conducted on these teachers until recently. A pioneer research by Peter Medgyes in 1994 took quite a long time until the other researchers found their interests in this issue. There is a widespread stereotype that a native speaker (NS is by nature the best person to teach his/her foreign language. In regard to this assumption, we then see a very limited room and opportunities for a non native teacher to teach language that is not his/hers. The aim of this article is to analyze the differences among these teachers in order to prove that non-native teachers have equal advantages that should be taken into account. The writer expects that the result of this short article could be a valuable input to the area of teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia.

  16. Vulnerability of freshwater native biodiversity to non-native ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Background/Question/Methods Non-native species pose one of the greatest threats to native biodiversity. The literature provides plentiful empirical and anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon; however, such evidence is limited to local or regional scales. Employing geospatial analyses, we investigate the potential threat of non-native species to threatened and endangered aquatic animal taxa inhabiting unprotected areas across the continental US. We compiled distribution information from existing publicly available databases at the watershed scale (12-digit hydrologic unit code). We mapped non-native aquatic plant and animal species richness, and an index of cumulative invasion pressure, which weights non-native richness by the time since invasion of each species. These distributions were compared to the distributions of native aquatic taxa (fish, amphibians, mollusks, and decapods) from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) database. We mapped the proportion of species listed by IUCN as threatened and endangered, and a species rarity index per watershed. An overlay analysis identified watersheds experiencing high pressure from non-native species and also containing high proportions of threatened and endangered species or exhibiting high species rarity. Conservation priorities were identified by generating priority indices from these overlays and mapping them relative to the distribution of protected areas across the US. Results/Conclusion

  17. Ecological impacts of non-native species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkinson, John W.

    2012-01-01

    Non-native species are considered one of the greatest threats to freshwater biodiversity worldwide (Drake et al. 1989; Allen and Flecker 1993; Dudgeon et al. 2005). Some of the first hypotheses proposed to explain global patterns of amphibian declines included the effects of non-native species (Barinaga 1990; Blaustein and Wake 1990; Wake and Morowitz 1991). Evidence for the impact of non-native species on amphibians stems (1) from correlative research that relates the distribution or abundance of a species to that of a putative non-native species, and (2) from experimental tests of the effects of a non-native species on survival, growth, development or behaviour of a target species (Kats and Ferrer 2003). Over the past two decades, research on the effects of non-native species on amphibians has mostly focused on introduced aquatic predators, particularly fish. Recent research has shifted to more complex ecological relationships such as influences of sub-lethal stressors (e.g. contaminants) on the effects of non-native species (Linder et al. 2003; Sih et al. 2004), non-native species as vectors of disease (Daszak et al. 2004; Garner et al. 2006), hybridization between non-natives and native congeners (Riley et al. 2003; Storfer et al. 2004), and the alteration of food-webs by non-native species (Nystrom et al. 2001). Other research has examined the interaction of non-native species in terms of facilitation (i.e. one non-native enabling another to become established or spread) or the synergistic effects of multiple non-native species on native amphibians, the so-called invasional meltdown hypothesis (Simerloff and Von Holle 1999). Although there is evidence that some non-native species may interact (Ricciardi 2001), there has yet to be convincing evidence that such interactions have led to an accelerated increase in the number of non-native species and cumulative impacts are still uncertain (Simberloff 2006). Applied research on the control, eradication, and

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  19. Decoding speech perception by native and non-native speakers using single-trial electrophysiological data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Brandmeyer

    Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs are systems that use real-time analysis of neuroimaging data to determine the mental state of their user for purposes such as providing neurofeedback. Here, we investigate the feasibility of a BCI based on speech perception. Multivariate pattern classification methods were applied to single-trial EEG data collected during speech perception by native and non-native speakers. Two principal questions were asked: 1 Can differences in the perceived categories of pairs of phonemes be decoded at the single-trial level? 2 Can these same categorical differences be decoded across participants, within or between native-language groups? Results indicated that classification performance progressively increased with respect to the categorical status (within, boundary or across of the stimulus contrast, and was also influenced by the native language of individual participants. Classifier performance showed strong relationships with traditional event-related potential measures and behavioral responses. The results of the cross-participant analysis indicated an overall increase in average classifier performance when trained on data from all participants (native and non-native. A second cross-participant classifier trained only on data from native speakers led to an overall improvement in performance for native speakers, but a reduction in performance for non-native speakers. We also found that the native language of a given participant could be decoded on the basis of EEG data with accuracy above 80%. These results indicate that electrophysiological responses underlying speech perception can be decoded at the single-trial level, and that decoding performance systematically reflects graded changes in the responses related to the phonological status of the stimuli. This approach could be used in extensions of the BCI paradigm to support perceptual learning during second language acquisition.

  20. 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.

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

    OpenAIRE

    Harwintha Y. Anjarningsih; Anisa Saraayu

    2015-01-01

    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. Transcripti...

  2. Ecological disequilibrium drives insect pest and pathogen accumulation in non-native trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crous, Casparus J; Burgess, Treena I; Le Roux, Johannes J; Richardson, David M; Slippers, Bernard; Wingfield, Michael J

    2016-12-23

    Non-native trees have become dominant components of many landscapes, including urban ecosystems, commercial forestry plantations, fruit orchards, and as invasives in natural ecosystems. Often, these trees have been separated from their natural enemies (i.e. insects and pathogens) leading to ecological disequilibrium, that is, the immediate breakdown of historically co-evolved interactions once introduced into novel environments. Long-established, non-native tree plantations provide useful experiments to explore the dimensions of such ecological disequilibria. We quantify the status quo of non-native insect pests and pathogens catching up with their tree hosts (planted Acacia, Eucalyptus and Pinus species) in South Africa, and examine which native South African enemy species utilise these trees as hosts. Interestingly, pines, with no confamilial relatives in South Africa and the longest residence time (almost two centuries), have acquired only one highly polyphagous native pathogen. This is in contrast to acacias and eucalypts, both with many native and confamilial relatives in South Africa that have acquired more native pathogens. These patterns support the known role of phylogenetic relatedness of non-native and native floras in influencing the likelihood of pathogen shifts between them. This relationship, however, does not seem to hold for native insects. Native insects appear far more likely to expand their feeding habits onto non-native tree hosts than are native pathogens, although they are generally less damaging. The ecological disequilibrium conditions of non-native trees are deeply rooted in the eco-evolutionary experience of the host plant, co-evolved natural enemies, and native organisms from the introduced range. We should expect considerable spatial and temporal variation in ecological disequilibrium conditions among non-native taxa, which can be significantly influenced by biosecurity and management practices. Published by Oxford University Press on

  3. Word Durations in Non-Native English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Rachel E.; Baese-Berk, Melissa; Bonnasse-Gahot, Laurent; Kim, Midam; Van Engen, Kristin J.; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2010-01-01

    In this study, we compare the effects of English lexical features on word duration for native and non-native English speakers and for non-native speakers with different L1s and a range of L2 experience. We also examine whether non-native word durations lead to judgments of a stronger foreign accent. We measured word durations in English paragraphs read by 12 American English (AE), 20 Korean, and 20 Chinese speakers. We also had AE listeners rate the `accentedness' of these non-native speakers. AE speech had shorter durations, greater within-speaker word duration variance, greater reduction of function words, and less between-speaker variance than non-native speech. However, both AE and non-native speakers showed sensitivity to lexical predictability by reducing second mentions and high frequency words. Non-native speakers with more native-like word durations, greater within-speaker word duration variance, and greater function word reduction were perceived as less accented. Overall, these findings identify word duration as an important and complex feature of foreign-accented English. PMID:21516172

  4. Atypical lateralization of ERP response to native and non-native speech in infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seery, Anne M; Vogel-Farley, Vanessa; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Nelson, Charles A

    2013-07-01

    Language impairment is common in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and is often accompanied by atypical neural lateralization. However, it is unclear when in development language impairment or atypical lateralization first emerges. To address these questions, we recorded event-related-potentials (ERPs) to native and non-native speech contrasts longitudinally in infants at risk for ASD (HRA) over the first year of life to determine whether atypical lateralization is present as an endophenotype early in development and whether these infants show delay in a very basic precursor of language acquisition: phonemic perceptual narrowing. ERP response for the HRA group to a non-native speech contrast revealed a trajectory of perceptual narrowing similar to a group of low-risk controls (LRC), suggesting that phonemic perceptual narrowing does not appear to be delayed in these high-risk infants. In contrast there were significant group differences in the development of lateralized ERP response to speech: between 6 and 12 months the LRC group displayed a lateralized response to the speech sounds, while the HRA group failed to display this pattern. We suggest the possibility that atypical lateralization to speech may be an ASD endophenotype over the first year of life. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Phonetic recalibration of speech by text

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keetels, M.N.; Schakel, L.; de Bonte, M.; Vroomen, J.

    2016-01-01

    Listeners adjust their phonetic categories to cope with variations in the speech signal (phonetic recalibration). Previous studies have shown that lipread speech (and word knowledge) can adjust the perception of ambiguous speech and can induce phonetic adjustments (Bertelson, Vroomen, & de Gelder in

  6. The relationship between native allophonic experience with vowel duration and perception of the English tense/lax vowel contrast by Spanish and Russian listeners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondaurova, Maria V; Francis, Alexander L

    2008-12-01

    Two studies explored the role of native language use of an acoustic cue, vowel duration, in both native and non-native contexts in order to test the hypothesis that non-native listeners' reliance on vowel duration instead of vowel quality to distinguish the English tense/lax vowel contrast could be explained by the role of duration as a cue in native phonological contrasts. In the first experiment, native Russian, Spanish, and American English listeners identified stimuli from a beat/bit continuum varying in nine perceptually equal spectral and duration steps. English listeners relied predominantly on spectrum, but showed some reliance on duration. Russian and Spanish speakers relied entirely on duration. In the second experiment, three tests examined listeners' use of vowel duration in native contrasts. Duration was equally important for the perception of lexical stress for all three groups. However, English listeners relied more on duration as a cue to postvocalic consonant voicing than did native Spanish or Russian listeners, and Spanish listeners relied on duration more than did Russian listeners. Results suggest that, although allophonic experience may contribute to cross-language perceptual patterns, other factors such as the application of statistical learning mechanisms and the influence of language-independent psychoacoustic proclivities cannot be ruled out.

  7. The relationship between native allophonic experience with vowel duration and perception of the English tense∕lax vowel contrast by Spanish and Russian listeners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondaurova, Maria V.; Francis, Alexander L.

    2008-01-01

    Two studies explored the role of native language use of an acoustic cue, vowel duration, in both native and non-native contexts in order to test the hypothesis that non-native listeners’ reliance on vowel duration instead of vowel quality to distinguish the English tense∕lax vowel contrast could be explained by the role of duration as a cue in native phonological contrasts. In the first experiment, native Russian, Spanish, and American English listeners identified stimuli from a beat∕bit continuum varying in nine perceptually equal spectral and duration steps. English listeners relied predominantly on spectrum, but showed some reliance on duration. Russian and Spanish speakers relied entirely on duration. In the second experiment, three tests examined listeners’ use of vowel duration in native contrasts. Duration was equally important for the perception of lexical stress for all three groups. However, English listeners relied more on duration as a cue to postvocalic consonant voicing than did native Spanish or Russian listeners, and Spanish listeners relied on duration more than did Russian listeners. Results suggest that, although allophonic experience may contribute to cross-language perceptual patterns, other factors such as the application of statistical learning mechanisms and the influence of language-independent psychoacoustic proclivities cannot be ruled out. PMID:19206820

  8. Periphyton density is similar on native and non-native plant species

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grutters, B.M.C.; Gross, Elisabeth M.; van Donk, E.; Bakker, E.S.

    2017-01-01

    Non-native plants increasingly dominate the vegetation in aquatic ecosystems and thrive in eutrophic conditions. In eutrophic conditions, submerged plants risk being overgrown by epiphytic algae; however, if non-native plants are less susceptible to periphyton than natives, this would contribute to

  9. Do native brown trout and non-native brook trout interact reproductively?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cucherousset, J.; Aymes, J. C.; Poulet, N.; Santoul, F.; Céréghino, R.

    2008-07-01

    Reproductive interactions between native and non-native species of fish have received little attention compared to other types of interactions such as predation or competition for food and habitat. We studied the reproductive interactions between non-native brook trout ( Salvelinus fontinalis) and native brown trout ( Salmo trutta) in a Pyrenees Mountain stream (SW France). We found evidence of significant interspecific interactions owing to consistent spatial and temporal overlap in redd localizations and spawning periods. We observed mixed spawning groups composed of the two species, interspecific subordinate males, and presence of natural hybrids (tiger trout). These reproductive interactions could be detrimental to the reproduction success of both species. Our study shows that non-native species might have detrimental effects on native species via subtle hybridization behavior.

  10. A fundamental study of non-contrast enhanced MR angiography using ECG gated-3D fast spin echo at 3.0 T

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakato, Kengo; Hiai, Yasuhiro; Tomiguchi, Seiji

    2010-01-01

    Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) is frequently performed in body and extremity studies because of its superior ability to detect the vascular stenosis. However, nephrotoxicity of the contrast medium has been emphasized in recent years. Non-contrast MRA using the three-dimensional electrocardiogram-synchronized fast spin echo method (fresh blood imaging (FBI), non-contrast MRA of arteries and veins (NATIVE) and triggered acquisition non contrast enhancement MRA (TRANCE)) is recommended as a substitute for CE-MRA. There are a few reports in the literature that evaluate the detectability of vascular stenosis using non-contrast MRA on 3.0 T MRI. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the detectability of vascular stenosis using non-contrast MRA at 3.0 T with an original vascular phantom. The vascular phantom consisted of silicon tubes. 30% and 70% stenosis of luminal diameter were made. Each silicon tube connected a pump producing a pulsatile flow. A flowing material to was used in this study to show the similarity of the intensity to blood on MRI. MRA without a contrast medium (NATIVE sequence) were performed in the vascular phantom by changing the image matrix, static magnetic field strength and flow velocity. In addition, the NATIVE sequence was used with or without flow compensation. Vascular stenosis was quantitatively estimated by measurement of the signal intensities in non-contrast MRA images. MRA with NATIVE sequence demonstrated an accurate estimation of 30% vascular stenosis at slow flow velocity. However, 30% stenosis was overestimated in cases of high flow velocity. Estimation was improved by using a flow compensation sequence. 70% stenosis was overestimated on MRA with NATIVE sequence. Estimation of 70% stenosis was improved by using a flow compensation sequence. Accurate estimation of vascular stenosis in MRA with a NATIVE sequence is improved by using the flow compensation technique. MRA with NATIVE sequence is considered to

  11. Ecological impacts of non-native species: Chapter 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilliod, David S.; Griffiths, R.A.; Kuzmin, S.L.; Heatwole, Harold; Wilkinson, John W.

    2012-01-01

    Non-native species are considered one of the greatest threats to freshwater biodiversity worldwide (Drake et al. 1989; Allen and Flecker 1993; Dudgeon et al. 2005). Some of the first hypotheses proposed to explain global patterns of amphibian declines included the effects of non-native species (Barinaga 1990; Blaustein and Wake 1990; Wake and Morowitz 1991). Evidence for the impact of non-native species on amphibians stems (1) from correlative research that relates the distribution or abundance of a species to that of a putative non-native species, and (2) from experimental tests of the effects of a non-native species on survival, growth, development or behaviour of a target species (Kats and Ferrer 2003). Over the past two decades, research on the effects of non-native species on amphibians has mostly focused on introduced aquatic predators, particularly fish. Recent research has shifted to more complex ecological relationships such as influences of sub-lethal stressors (e.g. contaminants) on the effects of non-native species (Linder et al. 2003; Sih et al. 2004), non-native species as vectors of disease (Daszak et al. 2004; Garner et al. 2006), hybridization between non-natives and native congeners (Riley et al. 2003; Storfer et al. 2004), and the alteration of food-webs by non-native species (Nystrom et al. 2001). Other research has examined the interaction of non-native species in terms of facilitation (i.e. one non-native enabling another to become established or spread) or the synergistic effects of multiple non-native species on native amphibians, the so-called invasional meltdown hypothesis (Simerloff and Von Holle 1999). Although there is evidence that some non-native species may interact (Ricciardi 2001), there has yet to be convincing evidence that such interactions have led to an accelerated increase in the number of non-native species and cumulative impacts are still uncertain (Simberloff 2006). Applied research on the control, eradication, and

  12. Delexical Structures Contrastively: A Common Trap for Non-Native Speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marjeta Vrbinc

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with delexical structures and in particular with the problems non-native speakers are faced with when encoding. First, it gives reasons why it is necessary to study the structures and then it discusses the delexical structures in English (monolingual context. The second part of the article focuses on the bilingual aspect, i.e. the translation of English delexical structures into Slovene. Some problems concerning the bilingual context are presented, especially as regards aspect and the difference between the translation of English delexical structures in isolation (e.g. in a dictionary and within the context. The last part of the article concentrates on the dictionary treatment of delexical structures and provides some examples taken from the latest editions of the leading EFL monolingual dictionaries.

  13. Aquatic macroinvertebrate responses to native and non-native predators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haddaway N. R.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Non-native species can profoundly affect native ecosystems through trophic interactions with native species. Native prey may respond differently to non-native versus native predators since they lack prior experience. Here we investigate antipredator responses of two common freshwater macroinvertebrates, Gammarus pulex and Potamopyrgus jenkinsi, to olfactory cues from three predators; sympatric native fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus, sympatric native crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes, and novel invasive crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus. G. pulex responded differently to fish and crayfish; showing enhanced locomotion in response to fish, but a preference for the dark over the light in response to the crayfish. P.jenkinsi showed increased vertical migration in response to all three predator cues relative to controls. These different responses to fish and crayfish are hypothesised to reflect the predators’ differing predation types; benthic for crayfish and pelagic for fish. However, we found no difference in response to native versus invasive crayfish, indicating that prey naiveté is unlikely to drive the impacts of invasive crayfish. The Predator Recognition Continuum Hypothesis proposes that benefits of generalisable predator recognition outweigh costs when predators are diverse. Generalised responses of prey as observed here will be adaptive in the presence of an invader, and may reduce novel predators’ potential impacts.

  14. Non-native educators in English language teaching

    CERN Document Server

    Braine, George

    2013-01-01

    The place of native and non-native speakers in the role of English teachers has probably been an issue ever since English was taught internationally. Although ESL and EFL literature is awash, in fact dependent upon, the scrutiny of non-native learners, interest in non-native academics and teachers is fairly new. Until recently, the voices of non-native speakers articulating their own concerns have been even rarer. This book is a response to this notable vacuum in the ELT literature, providing a forum for language educators from diverse geographical origins and language backgrounds. In addition to presenting autobiographical narratives, these authors argue sociopolitical issues and discuss implications for teacher education, all relating to the theme of non-native educators in ETL. All of the authors are non-native speakers of English. Some are long established professionals, whereas others are more recent initiates to the field. All but one received part of the higher education in North America, and all excep...

  15. Relative Weighting of Semantic and Syntactic Cues in Native and Non-Native Listeners' Recognition of English Sentences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng; Koenig, Laura L

    2016-01-01

    Non-native listeners do not recognize English sentences as effectively as native listeners, especially in noise. It is not entirely clear to what extent such group differences arise from differences in relative weight of semantic versus syntactic cues. This study quantified the use and weighting of these contextual cues via Boothroyd and Nittrouer's j and k factors. The j represents the probability of recognizing sentences with or without context, whereas the k represents the degree to which context improves recognition performance. Four groups of 13 normal-hearing young adult listeners participated. One group consisted of native English monolingual (EMN) listeners, whereas the other three consisted of non-native listeners contrasting in their language dominance and first language: English-dominant Russian-English, Russian-dominant Russian-English, and Spanish-dominant Spanish-English bilinguals. All listeners were presented three sets of four-word sentences: high-predictability sentences included both semantic and syntactic cues, low-predictability sentences included syntactic cues only, and zero-predictability sentences included neither semantic nor syntactic cues. Sentences were presented at 65 dB SPL binaurally in the presence of speech-spectrum noise at +3 dB SNR. Listeners orally repeated each sentence and recognition was calculated for individual words as well as the sentence as a whole. Comparable j values across groups for high-predictability, low-predictability, and zero-predictability sentences suggested that all listeners, native and non-native, utilized contextual cues to recognize English sentences. Analysis of the k factor indicated that non-native listeners took advantage of syntax as effectively as EMN listeners. However, only English-dominant bilinguals utilized semantics to the same extent as EMN listeners; semantics did not provide a significant benefit for the two non-English-dominant groups. When combined, semantics and syntax benefitted EMN

  16. 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.

  17. Reanalysis and semantic persistence in native and non-native garden-path recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacob, Gunnar; Felser, Claudia

    2016-01-01

    We report the results from an eye-movement monitoring study investigating how native and non-native speakers of English process temporarily ambiguous sentences such as While the gentleman was eating the burgers were still being reheated in the microwave, in which an initially plausible direct-object analysis is first ruled out by a syntactic disambiguation (were) and also later on by semantic information (being reheated). Both participant groups showed garden-path effects at the syntactic disambiguation, with native speakers showing significantly stronger effects of ambiguity than non-native speakers in later eye-movement measures but equally strong effects in first-pass reading times. Ambiguity effects at the semantic disambiguation and in participants' end-of-trial responses revealed that for both participant groups, the incorrect direct-object analysis was frequently maintained beyond the syntactic disambiguation. The non-native group showed weaker reanalysis effects at the syntactic disambiguation and was more likely to misinterpret the experimental sentences than the native group. Our results suggest that native language (L1) and non-native language (L2) parsing are similar with regard to sensitivity to syntactic and semantic error signals, but different with regard to processes of reanalysis.

  18. Native Speakers' Perception of Non-Native English Speech

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaber, Maysa; Hussein, Riyad F.

    2011-01-01

    This study is aimed at investigating the rating and intelligibility of different non-native varieties of English, namely French English, Japanese English and Jordanian English by native English speakers and their attitudes towards these foreign accents. To achieve the goals of this study, the researchers used a web-based questionnaire which…

  19. Non-native salmonids affect amphibian occupancy at multiple spatial scales

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilliod, David S.; Hossack, Blake R.; Bahls, Peter F.; Bull, Evelyn L.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Hokit, Grant; Maxell, Bryce A.; Munger, James C.; Wyrick, Aimee

    2010-01-01

    Aim The introduction of non-native species into aquatic environments has been linked with local extinctions and altered distributions of native species. We investigated the effect of non-native salmonids on the occupancy of two native amphibians, the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), across three spatial scales: water bodies, small catchments and large catchments. Location Mountain lakes at ≥ 1500 m elevation were surveyed across the northern Rocky Mountains, USA. Methods We surveyed 2267 water bodies for amphibian occupancy (based on evidence of reproduction) and fish presence between 1986 and 2002 and modelled the probability of amphibian occupancy at each spatial scale in relation to habitat availability and quality and fish presence. Results After accounting for habitat features, we estimated that A. macrodactylum was 2.3 times more likely to breed in fishless water bodies than in water bodies with fish. Ambystoma macrodactylum also was more likely to occupy small catchments where none of the water bodies contained fish than in catchments where at least one water body contained fish. However, the probability of salamander occupancy in small catchments was also influenced by habitat availability (i.e. the number of water bodies within a catchment) and suitability of remaining fishless water bodies. We found no relationship between fish presence and salamander occupancy at the large-catchment scale, probably because of increased habitat availability. In contrast to A. macrodactylum, we found no relationship between fish presence and R. luteiventris occupancy at any scale. Main conclusions Our results suggest that the negative effects of non-native salmonids can extend beyond the boundaries of individual water bodies and increase A. macrodactylum extinction risk at landscape scales. We suspect that niche overlap between non-native fish and A. macrodactylum at higher elevations in the northern Rocky

  20. Small mammal use of native warm-season and non-native cool-season grass forage fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan L Klimstra,; Christopher E Moorman,; Converse, Sarah J.; Royle, J. Andrew; Craig A Harper,

    2015-01-01

    Recent emphasis has been put on establishing native warm-season grasses for forage production because it is thought native warm-season grasses provide higher quality wildlife habitat than do non-native cool-season grasses. However, it is not clear whether native warm-season grass fields provide better resources for small mammals than currently are available in non-native cool-season grass forage production fields. We developed a hierarchical spatially explicit capture-recapture model to compare abundance of hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus), white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), and house mice (Mus musculus) among 4 hayed non-native cool-season grass fields, 4 hayed native warm-season grass fields, and 4 native warm-season grass-forb ("wildlife") fields managed for wildlife during 2 summer trapping periods in 2009 and 2010 of the western piedmont of North Carolina, USA. Cotton rat abundance estimates were greater in wildlife fields than in native warm-season grass and non-native cool-season grass fields and greater in native warm-season grass fields than in non-native cool-season grass fields. Abundances of white-footed mouse and house mouse populations were lower in wildlife fields than in native warm-season grass and non-native cool-season grass fields, but the abundances were not different between the native warm-season grass and non-native cool-season grass fields. Lack of cover following haying in non-native cool-season grass and native warm-season grass fields likely was the key factor limiting small mammal abundance, especially cotton rats, in forage fields. Retention of vegetation structure in managed forage production systems, either by alternately resting cool-season and warm-season grass forage fields or by leaving unharvested field borders, should provide refugia for small mammals during haying events.

  1. QUANTITATIVE REDUCTION OF VOWEL GRAPHS “A” AND “O” POSITIONED AFTER THE HARD CONSONANTS IN THE SPEECH OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE RUSSIAN SPEAKERS IN LITHUANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danutė Balšaitytė

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the absolute duration (ms of stressed Russian vowels /a/, /o/ (graphs: “a”, “o” and their allophones in unstressed positions after the hard consonants in the pronunciation of native and non-native Russian speakers in Lithuania. The results of the conducted spectral analysis reveal the specificities of quantitative reduction in the speech of the Russian speakers in Lithuania and the Lithuanian speakers that are learning the Russian language. These specificities are influenced by the two phonetic systems interaction. The speakers of both languages by the realisation of “a” and “o” violates the relation of unstressed vowel duration that is peculiar to the contemporary Russian language: the post-stressed vowels in closed syllables are shorter than the pre-stressed vowels; the first pre-stressed syllable differs from the second pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables by a longer voice duration. Both Russians and Lithuanians pronounce vowels longer in post-stressed syllables than in the pre-stressed syllables. This corresponds to the qualitative reduction of the Lithuanian language vowels /a:/ and /o:/. There are certain differences between the pronunciation of qualitative vowels “a” and “o” reduction among the native and non-native Russian speakers in Lithuania. The Russian speakers in Lithuania pronounce the second pre-stressed vowel longer than the first pre-stressed vowel; this corresponds to the degree of reduction of pre-stressed vowels “a” and “o” in the standardised Russian language. These degrees of quantitative reduction in the Lithuanian pronunciation are peculiar only for “a” in the Russian language. According to the duration ratio, the unstressed allophones “a” and “o” in the Russian language are closer to the unstressed /a:/ and /o:/ in the Lithuanian language in the pronunciation of Russian-Lithuanian bilinguals than in the pronunciation Lithuanian speakers.

  2. Determinants of success in native and non-native listening comprehension: an individual differences approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Andringa, S.; Olsthoorn, N.; van Beuningen, C.; Schoonen, R.; Hulstijn, J.

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation

  3. 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…

  4. Practical Phonetics and Phonology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M.

    Practical Phonetics and Phonology:   presents the essentials of the subject in a lively way whilst stressing the day-to-day applications of phonetics and phonology   covers all the core concepts of speech science such as: the phoneme, syllable structure, production of speech, vowel and consonant...... language and linguistics and those training for a certificate in TEFL. The accompanying website to this book can be found at: www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415425148...

  5. The online application of binding condition B in native and non-native pronoun resolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clare ePatterson

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Previous research has shown that anaphor resolution in a non-native language may be more vulnerable to interference from structurally inappropriate antecedents compared to native anaphor resolution. To test whether previous findings on reflexive anaphors generalise to non-reflexive pronouns, we carried out an eye-movement monitoring study investigating the application of binding condition B during native and non-native sentence processing. In two online reading experiments we examined when during processing local and/or non-local antecedents for pronouns were considered in different types of syntactic environment. Our results demonstrate that both native English speakers and native German-speaking learners of English showed online sensitivity to binding condition B in that they did not consider syntactically inappropriate antecedents. For pronouns thought to be exempt from condition B (so-called 'short-distance pronouns', the native readers showed a weak preference for the local antecedent during processing. The non-native readers, on the other hand, showed a preference for the matrix subject even where local coreference was permitted, and despite demonstrating awareness of short-distance pronouns' referential ambiguity in a complementary offline task. This indicates that non-native comprehenders are less sensitive during processing to structural cues that render pronouns exempt from condition B, and prefer to link a pronoun to a salient subject antecedent instead.

  6. Determinants of Success in Native and Non-Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andringa, Sible; Olsthoorn, Nomi; van Beuningen, Catherine; Schoonen, Rob; Hulstijn, Jan

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the predictors of…

  7. Chinese College Students' Views on Native English and Non-Native English in EFL Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Yang; Jingxia, Liu

    2016-01-01

    With the development of globalization, English is clearly spoken by many more non-native than native speakers, which raises the discussion of English varieties and the debate regarding the conformity to Standard English. Although a large number of studies have shown scholars' attitudes towards native English and non-native English, little research…

  8. Non-Native Plant Invasion along Elevation and Canopy Closure Gradients in a Middle Rocky Mountain Ecosystem.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joshua P Averett

    Full Text Available Mountain environments are currently among the ecosystems least invaded by non-native species; however, mountains are increasingly under threat of non-native plant invasion. The slow pace of exotic plant invasions in mountain ecosystems is likely due to a combination of low anthropogenic disturbances, low propagule supply, and extreme/steep environmental gradients. The importance of any one of these factors is debated and likely ecosystem dependent. We evaluated the importance of various correlates of plant invasions in the Wallowa Mountain Range of northeastern Oregon and explored whether non-native species distributions differed from native species along an elevation gradient. Vascular plant communities were sampled in summer 2012 along three mountain roads. Transects (n = 20 were evenly stratified by elevation (~70 m intervals along each road. Vascular plant species abundances and environmental parameters were measured. We used indicator species analysis to identify habitat affinities for non-native species. Plots were ordinated in species space, joint plots and non-parametric multiplicative regression were used to relate species and community variation to environmental variables. Non-native species richness decreased continuously with increasing elevation. In contrast, native species richness displayed a unimodal distribution with maximum richness occurring at mid-elevations. Species composition was strongly related to elevation and canopy openness. Overlays of trait and environmental factors onto non-metric multidimensional ordinations identified the montane-subalpine community transition and over-story canopy closure exceeding 60% as potential barriers to non-native species establishment. Unlike native species, non-native species showed little evidence for high-elevation or closed-canopy specialization. These data suggest that non-native plants currently found in the Wallowa Mountains are dependent on open canopies and disturbance for

  9. Non-Native Plant Invasion along Elevation and Canopy Closure Gradients in a Middle Rocky Mountain Ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Averett, Joshua P; McCune, Bruce; Parks, Catherine G; Naylor, Bridgett J; DelCurto, Tim; Mata-González, Ricardo

    2016-01-01

    Mountain environments are currently among the ecosystems least invaded by non-native species; however, mountains are increasingly under threat of non-native plant invasion. The slow pace of exotic plant invasions in mountain ecosystems is likely due to a combination of low anthropogenic disturbances, low propagule supply, and extreme/steep environmental gradients. The importance of any one of these factors is debated and likely ecosystem dependent. We evaluated the importance of various correlates of plant invasions in the Wallowa Mountain Range of northeastern Oregon and explored whether non-native species distributions differed from native species along an elevation gradient. Vascular plant communities were sampled in summer 2012 along three mountain roads. Transects (n = 20) were evenly stratified by elevation (~70 m intervals) along each road. Vascular plant species abundances and environmental parameters were measured. We used indicator species analysis to identify habitat affinities for non-native species. Plots were ordinated in species space, joint plots and non-parametric multiplicative regression were used to relate species and community variation to environmental variables. Non-native species richness decreased continuously with increasing elevation. In contrast, native species richness displayed a unimodal distribution with maximum richness occurring at mid-elevations. Species composition was strongly related to elevation and canopy openness. Overlays of trait and environmental factors onto non-metric multidimensional ordinations identified the montane-subalpine community transition and over-story canopy closure exceeding 60% as potential barriers to non-native species establishment. Unlike native species, non-native species showed little evidence for high-elevation or closed-canopy specialization. These data suggest that non-native plants currently found in the Wallowa Mountains are dependent on open canopies and disturbance for establishment in low

  10. Contrasting patterns of herbivore and predator pressure on invasive and native plants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelkes, T.; Wouters, B.; Bezemer, T.M.; Harvey, J.A.; Putten, van der W.H.

    2012-01-01

    Invasive non-native plant species often harbor fewer herbivorous insects than related native plant species. However, little is known about how herbivorous insects on non-native plants are exposed to carnivorous insects, and even less is known on plants that have recently expanded their ranges within

  11. Non-native plant invasions of United States National parks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, J.A.; Brown, C.S.; Stohlgren, T.J.

    2009-01-01

    The United States National Park Service was created to protect and make accessible to the public the nation's most precious natural resources and cultural features for present and future generations. However, this heritage is threatened by the invasion of non-native plants, animals, and pathogens. To evaluate the scope of invasions, the USNPS has inventoried non-native plant species in the 216 parks that have significant natural resources, documenting the identity of non-native species. We investigated relationships among non-native plant species richness, the number of threatened and endangered plant species, native species richness, latitude, elevation, park area and park corridors and vectors. Parks with many threatened and endangered plants and high native plant species richness also had high non-native plant species richness. Non-native plant species richness was correlated with number of visitors and kilometers of backcountry trails and rivers. In addition, this work reveals patterns that can be further explored empirically to understand the underlying mechanisms. ?? Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008.

  12. Brain Plasticity in Speech Training in Native English Speakers Learning Mandarin Tones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinzen, Christina Carolyn

    The current study employed behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to investigate brain plasticity associated with second-language (L2) phonetic learning based on an adaptive computer training program. The program utilized the acoustic characteristics of Infant-Directed Speech (IDS) to train monolingual American English-speaking listeners to perceive Mandarin lexical tones. Behavioral identification and discrimination tasks were conducted using naturally recorded speech, carefully controlled synthetic speech, and non-speech control stimuli. The ERP experiments were conducted with selected synthetic speech stimuli in a passive listening oddball paradigm. Identical pre- and post- tests were administered on nine adult listeners, who completed two-to-three hours of perceptual training. The perceptual training sessions used pair-wise lexical tone identification, and progressed through seven levels of difficulty for each tone pair. The levels of difficulty included progression in speaker variability from one to four speakers and progression through four levels of acoustic exaggeration of duration, pitch range, and pitch contour. Behavioral results for the natural speech stimuli revealed significant training-induced improvement in identification of Tones 1, 3, and 4. Improvements in identification of Tone 4 generalized to novel stimuli as well. Additionally, comparison between discrimination of across-category and within-category stimulus pairs taken from a synthetic continuum revealed a training-induced shift toward more native-like categorical perception of the Mandarin lexical tones. Analysis of the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses in the ERP data revealed increased amplitude and decreased latency for pre-attentive processing of across-category discrimination as a result of training. There were also laterality changes in the MMN responses to the non-speech control stimuli, which could reflect reallocation of brain resources in processing pitch patterns

  13. Predation by crustaceans on native and non-native Baltic clams

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ejdung, G.; Flach, E.; Byrén, L.; Hummel, H.

    2009-01-01

    We studied the effect of crustacean predators on native/non-native Macoma balthica bivalves in aquarium experiments. North Sea M. balthica (NS Macoma) were recently observed in the southern Baltic Sea. They differ genetically and in terms of morphology, behaviour and evolutionary history from Baltic

  14. Musical ability and non-native speech-sound processing are linked through sensitivity to pitch and spectral information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kempe, Vera; Bublitz, Dennis; Brooks, Patricia J

    2015-05-01

    Is the observed link between musical ability and non-native speech-sound processing due to enhanced sensitivity to acoustic features underlying both musical and linguistic processing? To address this question, native English speakers (N = 118) discriminated Norwegian tonal contrasts and Norwegian vowels. Short tones differing in temporal, pitch, and spectral characteristics were used to measure sensitivity to the various acoustic features implicated in musical and speech processing. Musical ability was measured using Gordon's Advanced Measures of Musical Audiation. Results showed that sensitivity to specific acoustic features played a role in non-native speech-sound processing: Controlling for non-verbal intelligence, prior foreign language-learning experience, and sex, sensitivity to pitch and spectral information partially mediated the link between musical ability and discrimination of non-native vowels and lexical tones. The findings suggest that while sensitivity to certain acoustic features partially mediates the relationship between musical ability and non-native speech-sound processing, complex tests of musical ability also tap into other shared mechanisms. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  15. Growth strategy, phylogeny and stoichiometry determine the allelopathic potential of native and non-native plants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grutters, Bart M.C.; Saccomanno, Benedetta; Gross, Elisabeth M.; Van de Waal, Dedmer B.; van Donk, Ellen; Bakker, Elisabeth S.

    2017-01-01

    Secondary compounds can contribute to the success of non-native plant species if they reduce damage by native herbivores or inhibit the growth of native plant competitors. However, there is opposing evidence on whether the secondary com- pounds of non-native plant species are stronger than those of

  16. 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.

  17. Phonetic imitation by young children and its developmental changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Kuniko

    2014-12-01

    In the current study, the author investigated the developmental course of phonetic imitation in childhood, and further evaluated existing accounts of phonetic imitation. Sixteen preschoolers, 15 third graders, and 18 college students participated in the current study. An experiment with a modified imitation paradigm with a picture-naming task was conducted, in which participants' voice-onset time (VOT) was compared before and after they were exposed to target speech with artificially increased VOT. Extended VOT in the target speech was imitated by preschoolers and 3rd graders as well as adults, confirming previous findings in phonetic imitation. Furthermore, an age effect of phonetic imitation was observed; namely, children showed greater imitation than adults, whereas the degree of imitation was comparable between preschoolers and 3rd graders. No significant effect of gender or word specificity was observed. Young children imitated fine phonetic details of the target speech, and greater degree of phonetic imitation was observed in children compared to adults. These findings suggest that the degree of phonetic imitation negatively correlates with phonological development.

  18. Validation, automatic generation and use of broad phonetic transcriptions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bael, Cristophe Patrick Jan Van

    2007-01-01

    Broad phonetic transcriptions represent the pronunciation of words as strings of characters from specifically designed symbol sets. In everyday life, broad phonetic transcriptions are often used as aids to pronounce (foreign) words. In addition, broad phonetic transcriptions are often used for

  19. Le Perfectionnement en Phonetique (Perfecting Phonetics)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laroche-Bouvy, Danielle

    1975-01-01

    This article describes the programs of the Institut d'Etudes Linguistiques et Phonetiques, located in Paris. The program focuses on perfecting the students' phonetic production of French. Both curriculum and teaching methods are described, as well as a course in phonetics for future teachers of French. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

  20. Automatic Phonetic Transcription for Danish Speech Recognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkedal, Andreas Søeborg

    , like Danish, the graphemic and phonetic representations are very dissimilar and more complex rewriting rules must be applied to create the correct phonetic representation. Automatic phonetic transcribers use different strategies, from deep analysis to shallow rewriting rules, to produce phonetic......, syllabication, stød and several other suprasegmental features (Kirkedal, 2013). Simplifying the transcriptions by filtering out the symbols for suprasegmental features in a post-processing step produces a format that is suitable for ASR purposes. eSpeak is an open source speech synthesizer originally created...... for particular words and word classes in addition. In comparison, English has 5,852 spelling-tophoneme rules and 4,133 additional rules and 8,278 rules and 3,829 additional rules. Phonix applies deep morphological analysis as a preprocessing step. Should the analysis fail, several fallback strategies...

  1. Exploring Phonetic Realization in Danish by Transformation-Based Learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Uneson, Marcus; Schachtenhaufen, Ruben

    2011-01-01

    We align phonemic and semi-narrow phonetic transcriptions in the DanPASS corpus and extend the phonemic description with sound classes and with traditional phonetic features. From this representation, we induce rules for phonetic realization by Transformation-Based Learning (TBL). The rules thus ...

  2. Mental health status in pregnancy among native and non-native Swedish-speaking women

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wangel, Anne-Marie; Schei, Berit; Ryding, Elsa Lena

    2012-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: To describe mental health status in native and non-native Swedish-speaking pregnant women and explore risk factors of depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted at midwife-based antenatal clinics in South......OBJECTIVES: To describe mental health status in native and non-native Swedish-speaking pregnant women and explore risk factors of depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted at midwife-based antenatal clinics...... in Southern Sweden. SAMPLE: A non-selected group of women in mid-pregnancy. METHODS: Participants completed a questionnaire covering background characteristics, social support, life events, mental health variables and the short Edinburgh Depression Scale. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Depressive symptoms during...... the past week and PTS symptoms during the past year. RESULTS: Out of 1003 women, 21.4% reported another language than Swedish as their mother tongue and were defined as non-native. These women were more likely to be younger, have fewer years of education, potential financial problems, and lack of social...

  3. Growth rate differences between resident native brook trout and non-native brown trout

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlson, S.M.; Hendry, A.P.; Letcher, B.H.

    2007-01-01

    Between species and across season variation in growth was examined by tagging and recapturing individual brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and brown trout Salmo trutta across seasons in a small stream (West Brook, Massachusetts, U.S.A.). Detailed information on body size and growth are presented to (1) test whether the two species differed in growth within seasons and (2) characterize the seasonal growth patterns for two age classes of each species. Growth differed between species in nearly half of the season- and age-specific comparisons. When growth differed, non-native brown trout grew faster than native brook trout in all but one comparison. Moreover, species differences were most pronounced when overall growth was high during the spring and early summer. These growth differences resulted in size asymmetries that were sustained over the duration of the study. A literature survey also indicated that non-native salmonids typically grow faster than native salmonids when the two occur in sympatry. Taken together, these results suggest that differences in growth are not uncommon for coexisting native and non-native salmonids. ?? 2007 The Authors.

  4. Methods and Application of Phonetic Label Alignment in Speech Processing Tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. Germination responses of an invasive species in native and non-native ranges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jose L. Hierro; Ozkan Eren; Liana Khetsuriani; Alecu Diaconu; Katalin Torok; Daniel Montesinos; Krikor Andonian; David Kikodze; Levan Janoian; Diego Villarreal; Maria Estanga-Mollica; Ragan M. Callaway

    2009-01-01

    Studying germination in the native and non-native range of a species can provide unique insights into processes of range expansion and adaptation; however, traits related to germination have rarely been compared between native and nonnative populations. In a series of common garden experiments, we explored whether differences in the seasonality of precipitation,...

  6. Within-category variance and lexical tone discrimination in native and non-native speakers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoffmann, C.W.G.; Sadakata, M.; Chen, A.; Desain, P.W.M.; McQueen, J.M.; Gussenhove, C.; Chen, Y.; Dediu, D.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we show how acoustic variance within lexical tones in disyllabic Mandarin Chinese pseudowords affects discrimination abilities in both native and non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Within-category acoustic variance did not hinder native speakers in discriminating between lexical

  7. 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).

  8. Potential population and assemblage influences of non-native trout on native nongame fish in Nebraska headwater streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turek, Kelly C.; Pegg, Mark A.; Pope, Kevin L.; Schainost, Steve

    2014-01-01

    Non-native trout are currently stocked to support recreational fisheries in headwater streams throughout Nebraska. The influence of non-native trout introductions on native fish populations and their role in structuring fish assemblages in these systems is unknown. The objectives of this study were to determine (i) if the size structure or relative abundance of native fish differs in the presence and absence of non-native trout, (ii) if native fish-assemblage structure differs in the presence and absence of non-native trout and (iii) if native fish-assemblage structure differs across a gradient in abundances of non-native trout. Longnose dace Rhinichthys cataractae were larger in the presence of brown trout Salmo trutta and smaller in the presence of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss compared to sites without trout. There was also a greater proportion of larger white suckers Catostomus commersonii in the presence of brown trout. Creek chub Semotilus atromaculatus and fathead minnow Pimephales promelas size structures were similar in the presence and absence of trout. Relative abundances of longnose dace, white sucker, creek chub and fathead minnow were similar in the presence and absence of trout, but there was greater distinction in native fish-assemblage structure between sites with trout compared to sites without trout as trout abundances increased. These results suggest increased risk to native fish assemblages in sites with high abundances of trout. However, more research is needed to determine the role of non-native trout in structuring native fish assemblages in streams, and the mechanisms through which introduced trout may influence native fish populations.

  9. Environmental niche separation between native and non-native benthic invertebrate species: Case study of the northern Baltic Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jänes, Holger; Herkül, Kristjan; Kotta, Jonne

    2017-10-01

    Knowledge and understanding of geographic distributions of species is crucial for many aspects in ecology, conservation, policy making and management. In order to reach such an understanding, it is important to know abiotic variables that impact and drive distributions of native and non-native species. We used an existing long-term macrobenthos database for species presence-absence information and biomass estimates at different environmental gradients in the northern Baltic Sea. Region specific abiotic variables (e.g. salinity, depth) were derived from previously constructed bathymetric and hydrodynamic models. Multidimensional ordination techniques were then applied to investigate potential niche space separation between all native and non-native invertebrates in the northern Baltic Sea. Such an approach allowed to obtain data rich and robust estimates of the current native and non-native species distributions and outline important abiotic parameters influencing the observed pattern. The results showed clear niche space separation between native and non-native species. Non-native species were situated in an environmental space characterized by reduced salinity, high temperatures, high proportion of soft seabed and decreased depth and wave exposure whereas native species displayed an opposite pattern. Different placement of native and non-native species along the studied environmental niche space is likely to be explained by the differences in their evolutionary history, human mediated activities and geological youth of the Baltic Sea. The results of this study can provide early warnings and effectively outline coastal areas in the northern Baltic Sea that are prone to further range expansion of non-native species as climate change is expected to significantly reduce salinity and increase temperature in wide coastal areas, both supporting the disappearance of native and appearance of non-native species. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. A non-native prey mediates the effects of a shared predator on an ecosystem service.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James E Byers

    Full Text Available Non-native species can alter ecosystem functions performed by native species often by displacing influential native species. However, little is known about how ecosystem functions may be modified by trait-mediated indirect effects of non-native species. Oysters and other reef-associated filter feeders enhance water quality by controlling nutrients and contaminants in many estuarine environments. However, this ecosystem service may be mitigated by predation, competition, or other species interactions, especially when such interactions involve non-native species that share little evolutionary history. We assessed trophic and other interference effects on the critical ecosystem service of water filtration in mesocosm experiments. In single-species trials, typical field densities of oysters (Crassostrea virginica reduced water-column chlorophyll a more strongly than clams (Mercenaria mercenaria. The non-native filter-feeding reef crab Petrolisthes armatus did not draw down chlorophyll a. In multi-species treatments, oysters and clams combined additively to influence chlorophyll a drawdown. Petrolisthes did not affect net filtration when added to the bivalve-only treatments. Addition of the predatory mud crab Panopeus herbstii did not influence oyster feeding rates, but it did stop chlorophyll a drawdown by clams. However, when Petrolisthes was also added in with the clams, the clams filtered at their previously unadulterated rates, possibly because Petrolisthes drew the focus of predators or habituated the clams to crab stimuli. In sum, oysters were the most influential filter feeder, and neither predators nor competitors interfered with their net effect on water-column chlorophyll. In contrast, clams filtered less, but were more sensitive to predators as well as a facilitative buffering effect of Petrolisthes, illustrating that non-native species can indirectly affect an ecosystem service by aiding the performance of a native species.

  11. Practical Phonetics and Phonology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M.

    This wide-ranging introduction to practical aspects of English phonetics and phonology offers an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings. The flexible "two-dimensional" structure is built around four sections - introduct......This wide-ranging introduction to practical aspects of English phonetics and phonology offers an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings. The flexible "two-dimensional" structure is built around four sections...... - introduction, development, exploration and extension - which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained....

  12. Phonetic search methods for large speech databases

    CERN Document Server

    Moyal, Ami; Tetariy, Ella; Gishri, Michal

    2013-01-01

    Phonetic Search Methods for Large Databases” focuses on Keyword Spotting (KWS) within large speech databases. The brief will begin by outlining the challenges associated with Keyword Spotting within large speech databases using dynamic keyword vocabularies. It will then continue by highlighting the various market segments in need of KWS solutions, as well as, the specific requirements of each market segment. The work also includes a detailed description of the complexity of the task and the different methods that are used, including the advantages and disadvantages of each method and an in-depth comparison. The main focus will be on the Phonetic Search method and its efficient implementation. This will include a literature review of the various methods used for the efficient implementation of Phonetic Search Keyword Spotting, with an emphasis on the authors’ own research which entails a comparative analysis of the Phonetic Search method which includes algorithmic details. This brief is useful for resea...

  13. Stimulus variability and the phonetic relevance hypothesis: effects of variability in speaking style, fundamental frequency, and speaking rate on spoken word identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sommers, Mitchell S; Barcroft, Joe

    2006-04-01

    Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of trial-to-trial variations in speaking style, fundamental frequency, and speaking rate on identification of spoken words. In addition, the experiments investigated whether any effects of stimulus variability would be modulated by phonetic confusability (i.e., lexical difficulty). In Experiment 1, trial-to-trial variations in speaking style reduced the overall identification performance compared with conditions containing no speaking-style variability. In addition, the effects of variability were greater for phonetically confusable words than for phonetically distinct words. In Experiment 2, variations in fundamental frequency were found to have no significant effects on spoken word identification and did not interact with lexical difficulty. In Experiment 3, two different methods for varying speaking rate were found to have equivalent negative effects on spoken word recognition and similar interactions with lexical difficulty. Overall, the findings are consistent with a phonetic-relevance hypothesis, in which accommodating sources of acoustic-phonetic variability that affect phonetically relevant properties of speech signals can impair spoken word identification. In contrast, variability in parameters of the speech signal that do not affect phonetically relevant properties are not expected to affect overall identification performance. Implications of these findings for the nature and development of lexical representations are discussed.

  14. Negotiating towards a next turn: phonetic resources for 'doing the same'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sikveland, Rein Ove

    2012-03-01

    This paper investigates hearers' use of response tokens (back-channels), in maintaining and differentiating their actions. Initial observations suggest that hearers produce a sequence of phonetically similar responses to disengage from the current topic, and dissimilar responses to engage with the current topic. This is studied systematically by combining detailed interactional and phonetic analysis in a collection of naturally-occurring talk in Norwegian. The interactional analysis forms the basis for labeling actions as maintained ('doing the same') and differentiated ('NOT doing the same'), which is then used as a basis for phonetic analysis. The phonetic analysis shows that certain phonetic characteristics, including pitch, loudness, voice quality and articulatory characteristics, are associated with 'doing the same', as different from 'NOT doing the same'. Interactional analysis gives further evidence of how this differentiation is of systematic relevance in the negotiations of a next turn. This paper addresses phonetic variation and variability by focusing on the relationship between sequence and phonetics in the turn-by-turn development of meaning. This has important implications for linguistic/phonetic research, and for the study of back-channels.

  15. Phonetic diversity, statistical learning, and acquisition of phonology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierrehumbert, Janet B

    2003-01-01

    In learning to perceive and produce speech, children master complex language-specific patterns. Daunting language-specific variation is found both in the segmental domain and in the domain of prosody and intonation. This article reviews the challenges posed by results in phonetic typology and sociolinguistics for the theory of language acquisition. It argues that categories are initiated bottom-up from statistical modes in use of the phonetic space, and sketches how exemplar theory can be used to model the updating of categories once they are initiated. It also argues that bottom-up initiation of categories is successful thanks to the perception-production loop operating in the speech community. The behavior of this loop means that the superficial statistical properties of speech available to the infant indirectly reflect the contrastiveness and discriminability of categories in the adult grammar. The article also argues that the developing system is refined using internal feedback from type statistics over the lexicon, once the lexicon is well-developed. The application of type statistics to a system initiated with surface statistics does not cause a fundamental reorganization of the system. Instead, it exploits confluences across levels of representation which characterize human language and make bootstrapping possible.

  16. Phytophagous insects on native and non-native host plants: combining the community approach and the biogeographical approach.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Meijer

    Full Text Available During the past centuries, humans have introduced many plant species in areas where they do not naturally occur. Some of these species establish populations and in some cases become invasive, causing economic and ecological damage. Which factors determine the success of non-native plants is still incompletely understood, but the absence of natural enemies in the invaded area (Enemy Release Hypothesis; ERH is one of the most popular explanations. One of the predictions of the ERH, a reduced herbivore load on non-native plants compared with native ones, has been repeatedly tested. However, many studies have either used a community approach (sampling from native and non-native species in the same community or a biogeographical approach (sampling from the same plant species in areas where it is native and where it is non-native. Either method can sometimes lead to inconclusive results. To resolve this, we here add to the small number of studies that combine both approaches. We do so in a single study of insect herbivory on 47 woody plant species (trees, shrubs, and vines in the Netherlands and Japan. We find higher herbivore diversity, higher herbivore load and more herbivory on native plants than on non-native plants, generating support for the enemy release hypothesis.

  17. Seed rain under native and non-native tree species in the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Puerto Rico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arias Garcia, Andrea; Chinea, J Danilo

    2014-09-01

    Seed dispersal is a fundamental process in plant ecology and is of critical importance for the restoration of tropical communities. The lands of the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge (CRNWR), formerly under agriculture, were abandoned in the 1970s and colonized mainly by non-native tree species of degraded pastures. Here we described the seed rain under the most common native and non-native trees in the refuge in an attempt to determine if focal tree geographic origin (native versus non-native) influences seed dispersal. For this, seed rain was sampled for one year under the canopies of four native and four non-native tree species common in this refuge using 40 seed traps. No significant differences were found for the abundance of seeds, or their diversity, dispersing under native versus non-native focal tree species, nor under the different tree species. A significantly different seed species composition was observed reaching native versus non-native focal species. However, this last result could be more easily explained as a function of distance of the closest adults of the two most abundantly dispersed plant species to the seed traps than as a function of the geographic origin of the focal species. We suggest to continue the practice of planting native tree species, not only as a way to restore the community to a condition similar to the original one, but also to reduce the distances needed for effective dispersal.

  18. Higher dropout rate in non-native patients than in native patients in rehabilitation in The Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sloots, Maurits; Scheppers, Emmanuel F.; van de Weg, Frans B.; Bartels, Edien A.; Geertzen, Jan H.; Dekker, Joost; Dekker, Jaap

    Dropout from a rehabilitation programme often occurs in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain of non-native origin. However, the exact dropout rate is not known. The objective of this study was to determine the difference in dropout rate between native and non-native patients with chronic

  19. Direct and Indirect Influence of Non-Native Neighbours on Pollination and Fruit Production of a Native Plant.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Montero-Castaño

    Full Text Available Entomophilous non-native plants can directly affect the pollination and reproductive success of native plant species and also indirectly, by altering the composition and abundance of floral resources in the invaded community. Separating direct from indirect effects is critical for understanding the mechanisms underlying the impacts of non-native species on recipient communities.Our aims are: (a to explore both the direct effect of the non-native Hedysarum coronarium and its indirect effect, mediated by the alteration of floral diversity, on the pollinator visitation rate and fructification of the native Leopoldia comosa and (b to distinguish whether the effects of the non-native species were due to its floral display or to its vegetative interactions.We conducted field observations within a flower removal experimental setup (i.e. non-native species present, absent and with its inflorescences removed at the neighbourhood scale.Our study illustrates the complexity of mechanisms involved in the impacts of non-native species on native species. Overall, Hedysarum increased pollinator visitation rates to Leopoldia target plants as a result of direct and indirect effects acting in the same direction. Due to its floral display, Hedysarum exerted a direct magnet effect attracting visits to native target plants, especially those made by the honeybee. Indirectly, Hedysarum also increased the visitation rate of native target plants. Due to the competition for resources mediated by its vegetative parts, it decreased floral diversity in the neighbourhoods, which was negatively related to the visitation rate to native target plants. Hedysarum overall also increased the fructification of Leopoldia target plants, even though such an increase was the result of other indirect effects compensating for the observed negative indirect effect mediated by the decrease of floral diversity.

  20. Global compositional variation among native and non-native regional insect assemblages emphasizes the importance of pathways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrew M. Liebhold; Takehiko Yamanaka; Alain Roques; Sylvie Augustin; Steven L. Chown; Eckehard G. Brockerhoff; Petr Pysek

    2016-01-01

    Insects are among the world's most ecologically and economically important invasive species. Here we assemble inventories of native and nonnative species from 20 world regions and contrast relative numbers among these species assemblages. Multivariate ordination indicates that the distribution of species among insect orders is completely different between native...

  1. 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.

  2. 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 ...

  3. Non-native Listeners’ Recognition of High-Variability Speech Using PRESTO

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamati, Terrin N.; Pisoni, David B.

    2015-01-01

    Background Natural variability in speech is a significant challenge to robust successful spoken word recognition. In everyday listening environments, listeners must quickly adapt and adjust to multiple sources of variability in both the signal and listening environments. High-variability speech may be particularly difficult to understand for non-native listeners, who have less experience with the second language (L2) phonological system and less detailed knowledge of sociolinguistic variation of the L2. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of high-variability sentences on non-native speech recognition and to explore the underlying sources of individual differences in speech recognition abilities of non-native listeners. Research Design Participants completed two sentence recognition tasks involving high-variability and low-variability sentences. They also completed a battery of behavioral tasks and self-report questionnaires designed to assess their indexical processing skills, vocabulary knowledge, and several core neurocognitive abilities. Study Sample Native speakers of Mandarin (n = 25) living in the United States recruited from the Indiana University community participated in the current study. A native comparison group consisted of scores obtained from native speakers of English (n = 21) in the Indiana University community taken from an earlier study. Data Collection and Analysis Speech recognition in high-variability listening conditions was assessed with a sentence recognition task using sentences from PRESTO (Perceptually Robust English Sentence Test Open-Set) mixed in 6-talker multitalker babble. Speech recognition in low-variability listening conditions was assessed using sentences from HINT (Hearing In Noise Test) mixed in 6-talker multitalker babble. Indexical processing skills were measured using a talker discrimination task, a gender discrimination task, and a forced-choice regional dialect categorization task. Vocabulary

  4. Student perceptions of native and non-native speaker language instructors: A comparison of ESL and Spanish

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Callahan

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available The question of the native vs. non-native speaker status of second and foreign language instructors has been investigated chiefly from the perspective of the teacher. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students have strong opinions on the relative qualities of instruction by native and non-native speakers. Most research focuses on students of English as a foreign or second language. This paper reports on data gathered through a questionnaire administered to 55 university students: 31 students of Spanish as FL and 24 students of English as SL. Qualitative results show what strengths students believe each type of instructor has, and quantitative results confirm that any gap students may perceive between the abilities of native and non-native instructors is not so wide as one might expect based on popular notions of the issue. ESL students showed a stronger preference for native-speaker instructors overall, and were at variance with the SFL students' ratings of native-speaker instructors' performance on a number of aspects. There was a significant correlation in both groups between having a family member who is a native speaker of the target language and student preference for and self-identification with a native speaker as instructor. (English text

  5. Fleshy fruit removal and nutritional composition of winter-fruiting plants: a comparison of non-native invasive and native species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cathryn H. Greenberg; Scott T. Walter

    2010-01-01

    Invasive, non-native plants threaten forest ecosystems by reducing native plant species richness and potentially altering ecosystem processes. Seed dispersal is critical for successful invasion and range expansion by non-native plants; dispersal is likely to be enhanced if they can successfully compete with native plants for disperser services. Fruit production by non-...

  6. Differences in the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies among Native and Non-Native Readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheorey, R.; Mokhtari, K.

    2001-01-01

    Examines the differences in the reported use of reading strategies of native and non-native English speakers when reading academic materials. Participants were native English speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language college students who completed a survey of reading strategies aimed at discerning the strategies readers report using when coping…

  7. Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities of native and non-native Pinus and Quercus species in a common garden of 35-year-old trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trocha, Lidia K; Kałucka, Izabela; Stasińska, Małgorzata; Nowak, Witold; Dabert, Mirosława; Leski, Tomasz; Rudawska, Maria; Oleksyn, Jacek

    2012-02-01

    Non-native tree species have been widely planted or have become naturalized in most forested landscapes. It is not clear if native trees species collectively differ in ectomycorrhizal fungal (EMF) diversity and communities from that of non-native tree species. Alternatively, EMF species community similarity may be more determined by host plant phylogeny than by whether the plant is native or non-native. We examined these unknowns by comparing two genera, native and non-native Quercus robur and Quercus rubra and native and non-native Pinus sylvestris and Pinus nigra in a 35-year-old common garden in Poland. Using molecular and morphological approaches, we identified EMF species from ectomycorrhizal root tips and sporocarps collected in the monoculture tree plots. A total of 69 EMF species were found, with 38 species collected only as sporocarps, 18 only as ectomycorrhizas, and 13 both as ectomycorrhizas and sporocarps. The EMF species observed were all native and commonly associated with a Holarctic range in distribution. We found that native Q. robur had ca. 120% higher total EMF species richness than the non-native Q. rubra, while native P. sylvestris had ca. 25% lower total EMF species richness than non-native P. nigra. Thus, across genera, there was no evidence that native species have higher EMF species diversity than exotic species. In addition, we found a higher similarity in EMF communities between the two Pinus species than between the two Quercus species. These results support the naturalization of non-native trees by means of mutualistic associations with cosmopolitan and novel fungi.

  8. PEMBELAJARAN KALAM BERBASIS PHONETIC ACCURACY UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN BERBICARA BAHASA ARAB

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  9. Discrimination of Arabic Contrasts by American Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Mahmoud, Mahmoud S.

    2013-01-01

    This article reports on second language perception of non-native contrasts. The study specifically tests the perceptual assimilation model (PAM) by examining American learners' ability to discriminate Arabic contrasts. Twenty two native American speakers enrolled in a university level Arabic language program took part in a forced choice AXB…

  10. Native herbivore exerts contrasting effects on fire regime and vegetation structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jose L. Hierro; Kenneth L. Clark; Lyn C. Branch; Diego Villarreal

    2011-01-01

    Although native herbivores can alter fire regimes by consuming herbaceous vegetation that serves as fine fuel and, less commonly, accumulating fuel as nest material and other structures, simultaneous considerations of contrasting effects of herbivores on fire have scarcely been addressed. We proposed that a colonial rodent, vizcacha (Lagostomus maximus...

  11. Kalispel Non-Native Fish Suppression Project 2007 Annual Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wingert, Michele; Andersen, Todd [Kalispel Natural Resource Department

    2008-11-18

    Non-native salmonids are impacting native salmonid populations throughout the Pend Oreille Subbasin. Competition, hybridization, and predation by non-native fish have been identified as primary factors in the decline of some native bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) and westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) populations. In 2007, the Kalispel Natural Resource Department (KNRD) initiated the Kalispel Nonnative Fish Suppression Project. The goal of this project is to implement actions to suppress or eradicate non-native fish in areas where native populations are declining or have been extirpated. These projects have previously been identified as critical to recovering native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout (WCT). Lower Graham Creek was invaded by non-native rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) after a small dam failed in 1991. By 2003, no genetically pure WCT remained in the lower 700 m of Graham Creek. Further invasion upstream is currently precluded by a relatively short section of steep, cascade-pool stepped channel section that will likely be breached in the near future. In 2008, a fish management structure (barrier) was constructed at the mouth of Graham Creek to preclude further invasion of non-native fish into Graham Creek. The construction of the barrier was preceded by intensive electrofishing in the lower 700 m to remove and relocate all captured fish. Westslope cutthroat trout have recently been extirpated in Cee Cee Ah Creek due to displacement by brook trout. We propose treating Cee Cee Ah Creek with a piscicide to eradicate brook trout. Once eradication is complete, cutthroat trout will be translocated from nearby watersheds. In 2004, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) proposed an antimycin treatment within the subbasin; the project encountered significant public opposition and was eventually abandoned. However, over the course of planning this 2004 project, little public

  12. Syntactic constraints and individual differences in native and non-native processing of wh-movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrienne eJohnson

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available There is a debate as to whether second language (L2 learners show qualitatively similar processing profiles as native speakers or whether L2 learners are restricted in their ability to use syntactic information during online processing. In the realm of wh-dependency resolution, research has examined whether learners, similar to native speakers, attempt to resolve wh-dependencies in grammatically licensed contexts but avoid positing gaps in illicit contexts such as islands. Also at issue is whether the avoidance of gap filling in islands is due to adherence to syntactic constraints or whether islands simply present processing bottlenecks. One approach has been to examine the relationship between processing abilities and the establishment of wh-dependencies in islands. Grammatical accounts of islands do not predict such a relationship as the parser should simply not predict gaps in illicit contexts. In contrast, a pattern of results showing that individuals with more processing resources are better able to establish wh-dependencies in islands could conceivably be compatible with certain processing accounts. In a self-paced reading experiment which examines the processing of wh- dependencies, we address both questions, examining whether native English speakers and Korean learners of English show qualitatively similar patterns and whether there is a relationship between working memory, as measured by counting span and reading span, and processing in both island and non-island contexts. The results of the self-paced reading experiment suggest that learners can use syntactic information on the same timecourse as native speakers, showing qualitative similarity between the two groups. Results of regression analyses did not reveal a significant relationship between working memory and the establishment of wh-dependencies in islands but we did observe significant relationships between working memory and the processing of licit wh-dependencies. As the

  13. 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…

  14. Non-native Speech Learning in Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingvalson, Erin M; Nowicki, Casandra; Zong, Audrey; Wong, Patrick C M

    2017-01-01

    Though there is an extensive literature investigating the ability of younger adults to learn non-native phonology, including investigations into individual differences in younger adults' lexical tone learning, very little is known about older adults' ability to learn non-native phonology, including lexical tone. There are several reasons to suspect that older adults would use different learning mechanisms when learning lexical tone than younger adults, including poorer perception of dynamic pitch, greater reliance on working memory capacity in second language learning, and poorer category learning in older adulthood. The present study examined the relationships among older adults' baseline sensitivity for pitch patterns, working memory capacity, and declarative memory capacity with their ability to learn to associate tone with lexical meaning. In older adults, baseline pitch pattern sensitivity was not associated with generalization performance. Rather, older adults' learning performance was best predicted by declarative memory capacity. These data suggest that training paradigms will need to be modified to optimize older adults' non-native speech sound learning success.

  15. Non-native species impacts on pond occupancy by an anuran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Michael J.; Pearl, Christopher A.; Galvan, Stephanie; McCreary, Brome

    2011-01-01

    Non-native fish and bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus; Rana catesbeiana) are frequently cited as factors contributing to the decline of ranid frogs in the western United States (Bradford 2005). This hypothesis is supported by studies showing competition with or predation by these introduced species (Kupferberg 1997, Kiesecker and Blaustein 1998, Lawler et al. 1999, Knapp et al. 2001) and studies suggesting a deficit of native frogs at sites occupied by bullfrogs or game fish (Hammerson 1982, Schwalbe and Rosen 1988, Fisher and Shaffer 1996, Adams 1999). Conversely, other studies failed to find a negative association between native ranids and bullfrogs and point out that presence of non-native species correlates with habitat alterations that could also contribute to declines of native species (Hayes and Jennings 1986; Adams 1999, 2000; Pearl et al. 2005). A criticism of these studies is that they may not detect an effect of non-native species if the process of displacement is at an early stage. We are not aware of any studies that have monitored a set of native frog populations to determine if non-native species predict population losses. Our objective was to study site occupancy trends in relation to non-native species for northern red-legged frogs (Rana aurora) on federal lands in the southern Willamette Valley, Oregon. We conducted a 5-yr monitoring study to answer the following questions about the status and trends of the northern red-legged frog: 1) What is the rate of local extinction (how often is a site that is occupied in year t unoccupied in year t+1) and what factors predict variation in local extinction? and 2) What is the rate of colonization (how often is a site that is unoccupied in year t occupied in year t+1) and what factors predict variation in colonization? The factors we hypothesized for local extinction were: 1) bullfrog presence, 2) bullfrogs mediated by wetland vegetation, 3) non-native fish (Centrarchidae), 4) non-native fish mediated by

  16. Short-Term Response of Native Flora to the Removal of Non-Native Shrubs in Mixed-Hardwood Forests of Indiana, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joshua M. Shields

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available While negative impacts of invasive species on native communities are well documented, less is known about how these communities respond to the removal of established populations of invasive species. With regard to invasive shrubs, studies examining native community response to removal at scales greater than experimental plots are lacking. We examined short-term effects of removing Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle and other non-native shrubs on native plant taxa in six mixed-hardwood forests. Each study site contained two 0.64 ha sample areas—an area where all non-native shrubs were removed and a reference area where no treatment was implemented. We sampled vegetation in the spring and summer before and after non-native shrubs were removed. Cover and diversity of native species, and densities of native woody seedlings, increased after shrub removal. However, we also observed significant increases in L. maackii seedling densities and Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard cover in removal areas. Changes in reference areas were less pronounced and mostly non-significant. Our results suggest that removing non-native shrubs allows short-term recovery of native communities across a range of invasion intensities. However, successful restoration will likely depend on renewed competition with invasive species that re-colonize treatment areas, the influence of herbivores, and subsequent control efforts.

  17. Non-natives: 141 scientists object

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Simberloff, D.; Van der Putten, W.H.

    2011-01-01

    Supplementary information to: Non-natives: 141 scientists object Full list of co-signatories to a Correspondence published in Nature 475, 36 (2011); doi: 10.1038/475036a. Daniel Simberloff University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. dsimberloff@utk.edu Jake Alexander Institute of Integrative

  18. Non-native Species in Floodplain Secondary Forests in Peninsular Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nor Rasidah Hashim

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available There is an increasing concern of alien species invading our tropical ecosystems because anthropogenic land use can create conditions in which non-native species thrive. This study is an assessment of bioinvasion using a quantitative survey of non-native plant species in floodplain secondary forests in Peninsular Malaysia. The study area is known to have a long cultivation and settlement history that provides ample time for non-native species introduction. The survey results showed that introduced species constituted 23% of all the identified species, with seven species unique to riparian forest strips and eleven species unique to abandoned paddy fields and the remaining five species being shared between the two secondary forest types. There existed some habitat preferences amongst the species implying both secondary forests were potentially susceptible to bioinvasion. Fourteen species are also invasive elsewhere (PIER invasives whereas fifteen species have acquired local uses such for traditional medicine and food products. The presence of these non-native species could alter native plant succession trajectory, and eventually leads to native species impoverishment if the exotics managed to outcompete the native species. As such, the findings of this study have a far-reaching application for the national biodiversity conservation efforts because it provides the required information on bioinvasion.

  19. Non-native fishes in Florida freshwaters: a literature review and synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schofield, Pamela J.; Loftus, William F.

    2015-01-01

    Non-native fishes have been known from freshwater ecosystems of Florida since the 1950s, and dozens of species have established self-sustaining populations. Nonetheless, no synthesis of data collected on those species in Florida has been published until now. We searched the literature for peer-reviewed publications reporting original data for 42 species of non-native fishes in Florida that are currently established, were established in the past, or are sustained by human intervention. Since the 1950s, the number of non-native fish species increased steadily at a rate of roughly six new species per decade. Studies documented (in decreasing abundance): geographic location/range expansion, life- and natural-history characteristics (e.g., diet, habitat use), ecophysiology, community composition, population structure, behaviour, aquatic-plant management, and fisheries/aquaculture. Although there is a great deal of taxonomic uncertainty and confusion associated with many taxa, very few studies focused on clarifying taxonomic ambiguities of non-native fishes in the State. Most studies were descriptive; only 15 % were manipulative. Risk assessments, population-control studies and evaluations of effects of non-native fishes were rare topics for research, although they are highly valued by natural-resource managers. Though some authors equated lack of data with lack of effects, research is needed to confirm or deny conclusions. Much more is known regarding the effects of lionfish (Pterois spp.) on native fauna, despite its much shorter establishment time. Natural-resource managers need biological and ecological information to make policy decisions regarding non-native fishes. Given the near-absence of empirical data on effects of Florida non-native fishes, and the lengthy time-frames usually needed to collect such information, we provide suggestions for data collection in a manner that may be useful in the evaluation and prediction of non-native fish effects.

  20. Ethnicity and Phonetic Variation in a San Francisco Neighborhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall-Lew, Lauren

    2009-01-01

    This dissertation advances research in sociolinguistics by analyzing phonetic variation in a majority Asian American community in San Francisco, California. As one of the first community studies focusing on Asian Americans in an urban US context, this work speaks to ongoing discussions about speaker ethnicity, phonetic variation, and regional…

  1. Non-native Chinese Foreign Language (CFL) Teachers: Identity and Discourse

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Chun

    2014-01-01

    Abstract Native Chinese foreign language (CFL) teacher identity is an emerging subject of research interest in the teacher education. Yet, limited study has been done on the construction of Non-native CFL teachers in their home culture. Guided by a concept of teacher identity-in-discourse, the pa......Abstract Native Chinese foreign language (CFL) teacher identity is an emerging subject of research interest in the teacher education. Yet, limited study has been done on the construction of Non-native CFL teachers in their home culture. Guided by a concept of teacher identity...... teachers face tensions and challenges in constructing their identities as CFL teachers, and the tensions and challenges that arose from Danish teaching culture could influence the Non-native CFL teachers' contributions to CFL teaching in their home cultures. The findings further show that in order to cope...

  2. 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)

  3. Comparing differential tolerance of native and non-indigenous marine species to metal pollution using novel assay techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piola, Richard F.; Johnston, Emma L.

    2009-01-01

    Recent research suggests anthropogenic disturbance may disproportionately advantage non-indigenous species (NIS), aiding their establishment within impacted environments. This study used novel laboratory- and field-based toxicity testing to determine whether non-indigenous and native bryozoans (common within marine epibenthic communities worldwide) displayed differential tolerance to the common marine pollutant copper (Cu). In laboratory assays on adult colonies, NIS showed remarkable tolerance to Cu, with strong post-exposure recovery and growth. In contrast, native species displayed negative growth and reduced feeding efficiency across most exposure levels. Field transplant experiments supported laboratory findings, with NIS growing faster under Cu conditions. In field-based larval assays, NIS showed strong recruitment and growth in the presence of Cu relative to the native species. We suggest that strong selective pressures exerted by the toxic antifouling paints used on transport vectors (vessels), combined with metal contamination in estuarine environments, may result in metal tolerant NIS advantaged by anthropogenically modified selection regimes. - Greater tolerance to pollutants in marine NIS may increase the risk of invasion in port and harbours worldwide by providing a competitive advantage over native taxa.

  4. Positive and Negative Impacts of Non-Native Bee Species around the World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russo, Laura

    2016-11-28

    Though they are relatively understudied, non-native bees are ubiquitous and have enormous potential economic and environmental impacts. These impacts may be positive or negative, and are often unquantified. In this manuscript, I review literature on the known distribution and environmental and economic impacts of 80 species of introduced bees. The potential negative impacts of non-native bees include competition with native bees for nesting sites or floral resources, pollination of invasive weeds, co-invasion with pathogens and parasites, genetic introgression, damage to buildings, affecting the pollination of native plant species, and changing the structure of native pollination networks. The potential positive impacts of non-native bees include agricultural pollination, availability for scientific research, rescue of native species, and resilience to human-mediated disturbance and climate change. Most non-native bee species are accidentally introduced and nest in stems, twigs, and cavities in wood. In terms of number of species, the best represented families are Megachilidae and Apidae, and the best represented genus is Megachile . The best studied genera are Apis and Bombus , and most of the species in these genera were deliberately introduced for agricultural pollination. Thus, we know little about the majority of non-native bees, accidentally introduced or spreading beyond their native ranges.

  5. Positive and Negative Impacts of Non-Native Bee Species around the World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Russo

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Though they are relatively understudied, non-native bees are ubiquitous and have enormous potential economic and environmental impacts. These impacts may be positive or negative, and are often unquantified. In this manuscript, I review literature on the known distribution and environmental and economic impacts of 80 species of introduced bees. The potential negative impacts of non-native bees include competition with native bees for nesting sites or floral resources, pollination of invasive weeds, co-invasion with pathogens and parasites, genetic introgression, damage to buildings, affecting the pollination of native plant species, and changing the structure of native pollination networks. The potential positive impacts of non-native bees include agricultural pollination, availability for scientific research, rescue of native species, and resilience to human-mediated disturbance and climate change. Most non-native bee species are accidentally introduced and nest in stems, twigs, and cavities in wood. In terms of number of species, the best represented families are Megachilidae and Apidae, and the best represented genus is Megachile. The best studied genera are Apis and Bombus, and most of the species in these genera were deliberately introduced for agricultural pollination. Thus, we know little about the majority of non-native bees, accidentally introduced or spreading beyond their native ranges.

  6. The Non-Native English Speaker Teachers in TESOL Movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamhi-Stein, Lía D.

    2016-01-01

    It has been almost 20 years since what is known as the non-native English-speaking (NNES) professionals' movement--designed to increase the status of NNES professionals--started within the US-based TESOL International Association. However, still missing from the literature is an understanding of what a movement is, and why non-native English…

  7. STUDENTS WRITING EMAILS TO FACULTY: AN EXAMINATION OF E-POLITENESS AMONG NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sigrun Biesenbach-Lucas

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available This study combines interlanguage pragmatics and speech act research with computer-mediated communication and examines how native and non-native speakers of English formulate low- and high-imposition requests to faculty. While some research claims that email, due to absence of non-verbal cues, encourages informal language, other research has claimed the opposite. However, email technology also allows writers to plan and revise messages before sending them, thus affording the opportunity to edit not only for grammar and mechanics, but also for pragmatic clarity and politeness.The study examines email requests sent by native and non-native English speaking graduate students to faculty at a major American university over a period of several semesters and applies Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper’s (1989 speech act analysis framework – quantitatively to distinguish levels of directness, i.e. pragmatic clarity; and qualitatively to compare syntactic and lexical politeness devices, the request perspectives, and the specific linguistic request realization patterns preferred by native and non-native speakers. Results show that far more requests are realized through direct strategies as well as hints than conventionally indirect strategies typically found in comparative speech act studies. Politeness conventions in email, a text-only medium with little guidance in the academic institutional hierarchy, appear to be a work in progress, and native speakers demonstrate greater resources in creating e-polite messages to their professors than non-native speakers. A possible avenue for pedagogical intervention with regard to instruction in and acquisition of politeness routines in hierarchically upward email communication is presented.

  8. Emotional communication in medical consultations with native and non-native patients applying two different methodological approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kale, Emine; Skjeldestad, Kristin; Finset, Arnstein

    2013-09-01

    To explore the potential agreement between two different methods to investigate emotional communication of native and non-native patients in medical consultations. The data consisted of 12 videotaped hospital consultations with six native and six non-native patients. The consultations were coded according to coding rules of the Verona Coding definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES) and afterwards analyzed by discourse analysis (DA) by two co-workers who were blind to the results from VR-CoDES. The agreement between VR-CoDES and DA was high in consultations with many cues and concerns, both with native and non-native patients. In consultations with no (or one cue) according to VR-CoDES criteria the DA still indicated the presence of emotionally salient expressions and themes. In some consultations cues to underlying emotions are communicated so vaguely or veiled by language barriers that standard VR-CoDES coding may miss subtle cues. Many of these sub-threshold cues could potentially be coded as cues according to VR-CoDES main coding categories, if criteria for coding vague or ambiguous cues had been better specified. Combining different analytical frameworks on the same dataset provide us new insights on emotional communication. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Comprehending non-native speakers: theory and evidence for adjustment in manner of processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lev-Ari, Shiri

    2014-01-01

    Non-native speakers have lower linguistic competence than native speakers, which renders their language less reliable in conveying their intentions. We suggest that expectations of lower competence lead listeners to adapt their manner of processing when they listen to non-native speakers. We propose that listeners use cognitive resources to adjust by increasing their reliance on top-down processes and extracting less information from the language of the non-native speaker. An eye-tracking study supports our proposal by showing that when following instructions by a non-native speaker, listeners make more contextually-induced interpretations. Those with relatively high working memory also increase their reliance on context to anticipate the speaker's upcoming reference, and are less likely to notice lexical errors in the non-native speech, indicating that they take less information from the speaker's language. These results contribute to our understanding of the flexibility in language processing and have implications for interactions between native and non-native speakers.

  10. Feedback in online course for non-native English-speaking students

    CERN Document Server

    Olesova, Larisa

    2013-01-01

    Feedback in Online Course for Non-Native English-Speaking Students is an investigation of the effectiveness of audio and text feedback provided in English in an online course for non-native English-speaking students. The study presents results showing how audio and text feedback can impact on non-native English-speaking students' higher-order learning as they participate in an asynchronous online course. It also discusses the results of how students perceive both types of the feedback provided. In addition, the study examines how the impact and perceptions differ when the instructor giving the

  11. Modulation of legume defense signaling pathways by native and non-native pea aphid clones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Sanchez-Arcos

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum is a complex of at least 15 genetically different host races that are native to specific legume plants, but can all develop on the universal host plant Vicia faba. Despite much research it is still unclear why pea aphid host races (biotypes are able to colonize their native hosts while other host races are not. All aphids penetrate the plant and salivate into plant cells when they test plant suitability. Thus plants might react differently to the various pea aphid host races. To find out whether legume species vary in their defense responses to different pea aphid host races, we measured the amounts of salicylic acid (SA, the jasmonic acid-isoleucine conjugate (JA-Ile, other jasmonate precursors and derivatives, and abscisic acid (ABA in four different species (Medicago sativa, Trifolium pratense, Pisum sativum, V. faba after infestation by native and non-native pea aphid clones of various host races. Additionally, we assessed the performance of the clones on the four plant species. On M. sativa and T. pratense, non-native clones that were barely able to survive or reproduce, triggered a strong SA and JA-Ile response, whereas infestation with native clones led to lower levels of both phytohormones. On P. sativum, non-native clones, which survived or reproduced to a certain extent, induced fluctuating SA and JA-Ile levels, whereas the native clone triggered only a weak SA and JA-Ile response. On the universal host V. faba all aphid clones triggered only low SA levels initially, but induced clone-specific patterns of SA and JA-Ile later on. The levels of the active JA-Ile conjugate and of the other JA-pathway metabolites measured showed in many cases similar patterns, suggesting that the reduction in JA signaling was due to an effect upstream of OPDA. ABA levels were downregulated in all aphid clone-plant combinations and were therefore probably not decisive factors for aphid-plant compatibility. Our results

  12. Reflecting on the dichotomy native-non native speakers in an EFL context

    OpenAIRE

    Mariño, Claudia

    2011-01-01

    This article provides a discussion based on constructs about the dichotomy betweennative and non-native speakers. Several models and examples are displayed about thespreading of the English language with the intention of understanding its developmentin the whole world and in Colombia, specifically. Then, some possible definitions aregiven to the term “native speaker” and its conceptualization is described as both realityand myth. One of the main reasons for writing this article is grounded on...

  13. Impact of Non-Native Birds on Native Ecosystems: A Global Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin-Albarracin, Valeria L; Amico, Guillermo C; Simberloff, Daniel; Nuñez, Martin A

    2015-01-01

    Introduction and naturalization of non-native species is one of the most important threats to global biodiversity. Birds have been widely introduced worldwide, but their impacts on populations, communities, and ecosystems have not received as much attention as those of other groups. This work is a global synthesis of the impact of nonnative birds on native ecosystems to determine (1) what groups, impacts, and locations have been best studied; (2) which taxonomic groups and which impacts have greatest effects on ecosystems, (3) how important are bird impacts at the community and ecosystem levels, and (4) what are the known benefits of nonnative birds to natural ecosystems. We conducted an extensive literature search that yielded 148 articles covering 39 species belonging to 18 families -18% of all known naturalized species. Studies were classified according to where they were conducted: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America, South America, Islands of the Indian, of the Pacific, and of the Atlantic Ocean. Seven types of impact on native ecosystems were evaluated: competition, disease transmission, chemical, physical, or structural impact on ecosystem, grazing/ herbivory/ browsing, hybridization, predation, and interaction with other non-native species. Hybridization and disease transmission were the most important impacts, affecting the population and community levels. Ecosystem-level impacts, such as structural and chemical impacts were detected. Seven species were found to have positive impacts aside from negative ones. We provide suggestions for future studies focused on mechanisms of impact, regions, and understudied taxonomic groups.

  14. Vulnerability of freshwater native biodiversity to non-native species invasions across the continental United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Background/Question/Methods Non-native species pose one of the greatest threats to native biodiversity. The literature provides plentiful empirical and anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon; however, such evidence is limited to local or regional scales. Employing geospatial analy...

  15. 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

  16. 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...

  17. Non-native earthworms promote plant invasion by ingesting seeds and modifying soil properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clause, Julia; Forey, Estelle; Lortie, Christopher J.; Lambert, Adam M.; Barot, Sébastien

    2015-04-01

    Earthworms can have strong direct effects on plant communities through consumption and digestion of seeds, however it is unclear how earthworms may influence the relative abundance and composition of plant communities invaded by non-native species. In this study, earthworms, seed banks, and the standing vegetation were sampled in a grassland of central California. Our objectives were i) to examine whether the abundances of non-native, invasive earthworm species and non-native grassland plant species are correlated, and ii) to test whether seed ingestion by these worms alters the soil seed bank by evaluating the composition of seeds in casts relative to uningested soil. Sampling locations were selected based on historical land-use practices, including presence or absence of tilling, and revegetation by seed using Phalaris aquatica. Only non-native earthworm species were found, dominated by the invasive European species Aporrectodea trapezoides. Earthworm abundance was significantly higher in the grassland blocks dominated by non-native plant species, and these sites had higher carbon and moisture contents. Earthworm abundance was also positively related to increased emergence of non-native seedlings, but had no effect on that of native seedlings. Plant species richness and total seedling emergence were higher in casts than in uningested soils. This study suggests that there is a potential effect of non-native earthworms in promoting non-native and likely invasive plant species within grasslands, due to seed-plant-earthworm interactions via soil modification or to seed ingestion by earthworms and subsequent cast effects on grassland dynamics. This study supports a growing body of literature for earthworms as ecosystem engineers but highlights the relative importance of considering non-native-native interactions with the associated plant community.

  18. In vivo X-Ray Computed Tomographic Imaging of Soft Tissue with Native, Intravenous, or Oral Contrast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Matthew Leevy

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available X-ray Computed Tomography (CT is one of the most commonly utilized anatomical imaging modalities for both research and clinical purposes. CT combines high-resolution, three-dimensional data with relatively fast acquisition to provide a solid platform for non-invasive human or specimen imaging. The primary limitation of CT is its inability to distinguish many soft tissues based on native contrast. While bone has high contrast within a CT image due to its material density from calcium phosphate, soft tissue is less dense and many are homogenous in density. This presents a challenge in distinguishing one type of soft tissue from another. A couple exceptions include the lungs as well as fat, both of which have unique densities owing to the presence of air or bulk hydrocarbons, respectively. In order to facilitate X-ray CT imaging of other structures, a range of contrast agents have been developed to selectively identify and visualize the anatomical properties of individual tissues. Most agents incorporate atoms like iodine, gold, or barium because of their ability to absorb X-rays, and thus impart contrast to a given organ system. Here we review the strategies available to visualize lung, fat, brain, kidney, liver, spleen, vasculature, gastrointestinal tract, and liver tissues of living mice using either innate contrast, or commercial injectable or ingestible agents with selective perfusion. Further, we demonstrate how each of these approaches will facilitate the non-invasive, longitudinal, in vivo imaging of pre-clinical disease models at each anatomical site.

  19. In vivo X-Ray Computed Tomographic Imaging of Soft Tissue with Native, Intravenous, or Oral Contrast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wathen, Connor A.; Foje, Nathan; van Avermaete, Tony; Miramontes, Bernadette; Chapaman, Sarah E.; Sasser, Todd A.; Kannan, Raghuraman; Gerstler, Steven; Leevy, W. Matthew

    2013-01-01

    X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) is one of the most commonly utilized anatomical imaging modalities for both research and clinical purposes. CT combines high-resolution, three-dimensional data with relatively fast acquisition to provide a solid platform for non-invasive human or specimen imaging. The primary limitation of CT is its inability to distinguish many soft tissues based on native contrast. While bone has high contrast within a CT image due to its material density from calcium phosphate, soft tissue is less dense and many are homogenous in density. This presents a challenge in distinguishing one type of soft tissue from another. A couple exceptions include the lungs as well as fat, both of which have unique densities owing to the presence of air or bulk hydrocarbons, respectively. In order to facilitate X-ray CT imaging of other structures, a range of contrast agents have been developed to selectively identify and visualize the anatomical properties of individual tissues. Most agents incorporate atoms like iodine, gold, or barium because of their ability to absorb X-rays, and thus impart contrast to a given organ system. Here we review the strategies available to visualize lung, fat, brain, kidney, liver, spleen, vasculature, gastrointestinal tract, and liver tissues of living mice using either innate contrast, or commercial injectable or ingestible agents with selective perfusion. Further, we demonstrate how each of these approaches will facilitate the non-invasive, longitudinal, in vivo imaging of pre-clinical disease models at each anatomical site. PMID:23711461

  20. Long-term trends of native and non-native fish faunas in the American Southwest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olden, J. D.

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Environmental degradation and the proliferation of non-native fish species threaten the endemic, and highly unique fish faunas of the American Southwest. The present study examines long-term trends (> 160 years of fish species distributions in the Lower Colorado River Basin and identifies those native species (n = 28 exhibiting the greatest rates of decline and those non-native species (n = 48 exhibiting the highest rates of spread. Among the fastest expanding invaders in the basin are red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis, fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas, green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus, largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides, western mosquitofish (Gambussia affinis and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus; species considered to be the most invasive in terms of their negative impacts on native fish communities. Interestingly, non-native species that have been recently introduced (1950+ have generally spread at substantially lower rates as compared to species introduced prior to this time (especially from 1920 to 1950, likely reflecting reductions in human-aided spread of species. We found general agreement between patterns of species decline and extant distribution sizes and official listing status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. ‘Endangered’ species have generally experienced greater declines and have smaller present-day distributions compared to ‘threatened’ species, which in turn have shown greater declines and smaller distributions than those species not currently listed. A number of notable exceptions did exist, however, and these may provide critical information to help guide the future listing of species (i.e., identification of candidates and the upgrading or downgrading of current listed species that are endemic to the Lower Colorado River Basin. The strong correlation between probability estimates of local extirpation and patterns of native species decline and present-day distributions suggest a possible proactive

  1. Are native songbird populations affected by non-native plant invasion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amanda M. Conover; Christopher K. Williams; Vincent. D' Amico

    2011-01-01

    Development into forested areas is occurring rapidly across the United States, and many of the remnant forests within suburban landscapes are being fragmented into smaller patches, impacting the quality of this habitat for avian species. An ecological effect linked to forest fragmentation is the invasion of non-native plants into the ecosystem.

  2. An Ecosystem-Service Approach to Evaluate the Role of Non-Native Species in Urbanized Wetlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rita S. W. Yam

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Natural wetlands have been increasingly transformed into urbanized ecosystems commonly colonized by stress-tolerant non-native species. Although non-native species present numerous threats to natural ecosystems, some could provide important benefits to urbanized ecosystems. This study investigated the extent of colonization by non-native fish and bird species of three urbanized wetlands in subtropical Taiwan. Using literature data the role of each non-native species in the urbanized wetland was evaluated by their effect (benefits/damages on ecosystem services (ES based on their ecological traits. Our sites were seriously colonized by non-native fishes (39%–100%, but <3% by non-native birds. Although most non-native species could damage ES regulation (disease control and wastewater purification, some could be beneficial to the urbanized wetland ES. Our results indicated the importance of non-native fishes in supporting ES by serving as food source to fish-eating waterbirds (native, and migratory species due to their high abundance, particularly for Oreochromis spp. However, all non-native birds are regarded as “harmful” species causing important ecosystem disservices, and thus eradication of these bird-invaders from urban wetlands would be needed. This simple framework for role evaluation of non-native species represents a holistic and transferable approach to facilitate decision making on management priority of non-native species in urbanized wetlands.

  3. Unique structural modulation of a non-native substrate by cochaperone DnaJ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiwari, Satyam; Kumar, Vignesh; Jayaraj, Gopal Gunanathan; Maiti, Souvik; Mapa, Koyeli

    2013-02-12

    The role of bacterial DnaJ protein as a cochaperone of DnaK is strongly appreciated. Although DnaJ unaccompanied by DnaK can bind unfolded as well as native substrate proteins, its role as an individual chaperone remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that DnaJ binds a model non-native substrate with a low nanomolar dissociation constant and, more importantly, modulates the structure of its non-native state. The structural modulation achieved by DnaJ is different compared to that achieved by the DnaK-DnaJ complex. The nature of structural modulation exerted by DnaJ is suggestive of a unique unfolding activity on the non-native substrate by the chaperone. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the zinc binding motif along with the C-terminal substrate binding domain of DnaJ is necessary and sufficient for binding and the subsequent binding-induced structural alterations of the non-native substrate. We hypothesize that this hitherto unknown structural alteration of non-native states by DnaJ might be important for its chaperoning activity by removing kinetic traps of the folding intermediates.

  4. NIS occurrence - Non-native species impacts on threatened and endangered salmonids

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The objectives of this project: a) Identify the distribution of non-natives in the Columbia River Basin b) Highlight the impacts of non-natives on salmonids c)...

  5. 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.

  6. The Impact of Non-Native English Teachers' Linguistic Insecurity on Learners' Productive Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daftari, Giti Ehtesham; Tavil, Zekiye Müge

    2017-01-01

    The discrimination between native and non-native English speaking teachers is reported in favor of native speakers in literature. The present study examines the linguistic insecurity of non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) and investigates its influence on learners' productive skills by using SPSS software. The eighteen teachers…

  7. Thermal physiology of native cool-climate, and non-native warm-climate Pumpkinseed sunfish raised in a common environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rooke, Anna C; Burness, Gary; Fox, Michael G

    2017-02-01

    Contemporary evolution of thermal physiology has the potential to help limit the physiological stress associated with rapidly changing thermal environments; however it is unclear if wild populations can respond quickly enough for such changes to be effective. We used native Canadian Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) sunfish, and non-native Pumpkinseed introduced into the milder climate of Spain ~100 years ago, to assess genetic differences in thermal physiology in response to the warmer non-native climate. We compared temperature performance reaction norms of two Canadian and two Spanish Pumpkinseed populations born and raised within a common environment. We found that Canadian Pumpkinseed had higher routine metabolic rates when measured at seasonally high temperatures (15°C in winter, 30°C in summer), and that Spanish Pumpkinseed had higher critical thermal maxima when acclimated to 30°C in the summer. Growth rates were not significantly different among populations, however Canadian Pumpkinseed tended to have faster growth at the warmest temperatures measured (32°C). The observed differences in physiology among Canadian and Spanish populations at the warmest acclimation temperatures are consistent with the introduced populations being better suited to the warmer non-native climate than native populations. The observed differences could be the result of either founder effects, genetic drift, and/or contemporary adaptive evolution in the warmer non-native climate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. An Ecosystem-Service Approach to Evaluate the Role of Non-Native Species in Urbanized Wetlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yam, Rita S. W.; Huang, Ko-Pu; Hsieh, Hwey-Lian; Lin, Hsing-Juh; Huang, Shou-Chung

    2015-01-01

    Natural wetlands have been increasingly transformed into urbanized ecosystems commonly colonized by stress-tolerant non-native species. Although non-native species present numerous threats to natural ecosystems, some could provide important benefits to urbanized ecosystems. This study investigated the extent of colonization by non-native fish and bird species of three urbanized wetlands in subtropical Taiwan. Using literature data the role of each non-native species in the urbanized wetland was evaluated by their effect (benefits/damages) on ecosystem services (ES) based on their ecological traits. Our sites were seriously colonized by non-native fishes (39%–100%), but wetland ES. Our results indicated the importance of non-native fishes in supporting ES by serving as food source to fish-eating waterbirds (native, and migratory species) due to their high abundance, particularly for Oreochromis spp. However, all non-native birds are regarded as “harmful” species causing important ecosystem disservices, and thus eradication of these bird-invaders from urban wetlands would be needed. This simple framework for role evaluation of non-native species represents a holistic and transferable approach to facilitate decision making on management priority of non-native species in urbanized wetlands. PMID:25860870

  9. Potential for water salvage by removal of non-native woody vegetation from dryland river systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doody, T.M.; Nagler, P.L.; Glenn, E.P.; Moore, G.W.; Morino, K.; Hultine, K.R.; Benyon, R.G.

    2011-01-01

    Globally, expansion of non-native woody vegetation across floodplains has raised concern of increased evapotranspiration (ET) water loss with consequent reduced river flows and groundwater supplies. Water salvage programs, established to meet water supply demands by removing introduced species, show little documented evidence of program effectiveness. We use two case studies in the USA and Australia to illustrate factors that contribute to water salvage feasibility for a given ecological setting. In the USA, saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) has become widespread on western rivers, with water salvage programs attempted over a 50-year period. Some studies document riparian transpiration or ET reduction after saltcedar removal, but detectable increases in river base flow are not conclusively shown. Furthermore, measurements of riparian vegetation ET in natural settings show saltcedar ET overlaps the range measured for native riparian species, thereby constraining the possibility of water salvage by replacing saltcedar with native vegetation. In Australia, introduced willows (Salix spp.) have become widespread in riparian systems in the Murray-Darling Basin. Although large-scale removal projects have been undertaken, no attempts have been made to quantify increases in base flows. Recent studies of ET indicate that willows growing in permanently inundated stream beds have high transpiration rates, indicating water savings could be achieved from removal. In contrast, native Eucalyptus trees and willows growing on stream banks show similar ET rates with no net water salvage from replacing willows with native trees. We conclude that water salvage feasibility is highly dependent on the ecohydrological setting in which the non-native trees occur. We provide an overview of conditions favorable to water salvage. Copyright ?? 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  10. Students Writing Emails to Faculty: An Examination of E-Politeness among Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biesenbach-Lucas, Sigrun

    2007-01-01

    This study combines interlanguage pragmatics and speech act research with computer-mediated communication and examines how native and non-native speakers of English formulate low- and high-imposition requests to faculty. While some research claims that email, due to absence of non-verbal cues, encourages informal language, other research has…

  11. DNA metabarcoding of fish larvae for detection of non-native fishes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Our objective was to evaluate the use of fish larvae for early detection of non-native fishes, comparing traditional and molecular taxonomy approaches to investigate potential efficiencies. Fish larvae present an interesting opportunity for non-native fish early detection because...

  12. Factors influencing non-native tree species distribution in urban landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wayne C. Zipperer

    2010-01-01

    Non-native species are presumed to be pervasive across the urban landscape. Yet, we actually know very little about their actual distribution. For this study, vegetation plot data from Syracuse, NY and Baltimore, MD were used to examine non-native tree species distribution in urban landscapes. Data were collected from remnant and emergent forest patches on upland sites...

  13. Does verbatim sentence recall underestimate the language competence of near-native speakers?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith eSchweppe

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Verbatim sentence recall is widely used to test the language competence of native and non-native speakers since it involves comprehension and production of connected speech. However, we assume that, to maintain surface information, sentence recall relies particularly on attentional resources, which differentially affects native and non-native speakers. Since even in near-natives language processing is less automatized than in native speakers, processing a sentence in a foreign language plus retaining its surface may result in a cognitive overload. We contrasted sentence recall performance of German native speakers with that of highly proficient non-natives. Non-natives recalled the sentences significantly poorer than the natives, but performed equally well on a cloze test. This implies that sentence recall underestimates the language competence of good non-native speakers in mixed groups with native speakers. The findings also suggest that theories of sentence recall need to consider both its linguistic and its attentional aspects.

  14. 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.

  15. Do native parasitic plants cause more damage to exotic invasive hosts than native non-invasive hosts? An implication for biocontrol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Junmin; Jin, Zexin; Song, Wenjing

    2012-01-01

    Field studies have shown that native, parasitic plants grow vigorously on invasive plants and can cause more damage to invasive plants than native plants. However, no empirical test has been conducted and the mechanism is still unknown. We conducted a completely randomized greenhouse experiment using 3 congeneric pairs of exotic, invasive and native, non-invasive herbaceous plant species to quantify the damage caused by parasitic plants to hosts and its correlation with the hosts' growth rate and resource use efficiency. The biomass of the parasitic plants on exotic, invasive hosts was significantly higher than on congeneric native, non-invasive hosts. Parasites caused more damage to exotic, invasive hosts than to congeneric, native, non-invasive hosts. The damage caused by parasites to hosts was significantly positively correlated with the biomass of parasitic plants. The damage of parasites to hosts was significantly positively correlated with the relative growth rate and the resource use efficiency of its host plants. It may be the mechanism by which parasitic plants grow more vigorously on invasive hosts and cause more damage to exotic, invasive hosts than to native, non-invasive hosts. These results suggest a potential biological control effect of native, parasitic plants on invasive species by reducing the dominance of invasive species in the invaded community.

  16. How much does language proficiency by non-native listeners influence speech audiometric tests in noise?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warzybok, Anna; Brand, Thomas; Wagener, Kirsten C; Kollmeier, Birger

    2015-01-01

    The current study investigates the extent to which the linguistic complexity of three commonly employed speech recognition tests and second language proficiency influence speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) in noise in non-native listeners. SRTs were measured for non-natives and natives using three German speech recognition tests: the digit triplet test (DTT), the Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA), and the Göttingen sentence test (GÖSA). Sixty-four non-native and eight native listeners participated. Non-natives can show native-like SRTs in noise only for the linguistically easy speech material (DTT). Furthermore, the limitation of phonemic-acoustical cues in digit triplets affects speech recognition to the same extent in non-natives and natives. For more complex and less familiar speech materials, non-natives, ranging from basic to advanced proficiency in German, require on average 3-dB better signal-to-noise ratio for the OLSA and 6-dB for the GÖSA to obtain 50% speech recognition compared to native listeners. In clinical audiology, SRT measurements with a closed-set speech test (i.e. DTT for screening or OLSA test for clinical purposes) should be used with non-native listeners rather than open-set speech tests (such as the GÖSA or HINT), especially if a closed-set version in the patient's own native language is available.

  17. Second Language Acquisition at the Phonetic-Phonological Interface: A proposal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashima Aggarwal

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the acquisition of novel second language phonological contrasts by speakers of different languages. It explores the possibility of building a framework to test the adult acquisition of voicing and aspiration features of Hindi by speakers of Dimasa, Rabha, Tamil and English. It is noteworthy that Hindi has a four-way voicing contrast while Dimasa, Rabha and Tamil have two-way, three-way and one-way respectively. The paper presents an experiment designed to test the acquisition of non-native acquisition by these L1 speakers. The task designed to train these L1 speakers to perceive the new contrasts is an AX same or different task. Training will be followed by retention and generalizability test also. Evidence of significantly better perception post-training will suggest access to Universal Grammar beyond the Critical period.

  18. 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…

  19. 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...

  20. When the Native Is Also a Non-Native: "Retrodicting" the Complexity of Language Teacher Cognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aslan, Erhan

    2015-01-01

    The impact of native (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) identities on second or foreign language teachers' cognition and practices in the classroom has mainly been investigated in ESL/EFL contexts. Using complexity theory as a framework, this case study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by presenting a foreign language teacher in the…

  1. Non-natives: 141 scientists object

    OpenAIRE

    Simberloff, Daniel; Vilà, Montserrat

    2011-01-01

    Supplementary information to: Non-natives: 141 scientists object Full list of co-signatories to a Correspondence published in Nature 475, 36 (2011); doi: 10.1038/475036a. Daniel Simberloff University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Jake Alexander Institute of Integrative Biology, Zurich, Switzerland. Fred Allendorf University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA. James Aronson CEFE/CNRS, Montpellier, France. Pedro M. Antunes Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Onta...

  2. Managing conflicts arising from fisheries enhancements based on non-native fishes in southern Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellender, B R; Woodford, D J; Weyl, O L F; Cowx, I G

    2014-12-01

    Southern Africa has a long history of non-native fish introductions for the enhancement of recreational and commercial fisheries, due to a perceived lack of suitable native species. This has resulted in some important inland fisheries being based on non-native fishes. Regionally, these introductions are predominantly not benign, and non-native fishes are considered one of the main threats to aquatic biodiversity because they affect native biota through predation, competition, habitat alteration, disease transfer and hybridization. To achieve national policy objectives of economic development, food security and poverty eradication, countries are increasingly looking towards inland fisheries as vehicles for development. As a result, conflicts have developed between economic and conservation objectives. In South Africa, as is the case for other invasive biota, the control and management of non-native fishes is included in the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. Implementation measures include import and movement controls and, more recently, non-native fish eradication in conservation priority areas. Management actions are, however, complicated because many non-native fishes are important components in recreational and subsistence fisheries that contribute towards regional economies and food security. In other southern African countries, little attention has focussed on issues and management of non-native fishes, and this is cause for concern. This paper provides an overview of introductions, impacts and fisheries in southern Africa with emphasis on existing and evolving legislation, conflicts, implementation strategies and the sometimes innovative approaches that have been used to prioritize conservation areas and manage non-native fishes. © 2014 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  4. Distribution and status of five non-native fish species in the Tampa Bay drainage (USA), a hot spot for fish introductions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawson, Katelyn M.; Tuckett, Quenton M.; Ritch, Jared L.; Nico, Leo; Fuller, Pam; Matheson, Richard E.; Hill, Jeffrey E.

    2017-01-01

    The Tampa Bay region of Florida (USA) is a hot spot for non-native freshwater fishes. However, published information on most non-native fishes in the basin is not current. Systematic sampling efforts targeting non-native fishes in the region were conducted from 2013–2015 by the University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory. Data from these recent surveys were analyzed, along with historic and new data from published and unpublished sources, to assess current fish distributions and determine status. We focus on five of the non-native species sampled: pike killifish Belonesox belizanus Kner, 1860, green swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii Heckel, 1848, southern platyfish Xiphophorus maculatus (Günther, 1866), Mayan cichlid Mayaheros urophthalmus (Günther, 1862), and Jack Dempsey Rocio octofasciata (Regan, 1903). All five were found to have reproducing populations in the basin, each showing broader distributions than previously indicated. Non-native populations of four of the species have persisted in the Tampa Bay region since at least the 1990s. In contrast, the presence of Mayan cichlid in the basin was not confirmed until 2004. Based on numbers, distributions, and years of persistence, these five species all maintain established populations. Pike killifish and Mayan cichlid are established and spreading throughout multiple habitat types, while green swordtail, southern platyfish, and Jack Dempsey are localized and found primarily in more marginal habitats (e.g., small ditches and first order tributary streams). Factors affecting continued existence and distributions likely include aquaculture, biotic resistance, and thermal and salinity tolerances. We also clarify non-native species status determination using a multi-agency collaborative approach, and reconcile differences in terminology usage and interpretation.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Designing acoustics for linguistically diverse classrooms: Effects of background noise, reverberation and talker foreign accent on speech comprehension by native and non-native English-speaking listeners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Zhao Ellen

    The current classroom acoustics standard (ANSI S12.60-2010) recommends core learning spaces not to exceed background noise level (BNL) of 35 dBA and reverberation time (RT) of 0.6 second, based on speech intelligibility performance mainly by the native English-speaking population. Existing literature has not correlated these recommended values well with student learning outcomes. With a growing population of non-native English speakers in American classrooms, the special needs for perceiving degraded speech among non-native listeners, either due to realistic room acoustics or talker foreign accent, have not been addressed in the current standard. This research seeks to investigate the effects of BNL and RT on the comprehension of English speech from native English and native Mandarin Chinese talkers as perceived by native and non-native English listeners, and to provide acoustic design guidelines to supplement the existing standard. This dissertation presents two studies on the effects of RT and BNL on more realistic classroom learning experiences. How do native and non-native English-speaking listeners perform on speech comprehension tasks under adverse acoustic conditions, if the English speech is produced by talkers of native English (Study 1) versus native Mandarin Chinese (Study 2)? Speech comprehension materials were played back in a listening chamber to individual listeners: native and non-native English-speaking in Study 1; native English, native Mandarin Chinese, and other non-native English-speaking in Study 2. Each listener was screened for baseline English proficiency level, and completed dual tasks simultaneously involving speech comprehension and adaptive dot-tracing under 15 acoustic conditions, comprised of three BNL conditions (RC-30, 40, and 50) and five RT scenarios (0.4 to 1.2 seconds). The results show that BNL and RT negatively affect both objective performance and subjective perception of speech comprehension, more severely for non-native

  8. 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.

  9. Catalytic mechanism of phenylacetone monooxygenases for non-native linear substrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carvalho, Alexandra T P; Dourado, Daniel F A R; Skvortsov, Timofey; de Abreu, Miguel; Ferguson, Lyndsey J; Quinn, Derek J; Moody, Thomas S; Huang, Meilan

    2017-10-11

    Phenylacetone monooxygenase (PAMO) is the most stable and thermo-tolerant member of the Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase family, and therefore it is an ideal candidate for the synthesis of industrially relevant compounds. However, its limited substrate scope has largely limited its industrial applications. In the present work, we provide, for the first time, the catalytic mechanism of PAMO for the native substrate phenylacetone as well as for a linear non-native substrate 2-octanone, using molecular dynamics simulations, quantum mechanics and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations. We provide a theoretical basis for the preference of the enzyme for the native aromatic substrate over non-native linear substrates. Our study provides fundamental atomic-level insights that can be employed in the rational engineering of PAMO for wide applications in industrial biocatalysis, in particular, in the biotransformation of long-chain aliphatic oils into potential biodiesels.

  10. 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…

  11. Exploring public perception of non-native species from a visions of nature perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verbrugge, Laura N H; Van den Born, Riyan J G; Lenders, H J Rob

    2013-12-01

    Not much is known about lay public perceptions of non-native species and their underlying values. Public awareness and engagement, however, are important aspects in invasive species management. In this study, we examined the relations between the lay public's visions of nature, their knowledge about non-native species, and their perceptions of non-native species and invasive species management with a survey administered in the Netherlands. Within this framework, we identified three measures for perception of non-native species: perceived risk, control and engagement. In general, respondents scored moderate values for perceived risk and personal engagement. However, in case of potential ecological or human health risks, control measures were supported. Respondents' images of the human-nature relationship proved to be relevant in engagement in problems caused by invasive species and in recognizing the need for control, while images of nature appeared to be most important in perceiving risks to the environment. We also found that eradication of non-native species was predominantly opposed for species with a high cuddliness factor such as mammals and bird species. We conclude that lay public perceptions of non-native species have to be put in a wider context of visions of nature, and we discuss the implications for public support for invasive species management.

  12. Non-native earthworms promote plant invasion by ingesting seeds and modifying soil properties

    OpenAIRE

    Clause, J.; Forey, E.; Lortie, C. J.; Lambert, A. M.; Barot, Sébastien

    2015-01-01

    Earthworms can have strong direct effects on plant communities through consumption and digestion of seeds, however it is unclear how earthworms may influence the relative abundance and composition of plant communities invaded by non-native species. In this study, earthworms, seed banks, and the standing vegetation were sampled in a grassland of central California. Our objectives were i) to examine whether the abundances of non-native, invasive earthworm species and non-native grassland plant ...

  13. Dispersal and selection mediate hybridization between a native and invasive species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovach, Ryan P.; Muhlfeld, Clint C.; Boyer, Matthew C.; Lowe, Winsor H.; Allendorf, Fred W.; Luikart, Gordon

    2015-01-01

    Hybridization between native and non-native species has serious biological consequences, but our understanding of how dispersal and selection interact to influence invasive hybridization is limited. Here, we document the spread of genetic introgression between a native (Oncorhynchus clarkii) and invasive (Oncorhynchus mykiss) trout, and identify the mechanisms influencing genetic admixture. In two populations inhabiting contrasting environments, non-native admixture increased rapidly from 1984 to 2007 and was driven by surprisingly consistent processes. Individual admixture was related to two phenotypic traits associated with fitness: size at spawning and age of juvenile emigration. Fish with higher non-native admixture were larger and tended to emigrate at a younger age—relationships that are expected to confer fitness advantages to hybrid individuals. However, strong selection against non-native admixture was evident across streams and cohorts (mean selection coefficient against genotypes with non-native alleles (s) ¼ 0.60; s.e. ¼ 0.10). Nevertheless, hybridization was promoted in both streams by the continuous immigration of individuals with high levels of non-native admixture from other hybrid source populations. Thus, antagonistic relationships between dispersal and selection are mediating invasive hybridization between these fish, emphasizing that data on dispersal and natural selection are needed to fully understand the dynamics of introgression between native and non-native species. .

  14. 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.

  15. UV Screening in Native and Non-native Plant Species in the Tropical Alpine: Implications for Climate Change-Driven Migration of Species to Higher Elevations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul W. Barnes

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Ongoing changes in Earth’s climate are shifting the elevation ranges of many plant species with non-native species often experiencing greater expansion into higher elevations than native species. These climate change-induced shifts in distributions inevitably expose plants to novel biotic and abiotic environments, including altered solar ultraviolet (UV-B (280–315 nm radiation regimes. Do the greater migration potentials of non-native species into higher elevations imply that they have more effective UV-protective mechanisms than native species? In this study, we surveyed leaf epidermal UV-A transmittance (TUV A in a diversity of plant species representing different growth forms to test whether native and non-native species growing above 2800 m elevation on Mauna Kea, Hawaii differed in their UV screening capabilities. We further compared the degree to which TUV A varied along an elevation gradient in the native shrub Vaccinium reticulatum and the introduced forb Verbascum thapsus to evaluate whether these species differed in their abilities to adjust their levels of UV screening in response to elevation changes in UV-B. For plants growing in the Mauna Kea alpine/upper subalpine, we found that adaxial TUV A, measured with a UVA-PAM fluorometer, varied significantly among species but did not differ between native (mean = 6.0%; n = 8 and non-native (mean = 5.8%; n = 11 species. When data were pooled across native and non-native taxa, we also found no significant effect of growth form on TUV A, though woody plants (shrubs and trees were represented solely by native species whereas herbaceous growth forms (grasses and forbs were dominated by non-native species. Along an elevation gradient spanning 2600–3800 m, TUV A was variable (mean range = 6.0–11.2% and strongly correlated with elevation and relative biologically effective UV-B in the exotic V. thapsus; however, TUV A was consistently low (3% and did not vary with elevation in the native

  16. 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.

  17. 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

  18. Lexical representation of novel L2 contrasts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes-Harb, Rachel; Masuda, Kyoko

    2005-04-01

    There is much interest among psychologists and linguists in the influence of the native language sound system on the acquisition of second languages (Best, 1995; Flege, 1995). Most studies of second language (L2) speech focus on how learners perceive and produce L2 sounds, but we know of only two that have considered how novel sound contrasts are encoded in learners' lexical representations of L2 words (Pallier et al., 2001; Ota et al., 2002). In this study we investigated how native speakers of English encode Japanese consonant quantity contrasts in their developing Japanese lexicons at different stages of acquisition (Japanese contrasts singleton versus geminate consonants but English does not). Monolingual English speakers, native English speakers learning Japanese for one year, and native speakers of Japanese were taught a set of Japanese nonwords containing singleton and geminate consonants. Subjects then performed memory tasks eliciting perception and production data to determine whether they encoded the Japanese consonant quantity contrast lexically. Overall accuracy in these tasks was a function of Japanese language experience, and acoustic analysis of the production data revealed non-native-like patterns of differentiation of singleton and geminate consonants among the L2 learners of Japanese. Implications for theories of L2 speech are discussed.

  19. 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.

  20. 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"

  1. Adding More Fuel to the Fire: An Eye-Tracking Study of Idiom Processing by Native and Non-Native Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna; Conklin, Kathy; Schmitt, Norbert

    2011-01-01

    Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively ("at the end of the day"--"eventually"), literally ("at the end of the day"--"in the evening"), and novel phrases ("at the end of the war"). Native speaker results…

  2. Non-native species in the vascular flora of highlands and mountains of Iceland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pawel Wasowicz

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The highlands and mountains of Iceland are one of the largest remaining wilderness areas in Europe. This study aimed to provide comprehensive and up-to-date data on non-native plant species in these areas and to answer the following questions: (1 How many non-native vascular plant species inhabit highland and mountainous environments in Iceland? (2 Do temporal trends in the immigration of alien species to Iceland differ between highland and lowland areas? (3 Does the incidence of alien species in the disturbed and undisturbed areas within Icelandic highlands differ? (4 Does the spread of non-native species in Iceland proceed from lowlands to highlands? and (5 Can we detect hot-spots in the distribution of non-native taxa within the highlands? Overall, 16 non-native vascular plant species were detected, including 11 casuals and 5 naturalized taxa (1 invasive. Results showed that temporal trends in alien species immigration to highland and lowland areas are similar, but it is clear that the process of colonization of highland areas is still in its initial phase. Non-native plants tended to occur close to man-made infrastructure and buildings including huts, shelters, roads etc. Analysis of spatio-temporal patterns showed that the spread within highland areas is a second step in non-native plant colonization in Iceland. Several statically significant hot spots of alien plant occurrences were identified using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic and these were linked to human disturbance. This research suggests that human-mediated dispersal is the main driving force increasing the risk of invasion in Iceland’s highlands and mountain areas.

  3. An Investigation into Native and Non-Native Teachers' Judgments of Oral English Performance: A Mixed Methods Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Youn-Hee

    2009-01-01

    This study used a mixed methods research approach to examine how native English-speaking (NS) and non-native English-speaking (NNS) teachers assess students' oral English performance. The evaluation behaviors of two groups of teachers (12 Canadian NS teachers and 12 Korean NNS teachers) were compared with regard to internal consistency, severity,…

  4. Topic Continuity in Informal Conversations between Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris-Adams, Muna

    2013-01-01

    Topic management by non-native speakers (NNSs) during informal conversations has received comparatively little attention from researchers, and receives surprisingly little attention in second language learning and teaching. This article reports on one of the topic management strategies employed by international students during informal, social…

  5. 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

  6. Extensive analysis of native and non-native Centaurea solstitialis L. populations across the world shows no traces of polyploidization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramona-Elena Irimia

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle, Asteraceae is a Eurasian native plant introduced as an exotic into North and South America, and Australia, where it is regarded as a noxious invasive. Changes in ploidy level have been found to be responsible for numerous plant biological invasions, as they are involved in trait shifts critical to invasive success, like increased growth rate and biomass, longer life-span, or polycarpy. C. solstitialis had been reported to be diploid (2n = 2x = 16 chromosomes, however, actual data are scarce and sometimes contradictory. We determined for the first time the absolute nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry and estimated ploidy level in 52 natural populations of C. solstitialis across its native and non-native ranges, around the world. All the C. solstitialis populations screened were found to be homogeneously diploid (average 2C value of 1.72 pg, SD = ±0.06 pg, with no significant variation in DNA content between invasive and non-invasive genotypes. We did not find any meaningful difference among the extensive number of native and non-native C. solstitialis populations sampled around the globe, indicating that the species invasive success is not due to changes in genome size or ploidy level.

  7. Extensive analysis of native and non-native Centaurea solstitialis L. populations across the world shows no traces of polyploidization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irimia, Ramona-Elena; Montesinos, Daniel; Eren, Özkan; Lortie, Christopher J; French, Kristine; Cavieres, Lohengrin A; Sotes, Gastón J; Hierro, José L; Jorge, Andreia; Loureiro, João

    2017-01-01

    Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle, Asteraceae) is a Eurasian native plant introduced as an exotic into North and South America, and Australia, where it is regarded as a noxious invasive. Changes in ploidy level have been found to be responsible for numerous plant biological invasions, as they are involved in trait shifts critical to invasive success, like increased growth rate and biomass, longer life-span, or polycarpy. C . solstitialis had been reported to be diploid (2 n  = 2 x  = 16 chromosomes), however, actual data are scarce and sometimes contradictory. We determined for the first time the absolute nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry and estimated ploidy level in 52 natural populations of C . solstitialis across its native and non-native ranges, around the world. All the C. solstitialis populations screened were found to be homogeneously diploid (average 2C value of 1.72 pg, SD = ±0.06 pg), with no significant variation in DNA content between invasive and non-invasive genotypes. We did not find any meaningful difference among the extensive number of native and non-native C . solstitialis populations sampled around the globe, indicating that the species invasive success is not due to changes in genome size or ploidy level.

  8. Setting Priorities for Monitoring and Managing Non-native Plants: Toward a Practical Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Christiane; Jeschke, Jonathan M; Overbeck, Gerhard E; Kollmann, Johannes

    2016-09-01

    Land managers face the challenge to set priorities in monitoring and managing non-native plant species, as resources are limited and not all non-natives become invasive. Existing frameworks that have been proposed to rank non-native species require extensive information on their distribution, abundance, and impact. This information is difficult to obtain and often not available for many species and regions. National watch or priority lists are helpful, but it is questionable whether they provide sufficient information for environmental management on a regional scale. We therefore propose a decision tree that ranks species based on more simple albeit robust information, but still provides reliable management recommendations. To test the decision tree, we collected and evaluated distribution data from non-native plants in highland grasslands of Southern Brazil. We compared the results with a national list from the Brazilian Invasive Species Database for the state to discuss advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches on a regional scale. Out of 38 non-native species found, only four were also present on the national list. If management would solely rely on this list, many species that were identified as spreading based on the decision tree would go unnoticed. With the suggested scheme, it is possible to assign species to active management, to monitoring, or further evaluation. While national lists are certainly important, management on a regional scale should employ additional tools that adequately consider the actual risk of non-natives to become invasive.

  9. Predicting establishment of non-native fishes in Greece: identifying key features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christos Gkenas

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Non-native fishes are known to cause economic damage to human society and are considered a major threat to biodiversity loss in freshwater ecosystems. The growing concern about these impacts has driven to an investigation of the biological traits that facilitate the establishment of non-native fish. However, invalid assessment in choosing the appropriate statistical model can lead researchers to ambiguous conclusions. Here, we present a comprehensive comparison of traditional and alternative statistical methods for predicting fish invasions using logistic regression, classification trees, multicorrespondence analysis and random forest analysis to determine characteristics of successful and failed non-native fishes in Hellenic Peninsula through establishment. We defined fifteen categorical predictor variables with biological relevance and measures of human interest. Our study showed that accuracy differed according to the model and the number of factors considered. Among all the models tested, random forest and logistic regression performed best, although all approaches predicted non-native fish establishment with moderate to excellent results. Detailed evaluation among the models corresponded with differences in variables importance, with three biological variables (parental care, distance from nearest native source and maximum size and two variables of human interest (prior invasion success and propagule pressure being important in predicting establishment. The analyzed statistical methods presented have a high predictive power and can be used as a risk assessment tool to prevent future freshwater fish invasions in this region with an imperiled fish fauna.

  10. Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juliann E. Aukema; Brian. Leung; Kent Kovacs; Corey Chivers; Jeffrey Englin; Susan J. Frankel; Robert G. Haight; Thomas P. Holmes; Andrew M. Liebhold; Deborah G. McCullough; Betsy. Von Holle

    2011-01-01

    Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United...

  11. Fitness benefits of the fruit fly Rhagoletis alternata on a non-native rose host.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meijer, Kim; Smit, Christian; Schilthuizen, Menno; Beukeboom, Leo W

    2016-05-01

    Many species have been introduced worldwide into areas outside their natural range. Often these non-native species are introduced without their natural enemies, which sometimes leads to uncontrolled population growth. It is rarely reported that an introduced species provides a new resource for a native species. The rose hips of the Japanese rose, Rosa rugosa, which has been introduced in large parts of Europe, are infested by the native monophagous tephritid fruit fly Rhagoletis alternata. We studied differences in fitness benefits between R. alternata larvae using R. rugosa as well as native Rosa species in the Netherlands. R. alternata pupae were larger and heavier when the larvae fed on rose hips of R. rugosa. Larvae feeding on R. rugosa were parasitized less frequently by parasitic wasps than were larvae feeding on native roses. The differences in parasitization are probably due to morphological differences between the native and non-native rose hips: the hypanthium of a R. rugosa hip is thicker and provides the larvae with the possibility to feed deeper into the hip, meaning that the parasitoids cannot reach them with their ovipositor and the larvae escape parasitization. Our study shows that native species switching to a novel non-native host can experience fitness benefits compared to the original native host.

  12. Competitive effects of non-native plants are lowest in native plant communities that are most vulnerable to invasion

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.Stephen Brewer; W. Chase Bailey

    2014-01-01

    Despite widespread acknowledgment that disturbance favors invasion, a hypothesis that has received little attention is whether non-native invaders have greater competitive effects on native plants in undisturbed habitats than in disturbed habitats. This hypothesis derives from the assumption that competitive interactions are more persistent in habitats that have not...

  13. Show me the numbers: What data currently exist for non-native species in the USA?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crall, Alycia W.; Meyerson, Laura A.; Stohlgren, Thomas J.; Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Newman, Gregory J.; Graham, James

    2006-01-01

    Non-native species continue to be introduced to the United States from other countries via trade and transportation, creating a growing need for early detection and rapid response to new invaders. It is therefore increasingly important to synthesize existing data on non-native species abundance and distributions. However, no comprehensive analysis of existing data has been undertaken for non-native species, and there have been few efforts to improve collaboration. We therefore conducted a survey to determine what datasets currently exist for non-native species in the US from county, state, multi-state region, national, and global scales. We identified 319 datasets and collected metadata for 79% of these. Through this study, we provide a better understanding of extant non-native species datasets and identify data gaps (ie taxonomic, spatial, and temporal) to help guide future survey, research, and predictive modeling efforts.

  14. COMPARISON OF ANNUAL PRODUCTION ECOLOGY OF NATIVE EELGRASS ZOSTERA MARINA AND THE NON-NATIVE DWARF EELGRASS Z. JAPONICA IN YAQUINA BAY, OREGON

    Science.gov (United States)

    When non-native plant species invade a system they often change patterns of primary production. I evaluate the contribution of the seagrass Zostera marina and it's non-native congener Z. japonica to primary production in Yaquina Bay. Few measurements of Z. japonica production e...

  15. Non-Native University Students' Perception of Plagiarism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Ummul Khair; Mansourizadeh, Kobra; Ai, Grace Koh Ming

    2012-01-01

    Plagiarism is a complex issue especially among non-native students and it has received a lot of attention from researchers and scholars of academic writing. Some scholars attribute this problem to cultural perceptions and different attitudes toward texts. This study evaluates student perception of different aspects of plagiarism. A small group of…

  16. Ionic and non-ionic contrast media used for contrast-enhanced computed tomography in experimental pancreatitis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kivisaari, L.; Nuutinen, P.; Lehtola, A.; Saari, A.; Pitkaeranta, P.; Standertskjoeld-Nordenstam, C.G.; Lempinen, M.; Schroeder, T.; Helsinki Univ. Central Hospital

    1988-01-01

    Contrast enhancement of the pancreas was studied in pigs using dynamic computed tomography in experimental oedematous and haemorrhagic/necrotizing pancreatitis during the first two minutes after injection of an intravenous bolus of non-ionic contrast medium (iohexol). The prospects of separating the two forms of the disease, known to be possible with ionic contrast media, were tested with a non-ionic contrast medium. In the oedematous form, contrast enhancement after 5 hours of the disease was significantly higher than in the haemorrhagic/necrotizing form. Contrast enhancement after 30 hours of disease tended to vary with the severity of the disease, showing that the course of oedematous pancreatitis is dynamic. Intermediate forms occur and follow-up studies are needed during the disease. A non-ionic contrast medium proved as good for separating the two forms of the disease in the early phase as were ionic contrast media. In severely ill patients, non-ionic contrast media should therefore be used. (orig.)

  17. Non-native vascular plants from Canary Islands (Spain): nomenclatural and taxonomical adjustments

    OpenAIRE

    Verloove, F.

    2013-01-01

    Se propone correcciones taxonómicas y nomenclaturales respecto a 88 taxones no nativos de la lista de plantas vasculares de las Islas Canarias (España). Non-native vascular plants from Canary Islands (Spain): nomenclatural and taxonomical adjustments. Corrections and other adjustments are proposed for 88 non-native taxa from the checklist of vascular plants from the Canary Islands (Spain).

  18. Promoting Communities of Practice among Non-Native Speakers of English in Online Discussions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hoe Kyeung

    2011-01-01

    An online discussion involving text-based computer-mediated communication has great potential for promoting equal participation among non-native speakers of English. Several studies claimed that online discussions could enhance the academic participation of non-native speakers of English. However, there is little research around participation…

  19. 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

  20. Developing native grass seed industries for revegetation in Australia and the western United States: A contrast in production and adoption

    Science.gov (United States)

    C. M. Waters; N. L. Shaw

    2003-01-01

    Globally, an increased desire to restore, rehabilitate or revegetate with native plants represents a shift toward more ecologically focused restoration goals. In the Australian rangelands, an increasing need to address revegetation is not being matched by an availability of seed material. This contrasts with the United States where a well-structured native seed...

  1. Development of aquatic life criteria for triclosan and comparison of the sensitivity between native and non-native species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiao-Nan; Liu, Zheng-Tao; Yan, Zhen-Guang; Zhang, Cong; Wang, Wei-Li; Zhou, Jun-Li; Pei, Shu-Wei

    2013-09-15

    Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial agent which is used as a broad-spectrum bacteriostatic and found in personal care products, and due to this it is widely spread in the aquatic environment. However, there is no paper dealing with the aquatic life criteria of TCS, mainly result from the shortage of toxicity data of different taxonomic levels. In the present study, toxicity data were obtained from 9 acute toxicity tests and 3 chronic toxicity tests using 9 Chinese native aquatic species from different taxonomic levels, and the aquatic life criteria was derived using 3 methods. Furthermore, differences of species sensitivity distributions (SSD) between native and non-native species were compared. Among the tested species, demersal fish Misgurnus anguillicaudatus was the most sensitive species, and the fishes were more sensitive than the aquatic invertebrates of Annelid and insect, and the insect was the least sensitive species. The comparison showed that there was no significant difference between SSDs constructed from native and non-native taxa. Finally, a criterion maximum concentration of 0.009 mg/L and a criterion continuous concentration of 0.002 mg/L were developed based on different taxa, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Pattern-Induced Covert Category Learning in Songbirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comins, Jordan A; Gentner, Timothy Q

    2015-07-20

    Language is uniquely human, but its acquisition may involve cognitive capacities shared with other species. During development, language experience alters speech sound (phoneme) categorization. Newborn infants distinguish the phonemes in all languages but by 10 months show adult-like greater sensitivity to native language phonemic contrasts than non-native contrasts. Distributional theories account for phonetic learning by positing that infants infer category boundaries from modal distributions of speech sounds along acoustic continua. For example, tokens of the sounds /b/ and /p/ cluster around different mean voice onset times. To disambiguate overlapping distributions, contextual theories propose that phonetic category learning is informed by higher-level patterns (e.g., words) in which phonemes normally occur. For example, the vowel sounds /Ι/ and /e/ can occupy similar perceptual spaces but can be distinguished in the context of "with" and "well." Both distributional and contextual cues appear to function in speech acquisition. Non-human species also benefit from distributional cues for category learning, but whether category learning benefits from contextual information in non-human animals is unknown. The use of higher-level patterns to guide lower-level category learning may reflect uniquely human capacities tied to language acquisition or more general learning abilities reflecting shared neurobiological mechanisms. Using songbirds, European starlings, we show that higher-level pattern learning covertly enhances categorization of the natural communication sounds. This observation mirrors the support for contextual theories of phonemic category learning in humans and demonstrates a general form of learning not unique to humans or language. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Malaysian English: An Instrumental Analysis of Vowel Contrasts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pillai, Stefanie; Don, Zuraidah Mohd.; Knowles, Gerald; Tang, Jennifer

    2010-01-01

    This paper makes an instrumental analysis of English vowel monophthongs produced by 47 female Malaysian speakers. The focus is on the distribution of Malaysian English vowels in the vowel space, and the extent to which there is phonetic contrast between traditionally paired vowels. The results indicate that, like neighbouring varieties of English,…

  4. Minimal effectiveness of native and non-native seeding following three high-severity wildfire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ken A. Stella; Carolyn H. Sieg; Pete Z. Fule

    2010-01-01

    The rationale for seeding following high-severity wildfires is to enhance plant cover and reduce bare ground, thus decreasing the potential for soil erosion and non-native plant invasion. However, experimental tests of the effectiveness of seeding in meeting these objectives in forests are lacking. We conducted three experimental studies of the effectiveness of seeding...

  5. Locking horns with Hawai‘i’s non-native ungulate issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, Steve

    2014-01-01

    Conservation and management interests for sustained-yield hunting of non-native ungulates in Hawai‘i have conflicted with the conservation of native biota for several decades. Hawaiian ecosystems evolved in the absence of large mammals and all currently hunted animals in Hawai‘i are non-native species. The best-studied aspects of Hawai‘i’s ungulates have dealt primarily with direct negative effects on native biota in natural areas, but there has been little research in population dynamics for sustained-yield management. Ungulates have been removed from approximately 750 km2 throughout the Hawaiian Islands to protect these natural areas, thereby reducing the amount of land area available for hunting activities and the maintenance of game populations. At the same time, unauthorized introductions of additional wild ungulate species between Hawaiian Islands have recently increased in frequency. The majority of hunting activities are of feral domestic livestock species for subsistence purposes, which typically do not generate sufficient revenue to offset costs of game management. Moreover, bag limits and seasons are generally not determined from biological criteria because harvest reporting is voluntary and game populations are rarely monitored. Consequently, ungulate populations cannot be managed for any particular level of abundance or other objectives. Research and monitoring which emphasize population dynamics and productivity would enable more precisely regulated sustained-yield game management programs and may reduce potential conflicts with the conservation of native biota.

  6. Memory for non-native language: the role of lexical processing in the retention of surface form.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampaio, Cristina; Konopka, Agnieszka E

    2013-01-01

    Research on memory for native language (L1) has consistently shown that retention of surface form is inferior to that of gist (e.g., Sachs, 1967). This paper investigates whether the same pattern is found in memory for non-native language (L2). We apply a model of bilingual word processing to more complex linguistic structures and predict that memory for L2 sentences ought to contain more surface information than L1 sentences. Native and non-native speakers of English were tested on a set of sentence pairs with different surface forms but the same meaning (e.g., "The bullet hit/struck the bull's eye"). Memory for these sentences was assessed with a cued recall procedure. Responses showed that native and non-native speakers did not differ in the accuracy of gist-based recall but that non-native speakers outperformed native speakers in the retention of surface form. The results suggest that L2 processing involves more intensive encoding of lexical level information than L1 processing.

  7. Application of Native Speaker Models for Identifying Deviations in Rhetorical Moves in Non-Native Speaker Manuscripts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Assef Khalili

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Explicit teaching of generic conventions of a text genre, usually extracted from native-speaker (NS manuscripts, has long been emphasized in the teaching of Academic Writing inEnglish for Specific Purposes (henceforthESP classes, both in theory and practice. While consciousness-raising about rhetorical structure can be instrumental to non-native speakers(NNS, it has to be admitted that most works done in the field of ESP have tended to focus almost exclusively on native-speaker (NS productions, giving scant attention to non-native speaker (NNS manuscripts. That is, having outlined established norms for good writing on the basis of NS productions, few have been inclined to provide a descriptive account of NNS attempts at trying to produce a research article (RA in English. That is what we have tried to do in the present research. Methods: We randomly selected 20 RAs in dentistry and used two well-established models for results and discussion sections to try to describe the move structure of these articles and show the points of divergence from the established norms. Results: The results pointed to significant divergences that could seriously compromise the quality of an RA. Conclusion: It is believed that the insights gained on the deviations in NNS manuscripts could prove very useful in designing syllabi for ESP classes.

  8. 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

  9. Presence and abundance of non-native plant species associated with recent energy development in the Williston Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preston, Todd M.

    2015-01-01

    The Williston Basin, located in the Northern Great Plains, is experiencing rapid energy development with North Dakota and Montana being the epicenter of current and projected development in the USA. The average single-bore well pad is 5 acres with an estimated 58,485 wells in North Dakota alone. This landscape-level disturbance may provide a pathway for the establishment of non-native plants. To evaluate potential influences of energy development on the presence and abundance of non-native species, vegetation surveys were conducted at 30 oil well sites (14 ten-year-old and 16 five-year-old wells) and 14 control sites in native prairie environments across the Williston Basin. Non-native species richness and cover were recorded in four quadrats, located at equal distances, along four transects for a total of 16 quadrats per site. Non-natives were recorded at all 44 sites and ranged from 5 to 13 species, 7 to 15 species, and 2 to 8 species at the 10-year, 5-year, and control sites, respectively. Respective non-native cover ranged from 1 to 69, 16 to 76, and 2 to 82 %. Total, forb, and graminoid non-native species richness and non-native forb cover were significantly greater at oil well sites compared to control sites. At oil well sites, non-native species richness and forb cover were significantly greater adjacent to the well pads and decreased with distance to values similar to control sites. Finally, non-native species whose presence and/or abundance were significantly greater at oil well sites relative to control sites were identified to aid management efforts.

  10. Clinical trial of non-ionic contrast media -comparison of efficacy and safety between non-ionic iopromide (Ultravist) and ionic contrast media-

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Ghi Jai; Kim, Seung Hyup; Park, Jae Hyung; Chang, Kee Hyun; Han, Man Chung; Kim, Chu Wan

    1988-01-01

    Non-ionic contrast media, iopromide (Ultravist) was compared with ioxitalamate (Telebrix) and/or ioxaglate (Hexabrix) for efficacy and safety in 203 patients undergoing cardiac angiography, neurovascular angiography, peripheral and visceral angiography and intravenous pyelography. In all patients, adverse symptoms and signs including heat sense, pain, nausea, vomiting, etc. were checked during and after the injection. In addition, EKG and LV pressure were monitored during the cardiac angiography. And also CBC, UA, BUN and creatinine were checked before and 24 hours after the cardiac angiography. Serious adverse effect did not occur in any case. Minor effects, such as nausea and abdominal pain, were less frequently caused by non-ionic contrast media than by ionic contrast media, especially in cardiac angiography and intravenous pyelography. There was no significant difference between ionic and non-ionic contrast media in regard to electrophysiologic parameters such as EKG and LV pressure. In case of intravenous pyelography, nonionic contrast media seemed to be superior to ionic contrast media in image quality. It is suggested that, in spite of higher cost, non-ionic contrast media be needed for the safety and image quality, particularly in those patients at high risk of adverse effects by ionic contrast media

  11. Unpacking Race, Culture, and Class in Rural Alaska: Native and Non-Native Multidisciplinary Professionals' Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bubar, Roe; Bundy-Fazioli, Kimberly

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to unpack notions of class, culture, and race as they relate to multidisciplinary team (MDT) professionals and their perceptions of prevalence in child sexual abuse cases in Native and non-Native rural Alaska communities. Power and privilege within professional settings is significant for all social work professionals…

  12. Non-Native English Speakers and Nonstandard English: An In-Depth Investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polat, Brittany

    2012-01-01

    Given the rising prominence of nonstandard varieties of English around the world (Jenkins 2007), learners of English as a second language are increasingly called on to communicate with speakers of both native and non-native nonstandard English varieties. In many classrooms around the world, however, learners continue to be exposed only to…

  13. Prey utilisation and trophic overlap between the non native mosquitofish and a native fish in two Mediterranean rivers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. KALOGIANNI

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Non native freshwater fish species have been long implicated in the decline of native Mediterranean ichthyofauna, through hybridization, disease transmission, competition for food and habitat, predation and/or ecosystem alteration; our knowledge, however, on the underlying mechanisms of these ecological impacts remains very limited. To explore the potential for trophic competition between the widespread Eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki and its co-occurring native toothcarp Valencia letourneuxi we compared resource use, feeding strategies, trophic selectivities and diet niche overlap. For this purpose, we studied two populations of the two species from a freshwater and a brackish habitat respectively, characterized by different food resource availabilities. In both habitats, the mosquitofish consumed a greater diversity of invertebrates and preyed on terrestrial invertebrates more frequently than the native toothcarp. Furthermore, in the less diverse and less rich brackish habitat, the non native relied heavily on plant material to balance a decrease in animal prey consumption and modified its individual feeding strategy, whereas these adaptive changes were not apparent in the native species. Their diet overlapped, indicating trophic competition, but this overlap was affected by resource availability variation; in the freshwater habitat, there was limited overlap in their diet, whereas in the brackish habitat, their diets and prey selectivities converged and there was high overlap in resource use, indicative of intense interspecific trophic competition. Overall, it appears that the underlying mechanism of the putative negative impacts of the mosquitofish on the declining Corfu toothcarp is mainly trophic competition, regulated by resource variability, though there is also evidence of larvae predation by the mosquitofish.

  14. 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...

  15. SEASONALITY OF ANNUAL PLANT ESTABLISHMENT INFLUENCES THE INTERACTIONBETWEEN THE NON-NATIVE ANNUAL GRASS BROMUS MADRITENSIS SSP. RUBENS AND MOJAVE DESERT PERENNIALS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    L A. DEFALCO; G. C. FERNANDEZ; R. S. NOWAK

    2004-01-01

    Competition between native and non-native species can change the composition and structure of plant communities, but in deserts the timing of non-native plant establishment can modulate their impacts to native species. In a field experiment, we varied densities of the non-native annual grass Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens around individuals of three native perennials--Larrea iridentata, Achnatherum hymenoides, and Pleuraphis rigida--in either winter or spring. Additional plots were prepared for the Same perennial species and seasons, but with a mixture of native annual species. Relative growth rates of perennial shoots (RGRs) declined with increasing Bromus biomass when Bromus that was established in winter had 2-3 mo of growth and high water use before perennial growth began. However, this high water use did not significantly reduce water potentials for the perennials, suggesting Bromus that established earlier depleted other soil resources, such as N, otherwise used by perennial plants. Spring-established Bromus had low biomass even at higher densities and did not effectively reduce RGRs, resulting in an overall lower impact to perennials than when Bromus was established in winter. Similarly, growth and reproduction of perennials with mixed annuals as neighbors did not differ from those with Bromus neighbors of equivalent biomass, but densities of these annuals did not support the high biomass necessary to reduce perennial growth. Thus, impacts of native Mojave Desert annuals to perennials are expected to be lower than those of Bromus because seed dormancy and narrow requirements for seedling survivorship produce densities and biomass lower than those achieved by Bromus. In comparing the effects of Bromus among perennial species, the impact of increased Bromus biomass on RGR was lower for Larrea than for the two perennial grasses, probably because Lurrea maintains low growth rates throughout the year, even after Bromus has completed its life cycle. This contrasts

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  17. Non-Native (Exotic) Snake Envenomations in the U.S., 2005–2011

    OpenAIRE

    Warrick, Brandon J.; Boyer, Leslie V.; Seifert, Steven A.

    2014-01-01

    Non-native (exotic) snakes are a problematic source of envenomation worldwide. This manuscript describes the current demographics, outcomes and challenges of non-native snakebites in the United States (U.S.). We performed a retrospective case series of the National Poison Data System (NPDS) database between 2005 and 2011. There were 258 human exposures involving at least 61 unique exotic venomous species (average = 37 per year; range = 33–40). Males comprised 79% and females 21%. The averag...

  18. Can a native rodent species limit the invasive potential of a non-native rodent species in tropical agroforest habitats?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stuart, Alexander M; Prescott, Colin V; Singleton, Grant R

    2016-06-01

    Little is known about native and non-native rodent species interactions in complex tropical agroecosystems. We hypothesised that the native non-pest rodent Rattus everetti may be competitively dominant over the invasive pest rodent Rattus tanezumi within agroforests. We tested this experimentally by using pulse removal for three consecutive months to reduce populations of R. everetti in agroforest habitat, and assessed over 6 months the response of R. tanezumi and other rodent species. Following removal, R. everetti individuals rapidly immigrated into removal sites. At the end of the study period, R. tanezumi were larger and there was a significant shift in their microhabitat use with respect to the use of ground vegetation cover following the perturbation of R. everetti. Irrespective of treatment, R. tanezumi selected microhabitat with less tree canopy cover, indicative of severely disturbed habitat, whereas R. everetti selected microhabitat with a dense canopy. Our results suggest that sustained habitat disturbance in agroforests favours R. tanezumi, while the regeneration of agroforests towards a more natural state would favour native species and may reduce pest pressure in adjacent crops. In addition, the rapid recolonisation of R. everetti suggests this species would be able to recover from non-target impacts of short-term rodent pest control. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

  19. Effects of the Differences between Native and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers on Students' Attitudes and Motivation toward Learning English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pae, Tae-Il

    2017-01-01

    This study presents findings on three research agendas: (1) the difference between native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) in students' attitudes toward and motivation for learning English, (2) the moderating effect of the type of class (i.e., English Conversation vs. Practical English) on the…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  1. 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.

  2. Hemispheric asymmetry of emotion words in a non-native mind: a divided visual field study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jończyk, Rafał

    2015-05-01

    This study investigates hemispheric specialization for emotional words among proficient non-native speakers of English by means of the divided visual field paradigm. The motivation behind the study is to extend the monolingual hemifield research to the non-native context and see how emotion words are processed in a non-native mind. Sixty eight females participated in the study, all highly proficient in English. The stimuli comprised 12 positive nouns, 12 negative nouns, 12 non-emotional nouns and 36 pseudo-words. To examine the lateralization of emotion, stimuli were presented unilaterally in a random fashion for 180 ms in a go/no-go lexical decision task. The perceptual data showed a right hemispheric advantage for processing speed of negative words and a complementary role of the two hemispheres in the recognition accuracy of experimental stimuli. The data indicate that processing of emotion words in non-native language may require greater interhemispheric communication, but at the same time demonstrates a specific role of the right hemisphere in the processing of negative relative to positive valence. The results of the study are discussed in light of the methodological inconsistencies in the hemifield research as well as the non-native context in which the study was conducted.

  3. Long-term memory traces for language sounds are highly context-sensitive: an MEG/ERF study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Gebauer, Line; Mcgregor, William

    impact on the proposed long-term memory traces for native phonological categories. In order to generate different MMF responses to the same language sound contrast depending on the phonetic context, these long-term memory traces must thus be context-sensitive themselves or exist as separate traces...

  4. Some Problems of American Students in Mastering Persian Phonology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghadessy, Esmael

    1988-12-01

    An adult learning to speak a foreign language normally retains an "accent" which may affect the intelligibility of certain sounds, but more often simply conveys the fact that the speaker is a non-native speaker. Various scholars have experimented and discussed the elements involved in a foreign accent. However, in Iran very few researchers have attempted to verify scientifically what are the phonetic and phonological aspects of an "accent." This author tried to determine whether or not a selected group of words, emphasizing stop voicing, produced by native speakers of Persian had significant phonetic and phonemic differences from those achieved by the American students. Subjects for the experiments were three groups of students, one Iranian, two American. A contrastive analysis of the Persian and the English stop consonants was made. An identical measurement test for all three groups was administered. Utilized was a Kay Sona-graph for acoustic analysis, and all spoken data from the Iranian group were compared with those of the American groups. An examination of acoustic correlates of Tehran stops produced by American students shows that the phonetically different but similar feature of /voice/ found in Tehran, Persian and English stops is intuitive to the Americans, and that the language learner cannot readily disassociate a phonological feature from habits of articulation. The results of this research support using the phonetic method for adult learners who want to improve their pronunciation ability. Further research and experimentation is necessary on the effect of the suprasegmental elements on a foreign accent and the most effective teaching materials and methods and to explore other possible techniques in the teaching process.

  5. During Threaded Discussions Are Non-Native English Speakers Always at a Disadvantage?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafer Willner, Lynn

    2014-01-01

    When participating in threaded discussions, under what conditions might non¬native speakers of English (NNSE) be at a comparative disadvantage to their classmates who are native speakers of English (NSE)? This study compares the threaded discussion perspectives of closely-matched NNSE and NSE adult students having different levels of threaded…

  6. Context effects on second-language learning of tonal contrasts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Charles B; Bowles, Anita R

    2015-12-01

    Studies of lexical tone  learning generally focus on monosyllabic contexts, while reports of phonetic learning benefits associated with input variability are based largely on experienced learners. This study trained inexperienced learners on Mandarin tonal contrasts to test two hypotheses regarding the influence of context and variability on tone  learning. The first hypothesis was that increased phonetic variability of tones in disyllabic contexts makes initial tone  learning more challenging in disyllabic than monosyllabic words. The second hypothesis was that the learnability of a given tone varies across contexts due to differences in tonal variability. Results of a word learning experiment supported both hypotheses: tones were acquired less successfully in disyllables than in monosyllables, and the relative difficulty of disyllables was closely related to contextual tonal variability. These results indicate limited relevance of monosyllable-based data on Mandarin learning for the disyllabic majority of the Mandarin lexicon. Furthermore, in the short term, variability can diminish learning; its effects are not necessarily beneficial but dependent on acquisition stage and other learner characteristics. These findings thus highlight the importance of considering contextual variability and the interaction between variability and type of learner in the design, interpretation, and application of research on phonetic learning.

  7. Making the Transition from Non-Native Speaker to Near-Native Speaker Teachers of English: Facing Globalization Challenges in Teaching English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bin Mohamed Ali, Haja Mohideen

    2009-01-01

    Many job advertisements seeking teachers of English to work in Japan, China, South Korea and Thailand, for instance, specify that they are looking for native speaking teachers from USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. They do not seem to be interested even in trained non-native speaking teachers from their own countries. This situation also exists…

  8. Using Audiovisual TV Interviews to Create Visible Authors that Reduce the Learning Gap between Native and Non-Native Language Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inglese, Terry; Mayer, Richard E.; Rigotti, Francesca

    2007-01-01

    Can archives of audiovisual TV interviews be used to make authors more visible to students, and thereby reduce the learning gap between native and non-native language speakers in college classes? We examined students in a college course who learned about one scholar's ideas through watching an audiovisual TV interview (i.e., visible author format)…

  9. Why Not Non-Native Varieties of English as Listening Comprehension Test Input?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abeywickrama, Priyanvada

    2013-01-01

    The existence of different varieties of English in target language use (TLU) domains calls into question the usefulness of listening comprehension tests whose input is limited only to a native speaker variety. This study investigated the impact of non-native varieties or accented English speech on test takers from three different English use…

  10. 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. ...

  11. Is 30 years enough time to niche segregation between a non-native and a native congeneric fish species? Evidences from stable isotopes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gustavo Henrique Zaia Alves

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The invasion of non-native species that are phylogenetically similar to native species was observed in the Upper Paraná River following the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant and subsequent removal of a natural geographic barrier (Sete Quedas Falls. Endemic fish species from the Lower Paraná River, such as the piranha Serrasalmus marginatus, successfully colonized the new environment. A few years later, S. marginatus had become the dominant species, while the prevalence of the congeneric species, Serrasalmus maculatus, had declined. Considering that the two piranha species naturally coexist in the Pantanal and that S. marginatus is a non-native species in the Upper Paraná River floodplain, we hypothesized that trophic niche overlap between Serrasalmus species only occurred in the Upper Paraná River floodplain due to short-term co-existence. The study area in which the isotopic niche overlap between S. maculatus and S. marginatus was evaluated consisted of two ponds located in different floodplains, the Pantanal and the Upper Paraná River. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to elucidate the differences in the energy intake by the native and non-native species. We used mixing models and calculated the isotopic niche area and niche overlap to infer the nature of the trophic interactions between the species in both habitats. According to the mixing model, the predominant source of carbon for both species was terrestrial. Nevertheless, in Upper Paraná River, the δ13C signature of the two species differed significantly and the non-native species had a greater niche width than the native species. In the Pantanal, there were no differences in δ13C, but the species differed with respect to δ 15N, and the niche widths were narrow for both species.Based on these results, it can be inferred that the species depend on different food sources. Piranhas obtain energy from distinct prey species, which probably consume

  12. Impact of non-native terrestrial mammals on the structure of the terrestrial mammal food web of Newfoundland, Canada.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justin S Strong

    Full Text Available The island of Newfoundland is unique because it has as many non-native terrestrial mammals as native ones. The impacts of non-native species on native flora and fauna can be profound and invasive species have been identified as one of the primary drivers of species extinction. Few studies, however, have investigated the effects of a non-native species assemblage on community and ecosystem properties. We reviewed the literature to build the first terrestrial mammal food web for the island of Newfoundland and then used network analyses to investigate how the timing of introductions and trophic position of non-native species has affected the structure of the terrestrial mammal food web in Newfoundland. The first non-native mammals (house mouse and brown rat became established in Newfoundland with human settlement in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Coyotes and southern red-backed voles are the most recent mammals to establish themselves on the island in 1985 and 1998, respectively. The fraction of intermediate species increased with the addition of non-native mammals over time whereas the fraction of basal and top species declined over time. This increase in intermediate species mediated by non-native species arrivals led to an overall increase in the terrestrial mammal food web connectance and generality (i.e. mean number of prey per predator. This diverse prey base and sources of carrion may have facilitated the natural establishment of coyotes on the island. Also, there is some evidence that the introduction of non-native prey species such as the southern red-backed vole has contributed to the recovery of the threatened American marten. Long-term monitoring of the food web is required to understand and predict the impacts of the diverse novel interactions that are developing in the terrestrial mammal food web of Newfoundland.

  13. Native and non-native plants provide similar refuge to invertebrate prey, but less than artificial plants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grutters, Bart; Pollux, B.J.A.; Verberk, W.C.E.P.; Bakker, E.S.

    2015-01-01

    Non-native species introductions are widespread and can affect ecosystem functioning by altering the structure of food webs. Invading plants often modify habitat structure, which may affect the suitability of vegetation as refuge and could thus impact predator-prey dynamics. Yet little is known

  14. Status and management of non-native plant invasion in three of the largest national parks in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scott Abella

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Globally, invasion by non-native plants threatens resources that nature reserves are designated to protect. We assessed the status of non-native plant invasion on 1,662, 0.1-ha plots in Death Valley National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. These parks comprise 2.5 million ha, 23% of the national park land in the contiguous USA. At least one non-native species inhabited 82% of plots. Thirty-one percent of plots contained one non-native species, 30% two, 17% three, and 4% four to ten non-native species. Red brome (Bromus rubens, an ‘ecosystem engineer’ that alters fire regimes, was most widespread, infesting 60% of plots. By identifying frequency of species through this assessment, early detection and treatment can target infrequent species or minimally invaded sites, while containment strategies could focus on established invaders. We further compared two existing systems for prioritizing species for management and found that a third of species on plots had no rankings available. Moreover, rankings did not always agree between ranking systems for species that were ranked. Presence of multiple non-native species complicates treatment, and while we found that 40% of plots contained both forb and grass invaders, exploiting accelerated phenology of non-natives (compared to native annuals might help manage multi-species invasions. Large sizes of these parks and scale of invasion are formidable challenges for management. Yet, precisely because of their size, these reserves represent opportunities to conserve large landscapes of native species by managing non-native plant invasions.

  15. Salient phonetic features of Indian languages in speech technology

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    acoustic-phonetic point of view, based upon distinct changes in time and ... with the mental lexicon or mental grammatical elements that are stored in the memory. ..... vowel short voiceless. Dental plosion heavily closure fricativ ized. [u. :] long.

  16. Antipredator responses by native mosquitofish to non-native cichlids: An examination of the role of prey naiveté

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rehage, Jennifer S.; Dunlop, Katherine L.; Loftus, William F.

    2009-01-01

    The strong impact of non-native predators in aquatic systems is thought to relate to the evolutionary naiveté of prey. Due to isolation and limited dispersal, this naiveté may be relatively high in freshwater systems. In this study, we tested this notion by examining the antipredator response of native mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, to two non-native predators found in the Everglades, the African jewelfish,Hemichromis letourneuxi, and the Mayan cichlid, Cichlasoma urophthalmus. We manipulated prey naiveté by using two mosquitofish populations that varied in their experience with the recent invader, the African jewelfish, but had similar levels of experience with the longer-established Mayan cichlid. Specifically, we tested these predictions: (1) predator hunting modes differed between the two predators, (2) predation rates would be higher by the novel jewelfish predator, (3) particularly on the naive population living where jewelfish have not invaded yet, (4) antipredator responses would be stronger to Mayan cichlids due to greater experience and weaker and/or ineffective to jewelfish, and (5) especially weakest by the naive population. We assayed prey and predator behavior, and prey mortality in lab aquaria where both predators and prey were free-ranging. Predator hunting modes and habitat domains differed, with jewelfish being more active search predators that used slightly higher parts of the water column and less of the habitat structure relative to Mayan cichlids. In disagreement with our predictions, predation rates were similar between the two predators, antipredator responses were stronger to African jewelfish (except for predator inspections), and there was no difference in response between jewelfish-savvy and jewelfish-naive populations. These results suggest that despite the novelty of introduced predators, prey may be able to respond appropriately if non-native predator archetypes are similar enough to those of native predators, if prey rely

  17. Exploring Native and Non-Native Intuitions of Word Frequency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, Norbert; Dunham, Bruce

    1999-01-01

    Asked native and nonnative speakers to give judgments of frequency for near synonyms in second-language lexical sets and compared those responses to modern corpus word counts. Native speakers were able to discern the core word in lexical sets either 77% or 85%, and nonnative speakers at 71% or 79%. (Author/VWL)

  18. An evaluation of behavioural and personality differences between native and non-native male adolescents in the Netherlands ordered into treatment in a forensic psychiatric outpatient clinic, and their non-violent peers.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hornsveld, R.H.J.; Cuperus, H.; Vries, E.T. de; Kraaimaat, F.W.

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: In a previous study of the dynamic criminogenic needs of violent outpatients we did not differentiate between native and non-native adolescents, but differences between personality traits and problem behaviours may require adaptations to any treatment programme. AIM: To compare, in the

  19. 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…

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

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Administrator

    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 ...

  1. Non-native grass removal and shade increase soil moisture and seedling performance during Hawaiian dry forest restoration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jared M. Thaxton; Susan Cordell; Robert J. Cabin; Darren R. Sandquist

    2012-01-01

    Invasive non-native species can create especially problematic restoration barriers in subtropical and tropical dry forests. Native dry forests in Hawaii presently cover less than 10% of their original area. Many sites that historically supported dry forest are now completely dominated by non-native species, particularly grasses. Within a grass-dominated site in leeward...

  2. Professional Development in Japanese Non-Native English Speaking Teachers' Identity and Efficacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takayama, Hiromi

    2015-01-01

    This mixed methods study investigates how Japanese non-native English speaking teachers' (NNESTs) efficacy and identity are developed and differentiated from those of native English speaking teachers (NESTs). To explore NNESTs' efficacy, this study focuses on the contributing factors, such as student engagement, classroom management, instructional…

  3. An invasion risk map for non-native aquatic macrophytes of the Iberian Peninsula

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Argantonio Rodríguez-Merino

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Freshwater systems are particularly susceptible to non-native organisms, owing to their high sensitivity to the impacts that are caused by these organisms. Species distribution models, which are based on both environmental and socio-economic variables, facilitate the identification of the most vulnerable areas for the spread of non-native species. We used MaxEnt to predict the potential distribution of 20 non-native aquatic macrophytes in the Iberian Peninsula. Some selected variables, such as the temperature seasonality and the precipitation in the driest quarter, highlight the importance of the climate on their distribution. Notably, the human influence in the territory appears as a key variable in the distribution of studied species. The model discriminated between favorable and unfavorable areas with high accuracy. We used the model to build an invasion risk map of aquatic macrophytes for the Iberian Peninsula that included results from 20 individual models. It showed that the most vulnerable areas are located near to the sea, the major rivers basins, and the high population density areas. These facts suggest the importance of the human impact on the colonization and distribution of non-native aquatic macrophytes in the Iberian Peninsula, and more precisely agricultural development during the Green Revolution at the end of the 70’s. Our work also emphasizes the utility of species distribution models for the prevention and management of biological invasions.

  4. Some Phonetic Phenomena in the Central Podillia Dialect (Based on the Terminology of Traditional Folk Crafts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kraievska Hanna

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: In the reviewed paper we attempted to investigate the phonetic variation of the Central Podillia dialect on the example of some linguistic phenomena. We found out that many linguists studied the phonetic variation based on the Ukrainians' dialect speech. However, they did not study the terminology of folk crafts of the Central Podillia dialects, that's why we aim to describe the sound differences of the lexical units of this area. Purpose: The purpose of the analysis is to determine some phonetic phenomena of the Central Podillia dialect. First of all, there are changes within the stable word length (metathesis, substantive changes of one sound in the stable surround sound, and changes, accompanied by the word elongation or contraction (prosthesis, epenthesis, elision. Results: The analyzed dialects widely present the consonant changes within the stable word length (г → ґ, т → д, с → ш, з → ж…. The performed study characterizes the Central Podillia dialects by the vowel change within a stable word length – 5 cases. Sound changes are typical for the analyzed dialects affecting the dynamics of the word length (prosthetic sounds - [г], [в], [й], [і], [и]. In opposition to the phonetic processes that help to increase the length of the word, we observe the loss of the sound in the middle of the word in the Central Podillia dialects (reduction – [o], [й], [в]. Discussion: The analysis of some phonetic phenomena of the Central Podillia dialects proved the existence of phonetic features typical for the South-Western dialect. However, we determined the local sound differences of this area, which confirm the identity of the language of this region.

  5. One hundred years of instrumental phonetic fieldwork on North America Indian languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonough, Joyce

    2005-04-01

    A resurgence of interest in phonetic fieldwork on generally morphologically complex North American Indian languages over the last 15 years is a continuation of a tradition started a century ago with the Earle Pliny Goddard, who collected kymographic and palatographic field-data between 1906-1927 on several Athabaskan languages: Coastal Athabaskan (Hupa and Kato), Apachean (Mescalero, Jicarilla, White Mountain, San Juan Carlos Apache), and several Athabaskan languages in Northern Canada (Cold Lake and Beaver); data that remains important for its record of segmental timing profiles and rare articulatory documentation in then largely monolingual communities. This data in combination with new work has resulted in the emergence of a body of knowledge of these typologically distinct families that often challenge notions of phonetic universality and typology. Using the Athabaskan languages as benchmark example and starting with Goddard's work, two types of emergent typological patterns will be discussed; the persistence of fine-grained timing and duration details across the widely dispersed family, and the broad variation in prosodic types that exists, both of which are unaccounted for by phonetic or phonological theories.

  6. A global organism detection and monitoring system for non-native species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, J.; Newman, G.; Jarnevich, C.; Shory, R.; Stohlgren, T.J.

    2007-01-01

    Harmful invasive non-native species are a significant threat to native species and ecosystems, and the costs associated with non-native species in the United States is estimated at over $120 Billion/year. While some local or regional databases exist for some taxonomic groups, there are no effective geographic databases designed to detect and monitor all species of non-native plants, animals, and pathogens. We developed a web-based solution called the Global Organism Detection and Monitoring (GODM) system to provide real-time data from a broad spectrum of users on the distribution and abundance of non-native species, including attributes of their habitats for predictive spatial modeling of current and potential distributions. The four major subsystems of GODM provide dynamic links between the organism data, web pages, spatial data, and modeling capabilities. The core survey database tables for recording invasive species survey data are organized into three categories: "Where, Who & When, and What." Organisms are identified with Taxonomic Serial Numbers from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. To allow users to immediately see a map of their data combined with other user's data, a custom geographic information system (GIS) Internet solution was required. The GIS solution provides an unprecedented level of flexibility in database access, allowing users to display maps of invasive species distributions or abundances based on various criteria including taxonomic classification (i.e., phylum or division, order, class, family, genus, species, subspecies, and variety), a specific project, a range of dates, and a range of attributes (percent cover, age, height, sex, weight). This is a significant paradigm shift from "map servers" to true Internet-based GIS solutions. The remainder of the system was created with a mix of commercial products, open source software, and custom software. Custom GIS libraries were created where required for processing large datasets

  7. Evolution under changing climates: climatic niche stasis despite rapid evolution in a non-native plant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Jake M

    2013-09-22

    A topic of great current interest is the capacity of populations to adapt genetically to rapidly changing climates, for example by evolving the timing of life-history events, but this is challenging to address experimentally. I use a plant invasion as a model system to tackle this question by combining molecular markers, a common garden experiment and climatic niche modelling. This approach reveals that non-native Lactuca serriola originates primarily from Europe, a climatic subset of its native range, with low rates of admixture from Asia. It has rapidly refilled its climatic niche in the new range, associated with the evolution of flowering phenology to produce clines along climate gradients that mirror those across the native range. Consequently, some non-native plants have evolved development times and grow under climates more extreme than those found in Europe, but not among populations from the native range as a whole. This suggests that many plant populations can adapt rapidly to changed climatic conditions that are already within the climatic niche space occupied by the species elsewhere in its range, but that evolution to conditions outside of this range is more difficult. These findings can also help to explain the prevalence of niche conservatism among non-native species.

  8. Estimating the non-market costs and benefits of native woodland restoration using the contingent valuation method.

    OpenAIRE

    MacMillan, Douglas C.; Duff, Elizabeth I.

    1998-01-01

    The restoration of native forests is an important priority for forestry and conservation organizations in the United Kingdom. The economic case for public sector support for native woodland restoration in the United Kingdom rests almost entirely on the provision of non-market benefits related to wildlife, landscape and recreational opportunities. This paper describes a discrete choice contingent valuation (CV) to estimate the value of the non-market benefits of restoring two native pinewood f...

  9. 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.

  10. Automatized spleen segmentation in non-contrast-enhanced MR volume data using subject-specific shape priors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gloger, Oliver; Tönnies, Klaus; Bülow, Robin; Völzke, Henry

    2017-07-01

    To develop the first fully automated 3D spleen segmentation framework derived from T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging data and to verify its performance for spleen delineation and volumetry. This approach considers the issue of low contrast between spleen and adjacent tissue in non-contrast-enhanced MR images. Native T1-weighted MR volume data was performed on a 1.5 T MR system in an epidemiological study. We analyzed random subsamples of MR examinations without pathologies to develop and verify the spleen segmentation framework. The framework is modularized to include different kinds of prior knowledge into the segmentation pipeline. Classification by support vector machines differentiates between five different shape types in computed foreground probability maps and recognizes characteristic spleen regions in axial slices of MR volume data. A spleen-shape space generated by training produces subject-specific prior shape knowledge that is then incorporated into a final 3D level set segmentation method. Individually adapted shape-driven forces as well as image-driven forces resulting from refined foreground probability maps steer the level set successfully to the segment the spleen. The framework achieves promising segmentation results with mean Dice coefficients of nearly 0.91 and low volumetric mean errors of 6.3%. The presented spleen segmentation approach can delineate spleen tissue in native MR volume data. Several kinds of prior shape knowledge including subject-specific 3D prior shape knowledge can be used to guide segmentation processes achieving promising results.

  11. 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)

  12. 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.

  13. 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

  14. 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.

  15. GLTP mediated non-vesicular GM1 transport between native membranes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ines Lauria

    Full Text Available Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs are emerging as key players in lipid homeostasis by mediating non-vesicular transport steps between two membrane surfaces. Little is known about the driving force that governs the direction of transport in cells. Using the soluble LTP glycolipid transfer protein (GLTP, we examined GM1 (monosialotetrahexosyl-ganglioside transfer to native membrane surfaces. With artificial GM1 donor liposomes, GLTP can be used to increase glycolipid levels over natural levels in either side of the membrane leaflet, i.e., external or cytosolic. In a system with native donor- and acceptor-membranes, we find that GLTP balances highly variable GM1 concentrations in a population of membranes from one cell type, and in addition, transfers lipids between membranes from different cell types. Glycolipid transport is highly efficient, independent of cofactors, solely driven by the chemical potential of GM1 and not discriminating between the extra- and intracellular membrane leaflet. We conclude that GLTP mediated non-vesicular lipid trafficking between native membranes is driven by simple thermodynamic principles and that for intracellular transport less than 1 µM GLTP would be required in the cytosol. Furthermore, the data demonstrates the suitability of GLTP as a tool for artificially increasing glycolipid levels in cellular membranes.

  16. Introduction of non-native marine fish species to the Canary Islands waters through oil platforms as vectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pajuelo, José G.; González, José A.; Triay-Portella, Raül; Martín, José A.; Ruiz-Díaz, Raquel; Lorenzo, José M.; Luque, Ángel

    2016-11-01

    This work documents the introduction of non-native fish species to the Canary Islands (central-eastern Atlantic) through oil rigs. Methodological approaches have included surveys by underwater visual censuses around and under oil platforms and along the docking area of rigs at the Port of Las Palmas. Eleven non-native fish species were registered. Paranthias furcifer, Abudefduf hoefleri, Acanthurus bahianus, Acanthurus chirurgus, and Acanthurus coeruleus are first recorded from the Canaries herein. Other three species could not be identified, although they have never been observed in the Canaries. Cephalopholis taeniops, Abudefduf saxatilis, and Acanthurus monroviae had been previously recorded. Native areas of these species coincide with the areas of origin and the scale of oil rigs with destination the Port of Las Palmas. The absence of native species in the censuses at rigs and their presence at rigs docking area, together with the observation of non-native species after the departure of platforms, reject the possibility that these non-native species were already present in the area introduced by another vector. C. taeniops, A. hoefleri, A. saxatilis, A. chirurgus, A. coeruleus and A. monroviae are clearly seafarer species. A. bahianus seems to be a potential seafarer species. P. furcifer is a castaway species. For the moment, the number of individuals of the non-native species in marine ecosystems of the Canaries seems to be low, and more investigation is needed for controlling these translocations.

  17. 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

  18. Non-Native English Teachers' Beliefs on Grammar Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Önalan, Okan

    2018-01-01

    Research on teacher cognition, which mainly focuses on identifying what teachers think, know and believe, is essential to understanding teachers' cognitive framework as it relates to the instructional choices they make. The aim of this study is to find out the beliefs of non-native speaker teachers of English on grammar instruction and to explain…

  19. A Hybrid Acoustic and Pronunciation Model Adaptation Approach for Non-native Speech Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Yoo Rhee; Kim, Hong Kook

    In this paper, we propose a hybrid model adaptation approach in which pronunciation and acoustic models are adapted by incorporating the pronunciation and acoustic variabilities of non-native speech in order to improve the performance of non-native automatic speech recognition (ASR). Specifically, the proposed hybrid model adaptation can be performed at either the state-tying or triphone-modeling level, depending at which acoustic model adaptation is performed. In both methods, we first analyze the pronunciation variant rules of non-native speakers and then classify each rule as either a pronunciation variant or an acoustic variant. The state-tying level hybrid method then adapts pronunciation models and acoustic models by accommodating the pronunciation variants in the pronunciation dictionary and by clustering the states of triphone acoustic models using the acoustic variants, respectively. On the other hand, the triphone-modeling level hybrid method initially adapts pronunciation models in the same way as in the state-tying level hybrid method; however, for the acoustic model adaptation, the triphone acoustic models are then re-estimated based on the adapted pronunciation models and the states of the re-estimated triphone acoustic models are clustered using the acoustic variants. From the Korean-spoken English speech recognition experiments, it is shown that ASR systems employing the state-tying and triphone-modeling level adaptation methods can relatively reduce the average word error rates (WERs) by 17.1% and 22.1% for non-native speech, respectively, when compared to a baseline ASR system.

  20. Facilitation of a native pest of rice, Stenotus rubrovittatus (Hemiptera: Miridae), by the non-native Lolium multiflorum (Cyperales: Poaceae) in an agricultural landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshioka, Akira; Takada, Mayura; Washitani, Izumi

    2011-10-01

    Source populations of polyphagous pests often occur on host plants other than the economically damaged crop. We evaluated the contribution of patches of a non-native meadow grass, Lolium multiflorum Lam. (Poaceae), and other weeds growing in fallow fields or meadows as source hosts of an important native pest of rice, Stenotus rubrovittatus (Matsumura) (Hemiptera: Miridae), in an agricultural landscape of northern Japan. Periodical censuses of this mirid bug by using the sweeping method, vegetation surveys, and statistical analysis revealed that L. multiflorum was the only plant species that was positively correlated with the density of adult S. rubrovittatus through two generations and thus may be the most stable and important host of the mirid bug early in the season before the colonization of rice paddies. The risk and cost of such an indirect negative effect on a crop plant through facilitation of a native pest by a non-native plant in the agricultural landscape should not be overlooked.

  1. 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.

  2. The Power of Protection: A Population-Based Comparison of Native and Non-Native Youth Suicide Attempters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackin, Juliette; Perkins, Tamara; Furrer, Carrie

    2012-01-01

    This study provides actionable information about intervening with American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth to prevent suicide. Statewide school survey data were used to model the impact of risk and protective factors on self-reported suicide attempts (both AI/AN and non-AI/AN). The cumulative risk and protective model worked similarly for both…

  3. Evaluating ecosystem services provided by non-native species: an experimental test in California grasslands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Claudia; Hallett, Lauren M; Harpole, W Stanley; Suding, Katharine N

    2014-01-01

    The concept of ecosystem services--the benefits that nature provides to human's society--has gained increasing attention over the past decade. Increasing global abiotic and biotic change, including species invasions, is threatening the secure delivery of these ecosystem services. Efficient evaluation methods of ecosystem services are urgently needed to improve our ability to determine management strategies and restoration goals in face of these new emerging ecosystems. Considering a range of multiple ecosystem functions may be a useful way to determine such strategies. We tested this framework experimentally in California grasslands, where large shifts in species composition have occurred since the late 1700's. We compared a suite of ecosystem functions within one historic native and two non-native species assemblages under different grazing intensities to address how different species assemblages vary in provisioning, regulatory and supporting ecosystem services. Forage production was reduced in one non-native assemblage (medusahead). Cultural ecosystem services, such as native species diversity, were inherently lower in both non-native assemblages, whereas most other services were maintained across grazing intensities. All systems provided similar ecosystem services under the highest grazing intensity treatment, which simulated unsustainable grazing intensity. We suggest that applying a more comprehensive ecosystem framework that considers multiple ecosystem services to evaluate new emerging ecosystems is a valuable tool to determine management goals and how to intervene in a changing ecosystem.

  4. 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.

  5. Assessing the impact of non-native freshwater fishes on native species using relative weight

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giannetto D.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the research was to test relative weight (Wr, a condition index which allows evaluation of fish well-being, as a tool to investigate the impact of the presence of non native species (NNS on the condition of the key native species (NS of the Tiber River basin (Italy: Barbustyberinus Bonaparte, Leuciscus cephalus (Linnaeus, Leuciscus lucumonis Bianco, Rutilus rubilio (Bonaparte and Telestes muticellus (Bonaparte. By means of Canonical Correlation Analysis, data from 130 sampling sites, distributed throughout Tiber River basin, were examined. Wr of NS was related to densities of NNS and to environmental variables. Moreover, the correlation between Wr of NS and density of NNS was investigated through linear regression analysis and covariance analysis. Preliminary results encourage the use of Wr as a tool to assess the relationship between NS and ecological factors (such as the presence of NNS and to explain the changes that occur along the longitudinal gradient of a river.

  6. Native and Non-native English Teachers' Perceptions of their Professional Identity: Convergent or Divergent?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zia Tajeddin

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available There is still a preference for native speaker teachers in the language teaching profession, which is supposed to influence the self-perceptions of native and nonnative teachers. However, the status of English as a globalized language is changing the legitimacy of native/nonnative teacher dichotomy. This study sought to investigate native and nonnative English-speaking teachers’ perceptions about native and nonnative teachers’ status and the advantages and disadvantages of being a native or nonnative teacher. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. A total of 200 native and nonnative teachers of English from the UK and the US, i.e. the inner circle, and Turkey and Iran, the expanding circle, participated in this study. A significant majority of nonnative teachers believed that native speaker teachers have better speaking proficiency, better pronunciation, and greater self-confidence. The findings also showed nonnative teachers’ lack of self-confidence and awareness of their role and status compared with native-speaker teachers, which could be the result of existing inequities between native and nonnative English-speaking teachers in ELT. The findings also revealed that native teachers disagreed more strongly with the concept of native teachers’ superiority over nonnative teachers. Native teachers argued that nonnative teachers have a good understanding of teaching methodology whereas native teachers are more competent in correct language. It can be concluded that teacher education programs in the expanding-circle countries should include materials for teachers to raise their awareness of their own professional status and role and to remove their misconception about native speaker fallacy.

  7. The Spread of Non-native Plant Species Collection of Cibodas Botanical Garden into Mt. Gede Pangrango National Park

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Musyarofah Zuhri

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The role of botanic garden in spread of non-native plant species has concerned of international worldwide. This study aimed to study the extent of non-native plant species from Cibodas Botanical Garden (CBG which invades into natural rainforest. A line transect was made edge-to-interior with 1,600 m in distance from CBG boundary. Result showed that distance from CBG was not significant in correlation with non-native tree and treelet density. Furthermore, presence of existing CBG’s plant collection was not a single aspect which influenced presence and abundance. Three invasive species possibly was escape from CBG and it showed edge-to-interior in stems density, i.e. Cinchona pubescens, Calliandra calothyrsus and Cestrum aurantiacum. The patterns of non-native species were influenced by presence of ditch across transect, existence of human trail, and the other non-native species did not have general pattern of spread distribution. Overall, botanical gardens should minimize the risk of unintentional introduced plant by perform site-specific risk assessment.

  8. 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.

  9. Optimizing Automatic Speech Recognition for Low-Proficient Non-Native Speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catia Cucchiarini

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL applications for improving the oral skills of low-proficient learners have to cope with non-native speech that is particularly challenging. Since unconstrained non-native ASR is still problematic, a possible solution is to elicit constrained responses from the learners. In this paper, we describe experiments aimed at selecting utterances from lists of responses. The first experiment on utterance selection indicates that the decoding process can be improved by optimizing the language model and the acoustic models, thus reducing the utterance error rate from 29–26% to 10–8%. Since giving feedback on incorrectly recognized utterances is confusing, we verify the correctness of the utterance before providing feedback. The results of the second experiment on utterance verification indicate that combining duration-related features with a likelihood ratio (LR yield an equal error rate (EER of 10.3%, which is significantly better than the EER for the other measures in isolation.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. Non-native tree species in urban areas of the city of Nitra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galis, M

    2014-01-01

    Non-native plant species are part of our environment. The introduction of these species is huge conditioned by anthropogenic activities, such as the urban environment is characterized by. During the field surveys of selected town Nitra (Chrenova, Mikova Ves, Zobor), we studied the frequency of non-native tree species in the contact zone. Overall, we found out the presence of 10 alien species, observed in this area. Our results show dominant presence of the species Rhus typhina, followed by the Robinia pseudoacacia and Ailanthus altissima. Individual plants were tied largely to the surrounding of built-up areas, often growns directly in front of houses, or as a part of urban green. (author)

  13. Which English? Whose English? An Investigation of "Non-Native" Teachers' Beliefs about Target Varieties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Tony Johnstone; Walsh, Steve

    2010-01-01

    This study explored the beliefs of "non-native English speaking" teachers about the usefulness and appropriacy of varieties such as English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), compared with native speaker varieties. The study therefore addresses the current theoretical debate concerning "appropriate" target…

  14. Information encoded in non-native states drives substrate-chaperone pairing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mapa, Koyeli; Tiwari, Satyam; Kumar, Vignesh; Jayaraj, Gopal Gunanathan; Maiti, Souvik

    2012-09-05

    Many proteins refold in vitro through kinetic folding intermediates that are believed to be by-products of native-state centric evolution. These intermediates are postulated to play only minor roles, if any, in vivo because they lack any information related to translation-associated vectorial folding. We demonstrate that refolding intermediate of a test protein, generated in vitro, is able to find its cognate chaperone, from the whole complement of Escherichia coli soluble chaperones. Cognate chaperone-binding uniquely alters the conformation of non-native substrate. Importantly, precise chaperone targeting of substrates are maintained as long as physiological molar ratios of chaperones remain unaltered. Using a library of different chaperone substrates, we demonstrate that kinetically trapped refolding intermediates contain sufficient structural features for precise targeting to cognate chaperones. We posit that evolution favors sequences that, in addition to coding for a functional native state, encode folding intermediates with higher affinity for cognate chaperones than noncognate ones. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. 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.

  16. Projecting invasion risk of non-native watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata and Nerodia sipedon in the western United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan P Rose

    Full Text Available Species distribution models (SDMs are increasingly used to project the potential distribution of introduced species outside their native range. Such studies rarely explicitly evaluate potential conflicts with native species should the range of introduced species expand. Two snake species native to eastern North America, Nerodia fasciata and Nerodia sipedon, have been introduced to California where they represent a new stressor to declining native amphibians, fish, and reptiles. To project the potential distributions of these non-native watersnakes in western North America, we built ensemble SDMs using MaxEnt, Boosted Regression Trees, and Random Forests and habitat and climatic variables. We then compared the overlap between the projected distribution of invasive watersnakes and the distributions of imperiled native amphibians, fish, and reptiles that can serve as prey or competitors for the invaders, to estimate the risk to native species posed by non-native watersnakes. Large areas of western North America were projected to be climatically suitable for both species of Nerodia according to our ensemble SDMs, including much of central California. The potential distributions of both N. fasciata and N. sipedon overlap extensively with the federally threatened Giant Gartersnake, Thamnophis gigas, which inhabits a similar ecological niche. N. fasciata also poses risk to the federally threatened California Tiger Salamander, Ambystoma californiense, whereas N. sipedon poses risk to some amphibians of conservation concern, including the Foothill Yellow-legged Frog, Rana boylii. We conclude that non-native watersnakes in California can likely inhabit ranges of several native species of conservation concern that are expected to suffer as prey or competing species for these invaders. Action should be taken now to eradicate or control these invasions before detrimental impacts on native species are widespread. Our methods can be applied broadly to quantify

  17. Intraindividual assessment of the thoracic aorta using contrast and non-contrast-enhanced MR angiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tengg-Kobligk, Hendrik von; Gruenberg, K.M.; Giesel, F.L.; Ley-Zaporozhan, J.; Ley, S.; Henninger, V.; Kauczor, H.U.; Radiologische Universitaetsklinik Heidelberg; Boeckler, D.; Krummenauer, F.

    2009-01-01

    To avoid intravenous contrast media application, new MRA sequences using inherent blood contrast are available. The clinical use of these non-contrast-enhanced MRA (non-CE-MRA) sequences is still limited for the aorta. Thus, the goal was to compare a standard CE-MRA with a non-CE-MRA for the thoracic aorta. Ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. CE-MRA and non-CE-MRA (1.5T) were performed in the same 50 healthy volunteers (mean age: 48). CE-MRA: GRE-Turbo-Flash-3D (1.2 x 1.2 x 1.6 mm 3 ), 0.15 mmol Gd/kg, TA 22 ± 2sec. Non-CE-MRA: Respiratory-and cardiac-gated, T 2-prepared 3D-trueFISP (1.2 x 1.2 x 1.3 mm 3 ), TA 14 ± 5 min. Assessment included (3 readers, consensus): image quality (sharpness of vessel wall, signal homogeneity, artifacts) at the ascending aorta, arch, descending aorta and supra-aortic vessels. The image quality in the ascending aorta was rated 'excellent' in 78 %, 'moderate' in 22 %, 'poor' in 0 % for non-CE-MRA versus 22 %, 50 %, and 28 % for CE-MRA (Cohen's kappa = 29 %, McNemar p < 0.001). In a comparison of non-CE-MRA versus CE-MRA, the aortic arch and descending aorta showed no significant difference (kappa = 58 %/p = 0.250 and kappa = 100 %/p 1.000, respectively). Supra-aortic vessels were rated 'excellent' 45 %/49 %, 'moderate' 30 %/49 % and 'poor' 13 %/2 %, 12 % of supra-aortic vessels were visualized < 1 cm at non-CE-MRA. (orig.)

  18. Non-native gobies facilitate the transmission of Bucephalus polymorphus (Trematoda)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ondračková, Markéta; Hudcová, Iveta; Dávidová, Martina; Adámek, Zdeněk; Kašný, M.; Jurajda, Pavel

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 1 (2015), s. 382 ISSN 1756-3305 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP505/12/2569 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Bucephalus polymorphus * Complex life cycle * Goby * Infectivity * Intermediate host * Non-native species * Trematode Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 3.234, year: 2015

  19. Survey of the pharmacology of non-ionic X-ray contrast media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turnheim, K.

    1986-01-01

    The non-ionic X-ray contrast media metrizamide, iopamidol, iohexol, and iopromide do not bind calcium and are less hyperosmolar than the conventional ionic contrast media, for instance amidotrizoate (diatrizoate), iothalamte, or ioglicate. Hence the use of non-ionic contrast media is associated with less undesirable side-effects that are attributable to hypertonicity such as an increase in circulating plasma volume, decreased deformability of red blood cells, damage of vascular endothelium with consequent activation of blood coagulation, the complement system and fibrinolysis, increased release of bradykinin and histamine, cardiac arrhythimas, diuresis, vasodilation and decreased blood pressure, pain and heat sensation. Because of less dilution the quality of imaging is also better. According to the intravenous LD 50 in experimental animals the acute toxicity of non-ionic contrast media is lower than that of ionic media. With respect to contrast quality and the rate of side-effects tha various non-ionic contrast media appear to be equivalent. Despite their higher price and higher viscosity it is probable that the non-ionic contrast media will replace the classical ionic media, especially in angio- and myelography. (Author)

  20. Phonemic versus allophonic status modulates early brain responses to language sounds: an MEG/ERF study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Gebauer, Line; Mcgregor, William

    allophonic sound contrasts. So far this has only been attested between languages. In the present study we wished to investigate this effect within the same language: Does the same sound contrast that is phonemic in one environment, but allophonic in another, elicit different MMNm responses in native...... ‘that’). This allowed us to manipulate the phonemic/allophonic status of exactly the same sound contrast (/t/-/d/) by presenting it in different immediate phonetic contexts (preceding a vowel (CV) versus following a vowel (VC)), in order to investigate the auditory event-related fields of native Danish...... listeners to a sound contrast that is both phonemic and allophonic within Danish. Methods: Relevant syllables were recorded by a male native Danish speaker. The stimuli were then created by cross-splicing the sounds so that the same vowel [æ] was used for all syllables, and the same [t] and [d] were used...

  1. 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...

  2. Using the Speech Transmission Index for predicting non-native speech intelligibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wijngaarden, S.J. van; Bronkhorst, A.W.; Houtgast, T.; Steeneken, H.J.M.

    2004-01-01

    While the Speech Transmission Index ~STI! is widely applied for prediction of speech intelligibility in room acoustics and telecommunication engineering, it is unclear how to interpret STI values when non-native talkers or listeners are involved. Based on subjectively measured psychometric functions

  3. Hemisphericity and information processing in North American Native (Ojibwa) and non-native adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, L L; Allen, J D; Williams, N H

    1994-04-01

    Thirty-two male and female adolescents of native ancestry (Ojibwa) and 32 controls were tested using (1) four WISC-R subtests and (2) two dichotic listening tasks which employed a focused-attention paradigm for processing consonant-vowel combinations (CVs) and musical melodies. On the WISC-R, natives scored higher than controls on Block Design and Picture Completion subtests but lower on Vocabulary and Similarities subtests. On laterality measures more native males showed a left ear advantage on the CV task and the melody task. For CVs the left ear advantage was due to native males' lower right ear (i.e., left hemisphere) involvement. For melodies, the laterality index pointed to less left hemisphere involvement for native males, however, the raw scores showed that natives were performing lower overall. The findings are consistent with culturally-based strategy differences, possibly linked to "hemisphericity," but additional clarifying research regarding the cause and extent of such differences is warranted. Thus, implications for education are premature but a focus on teaching "left hemisphere type" strategies to all individuals not utilizing such skills, including many native males, may prove beneficial.

  4. Understanding the threats posed by non-native species: public vs. conservation managers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolphe E Gozlan

    Full Text Available Public perception is a key factor influencing current conservation policy. Therefore, it is important to determine the influence of the public, end-users and scientists on the prioritisation of conservation issues and the direct implications for policy makers. Here, we assessed public attitudes and the perception of conservation managers to five non-native species in the UK, with these supplemented by those of an ecosystem user, freshwater anglers. We found that threat perception was not influenced by the volume of scientific research or by the actual threats posed by the specific non-native species. Media interest also reflected public perception and vice versa. Anglers were most concerned with perceived threats to their recreational activities but their concerns did not correspond to the greatest demonstrated ecological threat. The perception of conservation managers was an amalgamation of public and angler opinions but was mismatched to quantified ecological risks of the species. As this suggests that invasive species management in the UK is vulnerable to a knowledge gap, researchers must consider the intrinsic characteristics of their study species to determine whether raising public perception will be effective. The case study of the topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva reveals that media pressure and political debate has greater capacity to ignite policy changes and impact studies on non-native species than scientific evidence alone.

  5. Clinical experience with a non-ionic contrast medium (ultravist) in left ventriculography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Ghi Jai; Park, Jae Hyung; Soe, Gwy Suk; Hong, Ju Hee; Han, Man Chung

    1988-01-01

    Non-ionic contrast medium, iopromide (Ultravist), was compared with ionic contrast medium, ioxitalamate (Telebrix), for efficacy and safety in 63 patients undergoing left ventriculography. In all patients, adverse symptoms and signs including pain, heat sense, nausea, vomiting, etc., were checked during and shortly after the injection. Blood pressure, heart rate, EKG and left ventricular pressure were also monitored during the study, and CBC, UA, BUN and creatinine were checked before and 24 hours after the study. The cineangiographic films were analysed and compared by 2 radiologists for the quality. Serious adverse effect did not occur in any case. Minor effects, especially nausea, were lee frequently caused by non-ionic contrast medium than by ionic contrast medium, and heat sense to non-ionic contrast medium was less severe than to ionic contrast medium. Except slightly elevated LVEDP at 1,5 minutes after the study in patients given ionic contrast medium, there was no significant change of electrophysiologic parameters and laboratory findings in both groups. In regard to image quality, there was no significant difference between ionic and non-ionic contrast medium. Thus non-ionic contrast medium, iopromide, appears to be safer for use in left ventriculography than the conventional ionic contrast medium, particularly in those patients at high risk of adverse effects.

  6. Dual-energy CT in the assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes: Comparative study of virtual non-contrast and true non-contrast images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Seon Young; Kim, Yoo Kyung; Cho, Hyun Hae; Choi, Mi Joo; Shim, Sung Shine; Lee, Jeong Kyong; Baek, Seung Yon

    2013-01-01

    To evaluate the reliability of virtual non-contrast (VNC) images reconstructed from contrast-enhanced, dual-energy scans compared with true non-contrast (TNC) images in the assessment of high CT attenuation or calcification of mediastinal lymph nodes. A total of 112 mediastinal nodes from 45 patients who underwent non-contrast and dual-energy contrast-enhanced scans were analyzed. Node attenuation in TNC and VNC images was compared both objectively, using computed tomography (CT) attenuation, and subjectively, via visual scoring (0, attenuation ≤ the aorta; 1, > the aorta; 2, calcification). The relationship among attenuation difference between TNC and VNC images, CT attenuation in TNC images, and net contrast enhancement (NCE) was analyzed. CT attenuation in TNC and VNC images showed moderate agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.612). The mean absolute difference was 7.8 ± 7.6 Hounsfield unit (HU) (range, 0-36 HU), and the absolute difference was equal to or less than 10 HU in 65.2% of cases (73/112). Visual scores in TNC and VNC images showed fair agreement (κ value, 0.335). Five of 16 nodes (31.3%) which showed score 1 (n = 15) or 2 (n = 1) in TNC images demonstrated score 1 in VNC images. The TNC-VNC attenuation difference showed a moderate positive correlation with CT attenuation in TNC images (partial correlation coefficient [PCC] adjusted by NCE: 0.455) and a weak negative correlation with NCE (PCC adjusted by CT attenuation in TNC: -0.245). VNC images may be useful in the evaluation of mediastinal lymph nodes by providing additional information of high CT attenuation of nodes, although it is underestimated compared with TNC images.

  7. Dual-energy CT in the assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes: Comparative study of virtual non-contrast and true non-contrast images

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Seon Young; Kim, Yoo Kyung; Cho, Hyun Hae; Choi, Mi Joo; Shim, Sung Shine; Lee, Jeong Kyong; Baek, Seung Yon [School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seou (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-06-15

    To evaluate the reliability of virtual non-contrast (VNC) images reconstructed from contrast-enhanced, dual-energy scans compared with true non-contrast (TNC) images in the assessment of high CT attenuation or calcification of mediastinal lymph nodes. A total of 112 mediastinal nodes from 45 patients who underwent non-contrast and dual-energy contrast-enhanced scans were analyzed. Node attenuation in TNC and VNC images was compared both objectively, using computed tomography (CT) attenuation, and subjectively, via visual scoring (0, attenuation ≤ the aorta; 1, > the aorta; 2, calcification). The relationship among attenuation difference between TNC and VNC images, CT attenuation in TNC images, and net contrast enhancement (NCE) was analyzed. CT attenuation in TNC and VNC images showed moderate agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.612). The mean absolute difference was 7.8 ± 7.6 Hounsfield unit (HU) (range, 0-36 HU), and the absolute difference was equal to or less than 10 HU in 65.2% of cases (73/112). Visual scores in TNC and VNC images showed fair agreement (κ value, 0.335). Five of 16 nodes (31.3%) which showed score 1 (n = 15) or 2 (n = 1) in TNC images demonstrated score 1 in VNC images. The TNC-VNC attenuation difference showed a moderate positive correlation with CT attenuation in TNC images (partial correlation coefficient [PCC] adjusted by NCE: 0.455) and a weak negative correlation with NCE (PCC adjusted by CT attenuation in TNC: -0.245). VNC images may be useful in the evaluation of mediastinal lymph nodes by providing additional information of high CT attenuation of nodes, although it is underestimated compared with TNC images.

  8. Dual-energy CT in the assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes: comparative study of virtual non-contrast and true non-contrast images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Seon Young; Kim, Yookyung; Cho, Hyun Hae; Choi, Mi Joo; Shim, Sung Shine; Lee, Jeong Kyong; Baek, Seung Yon

    2013-01-01

    To evaluate the reliability of virtual non-contrast (VNC) images reconstructed from contrast-enhanced, dual-energy scans compared with true non-contrast (TNC) images in the assessment of high CT attenuation or calcification of mediastinal lymph nodes. A total of 112 mediastinal nodes from 45 patients who underwent non-contrast and dual-energy contrast-enhanced scans were analyzed. Node attenuation in TNC and VNC images was compared both objectively, using computed tomography (CT) attenuation, and subjectively, via visual scoring (0, attenuation ≤ the aorta; 1, > the aorta; 2, calcification). The relationship among attenuation difference between TNC and VNC images, CT attenuation in TNC images, and net contrast enhancement (NCE) was analyzed. CT attenuation in TNC and VNC images showed moderate agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.612). The mean absolute difference was 7.8 ± 7.6 Hounsfield unit (HU) (range, 0-36 HU), and the absolute difference was equal to or less than 10 HU in 65.2% of cases (73/112). Visual scores in TNC and VNC images showed fair agreement (κ value, 0.335). Five of 16 nodes (31.3%) which showed score 1 (n = 15) or 2 (n = 1) in TNC images demonstrated score 1 in VNC images. The TNC-VNC attenuation difference showed a moderate positive correlation with CT attenuation in TNC images (partial correlation coefficient [PCC] adjusted by NCE: 0.455) and a weak negative correlation with NCE (PCC adjusted by CT attenuation in TNC: -0.245). VNC images may be useful in the evaluation of mediastinal lymph nodes by providing additional information of high CT attenuation of nodes, although it is underestimated compared with TNC images.

  9. Listening to a non-native speaker: Adaptation and generalization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Constance M.

    2004-05-01

    Non-native speech can cause perceptual difficulty for the native listener, but experience can moderate this difficulty. This study explored the perceptual benefit of a brief (approximately 1 min) exposure to foreign-accented speech using a cross-modal word matching paradigm. Processing speed was tracked by recording reaction times (RTs) to visual probe words following English sentences produced by a Spanish-accented speaker. In experiment 1, RTs decreased significantly over 16 accented utterances and by the end were equal to RTs to a native voice. In experiment 2, adaptation to one Spanish-accented voice improved perceptual efficiency for a new Spanish-accented voice, indicating that abstract properties of accented speech are learned during adaptation. The control group in Experiment 2 also adapted to the accented voice during the test block, suggesting adaptation can occur within two to four sentences. The results emphasize the flexibility of the human speech processing system and the need for a mechanism to explain this adaptation in models of spoken word recognition. [Research supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the University of Arizona Cognitive Science Program.] a)Currently at SUNY at Buffalo, Dept. of Psych., Park Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, cclarke2@buffalo.edu

  10. Exploring the role of wood waste landfills in early detection of non-native alien wood-boring beetles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davide Rassati; Massimo Faccoli; Lorenzo Marini; Robert A. Haack; Andrea Battisti; Edoardo. Petrucco Toffolo

    2015-01-01

    Non-native wood-boring beetles (Coleoptera) represent one of the most commonly intercepted groups of insects at ports worldwide. The development of early detection methods is a crucial step when implementing rapid response programs so that non-native wood-boring beetles can be quickly detected and a timely action plan can be produced. However, due to the limited...

  11. Material decomposition and virtual non-contrast imaging in photon counting computed tomography: an animal study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutjahr, R.; Polster, C.; Kappler, S.; Pietsch, H.; Jost, G.; Hahn, K.; Schöck, F.; Sedlmair, M.; Allmendinger, T.; Schmidt, B.; Krauss, B.; Flohr, T. G.

    2016-03-01

    The energy resolving capabilities of Photon Counting Detectors (PCD) in Computed Tomography (CT) facilitate energy-sensitive measurements. The provided image-information can be processed with Dual Energy and Multi Energy algorithms. A research PCD-CT firstly allows acquiring images with a close to clinical configuration of both the X-ray tube and the CT-detector. In this study, two algorithms (Material Decomposition and Virtual Non-Contrast-imaging (VNC)) are applied on a data set acquired from an anesthetized rabbit scanned using the PCD-CT system. Two contrast agents (CA) are applied: A gadolinium (Gd) based CA used to enhance contrasts for vascular imaging, and xenon (Xe) and air as a CA used to evaluate local ventilation of the animal's lung. Four different images are generated: a) A VNC image, suppressing any traces of the injected Gd imitating a native scan, b) a VNC image with a Gd-image as an overlay, where contrast enhancements in the vascular system are highlighted using colored labels, c) another VNC image with a Xe-image as an overlay, and d) a 3D rendered image of the animal's lung, filled with Xe, indicating local ventilation characteristics. All images are generated from two images based on energy bin information. It is shown that a modified version of a commercially available dual energy software framework is capable of providing images with diagnostic value obtained from the research PCD-CT system.

  12. Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound for Non-tumor Liver Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H Maruyama

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS is a simple, safe and reliable technique for the clinical management of patients with various liver diseases. Although the major target of the technique may be focal hepatic lesions, it is also effective for the diagnosis of non-tumor liver diseases, such as grading hepatic fibrosis, characterization of chronic liver diseases and diagnosis of portal vein thrombosis. This review article aimed to overview the recent application of CEUS in the assessment of non-tumor liver diseases. Keywords: Cirrhosis, contrast agent, fibrosis, idiopathic portal hypertension, microbubble, portal vein thrombosis, ultrasound.

  13. [Diagnostic Significance of BAT in Anaphylaxis to Non-ionic Contrast Media].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hao-yue; Xu, Su-jun; Tang, Xiao-xian; Niu, Ji-jun; Guo, Xiang-jie; Gao, Cai-rong

    2015-06-01

    To investigate the diagnostic significance of basophil activation test (BAT) in anaphylaxis to non-ionic contrast media through testing the content of CD63, mast cell-carboxypeptidase A3 (MC-CPA3), and terminal complement complex SC5b-9 of the individuals by testing their levels in the normal immune group and the anaphylaxis groups to β-lactam drugs and non -ionic contrast media. The CD63 expression of basophilic granulocyte in blood was detected by flow cytometry. The levels of MC-CPA3 in blood serum and SC5b-9 in blood plasma were detected by ELISA. The CD63 expression of basophilic granulocyte in blood, the levels of MC-CPA3 and SC5b-9 of anaphylaxis to non-ionic contrast media and β-lactam drugs were significantly higher than that in normal immune group (P contrast media. BAT can be used to diagnose the anaphylaxis to non-ionic contrast media.

  14. Non-Native Japanese Learners' Perception of Consonant Length in Japanese and Italian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsukada, Kimiko; Cox, Felicity; Hajek, John; Hirata, Yukari

    2018-01-01

    Learners of a foreign language (FL) typically have to learn to process sounds that do not exist in their first language (L1). As this is known to be difficult for adults, in particular, it is important for FL pedagogy to be informed by phonetic research. This study examined the role of FL learners' previous linguistic experience in the processing…

  15. Value of contrast enhanced CT scanning in the non-trauma emergency room patient

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wood, L.P.; Parisi, M.; Finch, I.J.

    1990-01-01

    To determine the value of performing contrast CT in addition to non-contrast CT in the evaluation of acute non-traumatic central nervous system disorders, we retrospectively reviewed 322 cases originating from the emergency room at our institution. The most common indication for scanning was seizure activity (34% of total), followed by headache (30%), focal neurological deficit (10%), and altered mental status (8%). 75% of the noncontrast scans were normal. The contrast enhanced scan revealed abnormalities not evident on the non-contrast scan in only three of these cases, and the information did not alter patient management. We conclude that in the acute setting, if a non-contrast CT is normal, a contrast study is usually unnecessary. Therefore, given the additional risks of contrast infusion, the contrast study, if needed, is generally best obtained at a later date, after more careful evaluation of the patient's history and medical records. If the non-contrast CT scan is abnormal, a contrast enhanced CT scan may be beneficial, but, again, is often not needed to direct acute patient management. (orig.)

  16. 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…

  17. 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…

  18. Invasion of non-native grasses causes a drop in soil carbon storage in California grasslands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koteen, Laura E; Harte, John [Energy and Resources Group, 310 Barrows Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Baldocchi, Dennis D, E-mail: lkoteen@berkeley.edu [Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, 137 Mulford Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

    2011-10-15

    Vegetation change can affect the magnitude and direction of global climate change via its effect on carbon cycling among plants, the soil and the atmosphere. The invasion of non-native plants is a major cause of land cover change, of biodiversity loss, and of other changes in ecosystem structure and function. In California, annual grasses from Mediterranean Europe have nearly displaced native perennial grasses across the coastal hillsides and terraces of the state. Our study examines the impact of this invasion on carbon cycling and storage at two sites in northern coastal California. The results suggest that annual grass invasion has caused an average drop in soil carbon storage of 40 Mg/ha in the top half meter of soil, although additional mechanisms may also contribute to soil carbon losses. We attribute the reduction in soil carbon storage to low rates of net primary production in non-native annuals relative to perennial grasses, a shift in rooting depth and water use to primarily shallow sources, and soil respiratory losses in non-native grass soils that exceed production rates. These results indicate that even seemingly subtle land cover changes can significantly impact ecosystem functions in general, and carbon storage in particular.

  19. Invasion of non-native grasses causes a drop in soil carbon storage in California grasslands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koteen, Laura E; Harte, John; Baldocchi, Dennis D

    2011-01-01

    Vegetation change can affect the magnitude and direction of global climate change via its effect on carbon cycling among plants, the soil and the atmosphere. The invasion of non-native plants is a major cause of land cover change, of biodiversity loss, and of other changes in ecosystem structure and function. In California, annual grasses from Mediterranean Europe have nearly displaced native perennial grasses across the coastal hillsides and terraces of the state. Our study examines the impact of this invasion on carbon cycling and storage at two sites in northern coastal California. The results suggest that annual grass invasion has caused an average drop in soil carbon storage of 40 Mg/ha in the top half meter of soil, although additional mechanisms may also contribute to soil carbon losses. We attribute the reduction in soil carbon storage to low rates of net primary production in non-native annuals relative to perennial grasses, a shift in rooting depth and water use to primarily shallow sources, and soil respiratory losses in non-native grass soils that exceed production rates. These results indicate that even seemingly subtle land cover changes can significantly impact ecosystem functions in general, and carbon storage in particular.

  20. Invasion of non-native grasses causes a drop in soil carbon storage in California grasslands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koteen, Laura E.; Baldocchi, Dennis D.; Harte, John

    2011-10-01

    Vegetation change can affect the magnitude and direction of global climate change via its effect on carbon cycling among plants, the soil and the atmosphere. The invasion of non-native plants is a major cause of land cover change, of biodiversity loss, and of other changes in ecosystem structure and function. In California, annual grasses from Mediterranean Europe have nearly displaced native perennial grasses across the coastal hillsides and terraces of the state. Our study examines the impact of this invasion on carbon cycling and storage at two sites in northern coastal California. The results suggest that annual grass invasion has caused an average drop in soil carbon storage of 40 Mg/ha in the top half meter of soil, although additional mechanisms may also contribute to soil carbon losses. We attribute the reduction in soil carbon storage to low rates of net primary production in non-native annuals relative to perennial grasses, a shift in rooting depth and water use to primarily shallow sources, and soil respiratory losses in non-native grass soils that exceed production rates. These results indicate that even seemingly subtle land cover changes can significantly impact ecosystem functions in general, and carbon storage in particular.

  1. Cartilage quality in rheumatoid arthritis: comparison of T2* mapping, native T1 mapping, dGEMRIC, ΔR1 and value of pre-contrast imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buchbender, Christian; Scherer, Axel; Kroepil, Patric; Quentin, Michael; Reichelt, Dorothea C.; Lanzman, Rotem S.; Mathys, Christian; Blondin, Dirk; Wittsack, Hans-Joerg; Antoch, Gerald; Miese, Falk; Koerbl, Birthe; Bittersohl, Bernd; Zilkens, Christoph; Hofer, Matthias; Schneider, Matthias; Ostendorf, Benedikt

    2012-01-01

    To prospectively evaluate four non-invasive markers of cartilage quality - T2* mapping, native T1 mapping, dGEMRIC and ΔR1 - in healthy volunteers and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Cartilage of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints II were imaged in 28 consecutive subjects: 12 healthy volunteers [9 women, mean (SD) age 52.67 (9.75) years, range 30-66] and 16 RA patients with MCP II involvement [12 women, mean (SD) age 58.06 (12.88) years, range 35-76]. Sagittal T2* mapping was performed with a multi-echo gradient-echo on a 3 T MRI scanner. For T1 mapping the dual flip angle method was applied prior to native T1 mapping and 40 min after gadolinium application (delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage, dGEMRIC, T1 Gd ). The difference in the longitudinal relaxation rate induced by gadolinium (ΔR1) was calculated. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AROC) was used to test for differentiation of RA patients from healthy volunteers. dGEMRIC (AUC 0.81) and ΔR1 (AUC 0.75) significantly differentiated RA patients from controls. T2* mapping (AUC 0.66) and native T1 mapping (AUC 0.66) were not significantly different in RA patients compared to controls. The data support the use of dGEMRIC for the assessment of MCP joint cartilage quality in RA. T2* and native T1 mapping are of low diagnostic value. Pre-contrast T1 mapping for the calculation of ΔR1 does not increase the diagnostic value of dGEMRIC. (orig.)

  2. Cartilage quality in rheumatoid arthritis: comparison of T2* mapping, native T1 mapping, dGEMRIC, {delta}R1 and value of pre-contrast imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buchbender, Christian; Scherer, Axel; Kroepil, Patric; Quentin, Michael; Reichelt, Dorothea C.; Lanzman, Rotem S.; Mathys, Christian; Blondin, Dirk; Wittsack, Hans-Joerg; Antoch, Gerald; Miese, Falk [University Duesseldorf, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Faculty, Duesseldorf (Germany); Koerbl, Birthe [Heinrich-Heine-University, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Rheumatology, Medical Faculty, Duesseldorf (Germany); Heinrich-Heine-University, Leibniz Centre for Diabetes Research, Institute of Biometrics and Epidemiology, German Diabetes Centre, Duesseldorf (Germany); Bittersohl, Bernd; Zilkens, Christoph [Heinrich-Heine-University, Department of Orthopaedics, Medical Faculty, Duesseldorf (Germany); Hofer, Matthias [Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Education Group, Medical School, Duesseldorf (Germany); Schneider, Matthias; Ostendorf, Benedikt [Heinrich-Heine-University, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Rheumatology, Medical Faculty, Duesseldorf (Germany)

    2012-06-15

    To prospectively evaluate four non-invasive markers of cartilage quality - T2* mapping, native T1 mapping, dGEMRIC and {delta}R1 - in healthy volunteers and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Cartilage of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints II were imaged in 28 consecutive subjects: 12 healthy volunteers [9 women, mean (SD) age 52.67 (9.75) years, range 30-66] and 16 RA patients with MCP II involvement [12 women, mean (SD) age 58.06 (12.88) years, range 35-76]. Sagittal T2* mapping was performed with a multi-echo gradient-echo on a 3 T MRI scanner. For T1 mapping the dual flip angle method was applied prior to native T1 mapping and 40 min after gadolinium application (delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage, dGEMRIC, T1{sub Gd}). The difference in the longitudinal relaxation rate induced by gadolinium ({delta}R1) was calculated. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AROC) was used to test for differentiation of RA patients from healthy volunteers. dGEMRIC (AUC 0.81) and {delta}R1 (AUC 0.75) significantly differentiated RA patients from controls. T2* mapping (AUC 0.66) and native T1 mapping (AUC 0.66) were not significantly different in RA patients compared to controls. The data support the use of dGEMRIC for the assessment of MCP joint cartilage quality in RA. T2* and native T1 mapping are of low diagnostic value. Pre-contrast T1 mapping for the calculation of {delta}R1 does not increase the diagnostic value of dGEMRIC. (orig.)

  3. Better and safer diagnostic possibilities with non-ionic contrast media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dalmstrom, K.; Svinn, K.

    1991-01-01

    The synthesis of contrast media for medical radiography is followed out since their introduction in late 50's. A discussion is presented on the genesis of undesirable side effects of ionic contrast media due to the sodium and meglumine cations, the hypertonicity of the media and the iodinated molecule itself. The advantages of the new non-ionic non-dissociating low osmolar contrast media is stressed and its low chemotoxicity is explained in the light of their chemical structure. The qualities of the specific representatives of new three generations of non-ionic contrast media are analysed and compared: 1) metrizamide (Amipaque, Nycomed) - a soluble monomer; 2) iopamidol (Iopamiro, Bracco), iohexol (Omnipaque, Nycomed), iopromid (Ultravist, Schering), iopentol (Imagopaque, Nycomed), ioversol (Optiray Mallincrodt) - monomers, more tolerable and with lower toxicity; 3) ioxaglat, iotrolan and iodixanol -monoacidic dimers with lower osmolarity. Results from clinical trial and monitoring programs in large patients' groups are presented. The severity and incidence of the observed side effects in different organs and systems including the risk's groups are given. Compared to the conventional ionic media, the occurence of undesired effects has been reduced to about 1/6 with the use of the new products. The review unabiguously show the advantages of the non-ionic contrast media. 6 tabs., 2 figs., 26 refs

  4. 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)

  5. Non-contrast MRI perfusion angiosome in diabetic feet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zheng, Jie [Cardiovascular Imaging Lab, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO (United States); Hastings, Mary K.; Mueller, Michael J. [Washington University School of Medicine, The Program in Physical Therapy, St. Louis, MO (United States); Muccigross, David; Hildebolt, Charles F. [Washington University School of Medicine, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO (United States); Fan, Zhaoyang [Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Gao, Fabao [West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Department of Radiology, Chengdu (China); Curci, John [Washington University School of Medicine, The Department of Surgery, St. Louis, MO (United States)

    2015-01-15

    The purpose of this study is to develop a non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach to evaluate skeletal muscle perfusion in the diabetic foot based on the concept of angiosomes of the foot. Five healthy volunteers and five participants with diabetes (HbA1c = 7.2 ± 1.8 %) without a history of peripheral artery disease were examined. The non-contrast perfusion measurements were performed during a toe flexion challenge. Absolute perfusion maps were created and two regions (medial and lateral) on the maps were segmented based on angiosomes. Regional difference in the perfusion of foot muscle was readily visualized in the MRI perfusion angiosomes during the challenge. In the participants with diabetes, the perfusion during toe flexion challenge was significantly lower than in healthy volunteers (P < 0.01). The average perfusion for the medial plantar region of the right foot was lower in subjects with diabetes (38 ± 9 ml/min/100 g) than in healthy subjects (93 ± 33 ml/min/100 g). Non-contrast MRI perfusion angiosome maps demonstrate the feasibility of determining regional perfusion in foot muscles during toe challenge and may facilitate evaluation of muscle perfusion in diabetic feet. (orig.)

  6. Non-contrast MRI perfusion angiosome in diabetic feet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng, Jie; Hastings, Mary K.; Mueller, Michael J.; Muccigross, David; Hildebolt, Charles F.; Fan, Zhaoyang; Gao, Fabao; Curci, John

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop a non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach to evaluate skeletal muscle perfusion in the diabetic foot based on the concept of angiosomes of the foot. Five healthy volunteers and five participants with diabetes (HbA1c = 7.2 ± 1.8 %) without a history of peripheral artery disease were examined. The non-contrast perfusion measurements were performed during a toe flexion challenge. Absolute perfusion maps were created and two regions (medial and lateral) on the maps were segmented based on angiosomes. Regional difference in the perfusion of foot muscle was readily visualized in the MRI perfusion angiosomes during the challenge. In the participants with diabetes, the perfusion during toe flexion challenge was significantly lower than in healthy volunteers (P < 0.01). The average perfusion for the medial plantar region of the right foot was lower in subjects with diabetes (38 ± 9 ml/min/100 g) than in healthy subjects (93 ± 33 ml/min/100 g). Non-contrast MRI perfusion angiosome maps demonstrate the feasibility of determining regional perfusion in foot muscles during toe challenge and may facilitate evaluation of muscle perfusion in diabetic feet. (orig.)

  7. Sonority constraints on onset-rime cohesion: evidence from native and bilingual Filipino readers of English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonzo, Angelo; Taft, Marcus

    2002-01-01

    Research in English suggests that syllables can be analyzed in terms of two subunits-the onset (defined as the initial consonant or consonant cluster) and the rime (the unit formed by the vowel and following consonant/s). This study investigated whether nonnative readers of English, which in the case of the present study were native Filipino speakers, also make use of onset-rime units, particularly when some features of their native language (namely infixation and reduplication) appear to foster no awareness of such units. In two lexical decision experiments, monosyllabic English words were presented, divided in between their first and second consonants (e.g., B LIND), at their onset-rime boundary (e.g., BL IND), or at their antibody boundary (e.g., BLI ND). Results indicated that the processes of infixation and reduplication did not affect the English word processing of native Filipino speakers. Rather, results for both native Filipino and native English speakers suggest that onsets composed of an "s + consonant" sequence (e.g., STAMP) are less cohesive than onsets comprised of a stop-liquid sequence (e.g., BLIND). It was concluded that not only may sonority constraints underlie onset cohesiveness, but that such phonetic properties may also be involved in visual word recognition. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

  8. The Acquisition of English Focus Marking by Non-Native Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Rachel Elizabeth

    This dissertation examines Mandarin and Korean speakers' acquisition of English focus marking, which is realized by accenting particular words within a focused constituent. It is important for non-native speakers to learn how accent placement relates to focus in English because appropriate accent placement and realization makes a learner's English more native-like and easier to understand. Such knowledge may also improve their English comprehension skills. In this study, 20 native English speakers, 20 native Mandarin speakers, and 20 native Korean speakers participated in four experiments: (1) a production experiment, in which they were recorded reading the answers to questions, (2) a perception experiment, in which they were asked to determine which word in a recording was the last prominent word, (3) an understanding experiment, in which they were asked whether the answers in recorded question-answer pairs had context-appropriate prosody, and (4) an accent placement experiment, in which they were asked which word they would make prominent in a particular context. Finally, a new group of native English speakers listened to utterances produced in the production experiment, and determined whether the prosody of each utterance was appropriate for its context. The results of the five experiments support a novel predictive model for second language prosodic focus marking acquisition. This model holds that both transfer of linguistic features from a learner's native language (L1) and features of their second language (L2) affect learners' acquisition of prosodic focus marking. As a result, the model includes two complementary components: the Transfer Component and the L2 Challenge Component. The Transfer Component predicts that prosodic structures in the L2 will be more easily acquired by language learners that have similar structures in their L1 than those who do not, even if there are differences between the L1 and L2 in how the structures are realized. The L2

  9. Ethical Considerations in Conducting Research with Non-Native Speakers of English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koulouriotis, Joanna

    2011-01-01

    The ethical considerations of three education researchers working with non-native English-speaking participants were examined from a critical theory stand-point in the light of the literature on research ethics in various disciplines. Qualitative inquiry and data analysis were used to identify key themes, which centered around honor and respect…

  10. Versatility of non-native forms of human cytochrome c: pH and micellar concentration dependence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Matthieu; Metzinger-Le Meuth, Valérie; Chevance, Soizic; Delalande, Olivier; Bondon, Arnaud

    2013-01-01

    In addition to its electron transfer activity, cytochrome c is now known to trigger apoptosis via peroxidase activity. This new function is related to a structural modification of the cytochrome upon association with anionic lipids, particularly cardiolipin present in the mitochondrial membrane. However, the exact nature of the non-native state induced by this interaction remains an active subject of debate. In this work, using human cytochromes c (native and two single-histidine mutants and the corresponding double mutant) and micelles as a hydrophobic medium, we succeeded, through UV-visible spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy, in fully characterizing the nature of the sixth ligand replacing the native methionine. Furthermore, careful pH titrations permitted the identification of the amino acids involved in the iron binding over a range of pH values. Replacement of the methionine by lysine was only observed at pH above 8.5, whereas histidine binding is dependent on both pH and micelle concentration. The pH variation range for histidine protonation is relatively narrow and is consistent with the mitochondrial intermembrane pH changes occurring during apoptosis. These results allow us to rule out lysine as the sixth ligand at pH values close to neutrality and reinforce the role of histidines (preferentially His33 vs. His26) as the main candidate to replace methionine in the non-native cytochrome c. Finally, on the basis of these results and molecular dynamics simulations, we propose a 3D model for non-native cytochrome c in a micellar environment.

  11. Chemical data on ionizing and non-ionizing angiographic contrast materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonati, F.

    1980-01-01

    The cardiovascular effects of ionizing and non-ionizing contrast media are compared in experimental animals and in isolated heart preparations. The following parameters were recorded: peripheric arterial diastolic pressure, heart rate, duration of asystolic period, respiratory rate, contractility of the myocardium (dp/dt, LVSP, Vsub(max), EDV, ESV, SV). The observed changes are mainly due to the higher osmotic activity of the contrast media, as similar alterations were recorded after the injection of hyperosmotic glucose solution. It is concluded that administration of non-ionizing contrast media results in significantly less cardiovascular side effects. (L.E.)

  12. Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for early and automatic detection of phonological equivalence in variable speech inputs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kharlamov, Viktor; Campbell, Kenneth; Kazanina, Nina

    2011-11-01

    Speech sounds are not always perceived in accordance with their acoustic-phonetic content. For example, an early and automatic process of perceptual repair, which ensures conformity of speech inputs to the listener's native language phonology, applies to individual input segments that do not exist in the native inventory or to sound sequences that are illicit according to the native phonotactic restrictions on sound co-occurrences. The present study with Russian and Canadian English speakers shows that listeners may perceive phonetically distinct and licit sound sequences as equivalent when the native language system provides robust evidence for mapping multiple phonetic forms onto a single phonological representation. In Russian, due to an optional but productive t-deletion process that affects /stn/ clusters, the surface forms [sn] and [stn] may be phonologically equivalent and map to a single phonological form /stn/. In contrast, [sn] and [stn] clusters are usually phonologically distinct in (Canadian) English. Behavioral data from identification and discrimination tasks indicated that [sn] and [stn] clusters were more confusable for Russian than for English speakers. The EEG experiment employed an oddball paradigm with nonwords [asna] and [astna] used as the standard and deviant stimuli. A reliable mismatch negativity response was elicited approximately 100 msec postchange in the English group but not in the Russian group. These findings point to a perceptual repair mechanism that is engaged automatically at a prelexical level to ensure immediate encoding of speech inputs in phonological terms, which in turn enables efficient access to the meaning of a spoken utterance.

  13. 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.

  14. Ecohydrological consequences of non-native riparian vegetation in the southwestern United States: A review from an ecophysiological perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hultine, K. R.; Bush, S. E.

    2011-07-01

    Protecting water resources for expanding human enterprise while conserving valued natural habitat is among the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Global change processes such as climate change and intensive land use pose significant threats to water resources, particularly in arid regions where potential evapotranspiration far exceeds annual rainfall. Potentially compounding these shortages is the progressive expansion of non-native plant species in riparian areas along streams, canals and rivers in geographically arid regions. This paper sets out to identify when and where non-native riparian plant species are likely to have the highest potential impact on hydrologic fluxes of arid and semiarid river systems. We develop an ecophysiological framework that focuses on two main criteria: (1) examination of the physiological traits that promote non-native species establishment and persistence across environmental gradients, and (2) assessment of where and to what extent hydrologic fluxes are potentially altered by the establishment of introduced species at varying scales from individual plants, to small river reaches, to entire river basins. We highlight three non-native plant species that currently dominate southwestern United States riparian forests. These include tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), Russian olive (Eleagnus angustifolia), and Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens). As with other recent reviews, we suspect that in many cases the removal of these, and other non-native species will have little or no impact on either streamflow volume or groundwater levels. However, we identify potential exceptions where the expansion of non-native plant species could have significant impact on ecohydrologic processes associated with southwestern United States river systems. Future research needs are outlined that will ultimately assist land managers and policy makers with restoration and conservation priorities to preserve water resources and valued riparian habitat given

  15. Functional diversity measures revealed impacts of non-native species and habitat degradation on species-poor freshwater fish assemblages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colin, Nicole; Villéger, Sébastien; Wilkes, Martin; de Sostoa, Adolfo; Maceda-Veiga, Alberto

    2018-06-01

    Trait-based ecology has been developed for decades to infer ecosystem responses to stressors based on the functional structure of communities, yet its value in species-poor systems is largely unknown. Here, we used an extensive dataset in a Spanish region highly prone to non-native fish invasions (15 catchments, N=389 sites) to assess for the first time how species-poor communities respond to large-scale environmental gradients using a taxonomic and functional trait-based approach in riverine fish. We examined total species richness and three functional trait-based indices available when many sites have ≤3 species (specialization, FSpe; originality, FOri and entropy, FEnt). We assessed the responses of these taxonomic and functional indices along gradients of altitude, water pollution, physical habitat degradation and non-native fish biomass. Whilst species richness was relatively sensitive to spatial effects, functional diversity indices were responsive across natural and anthropogenic gradients. All four diversity measures declined with altitude but this decline was modulated by physical habitat degradation (richness, FSpe and FEnt) and the non-native:total fish biomass ratio (FSpe and FOri) in ways that varied between indices. Furthermore, FSpe and FOri were significantly correlated with Total Nitrogen. Non-native fish were a major component of the taxonomic and functional structure of fish communities, raising concerns about potential misdiagnosis between invaded and environmentally-degraded river reaches. Such misdiagnosis was evident in a regional fish index widely used in official monitoring programs. We recommend the application of FSpe and FOri to extensive datasets from monitoring programs in order to generate valuable cross-system information about the impacts of non-native species and habitat degradation, even in species-poor systems. Scoring non-native species apart from habitat degradation in the indices used to determine ecosystem health is

  16. Language-specific stress perception by 9-month-old French and Spanish infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skoruppa, Katrin; Pons, Ferran; Christophe, Anne; Bosch, Laura; Dupoux, Emmanuel; Sebastián-Gallés, Núria; Limissuri, Rita Alves; Peperkamp, Sharon

    2009-11-01

    During the first year of life, infants begin to have difficulties perceiving non-native vowel and consonant contrasts, thus adapting their perception to the phonetic categories of the target language. In this paper, we examine the perception of a non-segmental feature, i.e. stress. Previous research with adults has shown that speakers of French (a language with fixed stress) have great difficulties in perceiving stress contrasts (Dupoux, Pallier, Sebastián & Mehler, 1997), whereas speakers of Spanish (a language with lexically contrastive stress) perceive these contrasts as accurately as segmental contrasts. We show that language-specific differences in the perception of stress likewise arise during the first year of life. Specifically, 9-month-old Spanish infants successfully distinguish between stress-initial and stress-final pseudo-words, while French infants of this age show no sign of discrimination. In a second experiment using multiple tokens of a single pseudo-word, French infants of the same age successfully discriminate between the two stress patterns, showing that they are able to perceive the acoustic correlates of stress. Their failure to discriminate stress patterns in the first experiment thus reflects an inability to process stress at an abstract, phonological level.

  17. An assessment of a proposal to eradicate non-native fish from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    African Journal of Aquatic Science ... A pilot project to evaluate the use of the piscicide rotenone to eradicate non-native fish from selected reaches in four rivers has been proposed by CapeNature, the conservation ... It is expected that the project will be successful while having minimal impact on other aquatic fauna.

  18. Automated detection of acute haemorrhagic stroke in non-contrasted CT images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meetz, K.; Buelow, T.

    2007-01-01

    An efficient treatment of stroke patients implies a profound differential diagnosis that includes the detection of acute haematoma. The proposed approach provides an automated detection of acute haematoma, assisting the non-stroke expert in interpreting non-contrasted CT images. It consists of two steps: First, haematoma candidates are detected applying multilevel region growing approach based on a typical grey value characteristic. Second, true haematomas are differentiated from partial volume artefacts, relying on spatial features derived from distance-based histograms. This approach achieves a specificity of 77% and a sensitivity of 89.7% in detecting acute haematoma in non-contrasted CT images when applied to a set of 25 non-contrasted CT images. (orig.)

  19. (Non)native Speakered: Rethinking (Non)nativeness and Teacher Identity in TESOL Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aneja, Geeta A.

    2016-01-01

    Despite its imprecision, the native-nonnative dichotomy has become the dominant paradigm for examining language teacher identity development. The nonnative English speaking teacher (NNEST) movement in particular has considered the impact of deficit framings of nonnativeness on "NNEST" preservice teachers. Although these efforts have…

  20. Economic impacts of non-native forest insects in the continental United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliann E Aukema

    Full Text Available Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately $830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors.

  1. Non-native (exotic) snake envenomations in the U.S., 2005-2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warrick, Brandon J; Boyer, Leslie V; Seifert, Steven A

    2014-09-29

    Non-native (exotic) snakes are a problematic source of envenomation worldwide. This manuscript describes the current demographics, outcomes and challenges of non-native snakebites in the United States (U.S.). We performed a retrospective case series of the National Poison Data System (NPDS) database between 2005 and 2011. There were 258 human exposures involving at least 61 unique exotic venomous species (average = 37 per year; range = 33-40). Males comprised 79% and females 21%. The average age was 33 years with 16% less than 20 years old. 70% of bites occurred in a private residence and 86% were treated at a healthcare facility. 35% of cases received antivenom and 10% were given antibiotics. This study is compared to our previous study (1994-2004) in which there was a substantial coding error rate. Software modifications significantly reduced coding errors. Identification and acquisition of appropriate antivenoms pose a number of logistical difficulties in the management of these envenomations. In the U.S., poison centers have valuable systems and clinical roles in the provision of expert consultation and in the management of these cases.

  2. Rotational digital subtraction angiography of the renal arteries: technique and evaluation in the study of native and transplant renal arteries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seymour, H R; Matson, M B; Belli, A M; Morgan, R; Kyriou, J; Patel, U

    2001-02-01

    Rotational digital subtraction angiography (RDSA) allows multidirectional angiographic acquisitions with a single injection of contrast medium. The role of RDSA was evaluated in 60 patients referred over a 7-month period for diagnostic renal angiography and 12 patients referred for renal transplant studies. All angiograms were assessed for their diagnostic value, the presence of anomalies and the quantity of contrast medium used. The effective dose for native renal RDSA was determined. 41 (68.3%) native renal RDSA images and 8 (66.7%) transplant renal RDSA images were of diagnostic quality. Multiple renal arteries were identified in 9/41 (22%) native renal RDSA diagnostic images. The mean volume of contrast medium in the RDSA runs was 51.2 ml and 50 ml for native and transplant renal studies, respectively. The mean effective dose for 120 degrees native renal RDSA was 2.36 mSv, equivalent to 1 year's mean background radiation. Those RDSA images that were non-diagnostic allowed accurate prediction of the optimal angle for further static angiographic series, which is of great value in transplant renal vessels.

  3. High water-use efficiency and growth contribute to success of non-native Erodium cicutarium in a Sonoran Desert winter annual community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimball, Sarah; Gremer, Jennifer R; Barron-Gafford, Greg A; Angert, Amy L; Huxman, Travis E; Venable, D Lawrence

    2014-01-01

    The success of non-native, invasive species may be due to release from natural enemies, superior competitive abilities, or both. In the Sonoran Desert, Erodium cicutarium has increased in abundance over the last 30 years. While native species in this flora exhibit a strong among-species trade-off between relative growth rate and water-use efficiency, E. cicutarium seems to have a higher relative growth rate for its water-use efficiency value relative to the pattern across native species. This novel trait combination could provide the non-native species with a competitive advantage in this water-limited environment. To test the hypothesis that E. cicutarium is able to achieve high growth rates due to release from native herbivores, we compared the effects of herbivory on E. cicutarium and its native congener, Erodium texanum. We also compared these two species across a range of environmental conditions, both in a common garden and in two distinct seasons in the field, using growth analysis, isotopic compositions and leaf-level gas exchange. Additionally, we compared the competitive abilities of the two Erodium species in a greenhouse experiment. We found no evidence of herbivory to either species. Physiological measurements in a common environment revealed that E. cicutarium was able to achieve high growth rates while simultaneously controlling leaf-level water loss. Non-native E. cicutarium responded to favourable conditions in the field with greater specific leaf area and leaf area ratio than native E. texanum. The non-native Erodium was a stronger competitor than its native congener in a greenhouse competition experiment. The ability to maintain relatively higher values of water-use efficiency:relative growth rate in comparison to the native flora may be what enables E. cictarium to outcompete native species in both wet and dry years, resulting in an increase in abundance in the highly variable Sonoran Desert.

  4. Recreational freshwater fishing drives non-native aquatic species richness patterns at a continental scale

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Aim. Mapping the geographic distribution of non-native aquatic species is a critically important precursor to understanding the anthropogenic and environmental...

  5. Endometrial cancer in Asian and American Indian/Alaskan Native women: tumor characteristics, treatment and outcome compared to non-Hispanic white women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahdi, Haider; Schlick, Cary Jo; Kowk, Li-Lian; Moslemi-Kebria, Mehdi; Michener, Chad

    2014-02-01

    The objective of this study is to compare survival of Asian (AS), American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) and non-Hispanic white (NHW) women with endometrial adenocarcinoma (EC). Patients with EC were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program from 1988 to 2009. Kaplan-Meier survival methods and Cox proportional hazards regression were performed. Of the 105,083 women, 97,763 (93%) were NHW, 6699 (6.4%) were AS and 621 (0.6%) were AI/AN. AS and AI/AN were younger than NHW with mean age of 57.7 and 56.5 vs. 64.3 years (p Asian immigrants were younger than Asian natives (mean age 57 vs. 60.5 years, p Asian immigrants had better OS (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.73-0.94, p = 0.002) and CSS (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.54-0.80, p Asian natives. In contrast, AI/AN had worse OS (HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.15-1.59, p Asians were younger at presentation, more likely to have lymphadenectomy and had an improved outcome compared to NHW. Interestingly, Asian immigrants had more favorable outcome than Asians born in the US. Further studies are warranted to find possible explanations for such a difference. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Contrast enhanced cartilage imaging: Comparison of ionic and non-ionic contrast agents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wiener, Edzard; Woertler, Klaus; Weirich, Gregor; Rummeny, Ernst J.; Settles, Marcus

    2007-01-01

    Our objective was to compare relaxation effects, dynamics and spatial distributions of ionic and non-ionic contrast agents in articular cartilage at concentrations typically used for direct MR arthrography at 1.5 T. Dynamic MR-studies over 11 h were performed in 15 bovine patella specimens. For each of the contrast agents gadopentetate dimeglumine, gadobenate dimeglumine, gadoteridol and mangafodipir trinatrium three patellae were placed in 2.5 mmol/L contrast solution. Simultaneous measurements of T 1 and T 2 were performed every 30 min using a high-spatial-resolution 'MIX'-sequence. T 1 , T 2 and ΔR 1 , ΔR 2 profile plots across cartilage thickness were calculated to demonstrate the spatial and temporal distributions. The charge is one of the main factors which controls the amount of the contrast media diffusing into intact cartilage, but independent of the charge, the spatial distribution across cartilage thickness remains highly inhomogeneous even after 11 h of diffusion. The absolute ΔR 2 -effect in cartilage is at least as large as the ΔR 1 -effect for all contrast agents. Maximum changes were 5-12 s -1 for ΔR 1 and 8-15 s -1 for ΔR 2 . This study indicates that for morphologically intact cartilage only the amount of contrast agents within cartilage is determined by the charge but not the spatial distribution across cartilage thickness. In addition, ΔR 2 can be considered for quantification of contrast agent concentrations, since it is of the same magnitude and less time consuming to measure than ΔR 1

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. A comparison of non-contrast and contrast-enhanced MRI in the initial stage of Legg-Calve-Perthes disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Harry K.W. [Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Center of Excellence in Hip Disorders, Dallas, TX (United States); University of Texas Southwestern, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dallas, TX (United States); Kaste, Sue [St. Jude Children' s Research Hospital, Department of Radiological Sciences, Memphis, TN (United States); St. Jude Children' s Research Hospital, Department of Oncology, Memphis, TN (United States); University of Tennessee School of Health Sciences, Department of Radiology, Memphis, TN (United States); Dempsey, Molly; Wilkes, David [Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Department of Radiology, Dallas, TX (United States)

    2013-09-15

    A prognostic indicator of outcome for Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (LCP) is needed to guide treatment decisions during the initial stage of the disease (stage 1), before deformity occurs. Radiographic prognosticators are applicable only after fragmentation (stage II). We investigated pre- and postcontrast MRI in depicting stage I femoral head involvement. Thirty children with stage I LCP underwent non-contrast coronal T1 fast spin-echo (FSE) and corresponding postcontrast fat-suppressed T1-weighted fast spin-echo (FSE) sequences to quantify the extent of femoral head involvement. Three pediatric radiologists and one pediatric orthopedic surgeon independently measured central head involvement. Interobserver reliability of percent head involvement using non-contrasted MR images had intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.72. Postcontrast MRI improved interobserver reliability (ICC 0.82). Qualitatively, the area of involvement was more clearly visible on contrast-enhanced MRI. A comparison of results obtained by each observer using the two MRI techniques showed no correlation. ICC ranged from -0.08 to 0.03 for each observer. Generally, greater head involvement was depicted by contrast compared with non-contrast MRI (Pearson r = -0.37, P = 0.04). Pre- and postcontrast MRI assess two different components of stage I LCP. However, contrast-enhanced MRI more clearly depicts the area of involvement. (orig.)

  10. N170 Tuning in Chinese: Logographic Characters and Phonetic Pinyin Script

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. 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

  12.  Invasibility of three major non-native invasive shrubs and associated factors in Upper Midwest U.S. forest lands

    Science.gov (United States)

    W. Keith Moser; Zhaofei Fan; Mark H. Hansen; Michael K. Crosby; Shirley X. Fan

    2016-01-01

    We used non-native invasive plant data from the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, spatial statistical methods, and the space (cover class)-for-time approach to quantify the invasion potential and success ("invasibility") of three major invasive shrubs (multiflora rose, non-native bush honeysuckles, and common buckthorn...

  13. Non-invasive ambient pressure estimation using non-linear ultrasound contrast agents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Klaus Scheldrup

    Many attempts to find a non-invasive procedure to measure the blood pressure locally in the body have been made. This dissertation focuses on the approaches which utilize highly compressible ultrasound contrast agents as ambient pressure sensors. The literature within the topic has been reviewed...

  14. Invasive Acer negundo outperforms native species in non-limiting resource environments due to its higher phenotypic plasticity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porté, Annabel J; Lamarque, Laurent J; Lortie, Christopher J; Michalet, Richard; Delzon, Sylvain

    2011-11-24

    To identify the determinants of invasiveness, comparisons of traits of invasive and native species are commonly performed. Invasiveness is generally linked to higher values of reproductive, physiological and growth-related traits of the invasives relative to the natives in the introduced range. Phenotypic plasticity of these traits has also been cited to increase the success of invasive species but has been little studied in invasive tree species. In a greenhouse experiment, we compared ecophysiological traits between an invasive species to Europe, Acer negundo, and early- and late-successional co-occurring native species, under different light, nutrient availability and disturbance regimes. We also compared species of the same species groups in situ, in riparian forests. Under non-limiting resources, A. negundo seedlings showed higher growth rates than the native species. However, A. negundo displayed equivalent or lower photosynthetic capacities and nitrogen content per unit leaf area compared to the native species; these findings were observed both on the seedlings in the greenhouse experiment and on adult trees in situ. These physiological traits were mostly conservative along the different light, nutrient and disturbance environments. Overall, under non-limiting light and nutrient conditions, specific leaf area and total leaf area of A. negundo were substantially larger. The invasive species presented a higher plasticity in allocation to foliage and therefore in growth with increasing nutrient and light availability relative to the native species. The higher level of plasticity of the invasive species in foliage allocation in response to light and nutrient availability induced a better growth in non-limiting resource environments. These results give us more elements on the invasiveness of A. negundo and suggest that such behaviour could explain the ability of A. negundo to outperform native tree species, contributes to its spread in European resource

  15. Oscillatory Dynamics Underlying Perceptual Narrowing of Native Phoneme Mapping from 6 to 12 Months of Age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz-Mantilla, Silvia; Hämäläinen, Jarmo A; Realpe-Bonilla, Teresa; Benasich, April A

    2016-11-30

    During the first months of life, human infants process phonemic elements from all languages similarly. However, by 12 months of age, as language-specific phonemic maps are established, infants respond preferentially to their native language. This process, known as perceptual narrowing, supports neural representation and thus efficient processing of the distinctive phonemes within the sound environment. Although oscillatory mechanisms underlying processing of native and non-native phonemic contrasts were recently delineated in 6-month-old infants, the maturational trajectory of these mechanisms remained unclear. A group of typically developing infants born into monolingual English families, were followed from 6 to 12 months and presented with English and Spanish syllable contrasts varying in voice-onset time. Brain responses were recorded with high-density electroencephalogram, and sources of event-related potential generators identified at right and left auditory cortices at 6 and 12 months and also at frontal cortex at 6 months. Time-frequency analyses conducted at source level found variations in both θ and γ ranges across age. Compared with 6-month-olds, 12-month-olds' responses to native phonemes showed smaller and faster phase synchronization and less spectral power in the θ range, and increases in left phase synchrony as well as induced high-γ activity in both frontal and left auditory sources. These results demonstrate that infants become more automatized and efficient in processing their native language as they approach 12 months of age via the interplay between θ and γ oscillations. We suggest that, while θ oscillations support syllable processing, γ oscillations underlie phonemic perceptual narrowing, progressively favoring mapping of native over non-native language across the first year of life. During early language acquisition, typically developing infants gradually construct phonemic maps of their native language in auditory cortex. It is well

  16. Gopherus agassizii (Desert Tortoise). Non-native seed dispersal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ennen, J.R.; Loughran, Caleb L.; Lovich, Jeffrey E.

    2011-01-01

    Sahara Mustard (Brassica tournefortii) is a non-native, highly invasive weed species of southwestern U.S. deserts. Sahara Mustard is a hardy species, which flourishes under many conditions including drought and in both disturbed and undisturbed habitats (West and Nabhan 2002. In B. Tellman [ed.], Invasive Plants: Their Occurrence and Possible Impact on the Central Gulf Coast of Sonora and the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortes, pp. 91–111. University of Arizona Press, Tucson). Because of this species’ ability to thrive in these habitats, B. tournefortii has been able to propagate throughout the southwestern United States establishing itself in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. Unfortunately, naturally disturbed areas created by native species, such as the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), within these deserts could have facilitated the propagation of B. tournefortii. (Lovich 1998. In R. G. Westbrooks [ed.], Invasive Plants, Changing the Landscape of America: Fact Book, p. 77. Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds [FICMNEW], Washington, DC). However, Desert Tortoises have never been directly observed dispersing Sahara Mustard seeds. Here we present observations of two Desert Tortoises dispersing Sahara Mustard seeds at the interface between the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in California.

  17. Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS)-based characterization of U.S. non-native venomous snake exposures, 1995-2004.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seifert, Steven A; Oakes, Jennifer A; Boyer, Leslie V

    2007-01-01

    Non-native (exotic) snake exposures in the United States have not been systematically characterized. The Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS) database of the American Association of Poison Control Centers was analyzed to quantify the number and types, demographic associations, clinical presentations, managements and outcomes, and the health resource utilization of non-native snake exposures. From 1995 through 2004, there were 399 non-native exposures in the TESS database. Of these, 350 snakes (87%) were identified by genus and species, comprising at least 77 different varieties. Roughly equal percentages of snakes originated in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with a smaller number from the Middle-East, Australia, and Europe. Nearly half were viperids and a little more than a third were elapids. The vast majority of exposed individuals were adults. However, almost 15% were aged 17 years or less, and almost 7% were children aged 5 years or younger. Eighty-four percent were males. The vast majority of exposures occurred at the victim's own residence. Over 50% were evaluated at a healthcare facility, with 28.7% admitted to an ICU. Overall, 26% of patients were coded as receiving antivenom treatment. Coded outcomes were similar between viperid and elapid envenomations. There were three deaths, two involving viperid snakes and one elapid. Enhancements to the TESS database are required for better precision in and more complete characterization of non-native snake envenomations.

  18. Interactions between non-native armored suckermouth catfish (Loricariidae: Pterygoplichthys) and native Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in artesian springs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nico, Leo G.; Loftus, William F.; Reid, James P.

    2009-01-01

    Non-native suckermouth armored catfishes (Loricariidae) of the genus Pterygoplichthys are now common throughout much of peninsular Florida. In this paper, we present preliminary observations on interactions between a Pterygoplichthys species, tentatively identified as P. disjunctivus (Weber, 1991), and endangered native Florida manatees, Trichechus manatus latirostris (Harlan, 1824), in artesian spring systems in Florida's St. Johns River drainage. The introduced catfish have become abundant in spring habitats, sites used by manatees as winter thermal refuges. In the spring runs, Pterygoplichthys regularly attaches to manatees and grazes the epibiota on their skin. On occasion, dozens of Pterygoplichthys congregate on individual manatees. Manatee responses varied widely; some did not react visibly to attached catfish whereas others appeared agitated and attempted to dislodge the fish. The costs and/or benefits of this interaction to manatees remain unclear.

  19. Urban American Indian/Alaskan Natives Compared to Non-Indians in Out-of-Home Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carter, Vernon B.

    2011-01-01

    Historically, American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) children have been disproportionately represented in the foster care system. In this study, nationally representative child welfare data from October 1999 was used to compare urban AI/AN children to non-Indian children placed into out-of-home care. Compared to non-Indian children, urban AI/AN…

  20. Single-energy non-contrast hepatic steatosis criteria applied to virtual non-contrast images: is it still highly specific and positively predictive?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haji-Momenian, S; Parkinson, W; Khati, N; Brindle, K; Earls, J; Zeman, R K

    2018-06-01

    To determine the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of single-energy non-contrast hepatic steatosis criteria on dual-energy virtual non-contrast (VNC) images. Forty-eight computed tomography (CT) examinations, which included single-energy non-contrast (TNC) and contrast-enhanced dual-energy CT angiography (CTA) of the abdomen, were enrolled. VNC images were reconstructed from the CTA. Region of interest (ROI) attenuations were measured in the right and left hepatic lobes, spleen, and aorta on TNC and VNC images. The right and left hepatic lobes were treated as separate samples. Steatosis was diagnosed based on TNC liver attenuation of ≤40 HU or liver attenuation index (LAI) of ≤-10 HU, which are extremely specific and predictive for moderate to severe steatosis. The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of VNC images for steatosis were calculated. VNC-TNC deviations were correlated with aortic enhancement and patient water equivalent diameter (PWED). Thirty-two liver ROIs met steatosis criteria based on TNC attenuation; VNC attenuation had sensitivity, specificity, and a positive predictive value of 66.7%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. Twenty-one liver ROIs met steatosis criteria based on TNC LAI. VNC LAI had sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values of 61.9%, 90.7%, and 65%, respectively. Hepatic and splenic VNC-TNC deviations did not correlate with one another (R 2 =0.08), aortic enhancement (R 2 predictive for moderate to severe steatosis on VNC reconstructions from the arterial phase. Hepatic attenuation performs better than LAI criteria. VNC deviations are independent of aortic enhancement and PWED. Copyright © 2018 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Clinical role of non-contrast magnetic resonance angiography for evaluation of renal artery stenosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Utsunomiya, Daisuke; Nomitsu, Yohei; Komeda, Yosuke; Okigawa, Takashi; Urata, Joji; Miyazaki, Mitsue; Yamashita, Yasuyuki

    2008-01-01

    The association between a gadolinium-based contrast material and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis has been discussed. The purpose of our study was to evaluate whether non-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) might provide sufficient information of renal artery stenosis. The non-contrast MRA of 26 patients with hypertension was retrospectively reviewed in the present study. The significant renal artery stenosis was visually evaluated by comparing non-contrast MRA with computed tomography or conventional angiographic finding. Difference of the intensities between the proximal and distal aorta was quantitatively evaluated. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of non-contrast MRA in the evaluation of the renal artery stenosis was 78%, 91%, 64% and 96%, respectively. The distal abdominal aorta showed less signal intensity than the proximal aorta by 16.9±12.2%. Non-contrast MRA is a non-invasive and effective method that allows evaluation of the renal artery stenosis. (author)

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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...

  5. Learning foreign sounds in an alien world: videogame training improves non-native speech categorization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Sung-joo; Holt, Lori L

    2011-01-01

    Although speech categories are defined by multiple acoustic dimensions, some are perceptually weighted more than others and there are residual effects of native-language weightings in non-native speech perception. Recent research on nonlinguistic sound category learning suggests that the distribution characteristics of experienced sounds influence perceptual cue weights: Increasing variability across a dimension leads listeners to rely upon it less in subsequent category learning (Holt & Lotto, 2006). The present experiment investigated the implications of this among native Japanese learning English /r/-/l/ categories. Training was accomplished using a videogame paradigm that emphasizes associations among sound categories, visual information, and players' responses to videogame characters rather than overt categorization or explicit feedback. Subjects who played the game for 2.5h across 5 days exhibited improvements in /r/-/l/ perception on par with 2-4 weeks of explicit categorization training in previous research and exhibited a shift toward more native-like perceptual cue weights. Copyright © 2011 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  7. Growth form and distribution of introduced plants in their native and non-native ranges in Eastern Asia and North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert E. Ricklefs; Qinfeng Guo; Hong Qian

    2008-01-01

    There is a growing interest in understanding the influence of plant traits on their ability to spread in non-native regions. Many studies addressing this issue have been based on relatively small areas or restricted taxonomic groups. Here, we analyse a large data base involving 1567 plant species introduced between Eastern Asia and North America or from elsewhere to...

  8. Long-distance dispersal of non-native pine bark beetles from host resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kevin Chase; Dave Kelly; Andrew M. Liebhold; Martin K.-F. Bader; Eckehard G. Brockerhoff

    2017-01-01

    Dispersal and host detection are behaviours promoting the spread of invading populations in a landscape matrix. In fragmented landscapes, the spatial arrangement of habitat structure affects the dispersal success of organisms. The aim of the present study was to determine the long distance dispersal capabilities of two non-native pine bark beetles (Hylurgus...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  10. Contrast-Marking Prosodic Emphasis in Williams Syndrome: Results of Detailed Phonetic Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Kiwako; Martens, Marilee A.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Past reports on the speech production of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) suggest that their prosody is anomalous and may lead to challenges in spoken communication. While existing prosodic assessments confirm that individuals with WS fail to use prosodic emphasis to express contrast, those reports typically lack detailed…

  11. 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....

  12. 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.

  13. Genetically based differentiation in growth of multiple non-native plant species along a steep environmental gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haider, Sylvia; Kueffer, Christoph; Edwards, Peter J; Alexander, Jake M

    2012-09-01

    A non-native plant species spreading along an environmental gradient may need to adjust its growth to the prevailing conditions that it encounters by a combination of phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation. There have been several studies of how non-native species respond to changing environmental conditions along latitudinal gradients, but much less is known about elevational gradients. We conducted a climate chamber experiment to investigate plastic and genetically based growth responses of 13 herbaceous non-native plants along an elevational gradient from 100 to 2,000 m a.s.l. in Tenerife. Conditions in the field ranged from high anthropogenic disturbance but generally favourable temperatures for plant growth in the lower half of the gradient, to low disturbance but much cooler conditions in the upper half. We collected seed from low, mid and high elevations and grew them in climate chambers under the characteristic temperatures at these three elevations. Growth of all species was reduced under lower temperatures along both halves of the gradient. We found consistent genetically based differences in growth over the upper elevational gradient, with plants from high-elevation sites growing more slowly than those from mid-elevation ones, while the pattern in the lower part of the gradient was more mixed. Our data suggest that many non-native plants might respond to climate along elevational gradients by genetically based changes in key traits, especially at higher elevations where low temperatures probably impose a stronger selection pressure. At lower elevations, where anthropogenic influences are greater, higher gene flow and frequent disturbance might favour genotypes with broad ecological amplitudes. Thus the importance of evolutionary processes for invasion success is likely to be context-dependent.

  14. Brain responses in 4-month-old infants are already language specific.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friederici, Angela D; Friedrich, Manuela; Christophe, Anne

    2007-07-17

    Language is the most important faculty that distinguishes humans from other animals. Infants learn their native language fast and effortlessly during the first years of life, as a function of the linguistic input in their environment. Behavioral studies reported the discrimination of melodic contours [1] and stress patterns [2, 3] in 1-4-month-olds. Behavioral [4, 5] and brain measures [6-8] have shown language-independent discrimination of phonetic contrasts at that age. Language-specific discrimination, however, has been reported for phonetic contrasts only for 6-12-month-olds [9-12]. Here we demonstrate language-specific discrimination of stress patterns in 4-month-old German and French infants by using electrophysiological brain measures. We compare the processing of disyllabic words differing in their rhythmic structure, mimicking German words being stressed on the first syllable, e.g., pápa/daddy[13], and French ones being stressed on the second syllable, e.g., papá/daddy. Event-related brain potentials reveal that experience with German and French differentially affects the brain responses of 4-month-old infants, with each language group displaying a processing advantage for the rhythmic structure typical in its native language. These data indicate language-specific neural representations of word forms in the infant brain as early as 4 months of age.

  15. 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.

  16. Impacts of non-native Norway spruce plantation on abundance and species richness of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. Elek

    2001-06-01

    Full Text Available The impacts of non-native Norway spruce plantation on the abundance and species richness of carabids were studied in the Bükk National Park in Hungary, central Europe. Pitfall catches from recently established (5 yr old, young (15 yr after planting, middle-aged (30 yr after planting, old Norway spruce Picea abies plantation (50 yr after planting, and a native submontane beech forest (Fagetum sylvaticae as a control stand were compared.

    Our results showed that deciduous forest species decreased significantly in abundance in the plantations, and appeared in high abundance only in the native beech forest. Furthermore, open habitat species increased remarkably in abundance in the recently established plantation. Carabids were significantly more abundant and species rich in the native forest than in the plantations, while differences were not significant among the plantations. Multiple regression between the abundance and species richness of carabids and twelve environmental measurements showed that pH of the soil, herb cover and density of the carabids’ prey had a significant effect in determining abundance and species richness.

    Our results showed that plantation of non-native Norway spruce species had a detrimental effect on the composition of carabid communities and no regeneration could be observed during the growth of plantations even 50 yr after the establishment. This emphasises the importance of an active nature management practice to facilitate the recolonization of the native species.

  17. Non-Native Speakers of the Language of Instruction: Self-Perceptions of Teaching Ability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuel, Carolyn

    2017-01-01

    Given the linguistically diverse instructor and student populations at Canadian universities, mutually comprehensible oral language may not be a given. Indeed, both instructors who are non-native speakers of the language of instruction (NNSLIs) and students have acknowledged oral communication challenges. Little is known, though, about how the…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  19. Some phonetic experiments on : Double stress and rhythmic variation in R.P. English

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heuven, van V.J.J.P.

    1974-01-01

    This thesis examines the phonetic nature of so-called double-stressed words in English (also called equal- stressed or even-stressed), and the susceptibility of these words to rhythmic adjustment (stress clash avoidance). An acoustic analysis of stress correlates was made of disyllabic words

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. Recreational freshwater fishing drives non-native aquatic species richness patterns at a continental scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mapping the geographic distribution of non-native aquatic species is a critically important precursor to understanding the anthropogenic and environmental factors that drive freshwater biological invasions. Such efforts are often limited to local scales and/or to single species, ...

  2. User requirement analysis of social conventions learning applications for Non-natives and low-literates

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schouten, D.; Smets, N.; Driessen, M.; Hanekamp, M.; Cremers, A.H.M.; Neerincx, M.A.

    2013-01-01

    Learning and acting on social conventions is problematic for low-literates and non-natives, causing problems with societal participation and citizenship. Using the Situated Cognitive Engineering method, requirements for the design of social conventions learning software are derived from demographic

  3. Liberation of plasma histamine after application of non-ionic contrast media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiss, H.D.; Jansen, O.; Schallock, J.

    1989-01-01

    In 94 patients the levels of plasmahistamine have been measured after application of three non-ionic contrast media (Iopromid, Iopamidol, Iohexol) and after application of blood-isotonic saline solution. A significant liberation of histamine could be observed after administration of contrast media and also after administration of saline solution. Neither between the three nonionic contrast media nor between the contrast media and the saline solution significant differences could be measured. Administering contrast media after subsequently saline solution the levels of histamine were lower than in case of pure contrast media application. A psychogen induced histamine liberation is discussed. (orig.) [de

  4. Teaching a Growing a Population of Non-Native English-Speaking Students in American Universities: Cultural and Linguistic Challenges

    OpenAIRE

    Maria Cristina Fava

    2016-01-01

    The increasing number of non-native English speaking students in American universities, mostly from Asian countries, presents unprecedented challenges and calls for an in-depth study on how we teach western art music history. This essay challenges some aspects of liberal multiculturalism and proposes the creation of channels of communication that allow non-native English speaking students to understand the premises of a Eurocentric system of knowledge without undermining their own cultural ba...

  5. Phase-contrast enhanced mammography: A new diagnostic tool for breast imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Zhentian; Thuering, Thomas; David, Christian; Roessl, Ewald; Trippel, Mafalda; Kubik-Huch, Rahel A.; Singer, Gad; Hohl, Michael K.; Hauser, Nik; Stampanoni, Marco

    2012-01-01

    Phase contrast and scattering-based X-ray imaging can potentially revolutionize the radiological approach to breast imaging by providing additional and complementary information to conventional, absorption-based methods. We investigated native, non-fixed whole breast samples using a grating interferometer with an X-ray tube-based configuration. Our approach simultaneously recorded absorption, differential phase contrast and small-angle scattering signals. The results show that this novel technique - combined with a dedicated image fusion algorithm - has the potential to deliver enhanced breast imaging with complementary information for an improved diagnostic process.

  6. Phase-contrast enhanced mammography: A new diagnostic tool for breast imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang Zhentian; Thuering, Thomas; David, Christian; Roessl, Ewald; Trippel, Mafalda; Kubik-Huch, Rahel A.; Singer, Gad; Hohl, Michael K.; Hauser, Nik; Stampanoni, Marco [Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen (Switzerland); Laboratory for Micro and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen (Switzerland); Philips Technologie GmbH, Roentgenstrasse 24, 22335 Hamburg (Germany); Institute of Pathology, Kantonsspital Baden, 5404 Baden (Switzerland); Department of Radiology, Kantonsspital Baden, 5404 Baden (Switzerland); Institute of Pathology, Kantonsspital Baden, 5404 Baden (Switzerland); Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Interdisciplinary Breast Center Baden, Kantonsspital Baden, 5404 Baden (Switzerland); Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland and Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zuerich, 8092 Zuerich (Switzerland)

    2012-07-31

    Phase contrast and scattering-based X-ray imaging can potentially revolutionize the radiological approach to breast imaging by providing additional and complementary information to conventional, absorption-based methods. We investigated native, non-fixed whole breast samples using a grating interferometer with an X-ray tube-based configuration. Our approach simultaneously recorded absorption, differential phase contrast and small-angle scattering signals. The results show that this novel technique - combined with a dedicated image fusion algorithm - has the potential to deliver enhanced breast imaging with complementary information for an improved diagnostic process.

  7. AlphaScreen-based homogeneous assay using a pair of 25-residue artificial proteins for high-throughput analysis of non-native IgG.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senga, Yukako; Imamura, Hiroshi; Miyafusa, Takamitsu; Watanabe, Hideki; Honda, Shinya

    2017-09-29

    Therapeutic IgG becomes unstable under various stresses in the manufacturing process. The resulting non-native IgG molecules tend to associate with each other and form aggregates. Because such aggregates not only decrease the pharmacological effect but also become a potential risk factor for immunogenicity, rapid analysis of aggregation is required for quality control of therapeutic IgG. In this study, we developed a homogeneous assay using AlphaScreen and AF.2A1. AF.2A1 is a 25-residue artificial protein that binds specifically to non-native IgG generated under chemical and physical stresses. This assay is performed in a short period of time. Our results show that AF.2A1-AlphaScreen may be used to evaluate the various types of IgG, as AF.2A1 recognizes the non-native structure in the constant region (Fc region) of IgG. The assay was effective for detection of non-native IgG, with particle size up to ca. 500 nm, generated under acid, heat, and stirring conditions. In addition, this technique is suitable for analyzing non-native IgG in CHO cell culture supernatant and mixed with large amounts of native IgG. These results indicate the potential of AF.2A1-AlphaScreen to be used as a high-throughput evaluation method for process monitoring as well as quality testing in the manufacturing of therapeutic IgG.

  8. The Big Four Skills: Teachers’ Assumptions on Measurement of Cognition and Academic Skills for Non-Native Students.

    OpenAIRE

    Figueiredo, Sandra; Silva, Carlos Fernandes da; Nunes, Odete; Martins, Maria Margarida Alves d'Orey

    2016-01-01

    The four-skills on tests for young native speakers commonly do not generate correlation incongruency concerning the cognitive strategies frequently reported. Considering the non-native speakers there are parse evidence to determine which tasks are important to assess properly the cognitive and academic language proficiency (Cummins, 1980; 2012). Research questions: It is of high probability that young students with origin in immigration ...

  9. Non-Native Ambrosia Beetles as Opportunistic Exploiters of Living but Weakened Trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranger, Christopher M; Schultz, Peter B; Frank, Steven D; Chong, Juang H; Reding, Michael E

    2015-01-01

    Exotic Xylosandrus spp. ambrosia beetles established in non-native habitats have been associated with sudden and extensive attacks on a diverse range of living trees, but factors driving their shift from dying/dead hosts to living and healthy ones are not well understood. We sought to characterize the role of host physiological condition on preference and colonization by two invaders, Xylosandrus germanus and Xylosandrus crassiusculus. When given free-choice under field conditions among flooded and non-flooded deciduous tree species of varying intolerance to flooding, beetles attacked flood-intolerant tree species over more tolerant species within 3 days of initiating flood stress. In particular, flood-intolerant flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) sustained more attacks than flood-tolerant species, including silver maple (Acer saccharinum) and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor). Ethanol, a key host-derived attractant, was detected at higher concentrations 3 days after initiating flooding within stems of flood intolerant species compared to tolerant and non-flooded species. A positive correlation was also detected between ethanol concentrations in stem tissue and cumulative ambrosia beetle attacks. When adult X. germanus and X. crassiusculus were confined with no-choice to stems of flood-stressed and non-flooded C. florida, more ejected sawdust resulting from tunneling activity was associated with the flood-stressed trees. Furthermore, living foundresses, eggs, larvae, and pupae were only detected within galleries created in stems of flood-stressed trees. Despite a capability to attack diverse tree genera, X. germanus and X. crassiusculus efficiently distinguished among varying host qualities and preferentially targeted trees based on their intolerance of flood stress. Non-flooded trees were not preferred or successfully colonized. This study demonstrates the host-selection strategy exhibited by X. germanus and X. crassiusculus in non-native habitats involves

  10. Non-Native Ambrosia Beetles as Opportunistic Exploiters of Living but Weakened Trees.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher M Ranger

    Full Text Available Exotic Xylosandrus spp. ambrosia beetles established in non-native habitats have been associated with sudden and extensive attacks on a diverse range of living trees, but factors driving their shift from dying/dead hosts to living and healthy ones are not well understood. We sought to characterize the role of host physiological condition on preference and colonization by two invaders, Xylosandrus germanus and Xylosandrus crassiusculus. When given free-choice under field conditions among flooded and non-flooded deciduous tree species of varying intolerance to flooding, beetles attacked flood-intolerant tree species over more tolerant species within 3 days of initiating flood stress. In particular, flood-intolerant flowering dogwood (Cornus florida sustained more attacks than flood-tolerant species, including silver maple (Acer saccharinum and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor. Ethanol, a key host-derived attractant, was detected at higher concentrations 3 days after initiating flooding within stems of flood intolerant species compared to tolerant and non-flooded species. A positive correlation was also detected between ethanol concentrations in stem tissue and cumulative ambrosia beetle attacks. When adult X. germanus and X. crassiusculus were confined with no-choice to stems of flood-stressed and non-flooded C. florida, more ejected sawdust resulting from tunneling activity was associated with the flood-stressed trees. Furthermore, living foundresses, eggs, larvae, and pupae were only detected within galleries created in stems of flood-stressed trees. Despite a capability to attack diverse tree genera, X. germanus and X. crassiusculus efficiently distinguished among varying host qualities and preferentially targeted trees based on their intolerance of flood stress. Non-flooded trees were not preferred or successfully colonized. This study demonstrates the host-selection strategy exhibited by X. germanus and X. crassiusculus in non-native habitats

  11. THE ROLE OF NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER TEACHERS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lutfi Ashar Mauludin

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Native-English Speaker Teachers (NESTs and Non-Native English Speaker Teachers (NNESTs have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, for English Language Learners (ELLs, NNESTs have more advantages in helping students to acquire English skills. At least there are three factors that can only be performed by NNESTs in English Language Learning. The factors are knowledge of the subject, effective communication, and understanding students‘ difficulties/needs. The NNESTs can effectively provide the clear explanation of knowledge of the language because they are supported by the same background and culture. NNESTs also can communicate with the students with all levels effectively. The use of L1 is effective to help students building their knowledge. Finally, NNESTs can provide the objectives and materials that are suitable with the needs of the students.

  12. Learning to Recognize Speakers of a Non-Native Language: Implications for the Functional Organization of Human Auditory Cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perrachione, Tyler K.; Wong, Patrick C. M.

    2007-01-01

    Brain imaging studies of voice perception often contrast activation from vocal and verbal tasks to identify regions uniquely involved in processing voice. However, such a strategy precludes detection of the functional relationship between speech and voice perception. In a pair of experiments involving identifying voices from native and foreign…

  13. Positive feedback loop between introductions of non-native marine species and cultivation of oysters in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mineur, Frederic; Le Roux, Auguste; Maggs, Christine A; Verlaque, Marc

    2014-12-01

    With globalization, agriculture and aquaculture activities are increasingly affected by diseases that are spread through movement of crops and stock. Such movements are also associated with the introduction of non-native species via hitchhiking individual organisms. The oyster industry, one of the most important forms of marine aquaculture, embodies these issues. In Europe disease outbreaks affecting cultivated populations of the naturalized oyster Crassostrea gigas caused a major disruption of production in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mitigation procedures involved massive imports of stock from the species' native range in the northwestern Pacific from 1971 to 1977. We assessed the role stock imports played in the introduction of non-native marine species (including pathogens) from the northwestern Pacific to Europe through a methodological and critical appraisal of record data. The discovery rate of non-native species (a proxy for the introduction rate) from 1966 to 2012 suggests a continuous vector activity over the entire period. Disease outbreaks that have been affecting oyster production since 2008 may be a result of imports from the northwestern Pacific, and such imports are again being considered as an answer to the crisis. Although successful as a remedy in the short and medium terms, such translocations may bring new diseases that may trigger yet more imports (self-reinforcing or positive feedback loop) and lead to the introduction of more hitchhikers. Although there is a legal framework to prevent or reduce these introductions, existing procedures should be improved. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  14. Non-Native (Exotic) Snake Envenomations in the U.S., 2005–2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warrick, Brandon J.; Boyer, Leslie V.; Seifert, Steven A.

    2014-01-01

    Non-native (exotic) snakes are a problematic source of envenomation worldwide. This manuscript describes the current demographics, outcomes and challenges of non-native snakebites in the United States (U.S.). We performed a retrospective case series of the National Poison Data System (NPDS) database between 2005 and 2011. There were 258 human exposures involving at least 61 unique exotic venomous species (average = 37 per year; range = 33–40). Males comprised 79% and females 21%. The average age was 33 years with 16% less than 20 years old. 70% of bites occurred in a private residence and 86% were treated at a healthcare facility. 35% of cases received antivenom and 10% were given antibiotics. This study is compared to our previous study (1994–2004) in which there was a substantial coding error rate. Software modifications significantly reduced coding errors. Identification and acquisition of appropriate antivenoms pose a number of logistical difficulties in the management of these envenomations. In the U.S., poison centers have valuable systems and clinical roles in the provision of expert consultation and in the management of these cases. PMID:25268980

  15. Non-Native (Exotic Snake Envenomations in the U.S., 2005–2011

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brandon J. Warrick

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Non-native (exotic snakes are a problematic source of envenomation worldwide. This manuscript describes the current demographics, outcomes and challenges of non-native snakebites in the United States (U.S.. We performed a retrospective case series of the National Poison Data System (NPDS database between 2005 and 2011. There were 258 human exposures involving at least 61 unique exotic venomous species (average = 37 per year; range = 33–40. Males comprised 79% and females 21%. The average age was 33 years with 16% less than 20 years old. 70% of bites occurred in a private residence and 86% were treated at a healthcare facility. 35% of cases received antivenom and 10% were given antibiotics. This study is compared to our previous study (1994–2004 in which there was a substantial coding error rate. Software modifications significantly reduced coding errors. Identification and acquisition of appropriate antivenoms pose a number of logistical difficulties in the management of these envenomations. In the U.S., poison centers have valuable systems and clinical roles in the provision of expert consultation and in the management of these cases.

  16. Early phonology revealed by international adoptees' birth language retention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jiyoun; Broersma, Mirjam; Cutler, Anne

    2017-07-11

    Until at least 6 mo of age, infants show good discrimination for familiar phonetic contrasts (i.e., those heard in the environmental language) and contrasts that are unfamiliar. Adult-like discrimination (significantly worse for nonnative than for native contrasts) appears only later, by 9-10 mo. This has been interpreted as indicating that infants have no knowledge of phonology until vocabulary development begins, after 6 mo of age. Recently, however, word recognition has been observed before age 6 mo, apparently decoupling the vocabulary and phonology acquisition processes. Here we show that phonological acquisition is also in progress before 6 mo of age. The evidence comes from retention of birth-language knowledge in international adoptees. In the largest ever such study, we recruited 29 adult Dutch speakers who had been adopted from Korea when young and had no conscious knowledge of Korean language at all. Half were adopted at age 3-5 mo (before native-specific discrimination develops) and half at 17 mo or older (after word learning has begun). In a short intensive training program, we observe that adoptees (compared with 29 matched controls) more rapidly learn tripartite Korean consonant distinctions without counterparts in their later-acquired Dutch, suggesting that the adoptees retained phonological knowledge about the Korean distinction. The advantage is equivalent for the younger-adopted and the older-adopted groups, and both groups not only acquire the tripartite distinction for the trained consonants but also generalize it to untrained consonants. Although infants younger than 6 mo can still discriminate unfamiliar phonetic distinctions, this finding indicates that native-language phonological knowledge is nonetheless being acquired at that age.

  17. 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...

  18. Teaching a Growing a Population of Non-Native English-Speaking Students in American Universities: Cultural and Linguistic Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Cristina Fava

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The increasing number of non-native English speaking students in American universities, mostly from Asian countries, presents unprecedented challenges and calls for an in-depth study on how we teach western art music history. This essay challenges some aspects of liberal multiculturalism and proposes the creation of channels of communication that allow non-native English speaking students to understand the premises of a Eurocentric system of knowledge without undermining their own cultural backgrounds.

  19. Enhancing native defect sensitivity for EUV actinic blank inspection: optimized pupil engineering and photon noise study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yow-Gwo; Neureuther, Andrew; Naulleau, Patrick

    2016-03-01

    In this paper, we discuss the impact of optimized pupil engineering and photon noise on native defect sensitivity in EUV actinic blank inspection. Native defects include phase-dominated defects, absorber defects, and defects with a combination of phase and absorption behavior. First, we extend the idea of the Zernike phase contrast (ZPC) method and study the impact of optimum phase shift in the pupil plane on native defect sensitivity, showing a 23% signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement compare to bright field (BF) for a phase defect with 20% absorption. We also describe the possibility to increase target defect SNR on target defect sizes at the price of losing the sensitivity on smaller (non-critical) defects. Moreover, we show the advantage of the optimized phase contrast (OZPC) method over BF EUV actinic blank inspection. A single focus scan from OZPC has better inspection efficiency over BF. Second, we make a detailed comparison between the phase contrast with apodization (AZPC) method and dark field (DF) method based on defect sensitivity in the presence of both photon shot noise and camera noise. Performance is compared for a variety of photon levels, mask roughness conditions, and combinations of defect phase and absorption.

  20. Invasion versus isolation: trade-offs in managing native salmonids with barriers to upstream movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fausch, Kurt D; Rieman, Bruce E; Dunham, Jason B; Young, Michael K; Peterson, Douglas P

    2009-08-01

    Conservation biologists often face the trade-off that increasing connectivity in fragmented landscapes to reduce extinction risk of native species can foster invasion by non-native species that enter via the corridors created, which can then increase extinction risk. This dilemma is acute for stream fishes, especially native salmonids, because their populations are frequently relegated to fragments of headwater habitat threatened by invasion from downstream by 3 cosmopolitan non-native salmonids. Managers often block these upstream invasions with movement barriers, but isolation of native salmonids in small headwater streams can increase the threat of local extinction. We propose a conceptual framework to address this worldwide problem that focuses on 4 main questions. First, are populations of conservation value present (considering evolutionary legacies, ecological functions, and socioeconomic benefits as distinct values)? Second, are populations vulnerable to invasion and displacement by non-native salmonids? Third, would these populations be threatened with local extinction if isolated with barriers? And, fourth, how should management be prioritized among multiple populations? We also developed a conceptual model of the joint trade-off of invasion and isolation threats that considers the opportunities for managers to make strategic decisions. We illustrated use of this framework in an analysis of the invasion-isolation trade-off for native cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) in 2 contrasting basins in western North America where invasion and isolation are either present and strong or farther away and apparently weak. These cases demonstrate that decisions to install or remove barriers to conserve native salmonids are often complex and depend on conservation values, environmental context (which influences the threat of invasion and isolation), and additional socioeconomic factors. Explicit analysis with tools such as those we propose can help managers make

  1. A comparison of the recruitment success of introduced and native species under natural conditions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Habacuc Flores-Moreno

    Full Text Available It is commonly accepted that introduced species have recruitment advantages over native species. However, this idea has not been widely tested, and those studies that have compared survival of introduced and native species have produced mixed results. We compiled data from the literature on survival through germination (seed to seedling survival, early seedling survival (survival through one week from seedling emergence and survival to adulthood (survival from germination to first reproduction under natural conditions for 285 native and 63 introduced species. Contrary to expectations, we found that introduced and native species do not significantly differ in survival through germination, early seedling survival, or survival from germination to first reproduction. These comparisons remained non-significant after accounting for seed mass, longevity and when including a random effect for site. Results remained consistent after excluding naturalized species from the introduced species data set, after performing phylogenetic independent contrasts, and after accounting for the effect of life form (woody/non-woody. Although introduced species sometimes do have advantages over native species (for example, through enemy release, or greater phenotypic plasticity, our findings suggest that the overall advantage conferred by these factors is either counterbalanced by advantages of native species (such as superior adaptation to local conditions or is simply too small to be detected at a broad scale.

  2. Conservation and restoration of forest trees impacted by non-native pathogens: the role of genetics and tree improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    R.A. Sniezko; L.A. Winn

    2017-01-01

    North American native tree species in forest ecosystems, as well as managed forests and urban plantings, are being severely impacted by pathogens and insects. The impacts of these pathogens and insects often increase over time, and they are particularly acute for those species affected by non-native pathogens and insects. For restoration of affected tree species or for...

  3. The Paradox of Restoring Native River Landscapes and Restoring Native Ecosystems in the Colorado River System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, J. C.

    2014-12-01

    Throughout the Colorado River basin (CRb), scientists and river managers collaborate to improve native ecosystems. Native ecosystems have deteriorated due to construction of dams and diversions that alter natural flow, sediment supply, and temperature regimes, trans-basin diversions that extract large amounts of water from some segments of the channel network, and invasion of non-native animals and plants. These scientist/manager collaborations occur in large, multi-stakeholder, adaptive management programs that include the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program, and the Upper Colorado River Endangered Species Recovery Program. Although a fundamental premise of native species recovery is that restoration of predam flow regimes inevitably leads to native species recovery, such is not the case in many parts of the CRb. For example, populations of the endangered humpback chub (Gila cypha) are largest in the sediment deficit, thermally altered conditions of the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, but these species occur in much smaller numbers in the upper CRb even though the flow regime, sediment supply, and sediment mass balance are less perturbed. Similar contrasts in the physical and biological response of restoration of predam flow regimes occurs in floodplains dominated by nonnative tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) where reestablishment of floods has the potential to exacerbate vertical accretion processes that disconnect the floodplain from the modern flow regime. A significant challenge in restoring segments of the CRb is to describe this paradox of physical and biological response to reestablishment of pre-dam flow regimes, and to clearly identify objectives of environmentally oriented river management. In many cases, understanding the nature of the perturbation to sediment mass balance caused by dams and diversions and understanding the constraints imposed by societal commitments to provide

  4. Indeterminate solid hepatic lesions identified on non-diagnostic contrast-enhanced computed tomography: Assessment of the additional diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the non-cirrhotic liver

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quaia, Emilio; De Paoli, Luca; Angileri, Roberta; Cabibbo, Biagio; Cova, Maria Assunta

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To assess the additional diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the characterization of indeterminate solid hepatic lesions identified on non-diagnostic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT). Methods: Fifty-five solid hepatic lesions (1–4 cm in diameter) in 46 non-cirrhotic patients (26 female, 20 male; age ± SD, 55 ± 10 years) underwent CEUS after being detected on contrast-enhanced CT which was considered as non-diagnostic after on-site analysis. Two blinded independent readers assessed CT and CEUS scans and were asked to classify retrospectively each lesion as a malignant or benign based on reference diagnostic criteria for the different hepatic lesion histotypes. Diagnostic accuracy and confidence (area – A z – under ROC curve) were assessed by using gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (n = 30 lesions), histology (n = 7 lesions), or US follow-up (n = 18 lesions) as the reference standards. Results: Final diagnoses included 29 hemangiomas, 3 focal nodular hyperplasias, 1 hepatocellular adenoma, and 22 metastases. The additional review of CEUS after CT images improved significantly (P < .05) the diagnostic accuracy (before vs after CEUS review = 49% [20/55] vs 89% [49/55] – reader 1 and 43% [24/55] vs 92% [51/55] – reader 2) and confidence (A z , 95% Confidence Intervals before vs after CEUS review = .773 [.652–.895] vs .997 [.987–1] – reader 1 and .831 [.724–.938] vs .998 [.992–1] – reader 2). Conclusions: CEUS improved the characterization of indeterminate solid hepatic lesions identified on non-diagnostic contrast-enhanced CT by identifying some specific contrast enhancement patterns.

  5. The relationship between brain reaction and English reading tests for non-native English speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Pei-Wen; Tian, Yu-Jie; Kuo, Ting-Hua; Sun, Koun-Tem

    2016-07-01

    This research analyzed the brain activity of non-native English speakers while engaged in English reading tests. The brain wave event-related potentials (ERPs) of participants were used to analyze the difference between making correct and incorrect choices on English reading test items. Three English reading tests of differing levels were designed and 20 participants, 10 males and 10 females whose ages ranged from 20 to 24, voluntarily participated in the experiment. Experimental results were analyzed by performing independent t-tests on the ERPs of participants for gender, difficulty level, and correct versus wrong options. Participants who chose incorrect options elicited a larger N600, verifying results found in the literature. Another interesting result was found: For incorrectly answered items, different areas of brain showing a significant difference in ERPs between the chosen and non-chosen options corresponded to gender differences; for males, this area was located in the right hemisphere whereas for females, it was located in the left. Experimental results imply that non-native English speaking males and females employ different areas of the brain to comprehend the meaning of difficult items. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Physical experiments on the utility of non-iodine-containing contrast media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirschner, H.; Burmester, U.; Stringaris, K.; Jentsch, F.

    1979-01-01

    Because of the excellent ability of the CT scanner in analyzing absorption, the use of non-iodine-containing contrast media will be discussed. Experimental studies of the chemical elements with the atomic number Z = 1-83 with a scan tension of 120 kV were made to determine how many atoms of a given element are necessary to replace one iodine atom in an iodine-containing contrast medium, whereby the same contrast enhancement in the scan picture as with the iodine-containing contrast medium is produced. (orig.) 891 ORU/orig. 892 MB [de

  7. Non-native fish introductions and the reversibility of amphibian declines in the Sierra Nevada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roland A. Knapp

    2004-01-01

    Amphibians are declining worldwide for a variety of reasons, including habitat alteration, introduction of non-native species, disease, climate change, and environmental contaminants. Amphibians often play important roles in structuring ecosystems, and, as a result, amphibian population declines or extinctions are likely to affect other trophic levels (Matthews and...

  8. Polysemous Verbs and Modality in Native and Non-Native Argumentative Writing: A Corpus-Based Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danica Salazar

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study is a corpus-based analysis of a selection of polysemous lexical verbs used to express modality in student argumentative writing. Twenty-three lexical verbs were searched for in three 100,000-word corpora of argumentative essays written in English by American, Filipino and Spanish university students. Concordance lines were examined to determine their use in the three corpora. After presenting the overall results for all verbs studied, more in-depth linguistic analysis was performed on the polysemous verb feel. These analyses revealed that the non-native writers, unlike their native counterparts, had a limited grasp of the full range of meanings of lexical verbs such as feel. It also showed that all student writers under study employed only a restricted range of lexical verbs to convey modal meanings in their writing.En este artículo presentamos un análisis de una selección de verbos polisémicos, utilizados para expresar modalidad, en tres corpus de textos argumentativos escritos en inglés por estudiantes universitarios americanos, filipinos y españoles. Después de exponer los resultados generales, se presenta un análisis más exhaustivo del verbo polisémico feel, que revela que los estudiantes no nativos, a diferencia de los nativos, tienen un conocimiento limitado de su diversidad de sentidos. También muestra que todos los estudiantes analizados usaron un repertorio restringido de verbos léxicos que expresan modalidad.

  9. Expansion of Non-Native Brown Trout in South Europe May Be Inadvertently Driven by Stocking: Molecular and Social Survey in the North Iberian Narcea River.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horreo, Jose L; Abad, David; Dopico, Eduardo; Oberlin, Maud; Garcia-Vazquez, Eva

    2015-07-09

    The biological and anthropogenic (management) factors that may contribute to the expansion of non-native lineages in managed fish have been studied in this work taking brown trout (Salmo trutta) as a model species. The changes of users' opinion about stocking was studied employing social science methodology (surveys). The evolution of hatchery stocks together with the outcome of stocking were analysed with two genetic tools: the LDH-C1* locus (marker of non-native stocks) and six microsatellite loci (for assignment of wild trout to the natural population or putative hatchery stocks). Consulted stakeholders were convinced of the correctness of releasing only native stocks, although in practice the hatcheries managed by them contained important proportions of non-native gene carriers. Our results suggest that allochthonous individuals perform better and grow faster in hatchery conditions than the native ones. We also find a dilution of the impact of this kind of suplementation in wild conditions. The use of only native individuals as hatchery breeders tested for the presence of non-native alleles previously to the artificial crosses must be a priority. Surveys can help steer policy making toward decisions that will be followed by the public, but they should not be used to justify science.

  10. Expansion of Non-Native Brown Trout in South Europe May Be Inadvertently Driven by Stocking: Molecular and Social Survey in the North Iberian Narcea River

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose L. Horreo

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The biological and anthropogenic (management factors that may contribute to the expansion of non-native lineages in managed fish have been studied in this work taking brown trout (Salmo trutta as a model species. The changes of users’ opinion about stocking was studied employing social science methodology (surveys. The evolution of hatchery stocks together with the outcome of stocking were analysed with two genetic tools: the LDH-C1* locus (marker of non-native stocks and six microsatellite loci (for assignment of wild trout to the natural population or putative hatchery stocks. Consulted stakeholders were convinced of the correctness of releasing only native stocks, although in practice the hatcheries managed by them contained important proportions of non-native gene carriers. Our results suggest that allochthonous individuals perform better and grow faster in hatchery conditions than the native ones. We also find a dilution of the impact of this kind of suplementation in wild conditions. The use of only native individuals as hatchery breeders tested for the presence of non-native alleles previously to the artificial crosses must be a priority. Surveys can help steer policy making toward decisions that will be followed by the public, but they should not be used to justify science.

  11. The Fallacy of Promoting Non Native Varieties of English in Postcolonial Multilingual Settings: The Case of Cameroon English (CamE) in Cameroon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essossomo, Serges Moïse

    2015-01-01

    This research endeavour is a major contribution to the current debate on the integration of non-native varieties into the school curriculum in non-native settings. Taking the specific case of Cameroon, this work rests on the solid assumption that the promotion of CamE to the detriment of Standard British English accent is definitely a fallacy. The…

  12. Primary lower limb lymphoedema. Classification with non-contrast MR lymphography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arrive, Lionel; Derhy, S.; El Mouhadi, S.; Monnier-Cholley, L.; Menu, Y. [Saint-Antoine Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, Department of Radiology, Paris (France); Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Universite Paris 06, Faculte de Medecine Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France); Dahan, B. [Cochin Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Paris (France); Becker, C. [HEGP, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Paris (France)

    2018-01-15

    The purpose of the present study was to analyse the performance of non-contrast MR lymphography for the classification of primary lower limb lymphoedema in 121 consecutive patients with 187 primary lower limb lymphoedemas. 121 consecutive patients with clinically diagnosed primary lower limb lymphoedema underwent non-contrast MR lymphography with a free-breathing 3D fast spin-echo sequence with a very long TR/TE (4000/884 ms). MR examinations were retrospectively reviewed for severity of lymphoedema (absent, mild, moderate, severe) and characteristics of inguinal lymph nodes and iliac and inguinal lymphatic trunks graded as aplasic (no lymph nodes or lymphatic trunks), hypoplasic (less lymph nodes or lymphatic trunks), normal and hyperplasic (more lymph nodes or more and/or dilated trunks). There was an excellent correlation between clinical stage and severity of lymphoedema (Cramer's V of 0,73 (p < 0.001)). Differentiation was feasible between inguinal lymphatic vessel aplasia (21%), hypoplasia (15%), normal pattern (53%) and hyperplasia (11%). Severe lymphoedema was observed in 46% of aplasic patterns and in 37% of hyperplasic patterns, but in only 15% of hypoplasic patterns and never observed in normal patterns (p < 0.001). Non-contrast MR lymphography is able to classify primary lower limb lymphoedemas into hyperplasic, aplasic, hypoplasic and normal patterns. (orig.)

  13. 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)

  14. 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 ...

  15. Native American youth and justice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr.Sc. Laurence A. French

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Youth and delinquency issues have long been problematic among Native Americans groups both on- and off-reservation. This phenomenon is further complicated by the cultural diversity among American Indians and Alaska Natives scattered across the United States. In address these issues, the paper begins with a historical overview of Native American youth. This history presents the long tradition of federal policies that, how well intended, have resulted in discriminatory practices with the most damages attacks being those directed toward the destruction of viable cultural attributes – the same attributes that make Native Americans unique within United States society. Following the historical material, the authors contrast the pervasive Native American aboriginal ethos of harmony with that of Protestant Ethic that dominates the ethos of the larger United States society. In addition to providing general information on Native American crime and delinquency, the paper also provides a case study of Native American justice within the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe, in both size and population, in the United States. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues specific to Native American youth and efforts to address these problems.

  16. The Knowledge Base of Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers: Perspectives of Teachers and Administrators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fengjuan; Zhan, Ju

    2014-01-01

    This study explores the knowledge base of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) working in the Canadian English as a second language (ESL) context. By examining NNESTs' experiences in seeking employment and teaching ESL in Canada, and investigating ESL program administrators' perceptions and hiring practices in relation to NNESTs, it…

  17. Nativization Processes in L1 Esperanto.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergen, Benjamin K.

    2001-01-01

    Describes characteristics of the Native Esperanto of eight speakers, ranging from age 6 to 14 years. Found bilingualism and nativization effects, differentiating native from non-native Esperanto speech. Among these effects are loss or modification of the accusative case, phonological reduction, attrition of tense/aspect system, and pronominal…

  18. Are eavesdroppers multimodal? Sensory exploitation of flo-ral signals by a non-native cockroach Blatta orientalis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo C. VERGARA, Alejandra TORRES-ARANEDA, Diego A. VILLAGRA, Robert A. RAGUSO, Mary T. K. ARROYO, Cristian A. VILLAGRA

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The study of multi-modal communication has only recently been extended to innate and learned interactions between flowers and their animal visitors, and usually only to pollinators. Here we studied the relevance of floral scent and visual display of a night blooming, putatively hawkmoth-pollinated plant Oenothera acaulis (Onagraceae in the attraction of non-native cockroaches Blatta orientalis (Blattodea: Blattidae, which function as facultative floral larcenists in coastal habitats of central Chile. We experimentally decoupled visual (corolla and olfactory (fragrance stimuli by presenting paper corollas and green mesh bags, with or without a freshly-picked natural flower inside. We then contrasted the behavioral responses of roaches in these treatments with those to the natural combination of traits in actual flowers and their respective control treatments, measuring the roaches’ frequency of first visits, mean and total residence time spent in each treatment. The roaches primarily used olfactory cues when approaching O. acaulis flowers at two biologically relevant spatial scales. In addition, the presence of conspecific roaches had a strong influence on recruitment to the experimental arena, increasing the statistical differences among treatments. Our results suggest a primacy of floral fragrance over visual stimuli in the foraging responses of B. orientalis. Olfactory cues were necessary and sufficient to attract the roaches, and the visual cues presented in our manipulations only marginally increased their attraction within a 20 cm diameter of the stimulus. The full spectrum of floral visitation behavior was not elicited by the artificial flowers, suggesting the need for additional tactile or contact chemosensory stimuli not provided by paper. Although the nitrogenous scent compounds that we found in O. acaulis flowers are almost exclusively found in hawkmoth-pollinated flowers, the attractiveness of these compounds to a non-native

  19. Production of lexical stress in non-native speakers of American English: kinematic correlates of stress and transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Rahul; Goffman, Lisa

    2011-06-01

    To assess the influence of second language (L2) proficiency on production characteristics of rhythmic sequences in the L1 (Bengali) and L2 (English), with emphasis on linguistic transfer. One goal was to examine, using kinematic evidence, how L2 proficiency influences the production of iambic and trochaic words, focusing on temporal and spatial aspects of prosody. A second goal was to assess whether prosodic structure influences judgment of foreign accent. Twenty Bengali-English bilingual individuals, 10 with low proficiency in English and 10 with high proficiency in English, and 10 monolingual English speakers, participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded while the bilingual participants produced Bengali and English words embedded in sentences. Lower lip movement amplitude and duration were measured in trochaic and iambic words. Six native English listeners judged the nativeness of the bilingual speakers. Evidence of L1-L2 transfer was observed through duration but not amplitude cues. More proficient L2 speakers varied duration to mark iambic stress. Perceptually, the high-proficiency group received relatively higher native-like accent ratings. Trochees were judged as more native than iambs. Even in the face of L1-L2 lexical stress transfer, nonnative speakers demonstrated knowledge of prosodic contrasts. Movement duration appears to be more amenable than amplitude to modifications.

  20. DISCOURSE AWARENESS IN IMPROVING NON-NATIVE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN GENERIC WRITING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hussain AL SHAROUFI

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the importance of teaching discourse patterns to non-native university students. I used particular discourse patterns in teaching generic writing to undergraduate students at the Gulf University for Science and Technology, GUST, in Kuwait. The assumption of this study was that undergraduate non-native students should be aware of the importance of discourse patterns in generic writing. This hidden tactic is not obvious unless consciously taught to them. To study the importance of generic patterns, I opted to teach discourse patterns that are used in newspaper editorials, the rationale of which was that students would grasp discourse patterns and apply them to their own writing. I chose two groups of students randomly, one of which was an experimental group and the second of which was a control group. I conducted a detailed analysis afterwards to examine the validity of my assumption. I taught the experimental group the chosen model of analysis, and instructed the control group to read sample editorials, and write their own editorials afterwards. The results of this experiment were substantial. Based on the level of compliance with the suggested format, triads, movements, and artifacts in newspaper editorials, students in the experimental group were evaluated on a scale of 0 to 10. The performance of the experimental group was above average, 75.3%, in comparison to the control group that complied quite poorly with the chosen model, < 30 %.

  1. Invasions by two non-native insects alter regional forest species composition and successional trajectories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall S. Morin; Andrew M. Liebhold

    2015-01-01

    While invasions of individual non-native phytophagous insect species are known to affect growth and mortality of host trees, little is known about how multiple invasions combine to alter forest dynamics over large regions. In this study we integrate geographical data describing historical invasion spread of the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae...

  2. Immigrants and Native Workers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foged, Mette; Peri, Giovanni

    Using a database that includes the universe of individuals and establishments in Denmark over the period 1991-2008 we analyze the effect of a large inflow of non-European (EU) immigrants on Danish workers. We first identify a sharp and sustained supply-driven increase in the inflow of non......-EU immigrants in Denmark, beginning in 1995 and driven by a sequence of international events such as the Bosnian, Somalian and Iraqi crises. We then look at the response of occupational complexity, job upgrading and downgrading, wage and employment of natives in the short and long run. We find...... that the increased supply of non-EU low skilled immigrants pushed native workers to pursue more complex occupations. This reallocation happened mainly through movement across firms. Immigration increased mobility of natives across firms and across municipalities but it did not increase their probability...

  3. Non-target effects of broadleaf herbicide on a native perennial forb: a demographic framework for assessing and minimizing impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elizabeth E. Crone; Marilyn Marler; Dean E. Pearson

    2009-01-01

    Invasive species are one of the leading threats to biodiversity worldwide. Therefore, chemical herbicides are increasingly used to control invasive plants in natural and semi-natural areas. Little is known about the non-target impacts of these chemicals on native species. We conducted an experiment to test the demographic effects of the herbicide picloram on a native...

  4. Discriminating native from non-native speech using fusion of visual cues

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Georgakis, Christos; Petridis, Stavros; Pantic, Maja

    2014-01-01

    The task of classifying accent, as belonging to a native language speaker or a foreign language speaker, has been so far addressed by means of the audio modality only. However, features extracted from the visual modality have been successfully used to extend or substitute audio-only approaches

  5. Discrimination Between Native and Non-Native Speech Using Visual Features Only

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Georgakis, Christos; Petridis, Stavros; Pantic, Maja

    2016-01-01

    Accent is a soft biometric trait that can be inferred from pronunciation and articulation patterns characterizing the speaking style of an individual. Past research has addressed the task of classifying accent, as belonging to a native language speaker or a foreign language speaker, by means of the

  6. Monolingual and Bilingual Infants’ Ability to Use Non-native Tone for Word Learning Deteriorates by the Second Year After Birth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liquan Liu

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies reported a non-native word learning advantage for bilingual infants at around 18 months. We investigated developmental changes in infant interpretation of sounds that aid in object mapping. Dutch monolingual and bilingual (exposed to Dutch and a second non-tone-language infants’ word learning ability was examined on two novel label–object pairings using syllables differing in Mandarin tones as labels (flat vs. falling. Infants aged 14–15 months, regardless of language backgrounds, were sensitive to violations in the label–objects pairings when lexical tones were switched compared to when they were the same as habituated. Conversely at 17–18 months, neither monolingual nor bilingual infants demonstrated learning. Linking with existing literature, infants’ ability to associate non-native tones with meanings may be related to tonal acoustic properties and/or perceptual assimilation to native prosodic categories. These findings provide new insights into the relation between infant tone perception, learning, and interpretative narrowing from a developmental perspective.

  7. Loss of biodiversity in a conservation unit of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: the effect of introducing non-native fish species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. N. Fragoso-Moura

    Full Text Available Abstract The introduction of species has become an important problem for biodiversity and natural ecosystem conservation. The lake system of the middle Rio Doce (MG, Brazil comprises c. 200 lakes at various conservation states, of which 50 are located within the Rio Doce State Park (PERD. Previous studies had verified several of these lakes suffered non-native fishes introductions and the presence of these species needs for the implementation of actions aiming at not only their control but also the preservation of the native species. This study discusses the effects of non-native fish species in the largest conservation unit of Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais, southeast of Brazil, using data from 1983 to 2010 distributed as follow: data prior to 2006 were obtained from previous studies, and data from September 2006 to July 2010 were obtained in Lake Carioca at four sampling stations using gillnets, seine nets and sieve. A total of 17 fish species was collected (2006-2010 of which five were introduced species. Among the small to medium size native species (30 to 2000 mm standard length seven had disappeared, two are new records and one was recaptured. The non-native species Cichla kelberi (peacock bass and Pygocentrus nattereri (red piranha are within the most abundant captured species. Integrated with other actions, such as those preventing new introductions, a selective fishing schedule is proposed as an alternative approach to improve the conservation management actions and the local and regional biodiversity maintenance.

  8. Diet of non-native northern snakehead (Channa argus) compared to three co-occurring predators in the lower Potomac River, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan K. Saylor,; Nicolas W.R. Laointe,; Angermeier, Paul

    2012-01-01

    Introductions of large, non-native, carnivorous fishes continue to occur worldwide and represent a substantial management concern to global biodiversity. One of the most recent non-native fishes to successfully establish in North America is the northern snakehead (Channa argus), found in the lower Potomac River catchment. Dispersal of the northern snakehead throughout this system has been well documented since its original discovery in May 2004; however, little is known about the foraging habits of this species and its interactions with co-occurring predators. Here, we quantify northern snakehead diet in comparison with the diets of naturalised largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and native American eel (Anguilla rostrata) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) collected from tidal freshwaters bordering Virginia and Maryland near Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Over 97% of northern snakehead gut contents were fishes, with fundulid and centrarchid species consumed most frequently. Dietary overlap was biologically significant only between northern snakehead and largemouth bass. Aquatic invertebrates were >10 times more common in native predator diets, reducing dietary overlap with northern snakehead. Ontogenic shifts in adult northern snakehead diet were also detected, which may be explained by optimal foraging rather than true prey specificity. Northern snakehead may be occupying a novel niche based on a piscivorous diet, therefore limiting competition with resident predators in the lower Potomac River. Further research into interactions between largemouth bass and northern snakehead is needed to inform management decisions and understand the ecological impacts of this non-native species.

  9. Loss of biodiversity in a conservation unit of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: the effect of introducing non-native fish species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fragoso-Moura, E N; Oporto, L T; Maia-Barbosa, P M; Barbosa, F A R

    2016-02-01

    The introduction of species has become an important problem for biodiversity and natural ecosystem conservation. The lake system of the middle Rio Doce (MG, Brazil) comprises c. 200 lakes at various conservation states, of which 50 are located within the Rio Doce State Park (PERD). Previous studies had verified several of these lakes suffered non-native fishes introductions and the presence of these species needs for the implementation of actions aiming at not only their control but also the preservation of the native species. This study discusses the effects of non-native fish species in the largest conservation unit of Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais, southeast of Brazil, using data from 1983 to 2010 distributed as follow: data prior to 2006 were obtained from previous studies, and data from September 2006 to July 2010 were obtained in Lake Carioca at four sampling stations using gillnets, seine nets and sieve. A total of 17 fish species was collected (2006-2010) of which five were introduced species. Among the small to medium size native species (30 to 2000 mm standard length) seven had disappeared, two are new records and one was recaptured. The non-native species Cichla kelberi (peacock bass) and Pygocentrus nattereri (red piranha) are within the most abundant captured species. Integrated with other actions, such as those preventing new introductions, a selective fishing schedule is proposed as an alternative approach to improve the conservation management actions and the local and regional biodiversity maintenance.

  10. Two sides of a coin: Effects of climate change on the native and non-native distribution of Colossoma macropomum in South America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, Taise M; Bailly, Dayani; Almeida, Bia A; Santos, Natália C L; Gimenez, Barbara C G; Landgraf, Guilherme O; Sales, Paulo C L; Lima-Ribeiro, Matheus S; Cassemiro, Fernanda A S; Rangel, Thiago F; Diniz-Filho, José A F; Agostinho, Angelo A; Gomes, Luiz C

    2017-01-01

    Climate change and species invasions interact in nature, disrupting biological communities. Based on this knowledge, we simultaneously assessed the effects of climate change on the native distribution of the Amazonian fish Colossoma macropomum as well as on its invasiveness across river basins of South America, using ecological niche modeling. We used six niche models within the ensemble forecast context to predict the geographical distribution of C. macropomum for the present time, 2050 and 2080. Given that this species has been continuously introduced into non-native South American basins by fish farming activities, we added the locations of C. macropomum farms into the modeling process to obtain a more realistic scenario of its invasive potential. Based on modelling outputs we mapped climate refuge areas at different times. Our results showed that a plenty of climatically suitable areas for the occurrence of C. macropomum occurrence are located outside the original basins at the present time and that its invasive potential is greatly amplified by fish farms. Simulations of future geographic ranges revealed drastic range contraction in the native region, implying concerns not only with respect to the species conservation but also from a socio-economic perspective since the species is a cornerstone of artisanal and commercial fisheries in the Amazon. Although the invasive potential is projected to decrease in the face of climate change, climate refugia will concentrate in Paraná River, Southeast Atlantic and East Atlantic basins, putting intense, negative pressures on the native fish fauna these regions. Our findings show that short and long-term management actions are required for: i) the conservation of natural stocks of C. macropomum in the Amazon, and ii) protecting native fish fauna in the climate refuges of the invaded regions.

  11. Two sides of a coin: Effects of climate change on the native and non-native distribution of Colossoma macropomum in South America.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taise M Lopes

    Full Text Available Climate change and species invasions interact in nature, disrupting biological communities. Based on this knowledge, we simultaneously assessed the effects of climate change on the native distribution of the Amazonian fish Colossoma macropomum as well as on its invasiveness across river basins of South America, using ecological niche modeling. We used six niche models within the ensemble forecast context to predict the geographical distribution of C. macropomum for the present time, 2050 and 2080. Given that this species has been continuously introduced into non-native South American basins by fish farming activities, we added the locations of C. macropomum farms into the modeling process to obtain a more realistic scenario of its invasive potential. Based on modelling outputs we mapped climate refuge areas at different times. Our results showed that a plenty of climatically suitable areas for the occurrence of C. macropomum occurrence are located outside the original basins at the present time and that its invasive potential is greatly amplified by fish farms. Simulations of future geographic ranges revealed drastic range contraction in the native region, implying concerns not only with respect to the species conservation but also from a socio-economic perspective since the species is a cornerstone of artisanal and commercial fisheries in the Amazon. Although the invasive potential is projected to decrease in the face of climate change, climate refugia will concentrate in Paraná River, Southeast Atlantic and East Atlantic basins, putting intense, negative pressures on the native fish fauna these regions. Our findings show that short and long-term management actions are required for: i the conservation of natural stocks of C. macropomum in the Amazon, and ii protecting native fish fauna in the climate refuges of the invaded regions.

  12. Disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Rezaeian

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: English has become the most frequently used language for scientific communication in the biomedical field. Therefore, scholars from all over the world try to publish their findings in English. This trend has a number of advantages, along with several disadvantages. METHODS: In the current article, the most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English are reviewed. RESULTS: The most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers may include: Overlooking, either unintentionally or even deliberately, the most important local health problems; failure to carry out groundbreaking research due to limited medical research budgets; violating generally accepted codes of publication ethics and committing research misconduct and publications in open-access scam/predatory journals rather than prestigious journals. CONCLUSIONS: The above mentioned disadvantages could eventually result in academic establishments becoming irresponsible or, even worse, corrupt. In order to avoid this, scientists, scientific organizations, academic institutions, and scientific associations all over the world should design and implement a wider range of collaborative and comprehensive plans.

  13. Adaptive Communication: Languages with More Non-Native Speakers Tend to Have Fewer Word Forms.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Bentz

    Full Text Available Explaining the diversity of languages across the world is one of the central aims of typological, historical, and evolutionary linguistics. We consider the effect of language contact-the number of non-native speakers a language has-on the way languages change and evolve. By analysing hundreds of languages within and across language families, regions, and text types, we show that languages with greater levels of contact typically employ fewer word forms to encode the same information content (a property we refer to as lexical diversity. Based on three types of statistical analyses, we demonstrate that this variance can in part be explained by the impact of non-native speakers on information encoding strategies. Finally, we argue that languages are information encoding systems shaped by the varying needs of their speakers. Language evolution and change should be modeled as the co-evolution of multiple intertwined adaptive systems: On one hand, the structure of human societies and human learning capabilities, and on the other, the structure of language.

  14. Disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaeian, Mohsen

    2015-01-01

    English has become the most frequently used language for scientific communication in the biomedical field. Therefore, scholars from all over the world try to publish their findings in English. This trend has a number of advantages, along with several disadvantages. In the current article, the most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English are reviewed. The most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers may include: Overlooking, either unintentionally or even deliberately, the most important local health problems; failure to carry out groundbreaking research due to limited medical research budgets; violating generally accepted codes of publication ethics and committing research misconduct and publications in open-access scam/predatory journals rather than prestigious journals. The above mentioned disadvantages could eventually result in academic establishments becoming irresponsible or, even worse, corrupt. In order to avoid this, scientists, scientific organizations, academic institutions, and scientific associations all over the world should design and implement a wider range of collaborative and comprehensive plans.

  15. Adaptive Communication: Languages with More Non-Native Speakers Tend to Have Fewer Word Forms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bentz, Christian; Verkerk, Annemarie; Kiela, Douwe; Hill, Felix; Buttery, Paula

    2015-01-01

    Explaining the diversity of languages across the world is one of the central aims of typological, historical, and evolutionary linguistics. We consider the effect of language contact-the number of non-native speakers a language has-on the way languages change and evolve. By analysing hundreds of languages within and across language families, regions, and text types, we show that languages with greater levels of contact typically employ fewer word forms to encode the same information content (a property we refer to as lexical diversity). Based on three types of statistical analyses, we demonstrate that this variance can in part be explained by the impact of non-native speakers on information encoding strategies. Finally, we argue that languages are information encoding systems shaped by the varying needs of their speakers. Language evolution and change should be modeled as the co-evolution of multiple intertwined adaptive systems: On one hand, the structure of human societies and human learning capabilities, and on the other, the structure of language. PMID:26083380

  16. 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...

  17. Safety of non-ionic contrast media during renal artery stenting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ni Jun; Shen Weifeng; Zhang Ruiyan; Zhang Qi; Zhang Xian; Zheng Aifang

    2004-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the safety of non-ionic contras media during interventional treatment of renal artery stenosis (RAS). Methods: Fifty four coronary artery disease patients associated with RAS (luminal narrowing > 50%) underwent renal artery stent implantation and percutaneous coronary intervention, only 10 of them with merely renoarterial stenosis undergone renal artery stent implantation. The successful rates of the procedure and complication together with the volumes of contrast media were recorded respectively. And the serum creatine before and 12 hours after the successful procedure were also measured. Results: Both rates of procedural success and complication were similar among the three groups. The serum creatine levels, 12 hours after the procedure, showed no difference in comparing with the baseline. Conclusion: Non-ionic contrast media (Iopamiro 370) could be safely used in patients with RAS. (authors)

  18. FlexAID: Revisiting Docking on Non-Native-Complex Structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaudreault, Francis; Najmanovich, Rafael J

    2015-07-27

    Small-molecule protein docking is an essential tool in drug design and to understand molecular recognition. In the present work we introduce FlexAID, a small-molecule docking algorithm that accounts for target side-chain flexibility and utilizes a soft scoring function, i.e. one that is not highly dependent on specific geometric criteria, based on surface complementarity. The pairwise energy parameters were derived from a large dataset of true positive poses and negative decoys from the PDBbind database through an iterative process using Monte Carlo simulations. The prediction of binding poses is tested using the widely used Astex dataset as well as the HAP2 dataset, while performance in virtual screening is evaluated using a subset of the DUD dataset. We compare FlexAID to AutoDock Vina, FlexX, and rDock in an extensive number of scenarios to understand the strengths and limitations of the different programs as well as to reported results for Glide, GOLD, and DOCK6 where applicable. The most relevant among these scenarios is that of docking on flexible non-native-complex structures where as is the case in reality, the target conformation in the bound form is not known a priori. We demonstrate that FlexAID, unlike other programs, is robust against increasing structural variability. FlexAID obtains equivalent sampling success as GOLD and performs better than AutoDock Vina or FlexX in all scenarios against non-native-complex structures. FlexAID is better than rDock when there is at least one critical side-chain movement required upon ligand binding. In virtual screening, FlexAID results are lower on average than those of AutoDock Vina and rDock. The higher accuracy in flexible targets where critical movements are required, intuitive PyMOL-integrated graphical user interface and free source code as well as precompiled executables for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS make FlexAID a welcome addition to the arsenal of existing small-molecule protein docking methods.

  19. 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 ...

  20. Native American nurse leadership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nichols, Lee A

    2004-07-01

    To identify which characteristics, wisdom, and skills are essential in becoming an effective Native American nurse leader. This will lead to the development of a curriculum suitable for Native American nurses. A qualitative, descriptive design was used for this study. Focus groups were conducted in Polson, Montana. A total of 67 Native and non-Native nurses participated. Sixty-seven percent of them were members of Indian tribes. Data were content analyzed using Spradley's ethnographic methodology. Three domains of analysis emerged: point of reference for the leader (individual, family, community), what a leader is (self-actualized, wise, experienced, political, bicultural, recognized, quiet presence, humble, spiritual, and visionary), and what a leader does (mentors, role models, communicates, listens, demonstrates values, mobilizes, and inspires). Native nurse leaders lead differently. Thus, a leadership curriculum suitable for Native nurses may lead to increased work productivity and therefore improved patient care for Native Americans.

  1. 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

  2. Myelography in the dog with non-ionic contrast media at different iodine concentrations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fatone, G.; Lamagna, F.; Pasolini, M.P.; Potena, A.; Brunetti, A.

    1997-01-01

    Image quality and side effects were evaluated retrospectively in a series of 183 myelographic studies performed with two non-ionic contrast media (iohexol and iopamidol) at different concentrations. Side effects during and following the procedure were recorded. Image quality was assessed using an arbitrary scoring system and statistical analysis was performed with the cross-tabulation test (4 times 2 table) by comparing two groups receiving contrast medium at higher and lower concentrations. No significant differences in side effects were observed between the two groups but the ratings for image quality were significantly higher in the group receiving contrast medium at the higher concentration than in the group receiving the lower concentration. The results suggest that a high concentration of non-ionic contrast media can safely be used in dogs and may improve image quality

  3. Linguistic contributions to speech-on-speech masking for native and non-native listeners: Language familiarity and semantic content

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brouwer, Susanne; Van Engen, Kristin J.; Calandruccio, Lauren; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined whether speech-on-speech masking is sensitive to variation in the degree of similarity between the target and the masker speech. Three experiments investigated whether speech-in-speech recognition varies across different background speech languages (English vs Dutch) for both English and Dutch targets, as well as across variation in the semantic content of the background speech (meaningful vs semantically anomalous sentences), and across variation in listener status vis-à-vis the target and masker languages (native, non-native, or unfamiliar). The results showed that the more similar the target speech is to the masker speech (e.g., same vs different language, same vs different levels of semantic content), the greater the interference on speech recognition accuracy. Moreover, the listener’s knowledge of the target and the background language modulate the size of the release from masking. These factors had an especially strong effect on masking effectiveness in highly unfavorable listening conditions. Overall this research provided evidence that that the degree of target-masker similarity plays a significant role in speech-in-speech recognition. The results also give insight into how listeners assign their resources differently depending on whether they are listening to their first or second language. PMID:22352516

  4. Invasion strategy and abiotic activity triggers for non-native gobiids of the River Rhine.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Baer

    Full Text Available The 24 hour activity patterns of three non-native gobiids (round goby Neogobius melanostomus, Western tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris and bighead goby Ponticola kessleri were assessed over 46 consecutive months between 2011 and 2014 from their occurrence in the cooling water intake of a nuclear power plant on the River Rhine, Germany. In total, 117717 gobiids were identified and classified. The occurrence of all three species varied strongly between sampling years, and species-specific activity triggers were identified. The activity of juveniles of all three gobiids species was positively temperature dependent while adult tubenose goby activity appeared to be negatively temperature dependent. Increasing fluvial discharge in the adjoining main river stimulated the activity of juvenile round goby but inhibited activity of adult tubenose goby. Except for adult bighead goby, activity was also structured by time of day, but with no uniform mean. Meteorological factors such as precipitation, air pressure and duration of sunshine hours had little or no influence on gobiid activity. On selected rare occasions, mainly at night, all three species exhibited pulsed swarming behaviour, with thousands of individuals recorded in the intake water. Round goby swarms exhibited both the highest intensity and the largest swarming individuals, suggesting a potential competitive advantage over tubenose and bighead goby. Electric fishing surveys in natural river stretches corroborated this observation. Negative effects on the native fish fauna were apparent only for the bullhead, Cottus gobio. The activity triggers identified offer a unique insight into the invasion mechanisms of these ecosystem-changing non-native gobiids.

  5. The influence of ungulates on non-native plant invasions in forests and rangelands: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catherine G. Parks; Michael J. Wisdom; John G. Kie

    2005-01-01

    Herbivory by wild and domestic ungulates can strongly influence vegetation composition and productivity in forest and range ecosystems. However, the role of ungulates as contributors to the establishment and spread of non-native invasive plants is not well known. Ungulates spread seeds through endozoochory (passing through an animal's digestive tract) or...

  6. Computer Vision Syndrome for Non-Native Speaking Students: What Are the Problems with Online Reading?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Min-chen

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the online reading performances and the level of visual fatigue from the perspectives of non-native speaking students (NNSs). Reading on a computer screen is more visually more demanding than reading printed text. Online reading requires frequent saccadic eye movements and imposes continuous focusing and alignment demand.…

  7. Reproduction of the non-native fish Lepomis gibbosus (Perciformes: Centrarchidae in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rangel E. Santos

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Minas Gerais is the fourth largest Brazilian state, and has an estimate of 354 native fish species. However, these fish species may be threatened, as this state has the highest rank of fish introductions reported for Brazil and South America. As one from the total of 85 non-native species detected, Lepomis gibbosus was introduced in the 60s to serve both as foragefish and to improve sport fishing. In this study, we evaluated the establishment of L. gibbosus in a shallow lake in the city of Ouro Preto, Doce River basin, state of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. We collected fish with fishing rods every two months from March 2002-February 2003. Fragments of gonads from a total of 226 females and 226 males were obtained and processed following standard histological techniques; then 5-7μm thickness sections were taken and stained in hematoxylin-eosin. Besides, for each specimen, the biometric measurements included the standard length (SL and body weight (BW; and the sex ratio was obtained. The reproductive cycle stages were confirmed by the distribution of oocytes and spermatogenic cells. The type of spawning was determined by the frequency distribution of the reproductive cycle stages and ovarian histology. Based on the microscopic characteristics of the gonads, the following stages of the reproductive cycle were determined: one=Rest, two=Mature, three=Spawned for females or Spent for males; males and females in reproduction were found throughout the study period. Post-spawned ovaries containing oocytes in stages one (initial perinucleolar, two (advanced perinucleolar, three (pre-vitellogenic, four (vitellogenic and post-ovulatory follicles indicated fractionated-type spawning in this species. The smallest breeding male and female measured were 4.6 and 4.9cm standard length, respectively, suggesting stunting. The sex ratio did not vary between males and females along the year and bimonthly, being 1:1. Moreover, L. gibbosus appears to be at stage

  8. 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.

  9. Torsten Almén (1931-2016): the father of non-ionic iodine contrast media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyman, Ulf; Ekberg, Olle; Aspelin, Peter

    2016-09-01

    The Swedish radiologist Torsten Almén is the first clinical radiologist ever to have made a fundamental contribution to intravascular contrast medium design, the development of non-ionic contrast media. He became emotionally triggered by the patients' severe pain each time he injected the ionic "high-osmolar" contrast media when performing peripheral arteriographies in the early 1960s. One day he got a flash of genius that combined the observation of pain, a pathophysiological theory and how to eliminate it with suitable contrast media chemistry. After self-studies in chemistry he developed the concept of iodine contrast media not dissociating into ions in solution to reduce their osmolality and even reach plasma isotonicity. He offered several pharmaceutical companies his concept of mono- and polymeric non-ionic agents but without response, since it was considered against the chemical laws of that time. Contrast media constructed as salts and dissociating into ions in solution was regarded an absolute necessity to achieve high enough water solubility and concentration for diagnostic purposes. Finally a small Norwegian company, Nyegaard & Co., took up his idea 1968 and together they developed the essentially painless "low-osmolar" monomeric non-ionic metrizamide (Amipaque) released in 1974 and iohexol (Omipaque) in 1982 followed by the "iso-osmolar" dimeric non-ionic iodixanol (Visipaque) released in 1993. This has implied a profound paradigm shift with regard to reduction of both hypertonic and chemotoxic side effects, which have been a prerequisite for the today's widespread use of contrast medium-enhanced CT and advanced endovascular interventional techniques even in fragile patients. © The Foundation Acta Radiologica 2016.

  10. Virtual non-contrast dual-energy CT compared to single-energy CT of the urinary tract: a prospective study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lundin, Margareta; Liden, Mats; Geijer, Haakan; Andersson, Torbjoern [Dept. of Radiology, Oerebro Univ. Hospital, Oerebro Univ., Oerebro (Sweden)], E-mail: margareta.lundin@orebroll.se; Magnuson, Anders [Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistic Unit, Oerebro Univ. Hospital, Oerebro (Sweden); Mohammed, Ahmed Abdulilah [Dept. of Radiology, Linkoeping Univ. Hospital, Linkoeping (Sweden); Persson, Anders [CMIV Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, Linkoeping (Sweden)

    2012-07-15

    Background. Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) has been shown to be useful for subtracting bone or calcium in CT angiography and gives an opportunity to produce a virtual non-contrast-enhanced (VNC) image from a series where contrast agents have been given intravenously. High noise levels and low resolution have previously limited the diagnostic value of the VNC images created with the first generation of DECT. With the recent introduction of a second generation of DECT, there is a possibility of obtaining VNC images with better image quality at hopefully lower radiation dose compared to the previous generation. Purpose. To compare the image quality of the single-energy series to a VNC series obtained with a two generations of DECT scanners. CT of the urinary tract was used as a model. Material and Methods. Thirty patients referred for evaluation of hematuria were examined with an older system (Somatom Definition) and another 30 patients with a new generation (Somatom Definition Flash). One single-energy series was obtained before and one dual-energy series after administration of intravenous contrast media. We created a VNC series from the contrast-enhanced images. Images were assessed concerning image quality with a visual grading scale evaluation of the VNC series with the single-energy series as gold standard. Results. The image quality of the VNC images was rated inferior to the single-energy variant for both scanners, OR 11.5-67.3 for the Definition and OR 2.1-2.8 for the Definition Flash. Visual noise and overall quality were regarded as better with Flash than Definition. Conclusion. Image quality of VNC images obtained with the new generation of DECT is still slightly inferior compared to native images. However, the difference is smaller with the new compared to the older system.

  11. Virtual non-contrast dual-energy CT compared to single-energy CT of the urinary tract: a prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundin, Margareta; Lidén, Mats; Magnuson, Anders; Mohammed, Ahmed Abdulilah; Geijer, Håkan; Andersson, Torbjörn; Persson, Anders

    2012-07-01

    Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) has been shown to be useful for subtracting bone or calcium in CT angiography and gives an opportunity to produce a virtual non-contrast-enhanced (VNC) image from a series where contrast agents have been given intravenously. High noise levels and low resolution have previously limited the diagnostic value of the VNC images created with the first generation of DECT. With the recent introduction of a second generation of DECT, there is a possibility of obtaining VNC images with better image quality at hopefully lower radiation dose compared to the previous generation. To compare the image quality of the single-energy series to a VNC series obtained with a two generations of DECT scanners. CT of the urinary tract was used as a model. Thirty patients referred for evaluation of hematuria were examined with an older system (Somatom Definition) and another 30 patients with a new generation (Somatom Definition Flash). One single-energy series was obtained before and one dual-energy series after administration of intravenous contrast media. We created a VNC series from the contrast-enhanced images. Images were assessed concerning image quality with a visual grading scale evaluation of the VNC series with the single-energy series as gold standard. The image quality of the VNC images was rated inferior to the single-energy variant for both scanners, OR 11.5-67.3 for the Definition and OR 2.1-2.8 for the Definition Flash. Visual noise and overall quality were regarded as better with Flash than Definition. Image quality of VNC images obtained with the new generation of DECT is still slightly inferior compared to native images. However, the difference is smaller with the new compared to the older system.

  12. Virtual non-contrast dual-energy CT compared to single-energy CT of the urinary tract: a prospective study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lundin, Margareta; Liden, Mats; Geijer, Haakan; Andersson, Torbjoern; Magnuson, Anders; Mohammed, Ahmed Abdulilah; Persson, Anders

    2012-01-01

    Background. Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) has been shown to be useful for subtracting bone or calcium in CT angiography and gives an opportunity to produce a virtual non-contrast-enhanced (VNC) image from a series where contrast agents have been given intravenously. High noise levels and low resolution have previously limited the diagnostic value of the VNC images created with the first generation of DECT. With the recent introduction of a second generation of DECT, there is a possibility of obtaining VNC images with better image quality at hopefully lower radiation dose compared to the previous generation. Purpose. To compare the image quality of the single-energy series to a VNC series obtained with a two generations of DECT scanners. CT of the urinary tract was used as a model. Material and Methods. Thirty patients referred for evaluation of hematuria were examined with an older system (Somatom Definition) and another 30 patients with a new generation (Somatom Definition Flash). One single-energy series was obtained before and one dual-energy series after administration of intravenous contrast media. We created a VNC series from the contrast-enhanced images. Images were assessed concerning image quality with a visual grading scale evaluation of the VNC series with the single-energy series as gold standard. Results. The image quality of the VNC images was rated inferior to the single-energy variant for both scanners, OR 11.5-67.3 for the Definition and OR 2.1-2.8 for the Definition Flash. Visual noise and overall quality were regarded as better with Flash than Definition. Conclusion. Image quality of VNC images obtained with the new generation of DECT is still slightly inferior compared to native images. However, the difference is smaller with the new compared to the older system

  13. Virtual non-contrast of liver from dual energy CT: a clinical application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qian Yu'e; Hu Hongjie; Zhang Qiaowei; Hu Peng; Shen Guohui

    2011-01-01

    Objective: To assess the virtual non-contrast liver CT from dual-energy CT for the clinical application. Methods: In total, 51 patients were included in the study, and all patients underwent multi-phase liver CT on a dual-source CT. The True non-contrast liver CT (TNCT) was performed in a single-energy acquisition mode, but the arterial and portovenous liver CT (VNCT) were performed in a dual- energy mode of 110 kV and 140 kV respectively. The virtual non-contrast CT images were derived from the arterial data using liver virtual non-contrast software. Between the true non-contrast CT and the virtual non- contrast CT, the image quality, mean CT HU values in the liver and muscle, signal to noise (SNR), the radiation dose of volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP) in a single phase and total examination were compared with t test. Results: There was no significant difference in the detection of' liver lesions between TNCT and VNCT. The CT Hu values of muscle on both TNCT and VNCT images were almost equal. The CT HU values of liver on VNCT images were higher than that on TNCT images and the difference was significant [61.32±6.04 vs. (56.85±4.80) HU, t=-3.927, P<0.01]. There was also significant difference of SNR between TNCT (11.28±2.78) and VNCT (8.65±1.56) images (t=-5.590, P<0.01). The CTDIvol and DLP of single phase were (7.07±0.85) mGy and (155.11± 22.52) mGy · cm respectively in TNCT, and (7.05±0.87) mGy and (154.48±23.12) mGy · cm in VNCT. The total CTDIvol and DLP in VNCT were (14.35±1.66) mGy and (313.91±45.08) mGy · cm respectively, but in TNCT the total CTDIvol and DLP reached (21.43±2.46) mGy and (469.02± 66.22) mGy · cm. The difference of CTDIvol and DLP in single phase between TNCT and VNCT showed no significance, but the total CTDIvol and DLP were significantly different (t=16.168 and 13.132, P< 0.01). Conclusion: With the consequent reduction in radiation dose, the VNCT can replace TNCT as an imaging protocol in multi

  14. Non-native english speaking elementary ell teachers’ culturally responsive leadership profile in an ESL context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Ekiaka Nzai

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Culturally responsive instruction has been suggested as quality education (Edwards, 2003 for minority students in subtractive and additivebilingualism settings. However, analytical curriculum development of several official English programs revealed that the gender-centric (malecentricand Ethno-centric (Euro/Western-centric approaches were deeply embedded in most English textbooks of curriculum development.The intent of partial mixed methods paper consisted of exploring some non-native English speaking teachers English teachers’ culturallyresponsive leadership profile in order to further the discussion on not only how to promote English curriculum transformation in English assecond language (ESL and English as foreign language (EFL settings, but also to effectively train culturally responsive non-native Englishspeaking (NNES English pre-service teachers. Comparative data analysis suggested that there were no causal relationship between NNESEnglish teachers’ culturally responsive leadership styles and their abilities to perform multicultural transformation of English curriculums. To behighly effective in transforming English curriculum, NNES English teachers needed to be systematically trained on how to do so. Implicationsfor NNES English pre-service teacher education are framed from the culturally responsive and anti-oppressive education approaches.

  15. Non-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography techniques in candidates for kidney transplantation: A comparative study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blankholm, Anne Dorte; Ginnerup-Pedersen, Bodil; Stausbøl-Grøn, Brian; Haislund, Margit; Laustsen, Sussie; Ringgaard, Steffen

    2013-01-01

    Aim: Detailed knowledge of vessel status in potential candidates for kidney transplantation is essential for the surgeon. Contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography has previously been used intensively for assessing this, but the discovery that use of gadolinium based contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging can cause Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis in patients suffering from severe kidney disease has lead to renewed interest in non-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography. The aim of this study was to find a non-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography method for preoperative evaluation of the pelvic vessels prior to kidney transplantation, providing a sufficient image quality. Method: In a prospective study we consecutively included 54 patients undergoing examinations prior to kidney transplantation. The patients were examined with the following magnetic resonance angiography sequences: A 2D Time of flight (n = 54), 3D Time of flight (n = 52) patients, 3D Phase Contrast (n = 54), 3D Balanced Steady State Free Precession (n = 52) and a 2D TRiggered Angiography Non-Contrast Enhanced (TRANCE) (a Spin Echo sequence with subtraction) (n = 48). The sequences were evaluated with respect to contrast, diagnostic performance and artefact burden. Results: Evaluating contrast, 3D Phase Contrast was significantly better than 2D Time of flight (p 0.2). The 2D Time of flight was significantly better than the other sequences (p < 0.001) in all cases. The artefact score was lowest for the Phase Contrast images and significantly superior to the 2D Time of flight (p < 0.005). The 2D Time of flight was significantly better than the three other sequences (p < 0.001) in all cases. Conclusion: Non-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography offers a safe preoperative examination for assessment of vessel status before kidney transplantation. A combination of 2D Time of flight and 3D Phase Contrast acquisitions is recommended and can be performed within a

  16. Rapid non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging for post appendectomy intra-abdominal abscess in children

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Megan H. [Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO (United States); Eutsler, Eric P.; Khanna, Geetika [Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Pediatric Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO (United States); Sheybani, Elizabeth F. [Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Department of Radiology, St. Louis, MO (United States)

    2017-07-15

    Acute appendicitis, especially if perforated at presentation, is often complicated by postoperative abscess formation. The detection of a postoperative abscess relies primarily on imaging. This has traditionally been done with contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to accurately detect intra-abdominal abscesses, especially with the use of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). To evaluate our single-center experience with a rapid non-contrast MRI protocol evaluating post-appendectomy abscesses in children with persistent postsurgical symptoms. In this retrospective, institutional review board-approved study, all patients underwent a clinically indicated non-contrast 1.5- or 3-Tesla abdomen/pelvis MRI consisting of single-shot fast spin echo, inversion recovery and DWI sequences. All MRI studies were reviewed by two blinded pediatric radiologists to identify the presence of a drainable fluid collection. Each fluid collection was further characterized as accessible or not accessible for percutaneous or transrectal drainage. Imaging findings were compared to clinical outcome. Seven of the 15 patients had a clinically significant fluid collection, and 5 of these patients were treated with percutaneous drain placement or exploratory laparotomy. The other patients had a phlegmon or a clinically insignificant fluid collection and were discharged home within 48 h. Rapid non-contrast MRI utilizing fluid-sensitive and DWI sequences can be used to identify drainable fluid collections in post-appendectomy patients. This protocol can be used to triage patients between conservative management vs. abscess drainage without oral/intravenous contrast or exposure to ionizing radiation. (orig.)

  17. Rapid non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging for post appendectomy intra-abdominal abscess in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Megan H.; Eutsler, Eric P.; Khanna, Geetika; Sheybani, Elizabeth F.

    2017-01-01

    Acute appendicitis, especially if perforated at presentation, is often complicated by postoperative abscess formation. The detection of a postoperative abscess relies primarily on imaging. This has traditionally been done with contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to accurately detect intra-abdominal abscesses, especially with the use of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). To evaluate our single-center experience with a rapid non-contrast MRI protocol evaluating post-appendectomy abscesses in children with persistent postsurgical symptoms. In this retrospective, institutional review board-approved study, all patients underwent a clinically indicated non-contrast 1.5- or 3-Tesla abdomen/pelvis MRI consisting of single-shot fast spin echo, inversion recovery and DWI sequences. All MRI studies were reviewed by two blinded pediatric radiologists to identify the presence of a drainable fluid collection. Each fluid collection was further characterized as accessible or not accessible for percutaneous or transrectal drainage. Imaging findings were compared to clinical outcome. Seven of the 15 patients had a clinically significant fluid collection, and 5 of these patients were treated with percutaneous drain placement or exploratory laparotomy. The other patients had a phlegmon or a clinically insignificant fluid collection and were discharged home within 48 h. Rapid non-contrast MRI utilizing fluid-sensitive and DWI sequences can be used to identify drainable fluid collections in post-appendectomy patients. This protocol can be used to triage patients between conservative management vs. abscess drainage without oral/intravenous contrast or exposure to ionizing radiation. (orig.)

  18. North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings

    Science.gov (United States)

    North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, 2015

    2015-01-01

    In the spring of 2015, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction brought together tribal Elders from across North Dakota to share stories, memories, songs, and wisdom in order to develop the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings (NDNAEU) to guide the learning of both Native and non-Native students across the state. They…

  19. Non-Selective Lexical Access in Late Arabic-English Bilinguals: Evidence from Gating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudelaa, Sami

    2018-02-07

    Previous research suggests that late bilinguals who speak typologically distant languages are the least likely to show evidence of non-selective lexical access processes. This study puts this claim to test by using the gating task to determine whether words beginning with speech sounds that are phonetically similar in Arabic and English (e.g., [b,d,m,n]) give rise to selective or non-selective lexical access processes in late Arabic-English bilinguals. The results show that an acoustic-phonetic input (e.g., [bæ]) that is consistent with words in Arabic (e.g., [bædrun] "moon") and English (e.g., [bæd] "bad") activates lexical representations in both languages of the bilingual. This non-selective activation holds equally well for mixed lists with words from both Arabic and English and blocked lists consisting only of Arabic or English words. These results suggest that non-selective lexical access processes are the default mechanism even in late bilinguals of typologically distant languages.

  20. The roles of climate, phylogenetic relatedness, introduction effort, and reproductive traits in the establishment of non-native reptiles and amphibians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Wilgen, Nicola J; Richardson, David M

    2012-04-01

    We developed a method to predict the potential of non-native reptiles and amphibians (herpetofauna) to establish populations. This method may inform efforts to prevent the introduction of invasive non-native species. We used boosted regression trees to determine whether nine variables influence establishment success of introduced herpetofauna in California and Florida. We used an independent data set to assess model performance. Propagule pressure was the variable most strongly associated with establishment success. Species with short juvenile periods and species with phylogenetically more distant relatives in regional biotas were more likely to establish than species that start breeding later and those that have close relatives. Average climate match (the similarity of climate between native and non-native range) and life form were also important. Frogs and lizards were the taxonomic groups most likely to establish, whereas a much lower proportion of snakes and turtles established. We used results from our best model to compile a spreadsheet-based model for easy use and interpretation. Probability scores obtained from the spreadsheet model were strongly correlated with establishment success as were probabilities predicted for independent data by the boosted regression tree model. However, the error rate for predictions made with independent data was much higher than with cross validation using training data. This difference in predictive power does not preclude use of the model to assess the probability of establishment of herpetofauna because (1) the independent data had no information for two variables (meaning the full predictive capacity of the model could not be realized) and (2) the model structure is consistent with the recent literature on the primary determinants of establishment success for herpetofauna. It may still be difficult to predict the establishment probability of poorly studied taxa, but it is clear that non-native species (especially lizards

  1. Transient global amnesia following cerebral angiography with non-ionic contrast medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schamschula, R.G.; Soo, M.Y.S.

    1994-01-01

    Transit global amnesia (TGA) is an uncommon syndrome of recent memory deficit and inability to learn new data, usually resolving within 24 hours. Two cases following use of non-ionic contrast media in cerebral angiography are presented. The neuroanatomy of memory is reviewed. Possible aetiologies of TGA in relation to cerebral angiography include ischemia (embolic, arterial spasm), epilepsy that may be primary or tumour-related and direct toxic effects of contrast media. 19 refs., 1 fig

  2. Stress triangle: do introduced predators exert indirect costs on native predators and prey?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer R Anson

    Full Text Available Non-consumptive effects of predators on each other and on prey populations often exceed the effects of direct predation. These effects can arise from fear responses elevating glucocorticoid (GC hormone levels (predator stress hypothesis or from increased vigilance that reduces foraging efficiency and body condition (predator sensitive foraging hypothesis; both responses can lead to immunosuppression and increased parasite loads. Non-consumptive effects of invasive predators have been little studied, even though their direct impacts on local species are usually greater than those of their native counterparts. To address this issue, we explored the non-consumptive effects of the invasive red fox Vulpes vulpes on two native species in eastern Australia: a reptilian predator, the lace monitor Varanus varius and a marsupial, the ringtail possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus. In particular, we tested predictions derived from the above two hypotheses by comparing the basal glucocorticoid levels, foraging behaviour, body condition and haemoparasite loads of both native species in areas with and without fox suppression. Lace monitors showed no GC response or differences in haemoparasite loads but were more likely to trade safety for higher food rewards, and had higher body condition, in areas of fox suppression than in areas where foxes remained abundant. In contrast, ringtails showed no physiological or behavioural differences between fox-suppressed and control areas. Predator sensitive foraging is a non-consumptive cost for lace monitors in the presence of the fox and most likely represents a response to competition. The ringtail's lack of response to the fox potentially represents complete naiveté or strong and rapid selection to the invasive predator. We suggest evolutionary responses are often overlooked in interactions between native and introduced species, but must be incorporated if we are to understand the suite of forces that shape community

  3. 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

  4. EMPOWERING NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEACHERS THROUGH CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nur Hayati

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach that aims to develop students’ critical thinking, political and social awareness, and self esteem through dialogue learning and reflection. Related to the teaching of EFL, this pedagogy holds the potential to empower non native English speaking teachers (NNESTs when incorporated into English teacher education programs. It can help aspiring NNESTs to grow awareness of the political and sociocultural implications of EFL teaching, to foster their critical thinking on any concepts or ideas regarding their profession, and more importantly, to recognize their strengths as NNESTs. Despite the potential, the role of critical pedagogy in improving EFL teacher education program in Indonesia has not been sufficiently discussed. This article attempts to contribute to the discussion by looking at a number of ways critical pedagogy can be incorporated in the programs, the rationale for doing so, and the challenges that might come on the way.

  5. The influence of microvascular injury on native T1 and T2* relaxation values after acute myocardial infarction. Implications for non-contrast-enhanced infarct assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robbers, Lourens F.H.J.; Nijveldt, Robin; Beek, Aernout M.; Teunissen, Paul F.A.; Hollander, Maurits R.; Biesbroek, P.S.; Everaars, Henk; Royen, Niels van; Rossum, Albert C. van [VU University Medical Centre, Department of Cardiology, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Ven, Peter M. van de [VU University Medical Centre, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Hofman, Mark B.M. [VU University Medical Centre, Department of Physics and Medical Technology, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2018-02-15

    Native T1 mapping and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging offer detailed characterisation of the myocardium after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We evaluated the effects of microvascular injury (MVI) and intramyocardial haemorrhage on local T1 and T2* values in patients with a reperfused AMI. Forty-three patients after reperfused AMI underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) at 4 [3-5] days, including native MOLLI T1 and T2* mapping, STIR, cine imaging and LGE. T1 and T2* values were determined in LGE-defined regions of interest: the MI core incorporating MVI when present, the core-adjacent MI border zone (without any areas of MVI), and remote myocardium. Average T1 in the MI core was higher than in the MI border zone and remote myocardium. However, in the 20 (47%) patients with MVI, MI core T1 was lower than in patients without MVI (MVI 1048±78ms, no MVI 1111±89ms, p=0.02). MI core T2* was significantly lower in patients with MVI than in those without (MVI 20 [18-23]ms, no MVI 31 [26-39]ms, p<0.001). The presence of MVI profoundly affects MOLLI-measured native T1 values. T2* mapping suggested that this may be the result of intramyocardial haemorrhage. These findings have important implications for the interpretation of native T1 values shortly after AMI. (orig.)

  6. Herbivore preference for native vs. exotic plants: generalist herbivores from multiple continents prefer exotic plants that are evolutionarily naïve.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wendy E Morrison

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Enemy release and biotic resistance are competing, but not mutually exclusive, hypotheses addressing the success or failure of non-native plants entering a new region. Enemy release predicts that exotic plants become invasive by escaping their co-adapted herbivores and by being unrecognized or unpalatable to native herbivores that have not been selected to consume them. In contrast, biotic resistance predicts that native generalist herbivores will suppress exotic plants that will not have been selected to deter these herbivores. We tested these hypotheses using five generalist herbivores from North or South America and nine confamilial pairs of native and exotic aquatic plants. Four of five herbivores showed 2.4-17.3 fold preferences for exotic over native plants. Three species of South American apple snails (Pomacea sp. preferred North American over South American macrophytes, while a North American crayfish Procambarus spiculifer preferred South American, Asian, and Australian macrophytes over North American relatives. Apple snails have their center of diversity in South America, but a single species (Pomacea paludosa occurs in North America. This species, with a South American lineage but a North American distribution, did not differentiate between South American and North American plants. Its preferences correlated with preferences of its South American relatives rather than with preferences of the North American crayfish, consistent with evolutionary inertia due to its South American lineage. Tests of plant traits indicated that the crayfish responded primarily to plant structure, the apple snails primarily to plant chemistry, and that plant protein concentration played no detectable role. Generalist herbivores preferred non-native plants, suggesting that intact guilds of native, generalist herbivores may provide biotic resistance to plant invasions. Past invasions may have been facilitated by removal of native herbivores, introduction of

  7. Socio-economic drivers of specialist anglers targeting the non-native European catfish (Silurus glanis in the UK.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E M Ann Rees

    Full Text Available Information about the socioeconomic drivers of Silurus glanis anglers in the UK were collected using questionnaires from a cross section of mixed cyprinid fisheries to elucidate human dimensions in angling and non-native fisheries management. Respondents were predominantly male (95%, 30-40 years of age with £500 per annum. The proportion of time spent angling for S. glanis was significantly related to angler motivations; fish size, challenge in catch, tranquil natural surroundings, escape from daily stress and to be alone were considered important drivers of increased time spent angling. Overall, poor awareness of: the risks and adverse ecological impacts associated with introduced S. glanis, non-native fisheries legislation, problems in use of unlimited ground bait and high fish stocking rates in angling lakes were evident, possibly related to inadequate training and information provided by angling organisations to anglers, as many stated that they were insufficiently informed.

  8. 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…

  9. Imaging contrast and tip-sample interaction of non-contact amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy with Q -control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shi, Shuai; Guo, Dan; Luo, Jianbin

    2017-01-01

    Active quality factor ( Q ) exhibits many promising properties in dynamic atomic force microscopy. Energy dissipation and image contrasts are investigated in the non-contact amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy (AM-AFM) with an active Q -control circuit in the ambient air environment. Dissipated power and virial were calculated to compare the highly nonlinear interaction of tip-sample and image contrasts with different Q gain values. Greater free amplitudes and lower effective Q values show better contrasts for the same setpoint ratio. Active quality factor also can be employed to change tip-sample interaction force in non-contact regime. It is meaningful that non-destructive and better contrast images can be realized in non-contact AM-AFM by applying an active Q -control to the dynamic system. (paper)

  10. Teaching Effectiveness of Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers in Business Disciplines: Intercultural Communication Apprehension and Ethnocentrism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abayadeera, Nadana; Mihret, Dessalegn Getie; Hewa Dulige, Jayasinghe

    2018-01-01

    Teaching effectiveness of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNEST) in accounting, economics and finance has become a significant issue due to the increasing trend of hiring NNEST in business schools. However, the literature has focused on the English language competence of NNEST, which is only one element of the factors that influence teaching…

  11. Non-contrast thin-section helical CT of urinary tract calculi in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strouse, Peter J.; Bates, Gregory D.; Bloom, David A.; Goodsitt, Mitchell M.

    2002-01-01

    Background: Non-contrast thin-section helical CT has gained acceptance for the diagnosis of urinary tract calculi in adults, but experience with the technique in children is limited. Purpose: To evaluate the utility of non-contrast thin section helical CT for the diagnosis of urinary tract calculi in children. Materials and methods: Radiology databases at three pediatric institutions were searched to identify all pediatric patients evaluated by ''renal stone'' protocol CT scans (no oral or intravenous contrast, scans covering the entire urinary tract obtained in helical mode with narrow collimation (< 5 mm)). CT scans were reviewed for the primary finding of urinary tract calculi, for secondary signs of acute urinary tract obstruction and for evidence of alternative diagnoses. Medical records were reviewed to determine clinical presentation and to confirm the eventual diagnosis. Results: One hundred thirty-seven scans of 113 children (mean age: 11.2 years) were studied. Thirty-eight of 94 examinations (40%) performed on 82 children for acute pain and/or hematuria showed ureteral calculi. Alternative diagnoses were suggested by CT on 16 scans (17%). Twenty-eight scans were performed on 10 asymptomatic children with known calculus disease confirming renal stone burden on 21 scans (75%) and persistent ureteral calculi on 6 scans (21%). Upper tract calculi were demonstrated on 10 of 15 scans (67%) performed to evaluate for calculi in patients with known non-calculus genitourinary tract abnormalities. Conclusions: Non-contrast thin section helical CT is a useful method to diagnose urinary tract calculi in children. Radiation dose in this retrospective study may exceed the lowest possible radiation dose for diagnostic accuracy. Further research is needed to optimize CT imaging parameters, while maintaining diagnostic accuracy and minimizing radiation dose. (orig.)

  12. Crop-associated virus reduces the rooting depth of non-crop perennial native grass more than non-crop-associated virus with known viral suppressor of RNA silencing (VSR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malmstrom, Carolyn M; Bigelow, Patrick; Trębicki, Piotr; Busch, Anna K; Friel, Colleen; Cole, Ellen; Abdel-Azim, Heba; Phillippo, Colin; Alexander, Helen M

    2017-09-15

    As agricultural acreage expanded and came to dominate landscapes across the world, viruses gained opportunities to move between crop and wild native plants. In the Midwestern USA, virus exchange currently occurs between widespread annual Poaceae crops and remnant native perennial prairie grasses now under consideration as bioenergy feedstocks. In this region, the common aphid species Rhopalosiphum padi L. (the bird cherry-oat aphid) transmits several virus species in the family Luteoviridae, including Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV-PAV, genus Luteovirus) and Cereal yellow dwarf virus (CYDV-RPV and -RPS, genus Polerovirus). The yellow dwarf virus (YDV) species in these two genera share genetic similarities in their 3'-ends, but diverge in the 5'-regions. Most notably, CYDVs encode a P0 viral suppressor of RNA silencing (VSR) absent in BYDV-PAV. Because BYDV-PAV has been reported more frequently in annual cereals and CYDVs in perennial non-crop grasses, we examine the hypothesis that the viruses' genetic differences reflect different affinities for crop and non-crop hosts. Specifically, we ask (i) whether CYDVs might persist within and affect a native non-crop grass more strongly than BYDV-PAV, on the grounds that the polerovirus VSR could better moderate the defenses of a well-defended perennial, and (ii) whether the opposite pattern of effects might occur in a less defended annual crop. Because previous work found that the VSR of CYDV-RPS possessed greater silencing suppressor efficiency than that of CYDV-RPV, we further explored (iii) whether a novel grass-associated CYDV-RPS isolate would influence a native non-crop grass more strongly than a comparable CYDV-RPV isolate. In growth chamber studies, we found support for this hypothesis: only grass-associated CYDV-RPS stunted the shoots and crowns of Panicum virgatum L. (switchgrass), a perennial native North American prairie grass, whereas crop-associated BYDV-PAV (and coinfection with BYDV-PAV and CYDV-RPS) most

  13. Home range use and movement patterns of non-native feral goats in a tropical island montane dry landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chynoweth, Mark W; Lepczyk, Christopher A; Litton, Creighton M; Hess, Steven C; Kellner, James R; Cordell, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Advances in wildlife telemetry and remote sensing technology facilitate studies of broad-scale movements of ungulates in relation to phenological shifts in vegetation. In tropical island dry landscapes, home range use and movements of non-native feral goats (Capra hircus) are largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the conservation and restoration of some of the world's most critically endangered ecosystems. We hypothesized that feral goats would respond to resource pulses in vegetation by traveling to areas of recent green-up. To address this hypothesis, we fitted six male and seven female feral goats with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars equipped with an Argos satellite upload link to examine goat movements in relation to the plant phenology using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Movement patterns of 50% of males and 40% of females suggested conditional movement between non-overlapping home ranges throughout the year. A shift in NDVI values corresponded with movement between primary and secondary ranges of goats that exhibited long-distance movement, suggesting that vegetation phenology as captured by NDVI is a good indicator of the habitat and movement patterns of feral goats in tropical island dry landscapes. In the context of conservation and restoration of tropical island landscapes, the results of our study identify how non-native feral goats use resources across a broad landscape to sustain their populations and facilitate invasion of native plant communities.

  14. Home range use and movement patterns of non-native feral goats in a tropical island montane dry landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chynoweth, Mark W.; Lepczyk, Christopher A.; Litton, Creighton M.; Hess, Steve; Kellner, James; Cordell, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Advances in wildlife telemetry and remote sensing technology facilitate studies of broad-scale movements of ungulates in relation to phenological shifts in vegetation. In tropical island dry landscapes, home range use and movements of non-native feral goats (Capra hircus) are largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the conservation and restoration of some of the world’s most critically endangered ecosystems. We hypothesized that feral goats would respond to resource pulses in vegetation by traveling to areas of recent green-up. To address this hypothesis, we fitted six male and seven female feral goats with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars equipped with an Argos satellite upload link to examine goat movements in relation to the plant phenology using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Movement patterns of 50% of males and 40% of females suggested conditional movement between non-overlapping home ranges throughout the year. A shift in NDVI values corresponded with movement between primary and secondary ranges of goats that exhibited long-distance movement, suggesting that vegetation phenology as captured by NDVI is a good indicator of the habitat and movement patterns of feral goats in tropical island dry landscapes. In the context of conservation and restoration of tropical island landscapes, the results of our study identify how non-native feral goats use resources across a broad landscape to sustain their populations and facilitate invasion of native plant communities.

  15. Non-contrast 3D black blood MRI for abdominal aortic aneurysm surveillance: comparison with CT angiography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Chengcheng; Leach, Joseph R.; Hope, Michael D. [University of California San Francisco, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, San Francisco, CA (United States); Tian, Bing; Liu, Qi; Lu, Jianping; Chen, Luguang [Changhai Hospital, Department of Radiology, Shanghai (China); Saloner, David [University of California San Francisco, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, San Francisco, CA (United States); Radiology Service, VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA (United States)

    2017-05-15

    Management of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is based on diameter. CT angiography (CTA) is commonly used, but requires radiation and iodinated contrast. Non-contrast MRI is an appealing alternative that may allow better characterization of intraluminal thrombus (ILT). This study aims to 1) validate non-contrast MRI for measuring AAA diameter, and 2) to assess ILT with CTA and MRI. 28 patients with AAAs (diameter 50.7 ± 12.3 mm) underwent CTA and non-contrast MRI. MRI was acquired at 3 T using 1) a conventional 3D gradient echo (GRE) sequence and 2) a 3D T{sub 1}-weighted black blood fast-spin-echo sequence. Two radiologists independently measured the AAA diameter. The ratio of signal of ILT and adjacent psoas muscle (ILT{sub r} = signal{sub ILT}/signal{sub Muscle}) was quantified. Strong agreement between CTA and non-contrast MRI was shown for AAA diameter (intra-class coefficient > 0.99). Both approaches had excellent inter-observer reproducibility (ICC > 0.99). ILT appeared homogenous on CTA, whereas MRI revealed compositional variations. Patients with AAAs ≥5.5 cm and <5.5 cm had a variety of distributions of old/fresh ILT types. Non-contrast 3D black blood MRI provides accurate and reproducible AAA diameter measurements as validated by CTA. It also provides unique information about ILT composition, which may be linked with elevated risk for disease progression. (orig.)

  16. Non-contrast 3D black blood MRI for abdominal aortic aneurysm surveillance: comparison with CT angiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Chengcheng; Leach, Joseph R.; Hope, Michael D.; Tian, Bing; Liu, Qi; Lu, Jianping; Chen, Luguang; Saloner, David

    2017-01-01

    Management of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is based on diameter. CT angiography (CTA) is commonly used, but requires radiation and iodinated contrast. Non-contrast MRI is an appealing alternative that may allow better characterization of intraluminal thrombus (ILT). This study aims to 1) validate non-contrast MRI for measuring AAA diameter, and 2) to assess ILT with CTA and MRI. 28 patients with AAAs (diameter 50.7 ± 12.3 mm) underwent CTA and non-contrast MRI. MRI was acquired at 3 T using 1) a conventional 3D gradient echo (GRE) sequence and 2) a 3D T_1-weighted black blood fast-spin-echo sequence. Two radiologists independently measured the AAA diameter. The ratio of signal of ILT and adjacent psoas muscle (ILT_r = signal_I_L_T/signal_M_u_s_c_l_e) was quantified. Strong agreement between CTA and non-contrast MRI was shown for AAA diameter (intra-class coefficient > 0.99). Both approaches had excellent inter-observer reproducibility (ICC > 0.99). ILT appeared homogenous on CTA, whereas MRI revealed compositional variations. Patients with AAAs ≥5.5 cm and <5.5 cm had a variety of distributions of old/fresh ILT types. Non-contrast 3D black blood MRI provides accurate and reproducible AAA diameter measurements as validated by CTA. It also provides unique information about ILT composition, which may be linked with elevated risk for disease progression. (orig.)

  17. Non-native fishes of the central Indian River Lagoon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schofield, Pamela J.; Loftus, William F.; Reaver, Kristen M.

    2018-01-01

    We provide a comprehensive review of the status of non-native fishes in the central Indian River Lagoon (from Cape Canaveral to Grant-Valkaria, east of I-95) through literature review and field surveys. Historical records exist for 17 taxa (15 species, one hybrid, one species complex). We found historical records for one additional species, and collected one species in our field survey that had never been recorded in the region before (and which we eradicated). Thus, we evaluate 19 total taxa herein. Of these, we documented range expansion of four salt-tolerant cichlid species, extirpation of six species that were previously recorded from the area and eradication of three species. There was no noticeable change in geographic range for one widespread species and the records for one species are doubtful and may be erroneous. Currently, there is not enough information to evaluate geographic ranges for four species although at least one of those is established.

  18. Polydisulfide Manganese(II) Complexes as Non-Gadolinium Biodegradable Macromolecular MRI Contrast Agents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Zhen; Jeong, Eun-Kee; Wu, Xueming; Tan, Mingqian; Yin, Shouyu; Lu, Zheng-Rong

    2011-01-01

    Purpose To develop safe and effective manganese(II) based biodegradable macromolecular MRI contrast agents. Materials and Methods In this study, we synthesized and characterized two polydisulfide manganese(II) complexes, Mn-DTPA cystamine copolymers and Mn-EDTA cystamine copolymers, as new biodegradable macromolecular MRI contrast agents. The contrast enhancement of the two manganese based contrast agents were evaluated in mice bearing MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma xenografts, in comparison with MnCl2. Results The T1 and T2 relaxivities were 4.74 and 10.38 mM−1s−1 per manganese at 3T for Mn-DTPA cystamine copolymers (Mn=30.50 kDa) and 6.41 and 9.72 mM−1s−1 for Mn-EDTA cystamine copolymers (Mn= 61.80 kDa). Both polydisulfide Mn(II) complexes showed significant liver, myocardium and tumor enhancement. Conclusion The manganese based polydisulfide contrast agents have a potential to be developed as alternative non-gadolinium contrast agents for MR cancer and myocardium imaging. PMID:22031457

  19. Intermediate conformation between native β-sheet and non-native α-helix is a precursor of trifluoroethanol-induced aggregation of Human Carbonic Anhydrase-II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, Preeti; Deep, Shashank

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • HCAII forms amyloid-like aggregates at moderate concentration of trifluoroethanol. • Protein adopts a state between β-sheet and α-helix at moderate % of TFE. • Hydrophobic surface(s) of partially structured conformation forms amyloid. • High % of TFE induces stable α-helical state preventing aggregation. - Abstract: In the present work, we examined the correlation between 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE)-induced conformational transitions of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) and its aggregation propensity. Circular dichroism data indicates that protein undergoes a transition from β-sheet to α-helix on addition of TFE. The protein was found to aggregate maximally at moderate concentration of TFE at which it exists somewhere between β-sheet and α-helix, probably in extended non-native β-sheet conformation. Thioflavin-T (ThT) and Congo-Red (CR) assays along with fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data suggest that the protein aggregates induced by TFE possess amyloid-like features. Anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS) binding studies reveal that the exposure of hydrophobic surface(s) was maximum in intermediate conformation. Our study suggests that the exposed hydrophobic surface and/or the disruption of the structural features protecting a β-sheet protein might be the major reason(s) for the high aggregation propensity of non-native intermediate conformation of HCAII

  20. Susceptibility of burned black spruce (Picea mariana) forests to non-native plant invasions in interior Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katie V. Spellman; Christa P.H. Mulder; Teresa N. Hollingsworth

    2014-01-01

    As climate rapidly warms at high-latitudes, the boreal forest faces the simultaneous threats of increasing invasive plant abundances and increasing area burned by wildfire. Highly flammable and widespread black spruce (Picea mariana) forest represents a boreal habitat that may be increasingly susceptible to non-native plant invasion. This study assess the role of burn...

  1. Non-toxic lead sulfide nanodots as efficient contrast agents for visualizing gastrointestinal tract.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhen; Ran, Xiang; Liu, Jianhua; Du, Yingda; Ren, Jinsong; Qu, Xiaogang

    2016-09-01

    Non-invasive imaging of gastrointestinal (GI) tract using novel but efficient contrast agents is of the most important issues in the diagnosis and prognosis of GI diseases. Here, for the first time, we reported the design and synthesis of biothiol-decorated lead sulfide nanodots, as well as their usages in functional dual-modality imaging of GI tract in vivo. Due to the presence of glutathione on the surface of the nanodots, these well-prepared contrast agents could decrease the unwanted ion leakage, withstand the harsh conditions in GI tract, and avoid the systemic absorption after oral administration. Compared with clinical barium meal and iodine-based contrast agents, these nanodots exhibited much more significant enhancement in contrast efficiency during both 2D X-ray imaging and 3D CT imaging. Different from some conventional invasive imaging modalities, such as gastroscope and enteroscope, non-invasive imaging strategy by using glutathione modified PbS nanodots as contrast agents could reduce the painfulness towards patients, facilitate the imaging procedure, and economize the manipulation period. Moreover, long-term toxicity and bio-distribution of these nanodots after oral administration were evaluated in detail, which indicated their overall safety. Based on our present study, these nanodots could act as admirable contrast agents to integrate X-ray imaging and CT imaging for the direct visualization of GI tract. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Carotid artery dissection on non-contrast CT: Does color improve the diagnostic confidence?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saba, Luca, E-mail: lucasaba@tiscali.it [Department of Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria (A.O.U.), di Cagliari – Polo di Monserrato, s.s. 554 Monserrato, Cagliari 09045 (Italy); Argiolas, Giovanni Maria [Department of Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliero Brotzu (A.O.B.), di Cagliari, Cagliari 09100 (Italy); Raz, Eytan [Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York (United States); Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy); Sannia, Stefano [Department of Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria (A.O.U.), di Cagliari – Polo di Monserrato, s.s. 554 Monserrato, Cagliari 09045 (Italy); Suri, Jasjit S. [Diagnostic and Monitoring Division, AtheroPointTM LLC, Roseville, CA (United States); Electrical Engineering Department (Aff.), Idaho State University, ID (United States); Siotto, Paolo [Department of Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliero Brotzu (A.O.B.), di Cagliari, Cagliari 09100 (Italy); Sanfilippo, Roberto; Montisci, Roberto [Department of Vascular Surgery, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria (A.O.U.), di Cagliari – Polo di Monserrato, s.s. 554 Monserrato, Cagliari 09045 (Italy); Piga, Mario [Department of Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria (A.O.U.), di Cagliari – Polo di Monserrato, s.s. 554 Monserrato, Cagliari 09045 (Italy); Wintermark, Max [Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, University of Virginia, Box 800170, Charlottesville, VA, 22908 (United States)

    2014-12-15

    Highlights: • The use of a color scale to display the non-contrast CT images in lieu of the classic grayscale improves the diagnostic confidence of the readers. • Radiologists should consider the use of a color scale, rather than the conventional grayscale, to assess non-contrast CT studies for possible carotid artery dissection. - Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this work was to evaluate if the use of color maps, instead of conventional grayscale images, would improve the observer's diagnostic confidence in the non-contrast CT evaluation of internal carotid artery dissection (ICAD). Materials and methods: One hundred patients (61 men, 39 women; mean age, 51 years; range, 25–78 years), 40 with and 60 without ICAD, underwent non-contrast CT and were included in this the retrospective study. In this study, three groups of patients were considered: patients with MR confirmation of ICAD, n = 40; patients with MR confirmation of ICAD absence, n = 20; patients who underwent CT of the carotid arteries because of atherosclerotic disease, n = 40. Four blinded observers with different levels of expertise (expert, intermediate A, intermediate B and trainee) analyzed the non-contrast CT datasets using a cross model (one case grayscale and the following case using the color scale). The presence of ICAD was scored on a 5-point scale in order to assess the observer's diagnostic confidence. After 3 months the four observers evaluated the same datasets by using the same cross-model for the alternate readings (one case color scale and the following case using the grayscale). Statistical analysis included receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis, the Cohen weighted test and sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, accuracy, LR+ and LR−. Results: The ROC curve analysis showed that, for all observers, the use of color scale resulted in an improved diagnostic confidence with AUC values increasing from 0.896 to 0.936, 0.823 to 0.849, 0.84 to 0.909 and 0

  3. Facework in Non-Face-Threatening Emails by Native and Non-Native English Speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    - Зохре Ислами Р

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this research is to investigate the speech act of assignment submission and presence of facework in submission emails sent to faculty members by native and nonnative English speaking graduate students. Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987 and Spencer-Oatey’s (2002, 2008 rapport management framework were utilized to analyze the emails. The corpus consisted of 105 emails from 40 NES and NNES students. Drawing on speech event analysis approach (Merrison, Wilson, Davies, & Haugh, 2012, we analyze both submission head act as well as optional elements like openings, small talk and closings in an email. Our exploratory study revealed that, contrary to the argument that CMC is a lean medium (Duthler, 2006 in which it is difficult to achieve interpersonal communication, through the employment of opening, small talk and closing strategies, students attended to relational goals in their email communication.

  4. Salinity tolerance of non-native suckermouth armoured catfish (Loricariidae: Pterygoplichthys) in south-eastern Mexico: implications for invasion and dispersal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capps, Krista A.; Nico, Leo G.; Mendoza-Carranza, Manuel; Arevalo-Frias, Wendi; Ropicki, Andrew J.; Heilpern, Sebastian A.; Rodiles-Hernandez, Rocio

    2011-01-01

    1. Salinity tolerance is one of several important physiological attributes that determine invasion success and the pattern of dispersal of introduced aquatic organisms. Introduced freshwater fishes able to tolerate elevated salinities have the potential to invade and exploit brackish-water (mixohaline) environments and use estuaries and coastal waters as 'bridges' for dispersing from one coastal river system to another. 2. Several members of the neotropical suckermouth armoured catfish genus Pterygoplichthys (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) have established non-native populations in inland waters of North and Central America, Asia and islands in the Caribbean, and Pacific and Indian oceans. Loricariids are generally considered to be strictly freshwater; but a few naturally occur in mesohaline habitats. 3.Catch and habitat data from 2004–2005 and 2009–2011 fish surveys in the Grijalva–Usumacinta River delta region (south-eastern Mexico) confirmed that introduced Pterygoplichthys populations established in upstream freshwater sites (where these catfish are abundant) have recently dispersed into downstream oligohaline and mesohaline estuarine habitats. During 2009–2011 surveys, these non-native catfish — tentatively identified as P. pardalis or its hybrids — were found in sites with salinities ranging from 1 to 8 ppt (mean 5.2 ppt). 4.Acute-salinity experiments were conducted with Pterygoplichthys (110–302 mm standard length, N=140) captured in the Grijalva–Usumacinta Basin to determine upper salinity tolerance levels. Tests demonstrated that individuals maintained in salinities of 0.2 ppt were able to survive abrupt (acute) exposure to salinities up to 10 ppt with little mortality over 10 days (240 h experimental endpoint). A few individuals survived abrupt exposure to 11 and 12 ppt for 20 or more hours, although none survived more than a few hours at 16 ppt or greater. 5.These field and experimental results provide quantitative evidence that non-native

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  6. Factors influencing the distribution of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in western Glacier National Park, Montana

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Angelo, Vincent S.; Muhlfeld, Clint C.

    2013-01-01

    The widespread declines of native bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) and westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi) populations prompted researchers to investigate factors influencing their distribution and status in western Glacier National Park, Montana. We evaluated the association of a suite of abiotic factors (stream width, elevation, gradient, large woody debris density, pool density, August mean stream temperature, reach surface area) with the occurrence (presence or absence) of bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in 79 stream reaches in five sub-drainages containing glacial lakes. We modeled the occurrence of each species using logistic regression and evaluated competing models using an information theoretic approach. Westslope cutthroat trout were widely distributed (47 of 79 reaches), and there appeared to be no restrictions on their distribution other than physical barriers. Westslope cutthroat trout were most commonly found in relatively warm reaches downstream of lakes and in headwater reaches with large amounts of large woody debris and abundant pools. By contrast, bull trout were infrequently detected (10 of 79 reaches), with 7 of the 10 (70%) detections in sub-drainages that have not been compromised by non-native lake trout (S. namaycush). Bull trout were most often found in cold, low-gradient reaches upstream of glacial lakes. Our results indicate that complex stream habitats in sub-drainages free of non-native species are important to the persistence of native salmonids in western Glacier National Park. Results from this study may help managers monitor and protect important habitats and populations, inform conservation and recovery programs, and guide non-native species suppression efforts in Glacier National Park and elsewhere.

  7. Turbidity alters pre-mating social interactions between native and invasive stream fishes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glotzbecker, Gregory J.; Ward, Jessica L.; Walters, David M.; Blum, Michael J.

    2015-01-01

    Environmental degradation can result in the loss of aquatic biodiversity if impairment promotes hybridisation between non-native and native species. Although aquatic biological invasions involving hybridisation have been attributed to elevated water turbidity, the extent to which impaired clarity influences reproductive isolation among non-native and native species is poorly understood.

  8. Native Speakers as Teachers in Turkey: Non-Native Pre-Service English Teachers' Reactions to a Nation-Wide Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coskun, Abdullah

    2013-01-01

    Although English is now a recognized international language and the concept of native speaker is becoming more doubtful every day, the empowerment of the native speakers of English as language teaching professionals is still continuing (McKay, 2002), especially in Asian countries like China and Japan. One of the latest examples showing the…

  9. Alaska Native Languages: Past, Present, and Future. Alaska Native Language Center Research Papers No. 4.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krauss, Michael E.

    Three papers (1978-80) written for the non-linguistic public about Alaska Native languages are combined here. The first is an introduction to the prehistory, history, present status, and future prospects of all Alaska Native languages, both Eskimo-Aleut and Athabaskan Indian. The second and third, presented as appendixes to the first, deal in…

  10. Non-enhanced CT versus contrast-enhanced CT in integrated PET/CT studies for nodal staging of rectal cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tateishi, Ukihide; Maeda, Tetsuo; Morimoto, Tsuyoshi; Miyake, Mototaka; Arai, Yasuaki; Kim, E.E.

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of non-enhanced CT and contrast-enhanced CT in integrated PET/CT studies for preoperative nodal staging of rectal cancer. Retrospective analysis was performed in 53 patients with pathologically proven rectal cancer who had been referred for preoperative staging. All patients underwent integrated PET/CT consisting of non-enhanced and contrast-enhanced CT followed by whole-body fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose ([ 18 F]FDG) PET. Both non-enhanced and contrast-enhanced PET/CT images were evaluated separately by two observers in consensus. The reference standard was histopathologic results. For nodal staging of rectal cancer, we compared diagnostic accuracy on a per-patient basis between the two modalities. Nodal staging was correctly determined with non-enhanced studies in 37 patients (70%) and with contrast-enhanced studies in 42 patients (79%). On a per-patient basis, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of regional lymph node staging were 85%, 68%, 83%, 72%, and 79%, respectively, with contrast-enhanced studies, and 85%, 42%, 73%, 62%, and 70%, respectively, with non-enhanced studies. The difference in the accuracy of nodal staging between the two modalities was not significant (p = 0.063). Compared with non-enhanced studies, contrast-enhanced studies determined more correctly the status of pararectal lymph nodes (p 0.002), internal iliac lymph nodes (p = 0.004), and obturator lymph nodes (p < 0.0001). Contrast-enhanced PET/CT is superior to non-enhanced PET/CT for precise definition of regional nodal status in rectal cancer. (orig.)

  11. Non-native acylated homoserine lactones reveal that LuxIR quorum sensing promotes symbiont stability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Jessica S.; Geske, Grant D.; Blackwell, Helen E.; Ruby, Edward G.

    2014-01-01

    SUMMARY Quorum sensing, a group behavior coordinated by a diffusible pheromone signal and a cognate receptor, is typical of bacteria that form symbioses with plants and animals. LuxIR-type acyl homoserine-lactone (AHL) quorum sensing is common in Gram-negative proteobacteria, and many members of this group have additional quorum-sensing networks. The bioluminescent symbiont Vibrio fischeri encodes two AHL signal synthases: AinS and LuxI. AinS-dependent quorum sensing converges with LuxI-dependent quorum sensing at the LuxR regulatory element. Both AinS- and LuxI-mediated signaling are required for efficient and persistent colonization of the squid host, Euprymna scolopes. The basis of the mutualism is symbiont bioluminescence, which is regulated by both LuxI- and AinS-dependent quorum sensing, and is essential for maintaining a colonization of the host. Here, we used chemical and genetic approaches to probe the dynamics of LuxI- and AinS-mediated regulation of bioluminescence during symbiosis. We demonstrate that both native AHLs and non-native AHL analogs can be used to non-invasively and specifically modulate induction of symbiotic bioluminescence via LuxI-dependent quorum sensing. Our data suggest that the first day of colonization, during which symbiont bioluminescence is induced by LuxIR, is a critical period that determines the stability of the V. fischeri population once symbiosis is established. PMID:24191970

  12. Contrasting growth phenology of native and invasive forest shrubs mediated by genome size.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fridley, Jason D; Craddock, Alaä

    2015-08-01

    Examination of the significance of genome size to plant invasions has been largely restricted to its association with growth rate. We investigated the novel hypothesis that genome size is related to forest invasions through its association with growth phenology, as a result of the ability of large-genome species to grow more effectively through cell expansion at cool temperatures. We monitored the spring leaf phenology of 54 species of eastern USA deciduous forests, including native and invasive shrubs of six common genera. We used new measurements of genome size to evaluate its association with spring budbreak, cell size, summer leaf production rate, and photosynthetic capacity. In a phylogenetic hierarchical model that differentiated native and invasive species as a function of summer growth rate and spring budbreak timing, species with smaller genomes exhibited both faster growth and delayed budbreak compared with those with larger nuclear DNA content. Growth rate, but not budbreak timing, was associated with whether a species was native or invasive. Our results support genome size as a broad indicator of the growth behavior of woody species. Surprisingly, invaders of deciduous forests show the same small-genome tendencies of invaders of more open habitats, supporting genome size as a robust indicator of invasiveness. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

  13. Infant Mortality and American Indians/Alaska Natives

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... American Indian/Alaska Native > Infant Health & Mortality Infant Mortality and American Indians/Alaska Natives American Indian/Alaska ... as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers. Infant Mortality Rate: Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live ...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  15. When the non-contrast-enhanced phase is unnecessary in abdominal computed tomography scans? A retrospective analysis of 244 cases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Costa, Danilo Manuel Cerqueira; Salvadori, Priscila Silveira; Monjardim, Rodrigo da Fonseca; Bretas, Elisa Almeida Sathler; Torres, Lucas Rios; Caldana, Rogerio Pedreschi; Shigueoka, David Carlos; Medeiros, Regina Bitelli; D' ippolito, Giuseppe, E-mail: giuseppe_dr@uol.com.br [Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (EPM/UNIFESP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Escola Paulista de Medicina. Departamento de Diagnostico por Imagem

    2013-06-15

    Objective: to evaluate the necessity of the non contrast-enhanced phase in abdominal computed tomography scans. Materials and Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional, observational study was developed, evaluating 244 consecutive abdominal computed tomography scans both with and without contrast injection. Initially, the contrast-enhanced images were analyzed (first analysis). Subsequently, the observers had access to the non-contrast-enhanced images for a second analysis. The primary and secondary diagnoses were established as a function of the clinical indications for each study (such as tumor staging, acute abdomen, investigation for abdominal collection and hepatocellular carcinoma, among others). Finally, the changes in the diagnoses resulting from the addition of the non-contrast-enhanced phase were evaluated. Results: Only one (0.4%; p > 0.999; non-statistically significant) out of the 244 reviewed cases had the diagnosis changed after the reading of non-contrast-enhanced images. As the secondary diagnoses are considered, 35 (14%) cases presented changes after the second analysis, as follows: nephrolithiasis (10%), steatosis (3%), adrenal nodule (0.7%) and cholelithiasis (0.3%). Conclusion: For the clinical indications of tumor staging, acute abdomen, investigation of abdominal collections and hepatocellular carcinoma, the non-contrast-enhanced phase can be excluded from abdominal computed tomography studies with no significant impact on the diagnosis. (author)

  16. Phase-Contrast Hounsfield Units of Fixated and Non-Fixated Soft-Tissue Samples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willner, Marian; Fior, Gabriel; Marschner, Mathias; Birnbacher, Lorenz; Schock, Jonathan; Braun, Christian; Fingerle, Alexander A.; Noël, Peter B.; Rummeny, Ernst J.; Pfeiffer, Franz; Herzen, Julia

    2015-01-01

    X-ray phase-contrast imaging is a novel technology that achieves high soft-tissue contrast. Although its clinical impact is still under investigation, the technique may potentially improve clinical diagnostics. In conventional attenuation-based X-ray computed tomography, radiological diagnostics are quantified by Hounsfield units. Corresponding Hounsfield units for phase-contrast imaging have been recently introduced, enabling a setup-independent comparison and standardized interpretation of imaging results. Thus far, the experimental values of few tissue types have been reported; these values have been determined from fixated tissue samples. This study presents phase-contrast Hounsfield units for various types of non-fixated human soft tissues. A large variety of tissue specimens ranging from adipose, muscle and connective tissues to liver, kidney and pancreas tissues were imaged by a grating interferometer with a rotating-anode X-ray tube and a photon-counting detector. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of formalin fixation on the quantitative phase-contrast imaging results. PMID:26322638

  17. Response of six non-native invasive plant species to wildfires in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis E. Ferguson; Christine L. Craig

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents early results on the response of six non-native invasive plant species to eight wildfires on six National Forests (NFs) in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA. Stratified random sampling was used to choose 224 stands based on burn severity, habitat type series, slope steepness, stand height, and stand density. Data for this report are from 219 stands...

  18. The comparative analysis of English and Lithuanian transport terms and some methods of developing effective science writing strategies by non-native speakers of English

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    V. Marina

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper addresses the problem of developing more effective strategies and skills of writing scientific and technical texts by non-native speakers of English. The causes of poor writing are identified and general guidelines for developing effective science writing strategies are outlined. The analysis of difficulties faced by non-native speakers of English in writing research papers is made by examining transport terms and international words which are based on different nomination principles in English and Lithuanian. Case study of various names given to a small vehicle used for passenger transportation in many countries is provided, illustrating the alternative ways of naming the same object of reality in different languages. The analysis is based on the theory of linguistic relativity. Differences in the use of similar international terms in English and Lithuanian, which often cause errors and misunderstanding, are also demonstrated. The recommendations helping non-native speakers of English to avoid errors and improve skills of writing scientific and technical texts are given.

  19. Effects of the herbicide glyphosate on non-target plant native species from Chaco forest (Argentina).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Florencia, Ferreira María; Carolina, Torres; Enzo, Bracamonte; Leonardo, Galetto

    2017-10-01

    Agriculture based on transgenic crops has expanded in Argentina into areas formerly occupied by Chaco forest. Even though glyphosate is the herbicide most widely used in the world, increasing evidence indicates severe ecotoxicological effects on non-target organisms as native plants. The aim of this work is to determine glyphosate effects on 23 native species present in the remaining Chaco forests immersed in agricultural matrices. This is a laboratory/greenhouse approach studying acute effects on seedlings after 21 days. A gradient of glyphosate rates (525, 1050, 2100, 4200, and 8400g ai/Ha; recommended field application rate (RFAR) = 2100g ai/Ha) was applied on four-week seedlings cultivated in a greenhouse and response variables (phytotoxicity, growth reduction, and sensitivity to the herbicide) were measured. This gradient of herbicide rates covers realistic rates of glyphosate applications in the crop field and also those that can reach vegetation of forest relicts by off-target drift and overspray. Testing was performed following guidelines for vegetative vigour (post-germination spray). All species showed lethal or sublethal effects after the application of the 25% of RFAR (50% of species showed severe phytotoxicity or death and 70% of species showed growth reduction). The results showed a gradient of sensitivity to glyphosate by which some of the studied species are very sensitive to glyphosate and seedlings died with 25% of RFAR while other species can be classified as herbicide-tolerant. Thus, the vegetation present in the forest relicts could be strongly affected by glyphosate application on crops. Lethal and sublethal effects of glyphosate on non-target plants could promote both the loss of biodiversity in native forest relicts immersed in the agroecosystems and the selection of new crop weeds considering that some biotypes are continuously exposed to low doses of glyphosate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Non-radiological contrast agents (MRI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonnemain, B.; Lautrou, J.; Meyer, D.; Doucet, D.

    1987-01-01

    Over the past few years, extensive research has been carried out in an attempt to develop contrast agents that could help improve both the performance (acquisition times) and the diagnostic efficacy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques. On the basis of physicochemical and pharmacological criteria discussed in this presentation, a few efficacious, well-tolerated compounds could be developed. Two of them, the gadolinium complexes Gd-DOTA and Gd-DTPA, are currently being tried in man. This first generation of contrast agents, which are aspecific markers of the intravascular space, has been shown to have good diagnostic potential in conventional MRI procedures. The diagnostic contribution of these contrast agents will probably be a most essential factor in new MRI techniques using low field strengh or fast imaging sequences [fr

  1. Current Conditions in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szasz, Margaret Connell

    The school experience of American Indian and Alaska Native children hinges on the context in which their schooling takes place. This context includes the health and well-being of their families, communities, and governments, as well as the relationship between Native and non-Native people. Many Native children are in desperate straits because of…

  2. Smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours among Alaska Native people: a population-based study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristen Rohde

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Background. Several studies have shown that Alaska Native people have higher smoking prevalence than non-Natives. However, no population-based studies have explored whether smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours also differ among Alaska Native people and non-Natives. Objective. We compared current smoking prevalence and smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of Alaska Native adults living in the state of Alaska with non-Natives. Methods. We used Alaska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data for 1996 to 2010 to compare smoking prevalence, consumption, and cessation- and second-hand smoke-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours among self-identified Alaska Native people and non-Natives. Results. Current smoking prevalence was 41% (95% CI: 37.9%–44.4% among Alaska Native people compared with 17.1% (95% CI: 15.9%–18.4% among non-Natives. Among current every day smokers, Alaska Natives were much more likely to smoke less than 10 cigarettes per day (OR=5.0, 95% CI: 2.6–9.6 than non-Natives. Compared with non-Native smokers, Alaska Native smokers were as likely to have made a past year quit attempt (OR=1.4, 95% CI: 0.9–2.1, but the attempt was less likely to be successful (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.2–0.9. Among current smokers, Alaska Natives were more likely to believe second-hand smoke (SHS was very harmful (OR=4.5, 95% CI: 2.8–7.2, to believe that smoking should not be allowed in indoor work areas (OR=1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.1 or in restaurants (OR=4.2, 95% CI: 2.5–6.9, to have a home smoking ban (OR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.6–3.9, and to have no home exposure to SHS in the past 30 days (OR=2.3, 95% CI: 1.5–3.6 than non-Natives. Conclusion. Although a disparity in current smoking exists, Alaska Native people have smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours that are encouraging for reducing the burden of smoking in this population. Programs should support efforts to promote cessation, prevent relapse

  3. Smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Alaska Native people: a population-based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohde, Kristen; Boles, Myde; Bushore, Chris J; Pizacani, Barbara A; Maher, Julie E; Peterson, Erin

    2013-01-01

    Several studies have shown that Alaska Native people have higher smoking prevalence than non-Natives. However, no population-based studies have explored whether smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors also differ among Alaska Native people and non-Natives. We compared current smoking prevalence and smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of Alaska Native adults living in the state of Alaska with non-Natives. We used Alaska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data for 1996 to 2010 to compare smoking prevalence, consumption, and cessation- and second-hand smoke-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among self-identified Alaska Native people and non-Natives. Current smoking prevalence was 41% (95% CI: 37.9%-44.4%) among Alaska Native people compared with 17.1% (95% CI: 15.9%-18.4%) among non-Natives. Among current every day smokers, Alaska Natives were much more likely to smoke less than 10 cigarettes per day (OR = 5.0, 95% CI: 2.6-9.6) than non-Natives. Compared with non-Native smokers, Alaska Native smokers were as likely to have made a past year quit attempt (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 0.9-2.1), but the attempt was less likely to be successful (OR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.2-0.9). Among current smokers, Alaska Natives were more likely to believe second-hand smoke (SHS) was very harmful (OR = 4.5, 95% CI: 2.8-7.2), to believe that smoking should not be allowed in indoor work areas (OR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1-3.1) or in restaurants (OR = 4.2, 95% CI: 2.5-6.9), to have a home smoking ban (OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.6-3.9), and to have no home exposure to SHS in the past 30 days (OR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.5-3.6) than non-Natives. Although a disparity in current smoking exists, Alaska Native people have smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that are encouraging for reducing the burden of smoking in this population. Programs should support efforts to promote cessation, prevent relapse, and establish smoke-free environments.

  4. 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.

  5. Non-native fish introductions and the decline of the mountain yellow-legged frog from within protected areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    R.A. Knapp; K.R. Matthews

    2000-01-01

    Abstract: One of the most puzzling aspects of the worldwide decline of amphibians is their disappearance from within protected areas. Because these areas are ostensibly undisturbed, habitat alterations are generally perceived as unlikely causes. The introduction of non-native fishes into protected areas, however, is a common practice throughout the world and may exert...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. Non-native scientists, research dissemination and English neologisms: What happens in the early stages of reception and re-production?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Linder

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available That the English language is the prevailing language in international scientific discourse is an undeniable fact for research professionals who are non-native speakers of English (NNSE. An exploratory, survey-based study of scientists in the experimental disciplines of neuroscience and medicine seeks to reveal, on the one hand, the habits of scientists who in their research practice come across neologisms in English and need to use them in oral and written scientific discourse in their own languages, and, on the other hand, their attitudes towards these neologisms and towards English as the language of international science. We found that all scientists write and publish their research articles (RAs in English and most submit them unrevised by native speakers of English. When first encountering a neologism in English, scientists tend to pay close attention to these new concepts, ideas or terms and very early in the reception process attempt to coin acceptable, natural-sounding Spanish equivalents for use in the laboratory and in their Spanish texts. In conjunction with the naturalized Spanish term, they often use the English neologism verbatim in a coexistent bilingual form, but they avoid using only the English term and very literal translations. These behaviors show an ambivalent attitude towards English (the language of both new knowledge reception and dissemination of their RAs and Spanish (used for local professional purposes and for popularization: while accepting to write in their acquired non-native language, they simultaneously recognize that their native language needs to preserve its specificity as a language of science.

  8. Small size today, aquarium dumping tomorrow: sales of juvenile non-native large fish as an important threat in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André L. B. Magalhães

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Informal sales of large-bodied non-native aquarium fishes (known as “tankbusters” is increasing among Brazilian hobbyists. In this study, we surveyed this non-regulated trade on Facebook® from May 2012 to September 2016, systematically collecting information about the fishes available for trading: species, family, common/scientific names, native range, juvenile length, behavior, number of specimens available in five geographical regions from Brazil. We also assessed the invasion risk of the most frequently sold species using the Fish Invasiveness Screening Test (FIST. We found 93 taxa belonging to 35 families. Cichlidae was the dominant family, and most species were native to South America. All species are sold at very small sizes (< 10.0 cm, and most display aggressive behavior. The hybrid Amphilophus trimaculatus × Amphilophus citrinellus, Astronotus ocellatus, Uaru amphiacanthoides, Osteoglossum bicirrhosum, Cichla piquiti, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Datnioides microlepis and Cichla kelberi were the main species available. The southeast region showed the greatest trading activity. Based on biological traits, the FIST indicated that Arapaima gigas, C. kelberi and C. temensis are high-risk species in terms of biological invasions via aquarium dumping. We suggest management strategies such as trade regulations, monitoring, euthanasia and educational programs to prevent further introductions via aquarium dumping.

  9. Infants' preference for native audiovisual speech dissociated from congruency preference.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathleen Shaw

    Full Text Available Although infant speech perception in often studied in isolated modalities, infants' experience with speech is largely multimodal (i.e., speech sounds they hear are accompanied by articulating faces. Across two experiments, we tested infants' sensitivity to the relationship between the auditory and visual components of audiovisual speech in their native (English and non-native (Spanish language. In Experiment 1, infants' looking times were measured during a preferential looking task in which they saw two simultaneous visual speech streams articulating a story, one in English and the other in Spanish, while they heard either the English or the Spanish version of the story. In Experiment 2, looking times from another group of infants were measured as they watched single displays of congruent and incongruent combinations of English and Spanish audio and visual speech streams. Findings demonstrated an age-related increase in looking towards the native relative to non-native visual speech stream when accompanied by the corresponding (native auditory speech. This increase in native language preference did not appear to be driven by a difference in preference for native vs. non-native audiovisual congruence as we observed no difference in looking times at the audiovisual streams in Experiment 2.

  10. Conversion of native terrestrial ecosystems in Hawai‘i to novel grazing systems: a review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leopold, Christina R.; Hess, Steven C.

    2017-01-01

    The remote oceanic islands of Hawai‘i exemplify the transformative effects that non-native herbivorous mammals can bring to isolated terrestrial ecosystems. We reviewed published literature containing systematically collected, analyzed, and peer-reviewed original data specifically addressing direct effects of non-native hoofed mammals (ungulates) on terrestrial ecosystems, and indirect effects and interactions on ecosystem processes in Hawai‘i. The effects of ungulates on native vegetation and ecosystems were addressed in 58 original studies and mostly showed strong short-term regeneration of dominant native trees and understory ferns after ungulate removal, but unassisted recovery was dependent on the extent of previous degradation. Ungulates were associated with herbivory, bark-stripping, disturbance by hoof action, soil erosion, enhanced nutrient cycling from the interaction of herbivory and grasses, and increased pyrogenicity and competition between native plants and pasture grasses. No studies demonstrated that ungulates benefitted native ecosystems except in short-term fire-risk reduction. However, non-native plants became problematic and continued to proliferate after release from herbivory, including at least 11 species of non-native pasture grasses that had become established prior to ungulate removal. Competition from non-native grasses inhibited native species regeneration where degradation was extensive. These processes have created novel grazing systems which, in some cases, have irreversibly altered Hawaii’s terrestrial ecology. Non-native plant control and outplanting of rarer native species will be necessary for recovery where degradation has been extensive. Lack of unassisted recovery in some locations should not be construed as a reason to not attempt restoration of other ecosystems.

  11. Contrasting effects of specialist and generalist herbivores on resistance evolution in invasive plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhijie; Pan, Xiaoyun; Blumenthal, Dana; van Kleunen, Mark; Liu, Mu; Li, Bo

    2018-04-01

    Invasive alien plants are likely to be released from specialist herbivores and at the same time encounter biotic resistance from resident generalist herbivores in their new ranges. The Shifting Defense hypothesis predicts that this will result in evolution of decreased defense against specialist herbivores and increased defense against generalist herbivores. To test this, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis of 61 common garden studies that provide data on resistance and/or tolerance for both introduced and native populations of 32 invasive plant species. We demonstrate that introduced populations, relative to native populations, decreased their resistance against specialists, and increased their resistance against generalists. These differences were significant when resistance was measured in terms of damage caused by the herbivore, but not in terms of performance of the herbivore. Furthermore, we found the first evidence that the magnitude of resistance differences between introduced and native populations depended significantly on herbivore origin (i.e., whether the test herbivore was collected from the native or non-native range of the invasive plant). Finally, tolerance to generalists was found to be higher in introduced populations, while neither tolerance to specialists nor that to simulated herbivory differed between introduced and native plant populations. We conclude that enemy release from specialist herbivores and biotic resistance from generalist herbivores have contrasting effects on resistance evolution in invasive plants. Our results thus provide strong support for the Shifting Defense hypothesis. © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America.

  12. 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

  13. FDG-PET/contrast-enhanced CT as a post-treatment tool in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: comparison with FDG-PET/non-contrast-enhanced CT and contrast-enhanced CT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suenaga, Yuko; Kitajima, Kazuhiro; Sugimura, Kazuro [Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Kobe (Japan); Ishihara, Takeaki; Sasaki, Ryohei [Kobe University Graduate, School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Division of Radiation Oncology, Kobe (Japan); Otsuki, Naoki; Nibu, Ken-ichi [Kobe University Graduate, School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe (Japan); Minamikawa, Tsutomu [Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kobe (Japan); Kiyota, Naomi [Kobe University Hospital, Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Kobe (Japan)

    2016-04-15

    To evaluate the accuracy of PET/CT using {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) with IV contrast for suspected recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). One hundred and seventy patients previously treated for HNSCC underwent PET/CT, consisting of non-contrast-enhanced and contrast-enhanced CT, to investigate suspected recurrence. Diagnostic performance of PET/contrast-enhanced CT (PET/ceCT), PET/non-contrast-enhanced CT (PET/ncCT) and contrast-enhanced CT (ceCT) for local or regional recurrence, distant metastasis, overall recurrence and second primary cancer was evaluated. The reference standard included histopathology, treatment change and imaging follow-up. The patient-based areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) for ceCT, PET/ncCT and PET/ceCT were 0.82, 0.96 and 0.98 for local recurrence, 0.73, 0.86 and 0.86 for regional recurrence, 0.86, 0.91 and 0.92 for distant metastasis, 0.72, 0.86 and 0.87 for overall recurrence, and 0.86, 0.89 and 0.91 for a second primary cancer. Both PET/ceCT and PET/ncCT statistically showed larger AUC than ceCT for recurrence, and the difference between PET/ceCT and PET/ncCT for local recurrence reached a significant level (p = 0.039). The accuracy of PET/ceCT for diagnosing overall recurrence was high, irrespective of the time interval after the last treatment (83.3-94.1 %). FDG-PET/CT was a more accurate HNSCC restaging tool than ceCT. The added value of ceCT at FDG-PET/CT is minimal. (orig.)

  14. Spatio-temporal segregation and size distribution of fish assemblages as related to non-native species occurrence in the middle rio Doce Valley, MG, Brazil

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    Henrique Corrêa Giacomini

    Full Text Available The lakes in the middle rio Doce Valley (MG are suffering impacts due to the introduction of invasive fish species, mainly piscivorous species like red piranha Pygocentrus nattereri and peacock bass Cichla kelberi. Fishes were collected in bimonthly samples conducted at ten lakes along a year. The present study showed that the composition of native fish assemblages is significantly related to the presence and type of non-native species. Fish species distribution among lakes can be explained by differences in species body size: smaller native species are less concentrated in lakes with invasive piscivores, which is in accordance with the hypothesis that they have greater susceptibility to predation by invaders. Another probable cause for this correlation is the proximity of lakes to the drainage system, which could explain both the non-native incidence and the turnover of native species composition. Furthermore, temporal variability in species composition was significantly higher in invaded lakes. This last factor may be linked to seasonal flood pulses, which carry immigrant fishes from streams in the vicinity. The metacommunity framework can bring insights for future studies in such spatially structured systems, and the approach should improve our understanding of processes underlying species composition as well as help direct conservation-focused management plans.

  15. The Public and Professionals Reason Similarly about the Management of Non-Native Invasive Species: A Quantitative Investigation of the Relationship between Beliefs and Attitudes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Anke; Selge, Sebastian; van der Wal, René; Larson, Brendon M. H.

    2014-01-01

    Despite continued critique of the idea of clear boundaries between scientific and lay knowledge, the ‘deficit-model’ of public understanding of ecological issues still seems prevalent in discourses of biodiversity management. Prominent invasion biologists, for example, still argue that citizens need to be educated so that they accept scientists’ views on the management of non-native invasive species. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey with members of the public and professionals in invasive species management (n = 732) in Canada and the UK to investigate commonalities and differences in their perceptions of species and, more importantly, how these perceptions were connected to attitudes towards species management. Both native and non-native mammal and tree species were included. Professionals tended to have more extreme views than the public, especially in relation to nativeness and abundance of a species. In both groups, species that were perceived to be more abundant, non-native, unattractive or harmful to nature and the economy were more likely to be regarded as in need of management. While perceptions of species and attitudes towards management thus often differed between public and professionals, these perceptions were linked to attitudes in very similar ways across the two groups. This suggests that ways of reasoning about invasive species employed by professionals and the public might be more compatible with each other than commonly thought. We recommend that managers and local people engage in open discussion about each other’s beliefs and attitudes prior to an invasive species control programme. This could ultimately reduce conflict over invasive species control. PMID:25170957

  16. Effect of linguistic experience on the discrimination of Shona lexical ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    To this effect tone perceptual discrimination was investigated in experiment 1 using minimal pairs of Shona words and their filtered homologues, whereas experiment 2 tested the effect of increasing the number of phonetic contrasts using minimal and non-minimal pairs in Shona words and low-pass filtered stimuli.

  17. Contrast enhanced CT-scans are not comparable to non-enhanced scans in emphysema quantification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heussel, C.P.; Kappes, J.; Hantusch, R.; Hartlieb, S.; Weinheimer, O.; Kauczor, H.-U.; Eberhardt, R.

    2010-01-01

    Systemic, interventional and surgical treatments have gone new ways in treatment of emphysema. For longitudinal therapy monitoring and as end-points for clinical trials, quantification of the disease is necessary. Sensitive, easy to measure, as well as stable and reproducible parameters have to be characterized. One parameter that might affect emphysema quantification is IV contrast enhancement, which might also be indicated. Whether or not the contrast enhanced scan is also suited for emphysema quantification or an additional scan is necessary, a retrospective analysis of 12 adult patients undergoing clinically indicated both, a non-enhanced and enhanced thin section MSCT within a week (median 0 days, range 0-4 days) was done. The in-house YACTA software was used for automatic quantification of lung and emphysema volume, emphysema index, mean lung density, and 5th, 10th, 15th percentile. After IV contrast administration, the median CT derived lung volume decreased mild by 1.1%, while median emphysema volume decreased by relevant 11%. This results in a decrease of median emphysema index by 9%. The median lung density (15th percentile) increased after contrast application by 18 HU (9 HU). CT quantification delivers emphysema values that are clearly affected by IV contrast application. The detected changes after contrast application show the results of higher density in the lung parenchyma. Therefore the amount of quantified emphysema is reduced and the lung density increased after contrast enhancement. In longitudinal analyses, non-enhanced scans should be the reference, while enhanced scans cannot be used.

  18. Home range use and movement patterns of non-native feral goats in a tropical island montane dry landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark W. Chynoweth; Christopher A. Lepczyk; Creighton M. Litton; Steven C. Hess; James R. Kellner; Susan Cordell; Lalit Kumar

    2015-01-01

    Advances in wildlife telemetry and remote sensing technology facilitate studies of broad-scale movements of ungulates in relation to phenological shifts in vegetation. In tropical island dry landscapes, home range use and movements of non-native feral goats (Capra hircus) are largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the...

  19. Effect of ionic and non-ionic contrast media on whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity and hematocrit in vitro

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aspelin, P.

    1978-01-01

    The effect of the ionic contrast media diatrizoate, iocarmate and metrizoate and the non-ionic metrizamide on whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity and hematocrit was investigated. All the contrast media increased whole blood and plasma viscosity and reduced the hematocrit. The whole blood viscosity increased with increasing osmolality of the contrast medium solutions, whereas the plasma viscosity increased with increasing viscosity of the contrast medium solutions. The higher the osmolality of the contrast media, the lower the hematocrit became. The normal shear-thinning (decreasing viscosity with increasing shear rate) property of blood was reduced when contrast medium was added to the blood. At 50 per cent volume ratio (contrast medium to blood), the ionic contrast media converted the blood into a shear-thickening (increasing viscosity with increasing shear rate) suspension, indicating a marked rigidification of the single red cell, while the non-ionic contrast medium still produced shear-thinning, indicating less rigidification of the red cell (p<0.01). (Auth.)

  20. Native T1 mapping of the heart - a pictorial review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Germain, Philippe; El Ghannudi, Soraya; Jeung, Mi-Young; Ohlmann, Patrick; Epailly, Eric; Roy, Catherine; Gangi, Afshin

    2014-01-01

    T1 mapping is now a clinically feasible method, providing pixel-wise quantification of the cardiac structure's T1 values. Beyond focal lesions, well depicted by late gadolinium enhancement sequences, it has become possible to discriminate diffuse myocardial alterations, previously not assessable by noninvasive means. The strength of this method includes the high reproducibility and immediate clinical applicability, even without the use of contrast media injection (native or pre-contrast T1). The two most important determinants of native T1 augmentation are (1) edema related to tissue water increase (recent infarction or inflammation) and (2) interstitial space increase related to fibrosis (infarction scar, cardiomyopathy) or to amyloidosis. Conversely, lipid (Anderson-Fabry) or iron overload diseases are responsible for T1 reduction. In this pictorial review, the main features provided by native T1 mapping are discussed and illustrated, with a special focus on the awaited clinical purpose of this unique, promising new method.