Cognitive factors in perception and imitation of Thai tones by Mandarin versus Vietnamese speakers

The thesis investigates how native language phonological and phonetic factors affect non-native lexical tone perception and imitation, and how cognitive factors, such as memory load and stimulus variability (talker and vowel context variability), bias listeners to a phonological versus phonetic mode of perception/imitation. Two perceptual experiments and one imitation experiment were conducted with Thai tones as the stimuli and with Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners, who had no experience with Thai (i.e., naive listeners/imitators). The results of the perceptual experiments (Chapters 5 and 6) showed phonological effects as reflected in assimilation types (Categorised vs. UnCategorised assimilation) and phonetic effects indicated by percent choice and goodness ratings in tone assimilation, largely in line with predictions based on the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM: Best, 1995). In addition, phonological assimilation types and phonological overlap of the contrasts affected their discrimination in line with predictions based on PAM. The thesis research has revealed the influence of cognitive factors on native language influences in perception and imitation of non-native lexical tones, which contribute differently to different tasks. The findings carry implications for current non-native speech perception theories. The fact that non-native tone imitation deviations can be traced back to native phonological and phonetic influences on perception supports and provides new insights about perception-production links in processing non-native tones. The findings uphold the extrapolation of PAM and ASP principles to non-native tone perception and imitation, indicating that both native language phonological and phonetic influences and their modulation by cognitive factors hold implications for non-native speech perception/learning theories, as well as for second language instruction

An investigation of the dynamics of vowel nasalization in Arabana using machine learning of acoustic features

This paper presents exploratory research on temporally dynamic patterns of vowel nasalization from two speakers of Arabana. To derive a dynamic measure of nasality, we use gradient tree boosting algorithms to statistically learn the mapping between acoustics and vowel nasality in a speaker-specific manner. Three primary findings emerge: (1) NVN contexts exhibit nasalization throughout the entirety of the vowel interval, and we propose that a similar co-articulatory realization previously acted to resist diachronic change in this environment; (2) anticipatory vowel nasalization is nearly as extensive as carryover vowel nasalization, which is contrary to previous claims; and (3) the degree of vowel nasalization in word-initial contexts is relatively high, even in the #_C environment, suggesting that the sound change *#Na > #a has involved the loss of the oral constriction associated with N but not the complete loss of the velum gesture

Rhotic contrasts in Arabana

Arabana has a three-way rhotic phoneme contrast: /r/ (alveolar trill) vs /ɾ/ (alveolar tap) vs /ɻ/ (retroflex continuant). The rhotic contrasts are prosodically restricted in Arabana. The triple contrast only appears following the tonic vowel, which is the first vowel. In other onset positions /ɻ/ is contrastive, but there is no /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast. There is no contrast in coda positions. We undertook the first-ever production study of Arabana rhotics. Recorded audio materials were independently coded in PRAAT by two trained transcribers. We found the following allophony: /r/ [r, ɾ, ɹ]; /ɾ/ [ɾ, ɹ], /ɻ/ [ɻ]. The /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast is thus negatively determined, /r/ permits [r] realizations, but /ɾ/ does not. The commonest realization of both /r/ and /ɾ/ is [ɹ]. The phoneme in neutralized coda position is /r/. The high degree of overlap in realizations between /r/ and /ɾ/ accords with reported perception difficulties

Rhotic contrasts in Arabana

Arabana has a three-way rhotic phoneme contrast: /r/ (alveolar trill) vs /ɾ/ (alveolar tap) vs /ɻ/ (retroflex continuant). The rhotic contrasts are prosodically restricted in Arabana. The triple contrast only appears following the tonic vowel, which is the first vowel. In other onset positions /ɻ/ is contrastive, but there is no /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast. There is no contrast in coda positions. We undertook the first-ever production study of Arabana rhotics. Recorded audio materials were independently coded in PRAAT by two trained transcribers. We found the following allophony: /r/ [r, ɾ, ɹ]; /ɾ/ [ɾ, ɹ], /ɻ/ [ɻ]. The /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast is thus negatively determined, /r/ permits [r] realizations, but /ɾ/ does not. The commonest realization of both /r/ and /ɾ/ is [ɹ]. The phoneme in neutralized coda position is /r/. The high degree of overlap in realizations between /r/ and /ɾ/ accords with reported perception difficulties.This research was supported by ARC Discovery Projects Reconstructing Australia's linguistic past: Are all Australian languages related to one another? (DP140100863) and The Indigenous Grammar of Aboriginal English: implications for language contact theory (DP130103935)

Análisis de la espectroscopia Raman para la detección de la diabetes

Trabajo de investigaciónEl objetivo de este trabajo de grado es proporcionar información sobre una técnica ya implementada en la literatura para diagnosticar la diabetes. Para lograr esto lo primero que se realiza es recopilar información sobre las técnicas convencionales empleadas para dicho diagnóstico, seguidamente se expone la técnica espectroscopia Raman, teniendo en cuenta su definición, antecedentes, etapas del sistema y protocolos empleados en las muestras de sangre.INTRODUCCIÓN 1. GENERALIDADES 2. TÉCNICAS PARA REALIZAR DIAGNÓSTICO DE DIABETES MEDIANTE ANÁLISIS DE SANGRE 3. ETAPAS DE LA ESPECTROSCOPIA RAMAN PARA EL DIAGNÓSTICO DE DIABETES 4. IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE LA ESPECTROSCOPIA DE RAMAN PARA EL DIAGNÓSTICO DE DIABETES 5. COMPARAR LAS PRUEBAS REALIZADAS DE LA ESPECTROSCOPIA RAMAN CON LA BASE TEÓRICA REFERENTE A LA ESPECTROSCOPIA RAMAN DIVULGADA EN LA LITERATURA SOBRE EL ANÁLISIS DE LAS CÉLULAS DE LOS GLÓBULOS ROJOS DE LA SANGRE 6. CONCLUSIONES 7. TRABAJO A FUTURO 8. ESTRATEGIAS DE COMUNICACIÓN PARA LA TRANSFERENCIA DE RESULTADOS BIBLIOGRAFÍA ANEXOSPregradoIngeniero Electrónic

Suppression of Estrogen Receptor Transcriptional Activity by Connective Tissue Growth Factor

Secreted growth factors have been shown to stimulate the transcriptional activity of estrogen receptors (ER) that are responsible for many biological processes. However, whether these growth factors physically interact with ER remains unclear. Here, we show for the first time that connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) physically and functionally associates with ER. CTGF interacted with ER both in vitro and in vivo. CTGF interacted with ER DNA-binding domain. ER interaction region in CTGF was mapped to the thrombospondin type I repeat, a cell attachment motif. Overexpression of CTGF inhibited ER transcriptional activity as well as the expression of estrogen-responsive genes, including pS2 and cathepsin D. Reduction of endogenous CTGF with CTGF small interfering RNA enhanced ER transcriptional activity. The interaction between CTGF and ER is required for the repression of estrogen-responsive transcription by CTGF. Moreover, CTGF reduced ER protein expression, whereas the CTGF mutant that did not repress ER transcriptional activity also did not alter ER protein levels. The results suggested the transcriptional regulation of estrogen signaling through interaction between CTGF and ER, and thus may provide a novel mechanism by which cross-talk between secreted growth factor and ER signaling pathways occurs

Computational perception of information foci produced by Chinese English learners and American English speakers

This study used computational perception, via SVM and Random Forest models, to examine phonetic features used by American English speakers (AE) and Chinese second language learners of English (CE1 with low proficiency and CE2 with high proficiency) in realizing different information foci. For all participant groups, the machine learning models achieved above chance level accuracy. Coda duration and the duration of the rising contour were two phonetic features that ranked top across three participant groups in terms of their importance to the models. The SVM models trained with the AE data classified different foci by CE1 and CE2 with above chance level accuracy, but English proficiency had little effect on the classification results

An Efficient Fractal Video Sequences Codec with Multiviews

Multiview video consists of multiple views of the same scene. They require enormous amount of data to achieve high image quality, which makes it indispensable to compress multiview video. Therefore, data compression is a major issue for multiviews. In this paper, we explore an efficient fractal video codec to compress multiviews. The proposed scheme first compresses a view-dependent geometry of the base view using fractal video encoder with homogeneous region condition. With the extended fractional pel motion estimation algorithm and fast disparity estimation algorithm, it then generates prediction images of other views. The prediction image uses the image-based rendering techniques based on the decoded video. And the residual signals are obtained by the prediction image and the original image. Finally, it encodes residual signals by the fractal video encoder. The idea is also to exploit the statistical dependencies from both temporal and interview reference pictures for motion compensated prediction. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is consistently better than JMVC8.5, with 62.25% bit rate decrease and 0.37 dB PSNR increase based on the Bjontegaard metric, and the total encoding time (TET) of the proposed algorithm is reduced by 92%

Towards a socio-cultural account of literary canon's retranslation and reinterpretation : the case of The Journey to the West

This paper aims to chart the diachronic progression of the English retranslations of Xi You Ji (The Journey to the West) and the intercultural trajectories of this ancient Chinese fictional canon. Empirically informed by WorldCat, the world’s largest library catalogue, this study shows that retranslation progressively enables a national literature from a third world to exert a global influence. The century-long retranslation of The Journey to the West has undergone four cohesive phases from religious hybridism, secularisation, religious restoration to multimedia adaptation, registering an enormous proliferation since the twenty-first century. In addition, inter-semiotic translation, in the form of children’s books, films, and television products, contributes strikingly to the literary impact of the source text. Reformulation and reinterpretation are also important themes in the process of retranslation, and they can be regarded as an intricate result of the relevant ideology, poetics, patronage and other socio-cultural factors

Native phonological and phonetic influences in perceptual assimilation of monosyllabic Thai lexical tones by Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners

A cross tone-language perceptual assimilation study investigated native categorisations and goodness ratings of non-native Thai tones by Thai-naive listeners differing in their native tone systems: Mandarin, Northern Vietnamese and Southern Vietnamese. We derived hypotheses from the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM: Best, 1995), which considers both native phonological and phonetic influences on perceptual assimilation of non-native speech contrasts. Mandarin listeners reliably categorised the Thai mid level tone to their single native level tone category, reflecting a native phonological effect, but they also showed high residual phonetic sensitivity to differences between the non-native tone and the native tone it was assimilated to, indicated by low category-goodness ratings. Native phonological and phonetic differences in tones of the two Vietnamese dialects also affected perceptual assimilation of the Thai high level and rising tones. In addition, categorisation responses were faster overall for Categorised than Uncategorised assimilations, revealing the processing cost of perceptual uncertainty due to phonological competition among and/or phonetic discrepancies from multiple native categories. This indicates, furthermore, a more focused and thus stronger native phonological contribution for Categorised than Uncategorised assimilations. PAM principles thus extend to non-native tone assimilations and indicate the importance of both native phonological and phonetic contributions to non-native speech perception