Changes in the McGurk Effect across Phonetic Contexts. I. Fusions

The McGurk effect has generally been studied within a limited range of phonetic contexts. With the goal of characterizing the McGurk effect through a wider range of contexts, a parametric investigation across three different vowel contexts, /i/, /α/, and /u/, and two different syllable types, consonant-vowel (CV) and vowel-consonant (VC), was conducted. This paper discusses context-dependent changes found specifically in the McGurk fusion phenomenon (Part II addresses changes found in combination percepts). After normalizing for differences in the magnitude of the McGurk effect in different contexts, a large qualitative change in the effect across vowel contexts became apparent. In particular, the frequency of illusory /g/ percepts increased relative to the frequency of illusory /d/ percepts as vowel context was shifted from /i/ to /α/ to /u/. This trend was seen in both syllable sets, and held regardless of whether the visual stimulus used was a /g/ or /d/ articulation. This qualitative change in the McGurk fusion effect across vowel environments corresponded systematically with changes in the typical second formant frequency patterns of the syllables presented. The findings are therefore consistent with sensory-based theories of speech perception which emphasize the importance of second formant patterns as cues in multimodal speech perception.National Institue on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (R29 02852); Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (R29 02852

Development of the early axon scaffold in the rostral brain of the small spotted cat shark (<i>Scyliorhinus canicula</i>) embryo

International audienceThe cat shark is increasingly used as a model for Chondrichthyes, an evolutionarily important sister group of the bony vertebrates that include teleosts and tetrapods. In the bony vertebrates, the first axon tracts form a highly conserved early axon scaffold. The corresponding structure has not been well characterised in cat shark and will prove a useful model for comparative studies. Using pan-neural markers, the early axon scaffold of the cat shark, Scyliorhinus canicula, was analysed. Like in other vertebrates, the medial longitudinal fascicle was the first axon tract to form from a small cluster of neurones in the ventral brain. Subsequently, additional neuronal clusters and axon tracts emerged which formed an array of longitudinal, transversal, and commissural axons tracts in the Scyliorhinus canicula embryonic brain. The first structures to appear after the medial longitudinal fascicle were the tract of the postoptic commissure, the dorsoventral diencephalic tract, and the descending tract of the mesencephalic nucleus of the trigeminal nerve. These results confirm that the early axon scaffold in the embryonic brain is highly conserved through vertebrate evolution

In Fear We Trust: Anxious Political Rhetoric & the Politics of Punishment, 1960s-80s

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

Development of a Digital Standard to Specify Surface Requirements of Cast Metal Surfaces

Communication of specifications between a customer and a manufacturer is important for meeting form, fit, and functional requirements of any part. Current standards for the requirements of cast metal surfaces use qualitative methods, including comparator plates and images of surfaces, to specify the surface quality allowing ample room for variation in interpretation of the standard. The length scale of existing contact surface measurements is too small for most casting surfaces. This paper covered a proposed digital standard for specifying cast metal surfaces. The proposed digital standard used point cloud data of a cast surface, likely attained using a non-contact capture method, in order to identify roughness properties and anomalies caused by the casting process. Unlike current qualitative methods, this standard does not specify the potential causes of surface issues, such as porosity or inclusions. This standard was developed in order to reduce measurement variation and eliminate confusion between the customer and manufacturer. Assigning quantitative criterion to the surface allows the customer to specify exactly what is needed as opposed to limiting them to a subjective comparator or image to base their requirements. Additionally, this quantitative method could be used to verify visual inspection results among the inspectors within a production facility to reduce their measurement error and improve productivity

Changes in the McGurk Effect Across Phonetic Contexts

To investigate the process underlying audiovisual speech perception, the McGurk illusion was examined across a range of phonetic contexts. Two major changes were found. First, the frequency of illusory /g/ fusion percepts increased relative to the frequency of illusory /d/ fusion percepts as vowel context was shifted from /i/ to /a/ to /u/. This trend could not be explained by biases present in perception of the unimodal visual stimuli. However, the change found in the McGurk fusion effect across vowel environments did correspond systematically with changes in second format frequency patterns across contexts. Second, the order of consonants in illusory combination percepts was found to depend on syllable type. This may be due to differences occuring across syllable contexts in the timecourses of inputs from the two modalities as delaying the auditory track of a vowel-consonant stimulus resulted in a change in the order of consonants perceived. Taken together, these results suggest that the speech perception system either fuses audiovisual inputs into a visually compatible percept with a similar second formant pattern to that of the acoustic stimulus or interleaves the information from different modalities, at a phonemic or subphonemic level, based on their relative arrival times.National Institutes of Health (R01 DC02852

Current Trends and Future Outlook for Retiree Health Benefits

Documents the increasing costs of retiree benefits for large private sector employers and their retirees. Looks at the response of large employers to the Medicare prescription drug law and the subsidies it provides for maintaining retiree drug coverage

Carcass characteristics of cattle differing in Jersey proportion

peer-reviewedComparison of alternative dairy (cross-)breeding programs requires full appraisals of all revenues and costs, including beef merit. Few studies exist on carcass characteristics of crossbred dairy progeny originating from dairy herds as well as their dams. The objective of the present study was to quantify, using a national database, the carcass characteristics of young animals and cows differing in their fraction of Jersey. The data set consisted of 117,593 young animals and 42,799 cows. The associations between a combination of sire and dam breed proportion (just animal breed proportion when the dependent variable was on cows) with age at slaughter (just for young animals), carcass weight, conformation, fat score, price per kilogram, and total carcass value were estimated using mixed models that accounted for covariances among herdmates of the same sex slaughtered in close proximity in time; we also accounted for age at slaughter in young animals (which was substituted with carcass weight and carcass fat score when the dependent variable was age at slaughter), animal sex, parity of the cow or dam (where relevant), and temporal effects represented by a year-by-month 2-way interaction. For young animals, the heaviest of the dairy carcasses were from the mating of a Holstein-Friesian dam and a Holstein-Friesian sire (323.34 kg), whereas the lightest carcasses were from the mating of a purebred Jersey dam to a purebred Jersey sire which were 46.31 kg lighter (standard error of the difference = 1.21 kg). The young animal carcass weight of an F1 Holstein-Friesian × Jersey cross was 20.4 to 27.0 kg less than that of a purebred Holstein-Friesian animal. The carcass conformation of a Holstein-Friesian young animal was 26% superior to that of a purebred Jersey, translating to a difference of 0.78 conformation units on a scale of 1 to 15. Purebred Holstein-Friesians produced carcasses with less fat than their purebred Jersey counterparts. The difference in carcass price per kilogram among the alternative sire-dam breed combinations investigated was minimal, although large differences existed among the different breed types for overall carcass value; the carcass value of a Holstein-Friesian animal was 20% greater than that of a Jersey animal. Purebred Jersey animals required, on average, 21 d longer to reach a given carcass weight and fat score relative to a purebred Holstein-Friesian. The difference in age at slaughter between a purebred Holstein-Friesian animal and the mating between a Holstein-Friesian sire with a Jersey dam, and vice versa, was between 7.0 and 8.9 d. A 75.8-kg difference in carcass weight existed between the carcass of a purebred Jersey cow and that of a Holstein-Friesian cow; a 50% Holstein–Friesian-50% Jersey cow had a carcass 42.0 kg lighter than that of a purebred Holstein-Friesian cow. Carcass conformation was superior in purebred Holstein-Friesian compared with purebred Jersey cows. Results from this study represent useful input parameters to populate simulation models of alternative breeding programs on dairy farms, and to help beef farmers evaluate the cost-benefit of rearing, for slaughter, animals differing in Jersey fraction.This publication arose from research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (Dublin) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine on behalf of the Government of Ireland under the Grant 16/RC/3835 (VistaMilk; Dublin, Ireland) as well as funding from the Research Stimulus Fund (BreedQuality and GREENBREED; Dublin, Ireland) and Meat Technology Ireland (MTI; Dublin, Ireland), a co-funded industry/Enterprise Ireland project (TC 2016 002)

Sustainability and Technology Diffusion in Small, Isolated Communities in the Developing World: an Applied Ethnographic Study

Developing countries have placed information and communication technologies (ICTs) high on their national development agenda. The assumed model has been one in which ICTs are the means to deliver an information society, which is itself a means to economic and social development. Anthropologists theorize that small, isolated communities with limited local expertise innovate and adopt more sophisticated technologies as a reaction to perceived survival risk and to enable risk-buffering. We view the adoption and evolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in remote communities in the developing world as a continuation of this anthropologic process. In our Research-in-Progress paper, we describe how we plan to use Applied Ethnography to produce a more granular understanding of the complex social, cultural and political dynamics that constrain or enable ICT interventions within small remote communities in the developing world. We will add to the body of knowledge by investigating how individual’s attitudes towards technology are influenced by their prior experience of high profile ICT projects such as One Laptop per Child. Our results will inform the discipline and provide avenues for future research

Social and emotional learning for educators

Teacher quality has become a top priority of the global agenda to improve student academic achievement and behaviour (MacBeath, 2012), and to prepare the world’s children for a global economy (Schleicher, 2016). Education is an essential human right recognised by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasises that “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace” (Article 26(2)). It is noteworthy that – despite vast differences in goals, resources, and educational system infrastructure – all U.N. Nations recognise the vital role that schools play in supporting the development of key social emotional competencies such as tolerance, respect and understanding. Teachers play a vital role in shaping if, and how, this international vision for education is to be achieved

A probabilistic model to estimate visual inspection error for metalcastings given different training and judgment types, environmental and human factors, and percent of defects

Current methods for visual inspection of cast metal surfaces are variable in both terms of repeatability and reproducibility. Because of this variation in the inspection methods, extra finishing operations are often prescribed; much of this is over processing in attempt to avoid rework or customer rejection. Additionally, defective castings may pass inspection and be delivered to the customer. Given the importance of ensuring that customers receive high-quality castings, this article analyzes and quantifies the probability of Type I and II errors, where a Type I error is a false alarm, and a Type II error misses a present defect. A probabilistic model frequently used in risk analysis, called an influence diagram, is developed to incorporate different factors impacting the chances of Type I and II errors. These factors include: training for inspectors, the type of judgment used during the inspection process, the percentage of defective castings, environmental conditions, and the inspectors’ capabilities. The model is populated with inputs based on prior experimentation and the authors’ expertise. The influence diagram calculates the probability of a Type I error at 0.35 and the probability of a Type II error at 0.40. These results are compared to a naïve Bayes model. A manufacturer can use this analysis to identify factors in its foundry that could reduce the probability of errors. Even under the best-case scenario, the probability of Type I error is 0.18 and the probability of Type II error is 0.30 for visual inspection. This indicates improvements to the inspection process for cast metal surfaces is required