Speech Compensation to Formant Perturbations in English and Vietnamese Talkers

The purpose of this experiment was to examine mechanisms underlying the auditory feedback system using Vietnamese and English talkers in response to feedback perturbations. F1 discrimination thresholds, vowel goodness ratings, and vowel category bounds for English /ɪ/ were determined. Vowel spaces were collected for both languages and auditory feedback of F1 was manipulated for English and Vietnamese vowels. Speech compensation during perturbed auditory feedback occurred in English and Vietnamese vowels suggesting that the underlying mechanisms are universal. However, there were differences in speech compensation for some vowel conditions, which may have occurred due to vowel location in each language group’s vowel space. Speech compensation may also be influenced by the perceptual boundaries of internal vowel categories where significant compensation may occur when feedback is non-prototypical to the target vowel category. Overall, these results suggest that the feedback system is sensitive to formant frequency changes that may have underlying phonological mediations

Morphological characteristics and genetic diversity of <em>Terapon jarbua</em> (Forrskäl, 1775) in Central, Vietnam

Many environmental factors affect the morphology of migratory fish species, such as salinity, water flow rate, and temperature. However, studies on changes in fish morphology under environmental variations from salt water to brackish water are still limited in many fish species, especially in *Terapon jarbua*. This study aims to investigate the differences in the morphological parameters of *T. jarbua* between the coastal sea (seawater) and lagoon (brackish water); and between male and female fish based on a landmark morphological approach. Additionally, the genetic diversity of *T. jarbua* populations in Central Vietnam was elucidated using the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtDNA COI) sequence as a molecular marker. The analytical results indicated no sexual dimorphism in the *T. jarbua* population, yet conformational differences exist between the two studied aquatic species. The analysis of 42 mtDNA COI sequences collected from Central Vietnam identified 13 haplotypes with medium genetic diversity and low genetic differentiation between the Tam Giang lagoon and Thua Thien Hue coastal (Fst = 0.028) and not significant (p = 0.126). Most haplotypes obtained are present in reference populations, indicating a high genetic exchange between populations. We proposed that the *T. jarbua* population in Central Vietnam has a stable connection with neighboring populations (China, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan)

Porous Si structure as moisture sensor

Development and characterization of a capacitive moisture sensor made from porous Si is presented. The sensor development was in support of the DoD funded Plastic Package Availability program and was intended for the detection of pinholes and defects in moisture barrier coatings applied to ICs during fabrication or during the plastic encapsulation assembly process

Reorientation of magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial cobalt ferrite thin films

Spin reorientation has been observed in CoFe2O4 thin single crystalline films epitaxially grown on (100) MgO substrate upon varying the film thickness. The critical thickness for such a spin-reorientation transition was estimated to be 300 nm. The reorientation is driven by a structural transition in the film from a tetragonal to cubic symmetry. At low thickness, the in-plane tensile stress induces a tetragonal distortion of the lattice that generates a perpendicular anisotropy, large enough to overcome the shape anisotropy and to stabilize the magnetization easy axis out of plane. However, in thicker films, the lattice relaxation toward the cubic structure of the bulk allows the shape anisotropy to force the magnetization to be in plane aligned

Increased expression of the dopamine transporter leads to loss of dopamine neurons, oxidative stress and l-DOPA reversible motor deficits

The dopamine transporter is a key protein responsible for regulating dopamine homeostasis. Its function is to transport dopamine from the extracellular space into the presynaptic neuron. Studies have suggested that accumulation of dopamine in the cytosol can trigger oxidative stress and neurotoxicity. Previously, ectopic expression of the dopamine transporter was shown to cause damage in non-dopaminergic neurons due to their inability to handle cytosolic dopamine. However, it is unknown whether increasing dopamine transporter activity will be detrimental to dopamine neurons that are inherently capable of storing and degrading dopamine. To address this issue, we characterized transgenic mice that over-express the dopamine transporter selectively in dopamine neurons. We report that dopamine transporter over-expressing (DAT-tg) mice display spontaneous loss of midbrain dopamine neurons that is accompanied by increases in oxidative stress markers, 5-S-cysteinyl-dopamine and 5-S-cysteinyl-DOPAC. In addition, metabolite-to-dopamine ratios are increased and VMAT2 protein expression is decreased in the striatum of these animals. Furthermore, DAT-tg mice also show fine motor deficits on challenging beam traversal that are reversed with L-DOPA treatment. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that even in neurons that routinely handle dopamine, increased uptake of this neurotransmitter through the dopamine transporter results in oxidative damage, neuronal loss and LDOPA reversible motor deficits. In addition, DAT over-expressing animals are highly sensitive to MPTP-induced neurotoxicity. The effects of increased dopamine uptake in these transgenic mice could shed light on the unique vulnerability of dopamine neurons in Parkinson’s disease

Analysis and contribution of stress anisotropy in epitaxial hard ferrite thin films

The stress anisotropy in epitaxial hard ferrites thin films (BaFe12O19, CoFe2O4) has been investigated using two methods. (a) The thickness dependence of torque curves and magnetic hysteresis loops. (b) The comparison between magnetic and magneto-optic Kerr hysteresis loops. Both analyses confirm the domination of stress in CoFe2O4 whereas in BaFe12O19 films the stress is too weak to compete with magnetocrystalline anisotropy

Helicobacter pylori dupA gene is not associated with clinical outcomes in the Japanese population

AbstractThe dupA gene of Helicobacter pylori was suggested to be a risk factor for duodenal ulcer but protective against gastric cancer. The present study aimed to re-examine the role of dupA in H. pylori-infected Japanese patients. We found that dupA status was not associated with any gastroduodenal disease, histological score of chronic gastritis or with the extent of interleukin-8 production from gastric cell lines. These results indicate that dupA is unlikely to be a virulence factor of H. pylori in the Japanese population