The effect of pitch span on intonational plateaux

Previous research has indicated that the H (high) of a nuclear accent may be realized as a flat stretch of contour rather than as a single turning point. Both the duration of this plateau and its alignment within the accented syllable are affected by the segmental and prosodic structure of the utterance. The present work investigates whether a non-structural variable, namely pitch span, also affects the realization of the plateau. Speakers replicated all-sonorant utterances in different pitch spans. Results show that both the duration and alignment of the plateau vary with pitch span but in ways different from the way they vary with prosodic structure. Importantly, results also indicate that, when using a proportional measure of alignment, the end of the plateau is anchored within the syllable for each speaker and may be a marker of linguistic structure

Electron collision cross sections in metal vapors Semiannual report

Electron collision cross section in metal vapors - measurement of Townsend alpha coefficient in cesium-helium mixture

Subsidization of the Biofuel Industry: Security vs. Clean Air?

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/11/06.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Distributed Queries for Quality Control Checks in Clinical Trials

Operational Quality Control (QC) checks are standard practice in clinical trials and ensure ongoing compliance with the study protocol, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP). We present a method for defining QC checks as distributed queries over case report forms (CRF) and clinical imaging data- sources. Our distributed query system can integrate time-sensitive information in order to populate QC checks that can facilitate discrepancy resolution workflow in clinical trials

John Fitzgerald Kennedy As Seen By His Contemporary Biographers

It was Camelot. Many Americans, prohibited, by law from the titles of nobility, had embraced their young president in that very manner. The world had., in many ways, come to regard, him in a fashion other than just another American President. The Jacqueline Kennedy that D. W. Brogan claimed, helped her husband, in the 1960 campaign only by being pregnant had. blossomed, into a great political asset. 1 She had. captivated, the Spanish and, French and had I persuaded Andre Malroux to allow the first lady of the O world, the Mona Lisa, to journey to the United, States. The Kennedy children, Caroline and, John-John made the patter of tiny footsteps, so long absent in the White House, fondly remembered. They also made good, copy for McCall\u27s and. other women\u27s magazines that could, now point to a first family with the accent on youth. In every family there is death. A nation tends to grieve with its leaders in such times and the concern of millions was reflected during the loosing battle fought by little Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. When the baby died the political albatross of Roman Catholicism provided the nation with an almost regal funeral. Americans that were previously unexposed to the grandeur suddenly discovered, how princes are buried

Agro-terrorism and the Grain Handling Systems in Canada and the United States

The grain handling sector in Canada and the United States is vital to agriculture and trade. In a typical year on the Canadian prairies, about 140,000 producers deliver some 20 to 30 mmt of grain for export to primary elevators. In the United States, about 2.1 million producers deliver about 300 mmt of grain to primary elevators. Canadian grain is moved to export position using more than 400,000 hopper cars and marine containers, where about 1,200 ships per year are loaded. In the United States, about 1.08 million rail carloads of grain are originated per year, and about 23 mmt of grain are shipped on barges per year. These U.S. figures are in addition to trucks, which, more so than in Canada, are also used to deliver grain to primary processors and to terminal and export markets. The volume of grain trade gives rise to concern about risks of terrorism in the sector.(1) From a security perspective, the grain, pulse and oilseed supply chain is noteworthy because much of it is characterized by relatively long-term, insecure, bulky storage (particularly on farms) along with numerous modal and inter-modal product transfers. These factors suggest there are many places where chemical or biological contaminants could be introduced into this supply chain. From the perspective of the United States, security throughout the Canadian system as well as the U.S. system is a concern, since cross-border traffic in these products is significant, with an average of about six million tonnes of grain products alone imported into the U.S. each year (USDA-FAS, 2003). Numerous interventions to enhance food safety and mitigate the risk of terrorism have been adopted or are in the process of being developed. Some of these are private initiatives and voluntary, as a component of firm-level security processes. Others are being adopted in response to legislated initiatives. The stakes are large, and there are likely to be substantial differences in costs and effectiveness of different approaches.Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Articulation rate as a metric in spoken language assessment

Copyright © 2019 ISCA Automated evaluation of non-native pronunciation provides a consistent and more cost-efficient alternative to human evaluation. To that end, there is considerable interest in deriving metrics that are based on the cues human listeners use to judge pronunciation. Previous research reported the use of phonetic features such as vowel characteristics in automated spoken language evaluation. The present study extends this line of work on the significance of phonetic features in automated evaluation of L2 speech (both assessment and feedback). Predictive modelling techniques examined the relationship between various articulation rate metrics one the one hand, and the proficiency and L1 background of non-native English speakers on the other. It was found that the optimal predictive model was one in which the phonetic details of phoneme articulation were factored in the analysis of articulation rate. Model performance varied also according to the L1 background of speakers. The implications for assessment and feedback are discussed.Leverhulme ECF Fellowship; ALTA projec