La percepción de acentos tonales en enunciados afirmativos

En estudios recientes sobre la entonación española se ha presentado evidencia acústica de la existencia de dos alineamientos distintos en la curva entonativa de los enunciados afirmativos (L+H*) y (L*+H). Sin embargo, la naturaleza fonológica de estos acentos tonales es un tema que aun requiere de mayor estudio y discusión. El objetivo del presente trabajo es investigar la percepción de ambos acentos tonales con el propósito de establecer si los hablantes nativos de la lengua española pueden distinguir entre ambos alineamientos. Con este fin se diseñó un experimento en el cual los participantes debían distinguir entre ambos tipos de alineamiento. Es decir, alineamiento temprano al mayor punto de ascenso dentro de la sílaba acentuada donde ocurre el tono (i.e. L+H*) y alineamiento tardío al mayor punto de ascenso con relación a la sílaba acentuada. Los resultados indican que los participantes tuvieron poco éxito en la discriminación de los diferentes acentos tonales. No obstante, se requiere de más evidencia para proponer con certeza la existencia de un valor fonológico asociado con los distintos acentos tonales descritos en los estudios de producción del español.While much acoustic-phonetic evidence has accumulated which proves the existence of two phonetically distinct peak alignments (L+H* and L*+H) in Spanish declaratives, whether or not the two alignments are phonologically distinct remains a topic of debate. The goal of the present paper is to utilize perceptual data, as opposed production data, to establish whether listeners can distinguish between the two pitch accents. Participants took part in a perceptual task in which they were asked to discriminate between the peak alignments. The results indicate that participants had a bias to respond “same” to the majority of the experimental trials, which may explain why performance on “different” trials was poor. Sensitivity (A’) scores, however, indicate that overall, participants could discriminate some differences in the signal. The findings suggest that listeners could not successfully discriminate between the different pitch accent alignments. However, more evidence is needed to rule out the two pitch accent analysis.En estudios recientes sobre la entonación española se ha presentado evidencia acústica de la existencia de dos alineamientos distintos en la curva entonativa de los enunciados afirmativos (L+H*) y (L*+H). Sin embargo, la naturaleza fonológica de estos acentos tonales es un tema que aun requiere de mayor estudio y discusión. El objetivo del presente trabajo es investigar la percepción de ambos acentos tonales con el propósito de establecer si los hablantes nativos de la lengua española pueden distinguir entre ambos alineamientos. Con este fin se diseñó un experimento en el cual los participantes debían distinguir entre ambos tipos de alineamiento. Es decir, alineamiento temprano al mayor punto de ascenso dentro de la sílaba acentuada donde ocurre el tono (i.e. L+H*) y alineamiento tardío al mayor punto de ascenso con relación a la sílaba acentuada. Los resultados indican que los participantes tuvieron poco éxito en la discriminación de los diferentes acentos tonales. No obstante, se requiere de más evidencia para proponer con certeza la existencia de un valor fonológico asociado con los distintos acentos tonales descritos en los estudios de producción del español

La percepción de acentos tonales en enunciados afirmativos

En estudios recientes sobre la entonación española se ha presentado evidencia acústica de la existencia de dos alineamientos distintos en la curva entonativa de los enunciados afirmativos (L+H*) y (L*+H). Sin embargo, la naturaleza fonológica de estos acentos tonales es un tema que aun requiere de mayor estudio y discusión. El objetivo del presente trabajo es investigar la percepción de ambos acentos tonales con el propósito de establecer si los hablantes nativos de la lengua española pueden distinguir entre ambos alineamientos. Con este fin se diseñó un experimento en el cual los participantes debían distinguir entre ambos tipos de alineamiento. Es decir, alineamiento temprano al mayor punto de ascenso dentro de la sílaba acentuada donde ocurre el tono (i.e. L+H*) y alineamiento tardío al mayor punto de ascenso con relación a la sílaba acentuada. Los resultados indican que los participantes tuvieron poco éxito en la discriminación de los diferentes acentos tonales. No obstante, se requiere de más evidencia para proponer con certeza la existencia de un valor fonológico asociado con los distintos acentos tonales descritos en los estudios de producción del español

Health state utility estimates for value assessments of novel treatments in Huntington’s disease:a systematic literature review

Background: Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with a devastating impact on patients and their families. Quantifying how treatments affect patient outcomes is critical for informing reimbursement decisions. Many countries mandate a formal value assessment in which the treatment benefit is measured as quality-adjusted life-years, calculated with the use of utility estimates that reflect respondents’ preferences for health states. Objective: To summarize published health state utility data in HD and identify gaps and uncertainties in the data available that could be used to inform value assessments. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review of studies that used preference-based instruments (e.g., EQ-5D and SF-6D) to estimate utility values for people with HD. The studies were published between January 2012 and December 2022. Results: Of 383 articles screened, 16 articles reported utility values estimated in 11 distinct studies. The utility measure most frequently reported was EQ-5D (9/11 studies). Two studies reported SF-6D data; one used time trade-off methods to value health state descriptions (vignettes). Although utility scores generally worsened to a lower value with increased HD severity, the estimates varied considerably across studies. The EQ-5D index range was 0.89 − 0.72 for mild/prodromal HD and 0.71 − 0.37 for severe/late-stage disease. Conclusions: This study uncovered high variability in published utility estimates, indicating substantial uncertainty in existing data. Further research is needed to better understand preferences and valuation across all stages and domains of HD symptoms and the degree to which generic utility measures capture the impact of cognitive changes on quality of life

Application of science and technology by the South African food and beverage industry

Significant shifts in the type of foods consumed by South Africans have taken place since 1994 and packaged food and beverage innovation has accelerated since then. Globally, advances in science and technology have benefitted food processing and food manufacturing technologies and systems. Significant capital investments have been made by the South African food and beverage manufacturing industry (SAFBMI). It is, however, not clear which technology areas have received investments and for what purposes. The objective of this study was thus to understand how the SAFBMI has invested in and applied science and technology since 1994. Data were sourced from food and beverage trade magazines, dating from 1986 to 2012. Trends over the past 30 years were analysed to determine the application of science and technology. The findings suggest that the dairy, soft drinks and bakery sectors have been most active. The main advances were to upgrade manufacturing facilities and build new plants to increase capacity, deliver new products and improve efficiencies and product quality and safety. Investments to improve thermal processing and packaging were also noted. We found evidence of the application of commercially available new preservation technologies and a low level of experimentation with non-commercial novel technologies by the SAFBMI. South Africa appears to be keeping pace with advances in food manufacturing in automation, process control and quality and food safety practices, material handling, and centralised distribution centres with warehouse management systems. Continued investment in food science and technology research will ensure that the growing consumer demand for packaged foods and beverages is met.  Significance: • Although South Africa is keeping pace with science and technology advances in its food and beverage manufacturing operations, the need to continue to conduct and apply science and technology research, especially in novel processing, is highlighted

Field-testing of the revised, draft South African Paediatric Food-Based Dietary Guidelines amongst mothers/caregivers of children aged 0–12 months in the Breede Valley sub-district, Western Cape province, South Africa

Objectives: To assess the appropriateness and understanding of the revised, draft South African Paediatric Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (SA-PFBDGs) amongst mothers/caregivers of children aged 0–12 months. Exposure to guidelines with similar messages, barriers and enablers to following of the guidelines were also assessed. Design: Qualitative data were collected from 14 focus-group discussions (FGDs), conducted in isiXhosa (n = 5), English (n = 4) and Afrikaans (n = 5), totalling 73 mother/caregiver participants. Setting: Worcester, Breede Valley sub-district, Western Cape province. Subjects: The study population included mothers/caregivers who were older than 18 years. Results: The majority of participants had previous exposure to variations of messages similar to the revised, draft SA-PFBDGs. Health platforms and practitioners (community health centres, antenatal classes, nurses, doctors) and social networks and platforms (family, magazines, radio) were mentioned as primary sources of information. Barriers to following the messages included: inconsistent messages (mainly communicated by healthcare workers), contrasting beliefs and cultural/family practices, limited physical and financial access to resources, poor social support structures and the psycho-social and physical demands of raising a child. Conclusion: The revised, draft SA-PFBDGs for the age range 0–12 months have been field-tested in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. The messages in some of the revised, draft SA-PFBDGs were not understood by the participants, indicating that a degree of rewording should be considered to facilitate understanding of the guidelines by the public. The National Department of Health should consider the findings of this study, and use these standardised message/s to optimise infant and young child feeding

Characterization of the QUartz Photon Intensifying Detector (QUPID) for Noble Liquid Detectors

Dark Matter and Double Beta Decay experiments require extremely low radioactivity within the detector materials. For this purpose, the University of California, Los Angeles and Hamamatsu Photonics have developed the QUartz Photon Intensifying Detector (QUPID), an ultra-low background photodetector based on the Hybrid Avalanche Photo Diode (HAPD) and entirely made of ultraclean synthetic fused silica. In this work we present the basic concept of the QUPID and the testing measurements on QUPIDs from the first production line. Screening of radioactivity at the Gator facility in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso has shown that the QUPIDs safely fulfill the low radioactive contamination requirements for the next generation zero background experiments set by Monte Carlo simulations. The quantum efficiency of the QUPID at room temperature is > 30% at the xenon scintillation wavelength. At low temperatures, the QUPID shows a leakage current less than 1 nA and a global gain of 10^5. In these conditions, the photocathode and the anode show > 95% linearity up to 1 uA for the cathode and 3 mA for the anode. The photocathode and collection efficiency are uniform to 80% over the entire surface. In parallel with single photon counting capabilities, the QUPIDs have a good timing response: 1.8 +/- 0.1 ns rise time, 2.5 +/- 0.2 ns fall time, 4.20 +/- 0.05 ns pulse width, and 160 +/- 30 ps transit time spread. The QUPIDs have also been tested in a liquid xenon environment, and scintillation light from 57Co and 210Po radioactive sources were observed.Comment: 15 pages, 22 figure

Sugar sweetened beverage consumption in the early years and implications for type 2 diabetes: A sub-Saharan Africa context

This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to peer review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Proceedings of the Nutrition Society published by Cambridge University Press. Copyright Nutrition Society / Cambridge University Press.This review aims to explore trends of early consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), within the context of growing child and adolescent obesity and escalating type-2 diabetes prevalence. We explore efforts to mitigate these, drawing on examples from Africa and elsewhere. SSBs including carbonated drinks and fruit juices, play a contributory role in the development of obesity and associated non-communicable diseases. SSA is an attractive market for beverage companies owing to its rapid economic growth, growing middle class and youthful populations. SSBs already contribute significantly to total sugar and energy consumption in SSA where a plethora of marketing techniques targeted at younger people are utilised to ensure brand recognition and influence purchasing and brand loyalty. Coupled with a general lack of nutrition knowledge or engagement with preventative health, this can lead to frequent consumption of sugary drinks at a young age. Many high and some middle income countries public health efforts address increasing prevalence of obesity and type-2 diabetes by focussing on strategies to encourage reduction in sugar consumption via health policy and public education campaigns. However, similar efforts are not as developed or forthcoming in low-income countries. Health care systems across SSA are ill-prepared to cope with epidemic proportions of non-communicable diseases, particularly when contextualized with the ongoing battle with infectious diseases. We conclude that greater efforts by governments and the nutrition community to educate the public on the health effects of increased and excessive consumption of SSBs are necessary to help address this issue

Measurement of the scintillation time spectra and pulse-shape discrimination of low-energy beta and nuclear recoils in liquid argon with DEAP-1

The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector was used to measure scintillation pulse shapes of electron and nuclear recoil events and to demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) down to an electron-equivalent energy of 20 keV. In the surface dataset using a triple-coincidence tag we found the fraction of beta events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be $<1.4\times 10^{-7}$ (90% C.L.) for energies between 43-86 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 4% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. The discrimination measurement on surface was limited by nuclear recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons. This was improved by moving the detector to the SNOLAB underground laboratory, where the reduced background rate allowed the same measurement with only a double-coincidence tag. The combined data set contains $1.23\times10^8$ events. One of those, in the underground data set, is in the nuclear-recoil region of interest. Taking into account the expected background of 0.48 events coming from random pileup, the resulting upper limit on the electronic recoil contamination is $<2.7\times10^{-8}$ (90% C.L.) between 44-89 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 6% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. We developed a general mathematical framework to describe PSD parameter distributions and used it to build an analytical model of the distributions observed in DEAP-1. Using this model, we project a misidentification fraction of approx. $10^{-10}$ for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 15 keV for a detector with 8 PE/keVee light yield. This reduction enables a search for spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of $10^{-46}$ cm$^2$, assuming negligible contribution from nuclear recoil backgrounds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic