Persian ITAs and Speech Comprehensibility: Using CAPT for Pronunciation Improvement

Abstract It has been shown in the past that International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) struggle with phonological and communication issues in the classroom (Pickering, 1999; 2001). This issue leads to misunderstandings between ITAs and undergraduate students, frustrating them both as well as the parents of the students and the departments. However, studies have shown that with the right training, ITAs can focus on suprasegmental features, improving their speech comprehensibility and intelligibility (Gorusch, 2011). This study investigates the effect of Computer Assisted Pronunciation Teaching (CAPT) via tutorial videos and visual feedback on the improvement of ITAs’ speech comprehensibility. Across 5 US universities, 60 Persian ITAs, a video group (n=20), a visual feedback group(n=21), and a control group (n=19), completed an oral production pretest and recorded five diagnostic sentences plus spontaneous speech files. Over the next six weeks, all groups received in-person non-CAPT instruction, but the video group received and watched extra eight tutorial videos designed to target suprasegmental features and the feedback group was exposed to Praat visual feedback. Participants were also paired with a pronunciation tutor who provided instruction and feedback once a week. A perception posttest was administered, and the same 5 sentences with the spontaneous talk were once again recorded. The pre-and post-treatment sentences were then rated by 169 undergraduate students for comprehensibility. The findings of this study provide a greater understanding of how explicit instruction of pronunciation through CAPT can improve the speech comprehensibility of ITAs. The number of international people in academic and professional contexts is rising, it is necessary to guide them through appropriate instruction to improve their communication quality. The results of this study suggest that even short intervention programs that include targeted in-person tutoring, tutorial videos, and visual feedback may improve ITAs’ communications. Results also imply the need for pronunciation support for ITAs in their respective academic institutions

Imperfect Repair Strategies for Two-Dimensional Warranty

When a repairable product under warranty fails, the manufacturer (warrantor) has the choice to either repair or replace the failed product. When repairing a failed product, the degree of repair which affects the working condition of the product can vary, and this is assumed to have an impact on the cost of the repair. The main motivation of this study is to develop a warranty repair strategy that minimizes the costs associated with servicing the warranty. In this research, the product coverage is represented by a two-dimensional rectangular region with a free-replacement warranty. We propose an imperfect repair strategy that suggests employing imperfect repairs of a predefined degree, in prespecified subregions of the warranty region. The aim is to then minimize the expected warranty servicing cost to the manufacturer by determining the optimal partitioning of the warranty region for the chosen degrees of repair. Two imperfect repair models are considered, and for both, the expressions for the distribution of the times to imperfect repair and the expected warranty servicing cost per product sold are derived. We numerically illustrate our findings and compare the expected costs of the proposed imperfect repair strategy with those of previously developed repair-replacement warranty strategies

Evaluation of the Possibility of Instructing Power Plant in Esfahan Province Concerning Environmental, Social and Economic Criteria

In order to study the construction of wind power plants in Esfahan province, the statistics of climatology, the wind speed in four areas of Brojen, Mourche Khart, Varzaneh, Moghar were obtained and then by using a 2.5 MB Tourbine with 928 AV, the potential of wind energy was measured according to environmental, social and economic criteria. The results showed that, the percentage of pollution diffusion in these power plants equals to 0.7 to 5 percent of fossil and gas fuel power plants so that investing on this type of energy can reduce the level of contaminants in the province up to 15 percent. On the other hand, replacing these power plants results in saving 7 million cubic meters water which is equivalent to 2 percent of water consumption. From the economic point of view, in addition to providing the cost of construction during two years, this can be a good potential to make money by reducing fuel consumption and the resulted sale

Imperfect Repair Strategies for Two-Dimensional Warranty

When a repairable product under warranty fails, the manufacturer (warrantor) has the choice to either repair or replace the failed product. When repairing a failed product, the degree of repair which affects the working condition of the product can vary, and this is assumed to have an impact on the cost of the repair. The main motivation of this study is to develop a warranty repair strategy that minimizes the costs associated with servicing the warranty. In this research, the product coverage is represented by a two-dimensional rectangular region with a free-replacement warranty. We propose an imperfect repair strategy that suggests employing imperfect repairs of a predefined degree, in prespecified subregions of the warranty region. The aim is to then minimize the expected warranty servicing cost to the manufacturer by determining the optimal partitioning of the warranty region for the chosen degrees of repair. Two imperfect repair models are considered, and for both, the expressions for the distribution of the times to imperfect repair and the expected warranty servicing cost per product sold are derived. We numerically illustrate our findings and compare the expected costs of the proposed imperfect repair strategy with those of previously developed repair-replacement warranty strategies

Genetic characterization of Vimba vimba persa (Pallas, 1814) in southern parts of the Caspian Sea using microsatellite markers

Population genetic structure of Vimba vimba persa was investigated using microsatellite markers from 40 regions along the Iranian coastline of the Southern Caspian Sea (Anzali lagoon and Havigh River in Gilan province, BabolRoud River in Mazandaran province and GorganRoud River in Golestan province). Genomic DNA from 121 specimens was extracted from fin tissue by the Phenol-Chlorophorm method and PCR reaction was accomplished with 17 microsatellite primers, out of 17 microsatellite primers 13 loci were amplified, in which 10 of them were amplified with reasonable polymorphism and 3 were monomorphism. A total of 302 alleles were identified on average 7.55. Observed and expected heterozygosity averages were 0.80 and 0.77 respectively. Most cases significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p≤0.01). The estimation of Fst (p≤0.01) revealed significant population structuring and an estimation of the four population of Vimba vimba persa was identified in the Caspian Sea in which restocking of these species should be considered

Improvement of post-thawed sperm quality in broiler breeder roosters by ellagic acid-loaded liposomes

P. 440–446Liposomes could improve the delivery of substances to sperm. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the antioxidant ellagic acid and ellagic acid-loaded liposomes on post-thawed sperm quality in broiler breeder roosters. Semen was diluted in Beltsville extender containing ellagic acid or ellagic acid-loaded liposomes (ellagic acid at 0 (control), 0.5, 1, and 2 mM) and cryopreserved. Sperm quality was evaluated post-thawing: motility characteristics (Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis), membrane functionality (HOS test), abnormal morphology, mitochondrial activity (Rhodamine 123), apoptotic status (Annexin V/Propidium iodide), malondialdehyde, and antioxidant activities (glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC)). The results showed that 1 mM ellagic acid-loaded liposomes improved total motility, membrane functionality, and viability comparing to 0.5 and 2 mM ellagic acid, 2 mM ellagic acid-loaded liposomes, and control group. Mitochondrial activity was significantly higher for 1 mM ellagic acid-loaded liposomes compared to the rest of the treatments, except 1 mM ellagic acid. Ellagic acid at 1 mM in both forms significantly increased GPx and TAC after freeze-thawing (no significant variation for SOD), and also yielded the lower proportion of apoptotic and dead cells. In conclusion, ellagic acid improved post-thawed sperm quality in broiler breeder roosters. The use of liposomes could further enhance the effects of ellagic acid.S

Evaluation of the Possibility of Instructing Power Plant in Esfahan Province Concerning Environmental, Social and Economic Criteria

In order to study the construction of wind power plants in Esfahan province, the statistics of climatology, the wind speed in four areas of Brojen, Mourche Khart, Varzaneh, Moghar were obtained and then by using a 2.5 MB Tourbine with 928 AV, the potential of wind energy was measured according to environmental, social and economic criteria. The results showed that, the percentage of pollution diffusion in these power plants equals to 0.7 to 5 percent of fossil and gas fuel power plants so that investing on this type of energy can reduce the level of contaminants in the province up to 15 percent. On the other hand, replacing these power plants results in saving 7 million cubic meters water which is equivalent to 2 percent of water consumption. From the economic point of view, in addition to providing the cost of construction during two years, this can be a good potential to make money by reducing fuel consumption and the resulted sale

Evaluation of the Possibility of Instructing Power Plant in Esfahan Province Concerning Environmental, Social and Economic Criteria

In order to study the construction of wind power plants in Esfahan province, the statistics of climatology, the wind speed in four areas of Brojen, Mourche Khart, Varzaneh, Moghar were obtained and then by using a 2.5 MB Tourbine with 928 AV, the potential of wind energy was measured according to environmental, social and economic criteria. The results showed that, the percentage of pollution diffusion in these power plants equals to 0.7 to 5 percent of fossil and gas fuel power plants so that investing on this type of energy can reduce the level of contaminants in the province up to 15 percent. On the other hand, replacing these power plants results in saving 7 million cubic meters water which is equivalent to 2 percent of water consumption. From the economic point of view, in addition to providing the cost of construction during two years, this can be a good potential to make money by reducing fuel consumption and the resulted sale

Application of Electric Field to Developing Falling Films using Wire-Plate Electrode Configuration- An Experimental Study

Experimental investigation of Electrohydrodynamic developing falling film flow of transformer oil has been conducted within an inclined rectangular channel and hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow have been revealed. The electric field has been generated by five overhead thin wire electrodes connected to the positive high DC voltage on the air and the grounded plate electrodes which are placed upon the floor of the channel. It is the first time that the wavy behavior on a liquid falling film's interface has been created by this electrode configuration. A non-intrusive method has been used to measure the local flow structure by a high-speed camera, then statistical characteristics of the wavy falling film have been computed by image processing of the captured video frames. By applying 13-16 kV to the wire electrodes, the influence of EHD force on the wavy behavior of falling film has been conducted for Reynolds number 10-120 in the laminar-wavy regime at three different inclination angles 15◦, 30◦ and 45°. The vertical distance of the high-voltage wire electrodes to ground electrodes has been set to 14 mm. The liquid velocity, film thickness, and wave frequency have been measured for non-electrified and electrified falling film, and their results have been evaluated with other experimental studies and an acceptable agreement has been obtained. The results indicate that the proposed HV wire-grounded plate electrode configuration in this study does not disturb the original structure of the falling film and by intensifying the wavy behavior of laminar falling film can either suppress or enhance heat/mass transfer rate. The effects of the applied voltage on the frequency, velocity and film thickness of the falling liquid film have been also discussed in detail