The Effects of Phonetic Duration on Loanword Adaptation: Mandarin Falling Diphthong in Chinese Korean

This study examines how Mandarin falling sonority diphthongs are adapted to a Chinese Korean dialect. It investigates how the subtle phonetic conditions of the source language affect adaptation, and if and how those phonetic effects differ in established loanwords compared to the on-line adaptation of novel loan forms. We found that in this bilingual population, while the Mandarin diphthongs are usually adapted as monophthongs, obeying the native phonological restriction against falling diphthongs, the retention of the input diphthongs in violation of the native constraint is also quite common. Additionally, we found that the choice of the monophthong vs. diphthong realization is strongly affected by the input phonetic duration and in particular, the durational difference among the different tones is robustly reflected in the adaptation patterns.The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions that improved the paper. We would also like to thank Professor Sun Ying at Liaoning University, Professor Yunyan Luo at Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Yuanyang Song for their invaluable help during the data collection process, Sung-Geol Kim for help with stimulus preparation, Hyoung-Seok Kwon for help with data analysis, Professor Oh Sung-Ae at the Ocean University of China and the audience members at LabPhon15 and the Workshop on the Phonetics and Phonology in Loanword Adaptation for comments on earlier versions of the paper. The work was supported by the Insight Grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Accident risk identification and its impact analyses for strategic construction safety management

The study presented in this paper reviewed 9,358 accidents which occurred in the U.S. construction industry between 2002 and 2011, in order to understand the relationships between the risk factors and injury severity (e.g. fatalities, hospitalized injuries, or non-hospitalized injuries) and to develop a strategic prevention plan to reduce the likelihood of fatalities where an accident is unavoidable. The study specifically aims to: (1) verify the relationships among risk factors, accident types, and injury severity; (2) determine significant risk factors associated with each accident type that are highly correlated to injury severity; and (3) analyse the impact of the identified key factors on accident and fatality occurrence. The analysis results explained that safety managers’ roles are critical to reducing human-related risks – particularly misjudgement of hazardous situations – through safety training and education, appropriate use of safety devices and proper safety inspection. However, for environment-related factors, the dominant risk factors were different depending on the different accident types. The outcomes of this study will assist safety managers to understand the nature of construction accidents and plan for strategic risk mitigation by prioritizing high frequency risk factors to effectively control accident occurrence and manage the likelihood of fatal injuries on construction sites

PRMT1 promotes neuroblastoma cell survival through ATF5

Aberrant expression of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) has been implicated in a number of cancers, making PRMTs potential therapeutic targets. But it remains not well understood how PRMTs impact specific oncogenic pathways. We previously identified PRMTs as important regulators of cell growth in neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood tumor of the sympathetic nervous system. Here, we demonstrate a critical role for PRMT1 in neuroblastoma cell survival. PRMT1 depletion decreased the ability of murine neuroblastoma sphere cells to grow and form spheres, and suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis of human neuroblastoma cells. Mechanistic studies reveal the prosurvival factor, activating transcription factor 5 (ATF5) as a downstream effector of PRMT1-mediated survival signaling. Furthermore, a diamidine class of PRMT1 inhibitors exhibited anti-neuroblastoma efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, overexpression of ATF5 rescued cell apoptosis triggered by PRMT1 inhibition genetically or pharmacologically. Taken together, our findings shed new insights into PRMT1 signaling pathway, and provide evidence for PRMT1 as an actionable therapeutic target in neuroblastoma

Genetic Drivers of Heterogeneity in Type 2 Diabetes Pathophysiology

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a heterogeneous disease that develops through diverse pathophysiological processes1,2 and molecular mechanisms that are often specific to cell type3,4. Here, to characterize the genetic contribution to these processes across ancestry groups, we aggregate genome-wide association study data from 2,535,601 individuals (39.7% not of European ancestry), including 428,452 cases of T2D. We identify 1,289 independent association signals at genome-wide significance (P \u3c 5 × 10-8) that map to 611 loci, of which 145 loci are, to our knowledge, previously unreported. We define eight non-overlapping clusters of T2D signals that are characterized by distinct profiles of cardiometabolic trait associations. These clusters are differentially enriched for cell-type-specific regions of open chromatin, including pancreatic islets, adipocytes, endothelial cells and enteroendocrine cells. We build cluster-specific partitioned polygenic scores5 in a further 279,552 individuals of diverse ancestry, including 30,288 cases of T2D, and test their association with T2D-related vascular outcomes. Cluster-specific partitioned polygenic scores are associated with coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease and end-stage diabetic nephropathy across ancestry groups, highlighting the importance of obesity-related processes in the development of vascular outcomes. Our findings show the value of integrating multi-ancestry genome-wide association study data with single-cell epigenomics to disentangle the aetiological heterogeneity that drives the development and progression of T2D. This might offer a route to optimize global access to genetically informed diabetes care

Genetic drivers of heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a heterogeneous disease that develops through diverse pathophysiological processes1,2 and molecular mechanisms that are often specific to cell type3,4. Here, to characterize the genetic contribution to these processes across ancestry groups, we aggregate genome-wide association study data from 2,535,601 individuals (39.7% not of European ancestry), including 428,452 cases of T2D. We identify 1,289 independent association signals at genome-wide significance (P &lt; 5 × 10-8) that map to 611 loci, of which 145 loci are, to our knowledge, previously unreported. We define eight non-overlapping clusters of T2D signals that are characterized by distinct profiles of cardiometabolic trait associations. These clusters are differentially enriched for cell-type-specific regions of open chromatin, including pancreatic islets, adipocytes, endothelial cells and enteroendocrine cells. We build cluster-specific partitioned polygenic scores5 in a further 279,552 individuals of diverse ancestry, including 30,288 cases of T2D, and test their association with T2D-related vascular outcomes. Cluster-specific partitioned polygenic scores are associated with coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease and end-stage diabetic nephropathy across ancestry groups, highlighting the importance of obesity-related processes in the development of vascular outcomes. Our findings show the value of integrating multi-ancestry genome-wide association study data with single-cell epigenomics to disentangle the aetiological heterogeneity that drives the development and progression of T2D. This might offer a route to optimize global access to genetically informed diabetes care.</p

Sources of variability in phonetic perception: The joint influence of listener and talker characteristics on perception of the Korean stop contrast

Where there is dialectal variability in production of a sound contrast, listeners from the two dialects may show parallel differences in perception. At the same time, perception is not static and can be influenced by other factors, including listeners’ experience with, and expectations about, different talkers. This work examines perception of the Korean three-way stop phonation contrast by listeners of two dialects of Korean. We examine to what extent listeners’ perception reflects production norms in their local community and, via a reverse matched-guise task, test whether their knowledge of cross-dialectal variability plays an active role in the way they categorize the contrast. While perception appears to reflect production norms on a broad level, we found age-related differences in perception, even for listener groups who showed no sign of a parallel difference in production. Furthermore, listeners showed different response patterns depending on the apparent dialect of the talker. Our results suggest that exposure to dialectal variability and expectations about the talker influence perception

Effect on the Load Transferring Properties Fiber Reinforced Steel in Concrete based on Different Mix Ratio

This paper analyses the correlation between the load transfer section and the overall toughness of steel fiber reinforced concrete. The specimens were created with different mixing ratios and different types of steel fiber, and the flexural behaviour properties according to the respective types of steel fiber were analysed. The results showed three types of load – displacement curves, and it was confirmed that the different fiber types affected the load transfer section on the overall toughness

Effect on the Load Transferring Properties Fiber Reinforced Steel in Concrete based on Different Mix Ratio

This paper analyses the correlation between the load transfer section and the overall toughness of steel fiber reinforced concrete. The specimens were created with different mixing ratios and different types of steel fiber, and the flexural behaviour properties according to the respective types of steel fiber were analysed. The results showed three types of load – displacement curves, and it was confirmed that the different fiber types affected the load transfer section on the overall toughness

Evaluation of Three Automated Nucleic Acid Extraction Systems for Identification of Respiratory Viruses in Clinical Specimens by Multiplex Real-Time PCR

A total of 84 nasopharyngeal swab specimens were collected from 84 patients. Viral nucleic acid was extracted by three automated extraction systems: QIAcube (Qiagen, Germany), EZ1 Advanced XL (Qiagen), and MICROLAB Nimbus IVD (Hamilton, USA). Fourteen RNA viruses and two DNA viruses were detected using the Anyplex II RV16 Detection kit (Seegene, Republic of Korea). The EZ1 Advanced XL system demonstrated the best analytical sensitivity for all the three viral strains. The nucleic acids extracted by EZ1 Advanced XL showed higher positive rates for virus detection than the others. Meanwhile, the MICROLAB Nimbus IVD system was comprised of fully automated steps from nucleic extraction to PCR setup function that could reduce human errors. For the nucleic acids recovered from nasopharyngeal swab specimens, the QIAcube system showed the fewest false negative results and the best concordance rate, and it may be more suitable for detecting various viruses including RNA and DNA virus strains. Each system showed different sensitivity and specificity for detection of certain viral pathogens and demonstrated different characteristics such as turnaround time and sample capacity. Therefore, these factors should be considered when new nucleic acid extraction systems are introduced to the laboratory