Cross-speaker generalisation in two phoneme-level perceptual adaptation processes

Speech perception is shaped by listeners' prior experience with speakers. Listeners retune their phonetic category boundaries after encountering ambiguous sounds in order to deal with variations between speakers. Repeated exposure to an unambiguous sound, on the other hand, leads to a decrease in sensitivity to the features of that particular sound. This study investigated whether these changes in the listeners' perceptual systems can generalise to the perception of speech from a novel speaker. Specifically, the experiments looked at whether visual information about the identity of the speaker could prevent generalisation from occurring. In Experiment 1, listeners retuned auditory category boundaries using audiovisual speech input. This shift in the category boundaries affected perception of speech from both the exposure speaker and a novel speaker. In Experiment 2, listeners were repeatedly exposed to unambiguous speech either auditorily or audiovisually, leading to a decrease in sensitivity to the features of the exposure sound. Here, too, the changes affected the perception of both the exposure speaker and the novel speaker. Together, these results indicate that changes in the perceptual system can affect the perception of speech from a novel speaker and that visual speaker identity information did not prevent this generalisation

Effects of food-borne nanomaterials on gastrointestinal tissues and microbiota

Ingestion of engineered nanomaterials is inevitable due to their addition to food and prevalence in food packaging and domestic products such as toothpaste and sun cream. In the absence of robust dosimetry and particokinetic data, it is currently challenging to accurately assess the potential toxicity of food-borne nanomaterials. Herein, we review current understanding of gastrointestinal uptake mechanisms, consider some data on the potential for toxicity of the most commonly encountered classes of food-borne nanomaterials (including TiO2 , SiO2 , ZnO, and Ag nanoparticles), and discuss the potential impact of the luminal environment on nanoparticle properties and toxicity. Much of our current understanding of gastrointestinal nanotoxicology is derived from increasingly sophisticated epithelial models that augment in vivo studies. In addition to considering the direct effects of food-borne nanomaterials on gastrointestinal tissues, including the potential role of chronic nanoparticle exposure in development of inflammatory diseases, we also discuss the potential for food-borne nanomaterials to disturb the normal balance of microbiota within the gastrointestinal tract. The latter possibility warrants close attention given the increasing awareness of the critical role of microbiota in human health and the known impact of some food-borne nanomaterials on bacterial viability. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.</p

How Should the Precautionary Principle Apply to Pregnant Women in Clinical Research?

The precautionary principle is often invoked in relation to pregnant women and may be one of the underlying reasons for their continuous underrepresentation in clinical research. The principle is appealing, because potential fetal harm as a result of research participation is considered to be serious and irreversible. In our paper, we explore through conceptual analysis whether and if so how the precautionary principle should apply to pregnant women. We argue that the principle is a decision-making strategy underlying risk-benefit decisions in clinical research, which can be applied to pregnant women. However, the current application is a strong one, leading to the promotion of absolute exclusion or, less often, absolute inclusion of pregnant women. In order to change this paralyzing situation, a shift toward weak precautionary thinking is necessary. Instead of automatic extreme precaution, a balance will be found between harms and potential benefits of including pregnant women in clinical research

Bijenkorven, de Gravenhorster boogkorf

Uitleg over materiaal en constructie van verschillende typen gevlochten bijenkorven (Gravenhorster boogkorf, Veluwse korf, Bisschopsmuts, Bruidskorf, Drentse korf, Uddeler korf, Vaassense korf, Zwanehals korf). Met speciale aandacht voor de ontstaansgeschiedenis en het gebruik van de Gravenhorster boogkor

Driftarme doppen voor de Opzetterteelt (laanbomen)

Een aantal middelen in de laanboomteelt (spillen en opzetters) mag alleen gebruikt worden met driftarme doppen. Onduidelijk is welke. De activiteiten binnen dit project geven hierin helderheid

Application of the Spectral Structure Parameterization technique: retrieval of total water vapor columns from GOME

International audienceWe use a recently proposed spectral sampling technique for measurements of atmospheric transmissions called the Spectral Structure Parameterization (SSP) in order to retrieve total water vapor columns (WVC) from reflectivity spectra measured by the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME). SSP provides a good compromise between efficiency and speed when performing retrievals on highly structured spectra of narrow-band absorbers like water vapor. We show that SSP can be implemented in a radiative transfer scheme which treats both direct-path absorption and absorption by singly-scattered light directly. For the retrieval we exploit a ro-vibrational overtone band of water vapor located in the visible around 590 nm. We compare our results to independent values given by the data assimilation model of ECMWF. In addition, results are compared to those obtained from the more accurate, but more computationally expensive, Optical Absorption Coefficient Spectroscopy (OACS)

Driftarme doppen voor de Spillenteelt (laanbomen)

Een aantal middelen in de laanboomteelt (spillen en opzetters) mag alleen gebruikt worden met driftarme doppen. Onduidelijk is welke. De activiteiten binnen dit project geven hierin helderheid

Imaging mechanical vibrations in suspended graphene sheets

We carried out measurements on nanoelectromechanical systems based on multilayer graphene sheets suspended over trenches in silicon oxide. The motion of the suspended sheets was electrostatically driven at resonance using applied radio-frequency voltages. The mechanical vibrations were detected using a novel form of scanning probe microscopy, which allowed identification and spatial imaging of the shape of the mechanical eigenmodes. In as many as half the resonators measured, we observed a new class of exotic nanoscale vibration eigenmodes not predicted by the elastic beam theory, where the amplitude of vibration is maximum at the free edges. By modeling the suspended sheets with the finite element method, these edge eigenmodes are shown to be the result of non-uniform stress with remarkably large magnitudes (up to 1.5 GPa). This non-uniform stress, which arises from the way graphene is prepared by pressing or rubbing bulk graphite against another surface, should be taken into account in future studies on electronic and mechanical properties of graphene

Biomassa-afhankelijk doseren van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen

Recentelijk zijn enkele doorbraken gerealiseerd op het gebied van biomassa-afhankelijk doseren in open teelten. Het gaat hierbij om plaatsspecifieke dosering van bepaalde herbiciden en fungiciden op basis van de hoeveelheid bovengrondse biomassa onder de spuitdoppen. Om dit effectief te maken, zijn toegesneden sensoren, beslisregels en spuitapparatuur nodig. Plaatsspecifieke dosering van loofdodingsmiddelen in consumptieaardappelen is nu praktijkrijp middels MLHD-PHK (Minimum Lethal Herbicide Dose-Potato Haulm Killing) in combinatie met de N-sensor (stikstof-sensor), of SensiSpray. In de testfase werd een reductie van gemiddeld 50% in het gebruik van loofdodingsmiddel t.o.v. gangbare praktijk bereikt. In dit artikel wordt een overzicht gegeven van onderwerpen op het gebied van biomassa-afhankelijk doseren van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen waarbij de Plant Science Groep (PSG) van Wageningen UR trekker van de ontwikkeling is