The Relationship between Musical Ability and the Perception and Production of L2 Prosodic Features

Studies in L2 acquisition have indicated that musically trained individuals are apt to demonstrate better L2 pronunciation skills. As for music, it was recently clarified that some amusiacs demonstrate selective impairment in L1 prosody discrimination. The purpose of this study was to investigate a relationship between amusical L2 learners and their perception and production of L2 prosody. To investigate this, 24 native-Japanese learners of English either in EFL (n=22) or ESL context (n=2) were examined in terms of their musical ability and L2 intonation perception and production. The musical test indicated that there was one amusiac and 10 low-level musical sufferers in the EFL group. Based on a contrastive analysis between amusical and non-amusical participants, as well as between participant groups with and without musical difficulty, it was found that any level of musical difficulty was correlated with lower auditory processing ability in L2 intonation for these English-language learners. However, the contrastive analysis pertaining to the productive skill indicated that musical difficulty was not associated with their production of accurate L2 intonation patterns. According to these findings, the present study concluded that musical difficulty is only related to these learners\u27 L2 intonation processing. Conversely, the present research found that the ESL learners\u27 learning context appeared to be less associated with their aural performance than with their intonation production. In addition, it was found that the level of previous musical training was related to both better L2 intonation perception and production

Preparation and Characterization of Ti(2)O(3) Films Deposited on Sapphire Substrate by Activated Reactive Evaporation Method

(001)-oriented Ti(2)O(3) films were epitaxially grown on a(001)-face of sapphire single-crystalline substrate by an activated reactive evaporation method. The formation ranges of stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric Ti(2)O(3) films were determined as a function of the substrate temperature (Ts), the oxygen pressure (Po(2)) and the deposition rate. Stoichiometric Ti(2)O(3) films were grown at Ts≧673K under Po(2)≧1.0×10(-4)Torr, which showed the metal-insulator transition with a sharp change in electrical resistivity from 3.5×10(-2) to 2.6×10(-3)Ωcm at 361K. Nonstoichiometric films prepared under less oxidized conditions did not exhibit the transition. The nonstoichiometry of the Ti(2)O(3)films was discussed in terms of excess Ti ions

Optimal Digital Control Systems Design for Handling Machines using dsPIC

This paper presents a method of the controller design for the handling machine by using dsPIC(Digital Signal Processor + Peripheral Interface Controller). Recently, many manufacturing robots are operated in manufacturing facilities, with the aim of labor, cost saving, and improvement of the productivity. Such robots need to have positioning performance of high precision and simultaneously to save cost. In this paper, a digital optimal servo controller is designed, and it is implemented into our barebones controller which involves dsPIC. We have designed and manufactured the controller which is added suitable peripherals to improve the consistency between the mechanical machine operating in continuous time and controller in discrete time. The significance of this research is that digital implementation of the embedded system which has performance-limitation has ensured a comparable result, against the one with PC which has broad utility. When it is used as a controller, it is possible to restrain product prices greatly equivalent PC precision. We demonstrate potential that good control can be achieved even with low cost. Our research has lead to the viability of lower cost and higher performance system for the production process at factories

Regulation of FoxO transcription factors by acetylation and protein–protein interactions

AbstractThe forkhead box O transcription factors convert a variety of external stimuli, including growth factors, nutrients, and oxidative stress, into diverse biological responses through modulation of specific gene expression. Forkhead box O regulation is principally achieved by two distinct mechanisms: post-translational modifications and protein–protein interactions. Among several modifications of forkhead box O factors, we focus on reversible acetylation, describing past research and current advances. In the latter part of this review, we also provide an overview of forkhead box O-binding partners that control the transcriptional activity of forkhead box O factors. These two layers of regulation mostly overlap and thereby enable a more precise fine-tuning of forkhead box O functions involved in metabolism, longevity, and tumor suppression. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: PI3K–AKT–FoxO axis in cancer and aging

Preparation of ZnO Films by Activated Reactive Evaporation Method

Zinc oxide films were prepared on silica glass substrates by the use of an r.f. activated reactive evaporation (ARE) method, and were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron micrograph (SEM). XRD measurements indicate that the films were c-axis oriented and that an r.f. plasma of Zn and O was necessary for the ZnO film deposition. Substrate temperature, oxygen gas pressure, evaporation rate, r.f. power and inlet position of oxygen gas effect the c-axis orientation, the growth rate and the microstructure of the films. Optimum conditions for a dense film with a fine texture of the surface and having good crystallinity were as follows: the substrate temperature;400℃, the evaporation rate;5.0(A)/s, the oxygen pressure;2.0x10(-4) Torr, the r.f. power;150 to 200W, and the oxygen gas inlet near the substrate. For the film prepared under the optimum conditions, the standard deviation　σ　of the rocking curve for the (002) diffraction was 1.9deg, smaller than that of the film prepared by using an r.f. sputtering method

Effects of atmospheric sphericity on stratospheric chemistry and dynamics over Antarctica

Atmospheric sphericity is an important factor that must be considered in order to evaluate an accurate ozone loss rate in the polar stratosphere. The built-in plane-parallel radiative transfer scheme of a nudging chemical transport model (CTM) and an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) with coupled chemistry is modified by a pseudospherical approximation. The plane-parallel atmosphere radiative transfer version (PPA version) is compared with the pseudospherical atmosphere radiative transfer version (SA version) for both the nudging CTM and AGCM. The nudging CTM can isolate the chemical effects for a given dynamical field, while the interaction among the chemical, radiative, and dynamical processes can be studied with the AGCM. The present analysis focuses on Antarctica during an ozone hole period. In the ozone loss period over Antarctica, ozone starts to decrease earlier and minimum value of total ozone becomes lower in the SA versions of both the nudging CTM and the AGCM than in the corresponding PPA versions. The ozone mixing ratio decreases earlier in the SA version because of an earlier increase of ClO concentration initiated by the upward actinic flux at solar zenith angles greater than 90°. Dynamics plays an important role as well as the chemical processes. During the ozone recovery period, the ozone distribution becomes almost the same in the SA and PPA versions of the nudging CTM, while in the AGCM the ozone amount in the SA version remains at lower values compared to those of the PPA version. In the AGCM, a decrease of ozone over Antarctica enhances the latitudinal gradient of temperature and thus strengthens the polar vortex in the SA version. A resultant delay of the polar vortex breakup causes the delay of the ozone recovery. For the AGCM, ensemble runs are performed. The ensemble experiment exhibits large ozone variances after the middle of December, when the ozone recovery is dynamically controlled. Most ensemble members of the AGCM show a delay of the polar vortex breakup in the SA version, while a few members show opposite results. In the latter members, the polar vortex breakup is strongly affected by the enhanced EP flux from the troposphere around 100 hPa, which causes the variances in the ozone recovery period. Most members, however, do not show large statistical variances; that justifies the conclusions from the ensemble means

The Diffusion of Sodium Ions into Tin Oxide Thin Films from Glass Substrates

Electrical resistance and X-ray photoelectron depth profile analysis are studied for antimony doped tin oxide films developed on silica, alkali-free and sodalime slide glass substrates. The sodium ions diffused from the substrates to the films prevented the crystal growth of rutile type tin oxide in the film, resulting in the high electrical resistance. A diffusion layer has been detected for each film with diffuse profiles of multi valent cations (Sn, Si or Ca) at the interface of the tin oxide film and substrate. A greater amount of sodium atoms have been detected in the film developed on the soda-lime glass while almost no sodium atoms have been found in those on the other substrates. This can be explained by the diffusion of the sodium ions in the substrate due to a drastic hydronium-sodium exchange mechanism under highly acidic conditions during the dipping and drying processes

Preparation of Mullite Dispersed Silica Ceramics through Sol-Gel Processing

Mullite-dispersed silica ceramics were prepared through sol-gel processing by the use of tetraethoxy silane, aluminium nitrate and aluminium isopropoxide as the Si and Al sources where HCl and HN0(3) were the catalyst. Effect of the starting materials, solvents and catalysts was examined on the gelation time or temperature of mullite precipitation. Apparent activation energy of gelation ranged from 80 to 95kJ/mol. The presence of AI in the sols elongated the gelling time suggesting the formation of chelate bonds between AI and Si-OR or Si-OH bonds

Risk for atrial fibrillation in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Association with insulin resistance

SummaryBackgroundWe undertook a cross-sectional study to test the hypothesis that patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who have impaired left ventricular (LV) diastolic function are insulin resistant. We also evaluated the relation between the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) and insulin resistance (IR) in patients with HCM.Methods and resultsEighty-eight patients with HCM (71 men, 17 women) were enrolled in the study. IR was estimated using the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index. Echocardiographically determined left atrial (LA) dimension was measured as a marker of LA size. The ratio of trasmitral early LV filling velocity to early diastolic mitral annulus velocity (E/e′) was also measured as a marker of LV diastolic function. Twenty-seven patients (31%) had IR. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that independent determinants of AF were increased LA size [odds ratio (OR) 3.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2–9.8] and impaired LV diastolic function [OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.6–12.8]. The strongest determinant of LA size was the HOMA index (p=0.0005). Similarly, the HOMA index (p=0.0019) was an independent determinant of LV diastolic function.ConclusionIR is highly prevalent among non-diabetic patients with HCM. A possible mechanism by which IR affects the development of AF is mediated through its association with increased LA size or impaired LV diastolic function. IR may be an important underlying mechanism for the genesis of AF in HCM