Acoustic Realization and Perception of English Lexical Stress by Mandarin Learners

The acquisition of English lexical stress by Mandarin L2 learners was examined. An acoustic study focusing on the implementation of mean F0, max F0, duration, intensity, and F2 in stressed and unstressed vowels in noun-verb word pairs contrasting in stress location (e.g. object-object) was conducted. The results indicate that native English speakers use all correlates in nouns but rely mostly on duration in verbs. The learners use these cues more consistently across different contexts. A perceptual study utilizing the disyllabic nonword 'dada', with resynthesized max F0, duration, and vowel quality indicates that full vowels induce stronger stress perception in all listener groups. Beginning listeners relied on duration, advanced listeners focused on max F0, while native listeners used both in perception. The similarities and differences in prosodic systems between Mandarin and English, as well as the possible discrepancies in production and perception data from second language learning research were discussed

Testing the Role of Phonetic Naturalness in Mandarin Tone Sandhi

33 Yuwen Lai The University of Kansas [email protected] It has long been noted that phonological patterning is influenced by phonetic factors. But phonologists diverge on whether phonetic motivations take effect in synchronic or diachronic phonology. This article aims to tease apart the two theories by investigating native Mandarin speakers’ applications of two tone sandhi processes to novel words: the phonetically motivated contour reduction 213 21/__T (T 213) and the neutralizing 213 35/__213 whose phonetic motivations are less clear. Twenty Mandarin subjects were asked to produce two monosyllables they heard as disyllabic words. Five groups of disyllabic words were tested: AO-AO (AO=actual occurring morpheme) where the disyllable is also a real word, AO-AO’ where the disyllable is nonoccurring, AO-AG (AG=accidental gap in Mandarin lexicon — legal syllable and tone but non-existent combination), AG-AO, and AG-AG. The first syllable is always 213, and the second syllable has one of the four tones in Mandarin. Results show that speakers apply the phonetically more natural 213 21 sandhi more quickly and with greater accuracy than the 213 35 sandhi. Theoretically, the study supports the direct relevance of phonetics to synchronic phonology by showing that there is a psychological advantage to phonetically natural patterns. Methodologically, it complements existing research paradigms that test the nature of the phonology-phonetics relationship, e.g., the study of phonological acquisition and the artificial language paradigm; when extended to other Chinese dialects, it can also provide insights into the long-standing mystery of how Chinese speakers internalise complicated tone sandhi patterns that sometimes involve opacity, near-neutralization, and syntactic dependency

Innovative maritime logistics in achieving higher integration and efficiency

Not much focus was put on maritime logistics for supply chain goals. The paper develops and deploys an innovative method to address maritime logistics issues in the aim of improving supply chain integration and efficiency. The paper selects three maritime logistics issues that undermine supply chain performance - information sharing, relationship management and pricing based on interviews with professors and industrial practitioners. An integrated framework consisting of information model, evaluation model and pricing model is originally developed to facilitate information sharing, selection, evaluation and remuneration of maritime service providers. The information model is built upon adoption of a Single Window system by the whole supply chain. The information model will have three functionalities: information filter, solution selector and information coordination. A selection and evaluation process is carefully developed using concept of analytic hierarchy network process. Supply chain determinants and dimensions are carefully designed to present an application in maritime context. The pricing model creates a mechanism to calculate bonus and penalty for the purpose of incentivizing service providers to match perfectly customer‟s requirements. The framework is put in maritime context but the adoption by the whole supply chain is also guided. Follow-up interview sessions were conducted to get feasibility, critical success factors and other suggestions on implementation. The paper concludes with limitations of the study and looks into future research directions.Bachelor of Science (Maritime Studies

Roadmap for commodity sourcing strategy

Thesis: M. Eng. in Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-71).The procurement and sourcing group of OG company was tasked to systematically forecast, design and develop the future state of the company's next generation supply base. The main objective is to anticipate the preferred locations to source commodities such as machine parts from in the near future. In response to that objective, the purpose of this thesis is to identify the relevant group decision drivers that consist of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal and business internal factors that the procurement and sourcing group are evaluating. These drivers were then utilized to develop a tool that is able to quantify, balance and combine the specified drivers so as to determine the overall alignment to the company's procurement and sourcing strategy. This tool also seeks to predict the near-term global competitiveness of oilfield services equipment manufacturing by country. Through on-site interviews, literature review, public data collection and statistical analysis, we were able to identify and specify top drivers that were most relevant to the decisionmaking process of managers in procurement and sourcing group for an oil & gas company. Based on the specified drivers, our analysis identified the top ranked countries using a hierarchical analytical process which was then used to validate the company's current sourcing strategy. Building on this analysis, we propose a framework that determines OG company's next generation supply base. The framework proposed can serve as an organizational development approach and decision-making tool which is useful in uncovering the underlying motivations of the procurement and sourcing managers. The tool also provides qualitative recommendations through a quantitative stepwise approach. The methodology of identifying and quantifying drivers as described in our thesis is especially relevant to industrial manufacturing companies with a global manufacturing footprint. We conclude with the limitations of the framework and potential avenues for future research.by Wenzheng Chong and Yuwen Lai.M. Eng. in Logistic

Two aspects of productivity in Taiwanese Double Reduplication

Monosyllabic adjectives can undergo double reduplication in Taiwanese to mark intensification. We argue in this paper that the phonological analysis for the tonal patterns of Taiwanese double reduplication relies on three elements: a floating High tone that prefers to dock onto the left edge of the output, tonal correspondence between the two reduplicants, and the lexical listing of the sandhi tones as part of the non-XP-final allomorphs of existing syllables. We support the analysis with an acoustic experiment and a psycholinguistic “wug”-test experiment in Taiwanese, which showed that (a) the floating High tone appears as early as possible in real doubly reduplicated forms; (b) the tonal allomorphy is not productive in non-existing words; and (c) the floating High docking is productive in non-existing words. The analysis echoes the “allomorph selection” hypothesis of Taiwanese tone sandhi by Tsay and Myers (1996) and the “twostage” hypothesis of Taiwanese double reduplication by Myers and Tsay (2001)

Poster: Creation of computer-assisted training materials for small languages"

This project proposes the incorporation of stimulus presentation systems in the construction of learning material for small languages. These systems are easy to create, distribute, and use, and allow small languages to take advantage of computer-assisted language learning, incorporating audio and visual stimuli. Poster presentation at the 1st International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC), 12-14 March 2009, at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

An integrative analysis reveals the prognostic value and potential functions of MTMR2 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Abnormal expression of myotubularin-related protein 2 (MTMR2) has been identified in certain types of cancer, leading to varying effects on tumor genesis and progression. However, the various biological significances of MTMR2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been systematically and comprehensively studied. The aim of this study was to explore the role of MTMR2 in HCC. We obtained the raw data from Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Afterward, we analyzed the data using R and cBioPortal. We investigated the connection between MTMR2 and its expression, prognosis, clinical significance, methylation, genetic alterations, tumor microenvironment (TME), tumor mutation burden (TMB), and drug reactivity in HCC patients. MTMR2 expression levels in HCC cells were validated through western blotting and RT-qPCR. MTMR2 exhibits high levels of expression across a wide range of cancer types, including HCC. MTMR2 is diagnostically valuable in detecting HCC, with its up-regulated expression often being indicative of poor prognosis among HCC patients. The in vitro experiments confirmed elevated MTMR2 expression in HepG2, HUH-7, and MHCC-97H cells. Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that MTMR2 was an independent prognostic factor in HCC patients. The cg20195272 site has the highest degree of methylation in MTMR2, and it is positively correlated with MTMR2 expression. Patients with high levels of methylation at the cg20195272 site show poor prognosis. Analysis of the TME indicates that high expression of MTMR2 is associated with elevated ESTIMATE score and that MTMR2 expression correlates positively with infiltration by resting memory CD4 T cells, activated dendritic cells, as well as several immune checkpoints. There is a negative correlation between MTMR2 expression and TMB, and drug sensitivity analyses have shown that higher MTMR2 expression is associated with lower IC50 values. This study indicates that increased expression of MTMR2 may play a crucial role in the occurrence, progression, diagnosis, prognostic prediction and drug therapy of HCC

Urethane tetrathiafulvalene derivatives: synthesis, self-assembly and electrochemical properties

This paper reports the self-assembly of two new tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) derivatives that contain one or two urethane groups. The formation of nanoribbons was evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed that the self-assembly ability of T1 was better than that of T2. The results revealed that more urethane groups in a molecule did not necessarily instigate self-assembly. UV–vis and FTIR spectra were measured to explore noncovalent interactions. The driving forces for self-assembly of TTF derivatives were mainly hydrogen bond interactions and π–π stacking interactions. The electronic conductivity of the T1 and T2 films was tested by a four-probe method