Trick or treat? Adaptation to Italian-accented English speech by native English, Italian, and Dutch listeners

English is spoken worldwide by both native (L1) and nonnative (L2) speakers. It is therefore imperative to establish how easily L1 and L2 speakers understand each other. We know that L1 listeners adapt to foreign-accented speech very rapidly (Clarke & Garrett, 2004), and L2 listeners find L2 speakers (from matched and mismatched L1 backgrounds) as intelligible as native speakers (Bent & Bradlow, 2003). But foreign-accented speech can deviate widely from L1 pronunciation norms, for example when adult L2 learners experience difficulties in producing L2 phonemes that are not part of their native repertoire (Strange, 1995). For instance, Italian L2 learners of English often lengthen the lax English vowel /I/, making it sound more like the tense vowel /i/ (Flege et al., 1999). This blurs the distinction between words such as bin and bean. Unless listeners are able to adapt to this kind of pronunciation variance, it would hinder word recognition by both L1 and L2 listeners (e.g., /bin/ could mean either bin or bean). In this study we investigate whether Italian-accented English interferes with on-line word recognition for native English listeners and for nonnative English listeners, both those where the L1 matches the speaker accent (i.e., Italian listeners) and those with an L1 mismatch (i.e., Dutch listeners). Second, we test whether there is perceptual adaptation to the Italian-accented speech during the experiment in each of the three listener groups. Participants in all groups took part in the same cross-modal priming experiment. They heard spoken primes and made lexical decisions to printed targets, presented at the acoustic offset of the prime. The primes, spoken by a native Italian, consisted of 80 English words, half with /I/ in their standard pronunciation but mispronounced with an /i/ (e.g., trick spoken as treek), and half with /i/ in their standard pronunciation and pronounced correctly (e.g., treat). These words also appeared as targets, following either a related prime (which was either identical, e.g., treat-treat, or mispronounced, e.g., treek-trick) or an unrelated prime. All three listener groups showed identity priming (i.e., faster decisions to treat after hearing treat than after an unrelated prime), both overall and in each of the two halves of the experiment. In addition, the Italian listeners showed mispronunciation priming (i.e., faster decisions to trick after hearing treek than after an unrelated prime) in both halves of the experiment, while the English and Dutch listeners showed mispronunciation priming only in the second half of the experiment. These results suggest that Italian listeners, prior to the experiment, have learned to deal with Italian-accented English, and that English and Dutch listeners, during the experiment, can rapidly adapt to Italian-accented English. For listeners already familiar with a particular accent (e.g., through their own pronunciation), it appears that they have already learned how to interpret words with mispronounced vowels. Listeners who are less familiar with a foreign accent can quickly adapt to the way a particular speaker with that accent talks, even if that speaker is not talking in the listeners’ native language

Treack or trit: Adaptation to genuine and arbitrary foreign accents by monolingual and bilingual listeners

Two cross-modal priming experiments examined two questions about word recognition in foreign-accented speech: Does accent adaptation occur only for genuine accents markers, and does adaptation depend on language experience? We compared recognition of words spoken with canonical, genuinely-accented and arbitrarily-accented vowels. In Experiment 1, an Italian speaker pronounced vowels in English prime words canonically, or by lengthening /ɪ/ as in a genuine Italian accent (*/tri:k/ for trick), or by arbitrarily shortening /i:/ (*/trɪt/ for treat). Lexical-decision times to subsequent visual target words showed different priming effects in three listener groups. Monolingual native English listeners recognized variants with lengthened but not shortened vowels. Bilingual nonnative Italian-English listeners, who could not reliably distinguish vowel length, recognized both variants. Bilingual nonnative Dutch-English listeners also recognized both variants. In Experiment 2, bilingual Dutch-English listeners recognized Dutch words with genuinely- and arbitrarily-accented vowels (spoken by a native Italian with lengthened and shortened vowels respectively), but recognized words with canonical vowels more easily than words with accented vowels. These results suggest that adaptation to genuine accent markers arises for monolingual and bilingual listeners alike and can occur in native and nonnative languages, but that bilinguals can adapt to arbitrary accent markers better than monolinguals

Unified processing of constraints for interactive simulation

International audienceThis paper introduces a generic way of dealing with a set of different constraints (bilateral, unilateral, dry friction) in the context of interactive simulation. We show that all the mentioned constraints can be handled within a unified framework: we define the notion of generalized constraints, which can be derived into most classical constraints types. The solving method is based on an implicit treatment of constraints that provides good stability for interactive applications using deformable models and rigid bodies. Each constraint law is expressed in constraint subspace, making constraint evaluation much easier. A global solution is calculated using an iterative process that takes into account the mechanical coupling between the constraints. Various examples, from basic to more complex, show the practical advantage of using generalized constraints, as a way of creating heterogeneously constrained systems, as well as the scalability of the proposed method

Hypernuclear Physics at PANDA

Hypernuclear research will be one of the main topics addressed by the PANDA experiment at the planned Facility for Anti-proton and Ion Research FAIR at Darmstadt, Germany. A copious production of Xi-hyperons at a dedicated internal target in the stored anti-proton beam is expected, which will enable the high-precision gamma-spectroscopy of double strange systems for the first time. In addition to the general purpose PANDA setup, the hypernuclear experiments require an active secondary target of silicon layers and absorber material as well as high purity germanium (HPGe) crystals as gamma-detectors. The design of the setup and the development of these detectors is progressing: a first HPGe crystal with a new electromechanical cooling system was prepared and the properties of a silicon strip detector as a prototype to be used in the secondary target were studied. Simultaneously to the hardware projects, detailed Monte Carlo simulations were performed to predict the yield of particle stable hypernuclei. With the help of the Monte Carlo a procedure for Lambda-Lambda-hypernuclei identification by the detection and correlation of the weak decay pions was developed.Comment: prepared for the International Conference on Exotic Atoms and Related Topics (EXA2011), Vienna, Sept. 5-9, 201

Aplicação foliar de fertilizante organo mineral e soluções de ácido húmico em soja sob plantio direto.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da aplicação foliar de produto à base de ácido húmico e da fração isolada sobre a produtividade de soja (Glycine max) em sistema de plantio direto no Cerrado.bitstream/CNPS-2010/14934/1/circtec35-2006-fertilizante.pd

On-line tracking of the human gut microbial metabolism: high-throughput screening during colonic in-vitro fermentation

The human gut encloses a large community of bacteria producing a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) when fermenting undigestible substrates. This study aims to provide a high throughput method to study in real-time the gut microbial volatilome when the microbiota process undigestible dietary substrates. Background: Small metabolites from the human gut microbiota are recognized as the intermediates of the microbiome-host cross-talk [1]. The research on the human gut metabolome is mainly based on discrete sampling representing discontinuous ‘snapshot’ of these complex biological systems [2]. The aim of this research work is to enhance the current understanding of the dynamics of the gut microbiota by integrating non-invasive and continuous analytical methods with in-vitro gut simulators, to monitor in real-time, the progression of small molecules released into the headspace [2,3] Methodology: Automated Head space-Solid Phase Micro Extraction coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) and Static Headspace- Proton Transfer Reaction-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (SHS-PTR-ToF-MS) are used for the purpose of this investigation. The objective is to screen and monitor a specific set of masses of interest, to gain system level mechanistic insights on primary metabolism of the gut microbial consortia. Results: This methodology enabled the continuous monitoring of multiple metabolites in time, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) derived from 24h oat bran fermentation. A mixture of -odd and -even chain acids were co-released into the culture headspace after 4 hours of fermentation and their relative abundance increased in time over 24 hours. The production of multiple MCFAs from the substrate is most likely a community optimization strategy to maximize ATP production from oat degradation by means of reverse beta-oxidation which involves the utilization of fermentation intermediates, such as propanol and acetate. Furthermore, the untargeted screening allowed the detection of low abundant sulfur metabolites, thiophenes, which, to our knowledge, were never investigated before as gut microbial metabolites (GMMs). Conclusion: By integrating non-invasive and continuous analytical methods with an in-vitro gut simulator, it was possible to monitor in real-time the progression of two important class of small molecules released by the microbial consortia into the headspace. The collected information can be jointly integrated to shed light on the dynamics of bacterial foraging of complex undigestible substrates (e.g. bran from cereals). Overall, these results confirm the idea to consider the bacterial headspace as a highly dynamic chemical system that contains information on microbial community behavio

A Wireless, Battery-Powered Probe Based on a Dual-Tier CMOS SPAD Array for Charged Particle Sensing

A compact probe for charged particle imaging, with potential applications in source activity mapping and radio-guided surgery was designed and tested. The development of this technology holds significant implications for medical imaging, offering healthcare professionals accurate and efficient tools for diagnoses and treatments. To fulfill the portability requirements of these applications, the probe was designed for battery operation and wireless communication with a PC. The core sensor is a dual-layer CMOS SPAD detector, fabricated using 150 nm technology, which uses overlapping cells to produce a coincidence signal and reduce the dark count rate (DCR). The sensor is managed and interfaced with a microcontroller, and custom firmware was developed to facilitate communication with the sensor. The performance of the probe was evaluated by characterizing the on-board SPAD detector in terms of the DCR, and the results were consistent with the characterization measurements taken on the same chip samples using a purposely developed benchtop setup