24,643 research outputs found
Essays on linguistic realism/ edited by Christina Behme, Mount Saint Vincent University ; Martin Neef, TU Braunschweig.
No full textIncludes bibliographical references and index.1 online resource
Speech dynamics are coded in the left motor cortex in fluent speakers but not in adults who stutter
No full textThe precise excitability regulation of neuronal circuits in the primary motor cortex is central to the successful and fluent production of speech. Our question was whether the involuntary execution of undesirable movements, e.g. stuttering, is linked to an insufficient excitability tuning of neural populations in the orofacial region of the primary motor cortex. We determined the speech-related time course of excitability modulation in the left and right primary motor tongue representation. Thirteen fluent speakers (four females, nine males; aged 23–44) and 13 adults who stutter (four females, nine males, aged 21–55) were asked to build verbs with the verbal prefix ‘auf’. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the primary motor cortex during the transition phase between a fixed labiodental articulatory configuration and immediately following articulatory configurations, at different latencies after transition onset. Bilateral electromyography was recorded from self-adhesive electrodes placed on the surface of the tongue. Off-line, we extracted the motor evoked potential amplitudes and normalized these amplitudes to the individual baseline excitability during the fixed configuration. Fluent speakers demonstrated a prominent left hemisphere increase of motor cortex excitability in the transition phase (P = 0.009). In contrast, the excitability of the right primary motor tongue representation was unchanged. Interestingly, adults afflicted with stuttering revealed a lack of left-hemisphere facilitation. Moreover, the magnitude of facilitation was negatively correlated with stuttering frequency. Although orofacial midline muscles are bilaterally innervated from corticobulbar projections of both hemispheres, our results indicate that speech motor plans are controlled primarily in the left primary speech motor cortex. This speech motor planning-related asymmetry towards the left orofacial motor cortex is missing in stuttering. Moreover, a negative correlation between the amount of facilitation and stuttering severity suggests that we discovered a main physiological principle of fluent speech production and its role in stuttering
Schriftlinguistik
No full textNeef M, Sahel S, Weingarten R, eds. Schriftlinguistik. Berlin: De Gruyter; 2024
Effects on recovery during, acidosis in cardiac myocytes overexpressing CaMKII
No full textRecovery of intracellular Ca transients and fractional shortening during late phase acidosis are suggested to be associated with CaMKII-dependent processes of which phospholamban (PLB) phosphorylation may play an important role. To test whether increased expression levels of CaMKII may further enhance recovery, we investigated myocytes from CaMKII delta(C) transgenic (TG) mice (cytosolic localized CaMKII) having heart failure vs. wildtype littermates (WT). Furthermore, mouse and rabbit myocytes overexpressing CaMI:I delta(C) using adenovirus-mediated gene transfer (vs. LacZ control) were investigated. Fractional shortening (% vs. resting cell length, % RCL was assessed during control conditions (pH 7.4) and during acidosis (pH 6.5). Ca transients were measured using fluo-3 (Delta F/F-0, 10 mu M). In WT mouse myocytes, fractional shortening clearly recovered by 90% from 4.6 +/- 0.6 to 7.2 +/- 0.7% RCL during late acidosis. In parallel, Ca transients increased from 2.01 +/- 0. 11 to 2.33:L 0. 15 Delta F/F-0. When blocking CaMKII (KN-93, I mu M), recovery of Ca transients and shortening could be completely abolished, In contrast, in CaMKII delta(C) TG mouse myocytes shortening recovered only by 32% from 3.4 +/- 0.6 to 4.4 +/- 0.5% RCL (P< 0.05 vs. WT using ANOVA). In parallel, Ca transients increased only slightly from 1.75 +/- 0.15 to 1.84 +/- 0.13 Delta F/F-0 (P< 0.05 vs. WT using ANOVA). In accordance, SR Ca content (measured by caffeine contractures, 10 mM) in WT significantly increased during late acidosis but not in CaMKII delta(C) TG mice. In contrast, in mouse and rabbit myocytes overexpressing CaMKII delta(C) by means of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer, recovery of fractional shortening and Ca transients was not impaired during late acidosis but even slightly improved vs. LacZ control (P<0.05 vs. CaMKII delta(C) using ANOVA for mouse and rabbit myocytes). This was associated with significantly increased SR Ca content during late acidosis in CaMKII delta(C) as compared to LacZ. CaMKII-dependent PLB Thr- 17 phosphorylation, contributing to increased SR Ca uptake, was significantly increased in CaMKII delta(C) transfected rabbit myocytes vs. LacZ in the light of unchanged SR Ca ATPase and PLB protein expression. CaMKII inhibition completely prevented recovery of all parameters in both CaMKII delta(C) and LacZ. In summary and in contrast to our initial hypothesis, we showed for the first time that TG CaMKII delta(C) overexpression (i.e., chronic overexpression) in mice with heart failure clearly resulted in impaired recovery associated with impaired SR Ca loading during late acidosis vs. WT. This may be due to decreased SR Ca ATPase and PLB expression as reported previously. In contrast, adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of CaMKII delta(C) in mouse and rabbit myocytes (i.e., acute overexpression) did not result in impaired but even slightly improved recovery associated with increased SR Ca load during late acidosis as compared to LacZ. This most likely was due to higher PLB Thr- 17 phosphorylation in CaMKII delta(C) myocytes. In conclusion, possible beneficial effects by therapeutical CaMKII delta(C) stimulation on the ability to recover from acidosis may be challenged by altered expression levels of its target proteins and should be carefully considered. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Reduced Speech Perceptual Acuity for Stop Consonants in Individuals Who Stutter
No full textPurpose: In individuals who stutter (IWS), speech fluency can be enhanced by altered auditory feedback, although it has adverse effects in control speakers. This indicates abnormalities in the auditory feedback loop in stuttering. Current motor control theories on stuttering propose an impaired processing of internal forward models that might be related to a blurred auditory-to-motor translation. Although speech sound perception is an essential skill to form internal models, perceptual acuity has not been studied in IWS so far. The authors tested the stability of phoneme percepts by analyzing participants' ability to identify voiced and voiceless stop consonants. Method: Two syllable continua were generated by systematic modification of the voice onset time. The authors determined speech perceptual acuity by means of discriminatory power in 25 IWS and 24 matched control participants by determining the phoneme boundaries and by quantifying the interval of voice onset times for which phonemes were perceived ambiguously. Results: In IWS, discriminatory performance was weaker and less stable over time when compared with control participants. In addition, phoneme boundaries were located at longer voice onset times in IWS. Conclusion: Persistent developmental stuttering is associated with less reliable phonological percepts, supporting current theories regarding the sensory-motor interaction in human speech
Jack Alive / Martin Dead : The Location of the "Author" in Jack London\u27s Martin Eden
No full textThis essay is an attempt to read Martin Eden, Jack Londonʼs autobiographical novel, in terms of the inextricable relationship between the author and the protagonist. Critics have often taken the unbalanced plot and the lack of ironic distance between narrator and character in Martin Eden as the technical weakness of London, but this paper argues that the achievement of this novel owes a great deal to the attachment of London to Martin. The unbalanced structure is a necessary product of the severe struggle of the author to kill his romantic alter ego. // Martin, who aspires to win Ruth Morse, tries to cross class boundaries by making a career of a writer. Even after realizing the emptiness of Ruth, who turns out to be nothing but a typical figure of the bourgeoisie, he somehow persists in loving her. The notion underlying here is that, for Martin, love, career and art are fundamentally inseparable. He objects to the aestheteʼs view of Brissenden on account of his separation of art from career. Martinʼs identity and life consist only in the triunity of love/career/art; the alternative is the repudiation of life. Thus, the unnatural delay of his disappointment in love can be regarded as Londonʼs strategy to set the suicide of Martin as the necessary consequence of the story. // By finishing the story and killing Martin, London finally detaches himself from Martin, reconstructs his self, and, unlike Martin, survives as a professional writer. In this sense, Martin Eden is a story about “writerʼs self-reconstruction.
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Letter from Martin Chizzick
No full textCongratulations to Duane Pearsall for receiving the Enterpreneur of the Year award; note on the letter was written by Pearsall and it mentions that Martin, the author of the letter, died in a airplane accident
Robert Martin Tiffin's Mystery Man Newspaper Articles
No full textAdvertiser-Tribune newspaper clippings featuring a story about Robert Martin (written by Nancy Kleinhenz), a local author from Tiffin (Ohio) who wrote under the pseudonym of Lee Roberts, and two of his short stories. Martin wrote mystery novels in his spare time, creating more than 22 mystery novels. For more information about Robert Martin and a list of books go to http://www.mysteryfile.com/RMartin/JBennett.html
Measuring graphematic transparency
No full textIn this article, a quantitative method to calculate the graphematic transparency of an alphabetic writing system is suggested. Graphematic transparency is a part of the traditional concept of orthographic depth, dealing with the direction from written representation to phonological representation only. Based on a thorough analysis of German graphematics given in Neef (2005a) and a tentative analysis of Italian graphematics, the respective gt-values are calculated in a constant theoretical framework. As expected, the gt-value for Italian is lower than that for German. For assessing the relevance of these calculated gt-values, further analyses of other writing systems are necessary. Keywords: orthographic depth; graphematic transparency; graphematics; typology; correspondence rule; phonological filter; geminate; German; Italian</jats:p
Experiences Using Large Scale Video Walls for Distance Education
No full textWe describe our experiences building and using the Rutgers Videowall, a low-cost telepresence system that has been used teaching 15 courses and colloquia. By relaxing typical spatial telepresence features, such as background continuity, we greatly reduced costs and gained flexibility in the rooms it could be deployed in. The lower costs and room flexibility enabled academic departments to use the wall, in contrast to traditional telepresence systems which remained inaccessible. We found that the Videowall’s spatial distortions did not have a significant impact on useability, as our initial survey results show that students had an overall positive experience.Technical report DCS-tr-72
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