Search results for "itch"
showing 10 items of 781 documents
Handy Manny, or the Pragmatics in the Interaction of Cartoon Characters
2012
This article presents the results obtained from the analysis of 20 episodes of the series with the intention of critically assessing the impact that it may have on teaching and learning English as a foreign language in a context where Spanish is the main language (L1). Handy Manny, similar to other series that follow this same format (e.g. Dora the explorer, Go Diego go) is broadcast predominantly in L1 (English in the U.S., and Spanish in Spain) with occasional inclusion of some expressions in L2. The terms from L2 are either single words or more complex lexical units naturally used by the fictional characters in the series. The purpose of this article is to explore when and how L2 is intr…
Temporal Control of Pulses from a High-Repetition-Rate Tunable Ti:Sapphire Laser by Active Q-switching
2003
We investigated the lasing characteristics of a Ti:sapphire laser pumped by a pulsed high-repetition-rate Nd:YAG laser. The pump laser has a pulsewidth of 450 ns, while the Ti:sapphire laser shows a significantly shorter pulse width of 25 ns for suitably intense pumping. The energy conversion efficiency of the laser is more than 10%. To synchronize different lasers and to avoid multiple spiking during one pump pulse, we use a Brewster-cut Pockels cell in the resonator for Q-switching. The temporal profile and conversion efficiency are determined and compared to theoretical estimates.
Muscle cross-sectional area, force production and relaxation characteristics in women at different ages
1991
Thirty women, divided among three different age groups, i.e. 30 years (range 26–35;n = 10), 50 years (range 46–55;n = 10) and 70 years (range 66–75;n = 10) volunteered as subjects for examination of the characteristics of the muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), maximal voluntary isometric force, isometric force-time and relaxation-time of their leg extensor muscles. The CSA of the quadriceps femoris muscle in the youngest age group was slightly larger (NS) than in the middle-aged group and much larger (P<0.41) than in the oldest age group whose CSA was markedly smaller (P<0.01) than the middle-aged group. Maximal force in the youngest group was slightly greater (NS) than in the middle-aged g…
Amusic does not mean unmusical: Beat perception and synchronization ability despite pitch deafness
2013
Pitch deafness, the most commonly known form of congenital amusia, refers to a severe deficit in musical pitch processing (i.e., melody discrimination and recognition) that can leave time processing--including rhythm, metre, and "feeling the beat"--preserved. In Experiment 1, we show that by presenting musical excerpts in nonpitched drum timbres, rather than pitched piano tones, amusics show normal metre recognition. Experiment 2 reveals that body movement influences amusics' interpretation of the beat of an ambiguous drum rhythm. Experiment 3 and a subsequent exploratory study show an ability to synchronize movement to the beat of popular dance music and potential for improvement when give…
The external frame function in the control of pitch, register, and singing mode: Radiographic observations of a female singer
1999
Summary This study investigates pitch control, register, and singing mode related movements of the laryngo-pharyngeal structures by radiographic methods. One trained female singer served as the subject. The results show that singing voice production involves complex movements in the laryngeal structures. Pitch related increase in the thyro-arytenoid distance (vocal fold length) is nonlinear, slowing down as pitch rises. Similar observations have been made earlier. At the highest pitches, a shortening of the distance can be seen, suggesting the use of alternative pitch control mechanisms. The various observations made support the existence of three registers in this trained female singing vo…
Human voice pitch measures are robust across a variety of speech recordings: methodological and theoretical implications
2021
Fundamental frequency ( f o ), perceived as voice pitch, is the most sexually dimorphic, perceptually salient and intensively studied voice parameter in human nonverbal communication. Thousands of studies have linked human f o to biological and social speaker traits and life outcomes, from reproductive to economic. Critically, researchers have used myriad speech stimuli to measure f o and infer its functional relevance, from individual vowels to longer bouts of spontaneous speech. Here, we acoustically analysed f o in nearly 1000 affectively neutral speech utterances (vowels, words, counting, greetings, read paragraphs and free spontaneous speech) produced by the same 154 men and women, ag…
Switching from omalizumab to mepolizumab: real-life experience from Southern Italy.
2020
Background: Current availability of several biologic treatments for severe asthma makes it possible to choose the most appropriate for each patient. Sometimes a good percentage of patients with severe asthma may be eligible for biologics that target either the allergic phenotype or the eosinophilic one, but not all respond to that selected as first choice. The aim of our real-life study was to assess whether, for patients with severe eosinophilic allergic asthma, not previously controlled by the anti-IgE omalizumab, the shift to another biologic targeting interleukin-5, such as mepolizumab, may represent a good therapeutic choice. Methods: A total of 41 consecutive patients with severe, per…
Evidence for a spatial bias in the perception of sequences of brief tones
2013
Listeners are unable to report the physical order of particular sequences of brief tones. This phenomenon of temporal dislocation depends on tone durations and frequencies. The current study empirically shows that it also depends on the spatial location of the tones. Dichotically testing a three-tone sequence showed that the central tone tends to be reported as the first or the last element when it is perceived as part of a left-to-right motion. Since the central-tone dislocation does not occur for right-to-left sequences of the same tones, this indicates that there is a spatial bias in the perception of sequences. © 2013 Acoustical Society of America.
Measuring and modeling real-time responses to music: the dynamics of tonality induction.
2003
We examined a variety of real-time responses evoked by a single piece of music, the organ Duetto BWV 805 by J S Bach. The primary data came from a concurrent probe-tone method in which the probe-tone is sounded continuously with the music. Listeners judged how well the probe tone fit with the music at each point in time. The process was repeated for all probe tones of the chromatic scale. A self-organizing map (SOM) [Kohonen 1997 Self-organizing Maps (Berlin: Springer)] was used to represent the developing and changing sense of key reflected in these judgments. The SOM was trained on the probe-tone profiles for 24 major and minor keys (Krumhansl and Kessler 1982 Psychological Review89 334–…
The relative contribution to the plantar-flexor torque of the soleus motor units activated by the H reflex and M response in humans.
2000
Abstract This study proposes a method of quantifying the relative contribution to the plantar-flexor torque of soleus H and M responses evoked by tibial nerve stimulation. For ten subjects, the amplitude of the twitch produced by the H wave was plotted against the corresponding potential, for stimuli producing H without M (i.e. in the ascending portion of the H-recruitment curve). It was then assumed that the contribution of H to twitches produced by M plus H was similar for similar H waves on the curve-descending portion. Hence, the contribution of M was estimated, for the range of M waves including those accompanying H max . The estimated mechanical contributions of H and M wave increase …