The influence of final-syllable position on the vowel and word duration of deaf talkers

Hearing talkers produce shorter vowel and word durations in multisyllabic contexts than in monosyllabic contexts. This investigation determined whether a similar effect occurs for deaf talkers, a population often characterized as lacking coarticulation in their speech. Four prelingually deafened adults and two hearing controls produced three sets of word sequences. Each set included a kernel word and six derived forms (e.g., "speed," "speedy," "speeding," etc.). The derived forms were created by adding unstressed and stressed syllables to the kernel form. A spectrographic analysis indicated that the deaf subjects did not always decrease word and vowel durations for the derivatives. Unlike hearing speakers, they often did not reduce vowel segments more than consonant segments. Three explanations are forwarded for the shortening effects. One relates to the implementation of temporal rules, the second concerns the organization imposed upon the articulators to produce speech, and the third suggests a language-independent vocal tract characteristic. The role of auditory information in developing the shortening effects is also considered.     

Cell surface as a fractal: normal and cancerous cervical cells demonstrate different fractal behavior of surface adhesion maps at the nanoscale

Here we show that the surface of human cervical epithelial cells demonstrates substantially different fractal behavior when the cell becomes cancerous. Analyzing the adhesion maps of individual cervical cells, which were obtained using the atomic force microscopy operating in the HarmoniX mode, we found that cancerous cells demonstrate simple fractal behavior, whereas normal cells can only be approximated at best as multifractal. Tested on ~300 cells collected from 12 humans, the fractal dimensionality of cancerous cells is found to be unambiguously higher than that for normal cells.     

Detection of cancerous cervical cells using physical adhesion of fluorescent silica particles and centripetal force

Here we describe a non-traditional method to identify cancerous human cervical epithelial cells in a culture dish based on physical adhesion between silica beads and cells. It is a simple optical fluorescence-based technique which detects the relative difference in the amount of fluorescent silica beads physically adherent to surfaces of cancerous and normal cervical cells. The method utilizes the centripetal force gradient that occurs in a rotating culture dish. Due to the variation in the balance between adhesion and centripetal forces, cancerous and normal cells demonstrate clearly distinctive distributions of the fluorescent particles adherent to the cell surface over the culture dish. The method demonstrates higher adhesion of silica particles to normal cells compared to cancerous cells. The difference in adhesion was initially observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM data were used to design the parameters of the rotational dish experiment. The optical method that we describe is much faster and technically simpler than AFM. This work provides proof of the concept that physical interactions can be used to accurately discriminate normal and cancer cells.     

Experimental comparison of Jψ production by π±, K±, p and p̄ beams at 39.5 GeV/c

Measurements have been made of relative production cross sections of the $\text{J}\text{ψ}$ by π^±, K^±, p and p? at 39.5 GeV/c incident on copper. $\text{J}\text{ψ}$ production rates from π^?, K^? and p? are similar. The $\text{J}\text{ψ}$ relative particle/anti-particle production cross sections for x>0 are $\text{σ(π}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{)}\text{σ(π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{)=(0.87±0.14)}$, σ(K⁺)/σ(K^?)=(0.85±0.5) and $\text{σ(}\text{p}\text{)}\text{σ(}\text{p}\text{?}\text{)=(0.15 ±0.08)}$. The small p/p? cross section ratio disagrees with models of J/ψ production by gluon amalgamation.     

Unusual random walks

For most structures (molecules, graphs, lattices) a count of random walks for nonequivalent sites will give different numbers, particularly for walks of many steps. Occasionally one finds the same count of walks for nonequivalent sites. These have been termed “unusual walks” and have been closely examined in the case of trivalent graphs. While it remains to be understood what structural factors are critical, some regularities have been observed and are discussed. Unusual walks within a single structure signal “isospectural” points in a graph. A number of structures possessing unusual walks have been displayed, and a few constructive steps which do not alter the “unusual” characteristics of selected vertices have been indicated.     

A study of ϱ0 and f0 production in 4 GEV/cπ+d interactions

The production of ?⁰ and f⁰ mesons has been studied using a sample of 15485 fits to the reaction π⁺d → p_spπ⁺π^? at 4 GeV/c. Results are presented on the spin structure and production mechanisms of these resonances. An Estabrooks and Martin analysis has been carried out in the ?⁰ region, giving results similar to those obtained in their analysis of 17.2 GeV/c data. Natural parity exchange is less important at our momentum, however. In the case of f⁰ production, we find evidence for the presence of s-, p- and d-waves in the π π system. Averaging all events in the f⁰ peak, the s- and d-waves are found to be close in phase. The f⁰ production mechanism has been investigated using a positivity analysis of the complete J = 0, 1, 2 density matrix, and the same general features are observed as are seen in ?⁰ production. However, the unnatural parity exchange component is found to be even more dominant in f⁰ production than in ?⁰ production. Our results are compared with the predictions of various models.     

A partial wave analysis of the (3π)0 system from the charge exchange reaction π+n→π+π−πop AT 4 GeV/c

From a partial wave analysis of the (3π)^o state in the charge exchange reaction π⁺n→π⁺π^?π^op, we observe strong unnatural parity as well as natural parity production. The observed strong unnatural parity states are identified with well-established resonances. The unnatural parity production is consistent with Reggeized Deck model predictions, with the exception of the I = 1, JP = 1⁺ state. Here there is no evidence for A₁ production at ～1.1 GeV, but the data could support resonance production at higher masses.