Non-native Groups Research Articles

Mid-term outcomes of percutaneous pulmonary valve replacement with Edwards-Sapien bioprosthesis in native right ventricular outflow tract

Information on mid-term outcomes of percutaneous pulmonary valve replacement (PPVR) with the Edwards Sapien (ES) valve in the native right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) are limited. This study assesses mid-term outcomes in 76 patients who underwent PPVR between 2016 and 2022, comparing native (40.8%) and non-native (59.2%) RVOTs. The primary endpoint was a composite of endocarditis, reinterventions, and cardiovascular death and secondary outcomes included prosthetic valve dysfunction (PVD), tricuspid regurgitation (TR), right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF), and indexed ventricular volumes. The median patient age was 23.9 years. Pulmonary regurgitation was predominant in the native RVOT group (67.7%), while pulmonary stenosis or combined lesions were more common in the non-native group (90.9%). Procedural success was 98.7%. After a median follow-up of 3.3 years, there was no significant difference in freedom from the primary outcome between groups (87.1% native vs. 93.1% non-native, p = 0.875). Endocarditis and reinterventions occurred at 1.2 per 100 patient-years, and PVD at 3.19 per 100 patient-years, with no differences between groups. A 1-year reduction in ventricular volumes and TR was seen only in the non-native group, with no improvement in RVEF. Overall, PPVR with the ES valve demonstrates satisfactory mid-term outcomes in both native and non-native RVOTs.

Computational Investigation of the Role of Metal Center Identity in Cytochrome P450 Enzyme Model Reactivity.

Mononuclear Fe enzymes such as heme-containing cytochrome P450 enzymes catalyze a variety of C-H activation reactions under ambient conditions, and they represent an attractive platform for engineering reactivity through changes to the native enzyme. Using density functional theory, we study both native Fe and non-native group 8 (Ru, Os) and group 9 (Ir) metal centers in an active site model of P450. We quantify how changing the metal changes spin state preferences throughout the catalytic cycle. Our calculations reveal an intermediate-spin ground state for all Fe intermediates while the heavier metals prefer low-spin ground states across most intermediates in the reaction cycle. We also study the rate-determining hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) step and the subsequent rebound step. We observe comparable HAT barriers for Fe and Ru, a much higher barrier for Os, and the lowest HAT barrier for Ir. Rebound steps are barrierless for all metals, and the rebound intermediate for Fe is most significantly stabilized. Examination of ground spin states of all intermediates in the reaction cycle reveals spin-allowed pathways for the group 8 metals and spin-forbidden energetics for the group 9 Ir with potential two-state reactivity. Our work highlights the differences between the group 8 metals and the group 9 Ir, and it suggests that engineered P450 enzymes with Ru in particular result in improved enzyme reactivity toward C-H hydroxylation.

The perception of emotional prosody in Mandarin Chinese words and sentences

Emotional prosody refers to the ways in which the tone of voice can be modulated to convey emotions, feelings, and attitudes. Previous studies have explored the perception of emotional prosody and whether native speakers (L1) have an in-group advantage in recognizing the emotional prosody of their own cultural groups over non-native speakers. However, little is known about whether these findings in non-tonal languages can be generalized to tonal languages. Mandarin Chinese uses the tone of voice to encode word meanings in addition to emotional prosody. This study investigates the perception of emotional prosody in Mandarin Chinese using an emotion judgment task, focusing on the effects of emotion type (e.g., neutral, joy, anger, sadness) and syllable length (e.g., monosyllable, disyllable, trisyllable, and sentence). Three groups were included, consisting of 20 native Chinese speakers (native group), 20 L1-English L2-Chinese learners (second language group), and 20 native English speakers without Chinese learning experience (non-native group). The results revealed that all three groups can identify emotional prosody well above the chance level in Mandarin Chinese words and sentences. Moreover, the native group and the second language (L2) group showed an in-group advantage in recognizing emotional prosody compared to the non-native group, highlighting the impact of linguistic experience in addition to cultural backgrounds on the perception of emotional prosody. Notably, the effects of emotion type and syllable length differed across the three groups in terms of their perception of emotional prosody. The native group had difficulty identifying positive emotional prosody, whereas both the L2 group and the non-native group showed a pattern of improved accuracy as syllable length increased, with an interaction effect with emotion type.

Variation in Non-native Speech: How Far Do Non-native Speakers Replicate Target Constraints on Variation? A Novel Approach

This paper introduces a new framework to analyze how non-native speakers adhere to native-speaker norms of variation in contact settings. The author focuses on a well-established phonological variable in both native and contact-induced varieties of English: consonant cluster reduction. This process involves either dropping or maintaining a final coronal stop (t,d) in a consonant cluster in words such as "mind" and "west." The paper uses standard variationist methodologies to establish the constraints on consonant cluster reduction in a native-speaker group (Wellingtonian English) and a non-native speaker sample (Arab migrants to Wellington). The study then compares these constraints, identifying any changes introduced by non-native speakers. The results show that the non-native group is highly attuned to dialect-specific aspects of variation and demonstrates a deletion rate close to native speakers. Additionally, they exhibit a strong transfer of target articulatory constraints related to consonant cluster reduction and acquire the social cues associated with this variation. Interestingly, these patterns of variation in non-native speech are consistent across similar non-native groups, irrespective of first language, proficiency in English, and the complexity of the target constraints on variation.

English Speakers’ Perception of Non-native Vowel Contrasts in Adverse Listening Conditions: A Discrimination Study on the German Front Rounded Vowels /y/ and /ø/

Previous research has shown that it is difficult for English speakers to distinguish the front rounded vowels /y/ and /ø/ from the back rounded vowels /u/ and /o/. In this study, we examine the effect of noise on this perceptual difficulty. In an Oddity Discrimination Task, English speakers without any knowledge of German were asked to discriminate between German-sounding pseudowords varying in the vowel both in quiet and in white noise at two signal-to-noise ratios (8 and 0 dB). In test trials, vowels of the same height were contrasted with each other, whereas a contrast with /a/ served as a control trial. Results revealed that a contrast with /a/ remained stable in every listening condition for both high and mid vowels. When contrasting vowels of the same height, however, there was a perceptual shift along the F2 dimension as the noise level increased. Although the /ø/-/o/ and particularly /y/-/u/ contrasts were the most difficult in quiet, accuracy on /i/-/y/ and /e/-/ø/ trials decreased immensely when the speech signal was masked. The German control group showed the same pattern, albeit less severe than the non-native group, suggesting that even in low-level tasks with pseudowords, there is a native advantage in speech perception in noise.

Disambiguating ambiguity: A comparative analysis of lexical decision-making in native and non-native English speakers

Making lexical decisions to disambiguate multiple-meaning words or senses provides clear evidence of word recognition, processing systems and representation in the mental lexicon. This comparative study explores non-native English speakers’ and native English speakers’ cognitive mechanisms employed in phonological and lexical ambiguity resolution embedded in auditory and visual utterances. English proficiency and vocabulary tests and two lexical decision tests were conducted with 35 EFL undergraduate students and four native English monolingual speakers. The effects of factors such as L2 proficiency and familiarity on ambiguity resolution in addition to the resolution techniques employed were also explored. Our findings suggest that the differences in disambiguating L2 words among native English speakers and non-native English speakers might indicate different comprehension, representation and processing patterns. The ambiguity type most likely has a major role in determining the diverse phenomenon of ambiguity resolution. More specifically, there was evidence of significant differences in homophone use, metaphorical polysemy and homonym ambiguity resolution between the two groups, excluding metonymous polysemy. Homophones and polysemy were the least problematic and challenging lexical ambiguity types unlike homonymy for the non-native group. Other results also revealed the positive effects of L2 proficiency and L2 word familiarity on ambiguity resolution. Thus, this study also has important implications considering the vital role of vocabulary in L2 competence and knowledge.

Acquisition of Structures at Syntax-Discourse Interface: Post-Verbal Subjects in L2 English

The present study explores the acceptability of postverbal subjects by intermediate and advanced L2 English learners with L1 Macedonian, a pro-drop Slavic language with rich verbal morphology. The two languages differ regarding the distribution of subject-verb inversion (SVI): in Macedonian, it is a default pattern in thetic sentences, but English severely restricts SVI to specific contexts. To test the hypothesis that Macedonian learners encounter difficulties in acquisition of English SVI because of crosslinguistic influence, a grammaticality judgement and correction task was administered to two groups of Macedonian learners of English and a control group of English native speakers. The results revealed that L2 learners find English VS sentences and VS + it-insertion examples more acceptable than the native speakers, but the performance of the advanced group is closer to the native speakers than to the intermediate learners. Both non-native groups accept more readily inappropriate English sentences that conform to typical L1 structures.

Are multiword frequency effects stronger in non-native than in native speakers?

Abstract This study investigated whether non-native English speakers showed a processing advantage for high-frequency multiword units (multiword frequency effects), and whether the effects differed between native and non-native speakers. Such a difference has been identified in relation to single-word processing. Native English speakers and intermediate learners of English with languages of different scripts (native speakers of Japanese and German) judged whether English multiword units were grammatical. A significant processing advantage was identified for both native and non-native participants. More importantly, the multiword frequency effects were stronger among non-native than native speakers. The discrepancy persisted even after including individual vocabulary knowledge as a predictor in the mixed-effect models. Furthermore, there was no significant different impact of the effects between two non-native groups, even though German participants responded quicker than Japanese participants. This indicates that the varying influence between L1 and L2 could be explained by within-language, not between-language, variables.

English pre-fortis clipping by L2 Saudi speakers

The current study is a partial replication of Flege and Port (Language Speech 24(2):125–146, 1981), which examined the production of pre-fortis clipping (i.e., vowel shortening before voiceless obstruents) by Saudi L2 English speakers. In addition, it examined whether language experience operationalized as the length of residence in an English-speaking country, had any positive effect on the production of the pre-fortis clipping by the Saudi L2 English speakers. 16 Saudi L2 English speakers were requested to produce the English vowels /æ/, /ɪ/ and /i:/ in a carrier word, once before the voiceless stop /t/ and once before the voiced stop /d/. The same vowels in the same context were also elicited from a reference group of native English speakers. Similar vowels in a similar context were also obtained in Arabic from Saudi native speakers. A durational ratio of each vowel before /t/ to the same vowel before /d/ was calculated for each speaker in the native and nonnative groups. Similar to the findings of Flege and Port (1981), both the Saudi native Arabic and L2 English speakers showed broadly less durational contrast between the vowels in the two contexts than did the native English speakers. However, the results varied across the three examined vowels. In addition, no significant correlation was found between the length of residence and the L2 speakers’ production.

Methods for investigation of L2 speech rhythm: Insights from the production of English speech rhythm by L2 Arabic learners

Rhythm metrics can detect second language development of target-like speech rhythm but interpretation of the results from metrics in learners’ speech is problematic because the mapping of metrics to underpinning phonological features is indirect. We investigate speech rhythm in first language (L1) Arabic / second language (L2) English, which differ in key properties contributing to the percept of rhythm: unstressed vowel reduction and syllable structure. Our production data are interpreted using additional measures, of stressed and unstressed vowels and of consonant cluster realization, alongside standard rhythm metrics; this combination facilitates disambiguation of competing interpretations of the metric results. The findings confirm the importance of using multiple rhythm metrics to study L2 speech rhythm and demonstrate how simple additional measures can guide interpretation of their results. In this study the metrics results showed that the speech produced by the L2 speakers, regardless of their length of residence in the UK, exhibited lower vocalic durational variability than the speech produced by the native Arabic and English speakers. However, closer inspection of the degree of vowel reduction by the native and nonnative groups confirms that no single metric captures the complex nature of the observed L2 rhythm patterns. Future L2 studies are advised not to draw firm conclusions about the degree of vowel reduction and consonant cluster realization in L2 speech based solely on the results of the rhythm metrics.

Comprehension of English articles by Korean learners of L2 English and L3 Spanish

Abstract This study aimed to compare the comprehension of second language (L2) English articles by native speakers of Korean, an article-less language, and by Korean learners of English as an L2 and Spanish as a third language (L3). The participants were 22 adult learners with advanced overall proficiency in L2 English and L3 Spanish. They completed two tasks, an online self-paced reading task and an offline acceptability rating task. The findings showed that both the trilingual and the bilingual groups relied on definiteness in distinguishing English articles as native speakers do. The findings related to the trilingual group were predicted by the morphological congruency hypothesis, but those related to the bilingual group were against the predictions of the fluctuation hypothesis. A comparison between the two non-native groups showed that the trilingual group had a higher sensitivity to distinguish English articles than the bilingual group, which provides evidence for positive backward transfer from the L3 to the L2 in article comprehension by learners of English whose L1 is article-less, such as Korean.

The boundary setting of Chinese netizens’ citizenship identity: social media responses to the Regulations of the PRC on the Administration of Permanent Residence of Foreigners

Since Reform and Opening Up, the Chinese government has been under pressure regarding policy on the residence of foreign migrants to the country. In response, the Chinese government released a document entitled the Regulations of the PRC on the Administration of Permanent Residence of Foreigners in February 2020, which has roused fierce social opposition, as reflected in Chinese netizens’ attitudes towards foreign immigrants and citizenship identity. Based on online discussions in the Zhihu community, in this paper, we investigated the exclusive and inclusive boundaries of Chinese netizens’ citizenship identity through quantitative and thematic textual analyses. The exclusive boundary includes racial and historical discourses that raise insurmountable walls between Chinese people and foreign immigrants, while the inclusive boundary is reflected in citizenship rights and access criteria. The issues of ‘super-national treatment’ (privileges enjoyed by foreign nationals with permanent Chinese residency) and ‘low access criteria’ (the relative ease with which foreign immigrants can obtain permanent residence in China) for foreign immigrants have weakened the openness of the inclusive boundary, causing netizens who were once willing to accept foreign immigrants to oppose the presence of non-native groups in the country. This study deepens our understanding of Chinese netizens’ citizenship identity and contributes to citizenship identity theory.

Sociocultural differences in the development of obesity in adolescents in Murcia

BackgroundChildhood obesity presents alarming numbers in our country, being even higher in the population of immigrant origin. The main objective was to analyse the excess weight numbers both in native adolescents and in those children of immigrants and to determine the ethnic influence on lifestyle habits that could condition these differences in weight overload. MethodsAdolescents from 1st year of Obligatory Secondary Education (E.S.O.) participated; somatometry was determined and classified according to BMI (with WHO references) and parental origin. Parents completed the survey on healthy habits (ENHASA). An analysis of variance was performed for each of the 4 dimensions of the questionnaire. ResultsA total of 416 adolescents participated (12.8±0.62 years). Excess weight was detected in 41.2% of the participants, with significant differences between groups (p 0.018): 36.7% in Spanish, 42.9% in North Africa and 58.2% in South America. The ANOVA analysis showed differences in the section “physical activity” (p 0.003), highlighting the maximum disparity in the performance of extracurricular sports activities, with a lower score in both non-native groups. ConclusionWe found significant differences according to ethnic origin in the number of overweight children and the amount of physical activity they do; South American adolescents are the most sedentary. We must design interventions that guarantee the access of all adolescents to sports activities to prevent the development of obesity.

Diferencias socioculturales en el desarrollo de la obesidad en adolescentes en Murcia

BackgroundChildhood obesity presents alarming numbers in our country, being even higher in the population of immigrant origin. The main objective was to analyse the excess weight numbers both in native adolescents and in those children of immigrants and to determine the ethnic influence on lifestyle habits that could condition these differences in weight overload. MethodsAdolescents from 1st year of Obligatory Secondary Education (ESO) participated; somatometry was determined and classified according to BMI (with WHO references) and parental origin. Parents completed the survey on healthy habits (ENHASA). An analysis of variance was performed for each of the 4 dimensions of the questionnaire. ResultsA total of 416 adolescents participated (12.8 ± 0.62 years). Excess weight was detected in 41.2% of the participants, with significant differences between groups (p 0.018): 36.7% in Spanish, 42.9% in North Africa and 58.2% in South America. The ANOVA analysis showed differences in the section “physical activity” (p 0.003), highlighting the maximum disparity in the performance of extracurricular sports activities, with a lower score in both non-native groups. ConclusionsWe found significant differences according to ethnic origin in the number of overweight children and the amount of physical activity they do; South American adolescents are the most sedentary. We must design interventions that guarantee the access of all adolescents to sports activities to prevent the development of obesity.

Characterizing first and second language rhythm in English using spectral coherence between temporal envelope and mouth opening-closing movements.

This study investigated the rhythmic differences between first and second language English from 19 native speakers of American English and an equal number of native speakers of Mandarin. Speech rhythm was viewed from MacNeilage's frame/content theory. The spectral coherence between the temporal envelope and the mouth opening and closing kinematics was computed to operationalize the rhythmic frame. The spectral centroid, spread, rolloff, flatness, and entropy were calculated to reveal the frequency distribution patterns in the coherence. Using a binary logistic regression model, these measures were collectively found to be effective in characterizing rhythmic differences between native and non-native groups (A' = 0.71 and B″D = -0.06). Specifically, the native group was significantly higher than the non-native group in terms of spectral centroid and spread, whereas the native group was significantly lower than its non-native counterpart in terms of spectral flatness and entropy. Both groups were not significantly different in spectral rolloff. Possible explanations for the result as well as the efficacy of employing the aforesaid coherence in speech rhythm research in general were discussed.

Race/Ethnicity as a Risk Factor in the Development of Postpartum Hemorrhage: A Thorough Systematic Review of Disparity in the Relationship Between Pregnancy and the Rate of Postpartum Hemorrhage.

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a major cause of maternal death and morbidity worldwide. Throughout the years, there have not been many studies looking into the association of race and ethnicity with the occurrence of PPH. The goal of this study was to assess race and ethnicity as risk factors in the development of PPH in pregnant women. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards, we conducted the analysis and conducted a literature search using Google Scholar and PubMed. After applying our inclusion and exclusion criteria, the search technique yielded a total of eight articles. The analysis included seven observational studies and one randomized controlled trial. The incidence of PPH was chosen as the major outcome measure. An evaluation of eight studies revealed that although Hispanics, Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) have a higher chance of developing PPH caused by uterine atony, Caucasians had a greater rate of transfusion than the other groups. In addition, compared to Caucasians, African Americans or African descendants had a lower risk of atonic PPH but increased odds of atonic PPH requiring interventions. On the other hand, compared to non-native groups, Native Americans had increased odds of uterine atony. The results showed that, in contrast to other races/ethnicities, Caucasians had the lowest risk of PPH. Additionally, it was shown that African Americans or those descended from Africans had a higher chance of PPH but a lower risk of atonic PPH.

Syntactic Complexity in Journal Research Article Abstracts Written in English

The reader’s ability to connect new information to existing knowledge is crucial when reading a text. Nonetheless, text complexity, in many ways, is more linguistic than cognitive. It encompasses the degree of sophistication, and how challenging a reading section is. Depending on the section, such difficulty may appear on the vocabulary level, in the organizational structure, or with coherence, and cohesion. In the globalized world of scientific communication, research articles published in non-Anglophone academic journals require English abstracts to access an international database and citation possibilities. This paper describes the syntactic complexity in journal research article abstracts. A corpus of abstracts written in English and published in Anglophone and non-Anglophone contexts were sampled. The English sub-corpora underwent software-based text analysis using fourteen syntactic complexity measures with the second language (L2) Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (Lu, 2010). Significant differences appeared in only four of the fourteen syntactic indices between texts in Anglophone and non-Anglophone journals, and out of these fourteen measures, non-native groups reported thirteen lower mean values. The study affords insights for L2 writing research to produce accurate texts in content and structure. Ideally, findings will uncover pedagogical implications and applications for academic writing instructions.

Determiner-Number Specification and Non-Local Agreement Computation in L1 and L2 Processing

The present study employed a self-paced reading task in conjunction with concurrent acceptability judgements to examine how similar or different English natives and Chinese learners of English are when processing non-local agreement. We also tested how determiner-number specification modulates number agreement computation in both native and non-native processing by manipulating number marking with demonstrative determiners (the versus that/these). Results suggest both groups were sensitive to non-local agreement violations, indexed by longer reading times for sentences containing number violations. Furthermore, we found determiner-number specification facilitated processing of number violations in both native and non-native groups in an acceptability judgement task only, with stronger sensitivity to violations with demonstrative determiners than those with bare determiners. Contrary to some theories that predict qualitative differences between native and non-native processing, we did not find any significant differences between native and non-native speakers, despite the fact that the Chinese speakers of English had to process a novel linguistic feature absent in their native language.

Bacterial N4-methylcytosine as an epigenetic mark in eukaryotic DNA

DNA modifications are used to regulate gene expression and defend against invading genetic elements. In eukaryotes, modifications predominantly involve C5-methylcytosine (5mC) and occasionally N6-methyladenine (6mA), while bacteria frequently use N4-methylcytosine (4mC) in addition to 5mC and 6mA. Here we report that 4mC can serve as an epigenetic mark in eukaryotes. Bdelloid rotifers, tiny freshwater invertebrates with transposon-poor genomes rich in foreign genes, lack canonical eukaryotic C5-methyltransferases for 5mC addition, but encode an amino-methyltransferase, N4CMT, captured from bacteria >60 Mya. N4CMT deposits 4mC at active transposons and certain tandem repeats, and fusion to a chromodomain shapes its “histone-read-DNA-write” architecture recognizing silent chromatin marks. Furthermore, amplification of SETDB1 H3K9me3 histone methyltransferases yields variants preferentially binding 4mC-DNA, suggesting “DNA-read-histone-write” partnership to maintain chromatin-based silencing. Our results show how non-native DNA methyl groups can reshape epigenetic systems to silence transposons and demonstrate the potential of horizontal gene transfer to drive regulatory innovation in eukaryotes.

Effects of First Language Background and Learning Experience in Perceiving Mandarin Lexical Tones: Learners and Nonlearners From English- and Japanese-Speaking Backgrounds.

This research compared individuals from two first language (L1) backgrounds (English and Japanese) to determine how they may differ in their perception of Mandarin tones (Tones 1 vs. 2 [T1-T2], Tones 1 vs. 3 [T1-T3], Tones 1 vs. 4 [T1-T4], Tones 2 vs. 3 [T2-T3], Tones 2 vs. 4 [T2-T4], Tones 3 vs. 4 [T3-T4]) on account of their L1. The participants included two groups of learners of Mandarin (23 English speakers, 18 Japanese speakers), two groups of nonlearners of Mandarin (24 English speakers, 21 Japanese speakers), and a control group of 10 Mandarin speakers. A four-alternative forced-choice discrimination task that included 360 trials was presented in three blocks of 120 trials. The native Mandarin group was more accurate in their tonal discrimination of all six tone pairs than all the nonnative groups. While Japanese nonlearners generally outperformed English nonlearners in their overall perception of Mandarin lexical tones, L1-based differences were less extensive for the two groups of learners. Both learner groups were least accurate on T2-T3 and most accurate on T3-T4. The results suggest that with classroom experience, English speakers can overcome their initial disadvantage and learn lexical tones in a new language as successfully as speakers of Japanese with classroom experience.