Production of coda voicing contrast of L2 English by native Mandarin Chinese speakers in comparison with native Korean speakers.

This study investigates native language effects on phonetic encoding of coda voicing contrast in L2 English by Chinese versus Korean speakers. Results show much smaller phonetic differences in both vowel duration and F0 in marking coda voicing contrast for Chinese speakers than Korean speakers, despite native Chinese speakers' experience with lexical tones. They suggest that producing an F0-related cue in L2 is conditioned by position-specific phonological richness and use of F0 in the speaker's L1. The results are discussed in terms of contrast maximization and effort minimization with reference to the information structure occurring in both L1 and L2.

Study on a Natural Silk Cocoon Membrane-Based Versatile and Stable Immunosensing Platform via Directional Immunoaffinity Recognition.

The development of immunosensing assays for in vitro diagnostics has attracted great attention in recent years. Various substrate materials and immobilization methods of biomolecules were exploited for immunosensors, but their bioactivity and longevity have been facing serious challenges. To address this limitation, we investigated a natural silk cocoon membrane as immunosensing substrate material. By using its intrinsic properties, the target biomolecules were immobilized on the membrane through directional immunoaffinity recognition. The silk cocoon membrane-based immunosensor showed great potential for both qualitative and quantitative immunoassays, through naked-eye observation or analyzing the change in red color intensity, respectively. The immunosensor exhibited significant detection capability for anti-D (titer 1:1024) sensitized red blood cells. The colorimetric responses of concentrations ranged from 1 µg/mL to 1 ng/mL, and the detection limit for anti-D was 3.4 ng/mL. The immunosensor also showed excellent stability for the immobilized antibodies when stored at 4 and 25 °C; the bioactivity remained unchanged or slightly declined within 40 weeks. Even at 37 °C, the bioactivity began to decline after 12 weeks. This current work highlights the potential of using the natural silk cocoon membrane as a substrate for a versatile and thermally stable immunosensing platform for application in immunoassays.