A tear-free and edible dehydrated vegetables packaging film with enhanced mechanical and barrier properties from soluble soybean polysaccharide blending carboxylated nanocellulose.

The aim of the study was to develop soybean polysaccharide (SSPS) -carboxylated nanocellulose (CNC) blending films with enhanced mechanical and barrier properties to be used as a tear-free and edible packaging materials. The films were formed by casting method, with CNC as the strengthening unit and glycerol as the plasticizer. The effect of CNC on structural and physical performances of the SSPS-CNC films were studied. SEM indicated that the film will stratify with excess CNC (10 %), but the film remains intact and compact. Incorporation of CNC into SSPS films did not change peak position in the XRD pattern significantly. Hydrogen bonds among SSPS, glycerol and CNC were indicated by the FTIR spectra. The compounding of CNC greatly lessened the light transmittance and hydrophilicity (CA increased from 55.42° to 70.67°), but perfected the barrier (WVP decreased from 3.595 × 10-10 to 2.593 × 10-10 g m-1 s-1 Pa-1) and mechanical properties (TS improved from 0.806 to 1.317 MPa). The results of packaging dehydrated vegetable indicated that the SSPS-8CNC film can effectively inhibit the packaged cabbage absorption water vapor. As a consequence, SSPS film perfected by CNC is hopeful to pack dehydrated vegetables in instant foods.

Visual-auditory perception of prosodic focus in Japanese by native and non-native speakers.

Introduction: Speech communication is multi-sensory in nature. Seeing a speaker's head and face movements may significantly influence the listeners' speech processing, especially when the auditory information is not clear enough. However, research on the visual-auditory integration speech processing has left prosodic perception less well investigated than segmental perception. Furthermore, while native Japanese speakers tend to use less visual cues in segmental perception than in other western languages, to what extent the visual cues are used in Japanese focus perception by the native and non-native listeners remains unknown. To fill in these gaps, we test focus perception in Japanese among native Japanese speakers and Cantonese speakers who learn Japanese, using auditory-only and auditory-visual sentences as stimuli. Methodology: Thirty native Tokyo Japanese speakers and thirty Cantonese-speaking Japanese learners who had passed the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test with level N2 or N3 were asked to judge the naturalness of 28 question-answer pairs made up of broad focus eliciting questions and three-word answers carrying broad focus, or contrastive or non-contrastive narrow focus on the middle object words. Question-answer pairs were presented in two sensory modalities, auditory-only and visual-auditory modalities in two separate experimental sessions. Results: Both the Japanese and Cantonese groups showed weak integration of visual cues in the judgement of naturalness. Visual-auditory modality only significantly influenced Japanese participants' perception when the questions and answers were mismatched, but when the answers carried non-contrastive narrow focus, the visual cues impeded rather than facilitated their judgement. Also, the influences of specific visual cues like the displacement of eyebrows or head movements of both Japanese and Cantonese participants' responses were only significant when the questions and answers were mismatched. While Japanese participants consistently relied on the left eyebrow for focus perception, the Cantonese participants referred to head movements more often. Discussion: The lack of visual-auditory integration in Japanese speaking population found in segmental perception also exist in prosodic perception of focus. Not much foreign language effects has been found among the Cantonese-speaking learners either, suggesting a limited use of facial expressions in focus marking by native and non-native Japanese speakers. Overall, the present findings indicate that the integration of visual cues in perception of focus may be specific to languages rather than universal, adding to our understanding of multisensory speech perception.