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In this study, effects of molecular structure transformation of canna starch (CS) in oxidation condition on physicochemical characteristics of thermoplastic starch were examined. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) samples of CS and respective oxidized starch (in 1, 3 and 5% of sodium hypochlorite, w/w) were prepared by using an internal mixer with the presence of 30 wt% of glycerol as plasticizer. The physicochemical, morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of native starch-based TPS (NTPS) and oxidized starch-based TPS (OTPS) samples were evaluated. The content of carboxyl and carbonyl groups in oxidized canna starch (OCS) increased with the increase in the content of oxidant, leading to an improvement in the plasticization of CS. FTIR spectra of OTPS samples showed the stronger interaction between oxidized starch and plasticizer. SEM images of fracture surface indicated that the morphology of OTPS samples were smoother than that of NTPS samples. XRD patterns confirmed that the crystallite type of starches was also clearly changed after extrusion process and the decrease in crystallinity of OTPS samples is attributed to effects of both oxidation and plasticization. DSC results indicated that Tg of OTPS was greatly influenced by the carbonyl and carboxyl content and the higher content of these groups in oxidized starched could help the plasticization becomes easier. The better plasticization in OTPS samples resulted in the better mechanical properties and thermal stability of OTPS. The outcome suggested that the use of oxidized starch is an effective method to improve the plasticization in preparing thermoplastic starch.

Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose/Shellac-based Composite (HPMC/Sh composite) is produced from oil/water emulsion. The emulsifiers are necessarily used to stabilize and enhance the dispersion of this emulsion. This study conducted the experiments to evaluate effects of saturated fatty acids of lauric acid (LA), stearic acid (SA) and unsaturated fatty acid of oleic acid (OA) to the sensory, mechanical properties and microstructure of the HPMC/Sh emulsion. In which, the saturated fatty acids were used in mixtures with the ratios of shellac : emulsifier at 20 : 1, 10 : 1, and 5 : 1. On the other hand, the unsaturated fatty acid was used in mixtures with the ratio of shellac : emulsifier at 1 : 5, 1 : 10, and 1 : 20. The emulsifiers increased the dispersion and effective interaction of the polymers causing the emulsion formation become more stable and finer particle size. In addition, the films had smooth surfaces without unfractured, flexible and elastic.

Combining semiconductor and noble metal nanostructures into a hybrid system has shown many complementary advantages in optical properties, making them more attractive in practical applications. Herein, we prepared a semiconductor/noble...

In this study, a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate based on an octahedral cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanostructure to probe methylene blue (MB) molecules as an analyte chemical has been implemented. Octahedral Cu2O nanocrystals were synthesized by a novel hydrothermal process using only ethylene glycol as both a reductant and organic solvent. The characteristics of Cu2O nanocrystals were well recognized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy. The mechanism of the SERS surface has been thoroughly investigated and has been shown to involve the contributions of both surface plasmon resonance and charge transfer effects. Using a simple collection rule for SERS bands, the portion of charge transfer processes was estimated to be about 46%.

The ability to plasticize Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose/Beeswax (HPMC/BW) composites depends on plasticizers and their concentration. This paper conducted studying on the impacts of plasticizers to HPMC/BW properties. The plasticizers were used in this research included Glycerol (G), Propylene Glycol (PG), and Polyethylene Glycol 400 (PEG 400) which had the concentration changed in range of 1-3%. HPMC/BW composite films incorporated with 2% of plasticizers formed films with the best characteristics among three tested concentration. Tensile strength and elastic modulus of films were decreased when adding plasticizers, whereas elongation at break were increased. Therefore, it caused an increase in oxygen permeability of HPMC/BW films in comparison with the control film. However, Glycerol showed the lowest Oxygen Permeability (OP) values compared to other composite films. The films were evaluated its microstructural quality using method of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which had the effects of plasticizers and their efficiencies of plasticizing polymer networks.

Ag/Au bimetallic nanostructures have received much attention in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). However, the synthesis of this nanostructure type still remains a challenge. In the present research, Ag/Au nanoframes were synthesized via a simple room temperature solution phase chemical reduction method using pre-synthesized triangular Ag nanoplates as templates in the presence of appropriate amounts of HAuCl4. Controlling experimental parameters was applied for understanding of the growth mechanism. The galvanic exchange reaction resulted in a uniform deposition of the Au shell on the Ag nanoplates and the Ag core was removed which generated triangular hollow nanoframes. It is found that the amount of HAuCl4 added to the growth solution played a key role in controlling the Ag/Au nanoframes. The resultant silver/gold nanoframes with average size of 50 nm were applied in detecting methyl red (MR) in the solution-phase using an excitation wavelength laser of 532 nm. The SERS signal was greatly enhanced owing to the tunable plasmonic peaks in the visible region (400–650 nm). The limit of detection (LOD) of MR in diluted solution was 10−6 M. The enhancement factor (EF) was about 8 × 104 toward 10−5 M of MR. Interestingly, the linear dependence between the logarithm of the SERS signal intensity (log I) and the logarithm of the MR concentration (log C) occurred in the range from 10−6 to 10−4 M. Our work promises the application of Ag/Au nanoframes as a chemical sensor in detecting MR molecules at low concentration with high performance.

This study based on Southern Vietnamese (SVN) task-oriented dialogues, aims to find evidences of the present of intonation as a grammatical category, as well as the interaction between intonation and lexical tone in monosyllable discourse utterances (discourse markers). The results show that there is little evidence for phonologized boundary tones in SVN discourse markers. This finding would strengthen the claim made by Brunelle et al. (2012) (focusing on Northern Vietnamese) that Vietnamese intonation may not be grammaticalized as it could be in non-tonal languages.

Silver nanodecahedra and nanoplates were successfully fabricated using a simple solution method, where silver nitrate (AgNO3) was reduced with sodium borohydride (NaBH4) at melting ice temperature. Green light-emitting diode (green LED, wavelength λG = 520 nm) was irradiated into the reaction system to control the morphology of the product. The synthetic procedure was a combination of two processes including the formation of silver seeds and subsequent photomediated crystal growth. This article also presents a mechanism study of the photomediated growth of silver nanoplates and nanodecahedra. In these processes, citrate ions were used as a morphology-controlled reagent and polyvinyl pyrrolidone as a capping agent. The growth process was evaluated by dynamic light scattering and ultraviolet/visible spectra measurements. The obtained silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) possessed various shapes, including triangular, truncated triangular, hexagonal and decahedron depending on the time duration of LED irradiation. Triangular nanoplates or decahedral nanoparticles (80–100 nm) were obtained when the silver colloid was exposed to green LED irradiation for different times (30 min—76 h). The average width and thickness of such nanoparticles were estimated to be approximately 80 nm and 20 nm, respectively. The technology uniqueness in this work is that we can change the morphology of silver from plate to decahedron via prolonging the LED illumination period from 140 min to 76 h instead of changing the light wavelength or temperature of the reaction solution. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) experiment was carried out to measure Rhodamine 6G (R6G) concentrations plated on the silicon substrates. Silver nanodecahedra can detect the low concentration of R6G (10−8 M), while silver nanoplates can detect a higher R6G concentration of 10−6 M. Silver nanodecahedra could be used as an effective SERS substrate for ultrasensitive detection.

This article is aimed at evaluating newly synthesized HPMC/BW composite films, applied for preservation of seedless lime fruit. Factors influenced to formation of the films as well as characteristics of HPMC/BW edible composite films were researched and analyzed based on experimental results and previous studies. The HPMC/BW edible composite films were created based on the components included HPMC (5% w/v), Glycerol plasticizer (Gly-2% v/v), BW (5% w/v); Oleic Acid emulsifier (OA-1% v/v). Characteristics of the composite film were evaluated via the analytical techniques known as Sensory, Tensile Strength (TS), Elongation at Break (EB), ThermoGravimetric Analyzer (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR). HPMC/BW composite films applied in preserving seedless limes. Evaluations of preservation processes were based on effects of characteristics such as Sensory evaluation, Respiratory intensity, Weight loss, Vitamin C content, Total acid of before and after fruits preservation.

It is well-known that Ag–Au bimetallic nanoplates have attracted significant research interest due to their unique plasmonic properties and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). In recent years, there have been many studies on the fabrication of bimetallic nanostructures. However, controlling the shape, size, and structure of bimetallic nanostructures still has many challenges. In this work, we present the results of the synthesis of silver nanoplates (Ag NPls), and Ag–Au bimetallic core/shell and alloy nanostructures, using seed-mediated growth under green LED excitation and a gold salt (HAuCl4) as a precursor of gold. The results show that the optical properties and crystal structure strongly depend on the amount of added gold salt. Interestingly, when the amount of gold(x) in the sample was less than 0.6 μmol (x 0.6 μmol gave the alloy structure. The morphology of the obtained nanostructures was investigated using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) technique. The UV–Vis extinction spectra of Ag–Au nanostructures showed localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bands in the spectral range of 402–627 nm which changed from two peaks to one peak as the amount of gold increased. Ag–Au core/shell and alloy nanostructures were utilized as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates to detect methylene blue (MB) (10−7 M concentration). Our experimental observations indicated that the highest enhancement factor (EF) of about 1.2 × 107 was obtained with Ag–Au alloy. Our detailed investigations revealed that the Ag–Au alloy exhibited significant EF compared to pure metal Ag and Ag–Au core/shell nanostructures. Moreover, the analysis of the data revealed a linear dependence between the logarithm of concentration (log C) and the logarithm of SERS signal intensity (log I) in the range of 10−7–10−4 M with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.994. This research helps us understand better the SERS mechanism and the application of Raman spectroscopy on a bimetallic surface.

Decorating two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials with nanoparticles provides an effective method to integrate their physicochemical properties. In this work, we present the hydrothermal growth process of 2D zinc oxide nanoplates (ZnO NPls), then silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were uniformly distributed on the surface of ZnO NPls through the reduction procedure of silver nitrate with sodium borohydride to create a metal-semiconductor hybrid. The amount of AgNPs on the ZnO NPls' surface was carefully controlled by varying the volume of silver nitrate (AgNO

To evaluate the effects of surface modification with stearic acid on the dispersion of some inorganic fillers in polyethylene (PE) matrix, masterbatches containing 20–40 wt% of stearic acid uncoated and coated inorganic fillers and the linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) films containing 3–7% stearic acid uncoated and coated inorganic fillers were prepared. Two types of inorganic fillers used in the masterbatch included bentonite and silica. The structural change of inorganic fillers, whose surface was modified with stearic acid, was studied using IR spectroscopy. The dispersion of inorganic fillers in LLDPE matrix was evaluated using scanning electron microscope (masterbatch samples) and optical microscope (film samples). Changes in the melting temperature of LLDPE in the presence of inorganic fillers were evaluated by using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The mechanical properties of the films were evaluated according to ASTM D882. Surface-treated fillers with stearic acid dispersed in the masterbatches and films better than untreated fillers did. Stearic acid did not change the melting temperature of the filler/PE masterbatches. The mechanical properties of the films containing stearic acid coated fillers were higher than those containing unmodified fillers.

Water quality modeling in a river basin often faces the problem of having a large number of parameters yet limited available data. The important inputs to the water quality model are pollution concentrations and discharge from river tributaries, lateral inflows and related pollution load from different sources along the river. In general, such an extensive data set is rarely available, especially for data scarce basins. This makes water quality modeling more challenging. However, integration of models may be able to fill this data gap. Selection of models should be made based on the data that is available for the river basin. For the case of Cau River basin, the SWAT and QUAL2K models were selected. The outputs of SWAT model for lateral inflows and discharges of ungauged tributaries, and the observed pollutant concentrations data and estimated pollution loads of sub-watersheds were used as inputs to the water quality model QUAL2K. The resulting QUAL2K model was calibrated and validated using recent water quality data for two periods in 2014. Four model performance ratings PBIAS, NSE, RSR and R2 were used to evaluate the model results. PBIAS index was chosen for water quality model evaluation because it more adequately accounted for the large uncertainty inherent in water quality data. In term of PBIAS, the calibration and validation results for Cau River water quality model were in the “very good” performance range with ǀPBIASǀ

Well-crystalline iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) nanospindles have been prepared using a simple hydrothermal process at temperature of 240°C for different durations (24 h, 36 h, 48 h, and 60 h). The products were characterized by x-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and visible absorption measurements. Detailed characterization of their structure and composition confirmed formation of pure α-Fe2O3 with rhombohedral crystal structure. The photocatalytic activity of the obtained α-Fe2O3 for demineralization of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation was evaluated. Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy indicated a decrease in the absorbance intensity and concentration of the dye. Mechanistic investigation revealed that $$ \cdot {\hbox{OH}} $$ and $$ \cdot {\hbox{O}} $$ radicals played a crucial role in the degradation process of methylene blue. The α-Fe2O3 nanospindles presented high photocatalytic activity towards MB with degradation efficiency of 78% within 6 h of irradiation. These results demonstrate that α-Fe2O3 nanospindles are suitable for treatment of wastewater.

The movement of individual molecules inside living cells has recently been resolved by single particles tracking (SPT) method which is a powerful tool for probing the organization and dynamics of the plasma membrane constituents. Effective treatment of metastatic cancers requires the toxic chemotherapy, however this therapy leads to the multidrug resistance phenomenon of the cancer cells, in which the cancer cells resist simultaneously to different drugs with different targets and chemical structures. P-glycoprotein molecules which are responsible for multidrug resistance of many cancer cells have been studied by cancer biologists during past haft of century. Recently, advances in laser and detector technologies have enabled single fluorophores to be visualized in aqueous solution. The development of the total internal reflection fluorescent microscope (TIRFM) provided means to monitor dynamic molecular localization in living cells. In this paper, P-glycoproteins (PGP) were labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) in living cell membrane of Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) and the TIRFM method was used to characterize the dynamics of individual protein molecules on the surface of living cells. An evanescent field was produced by a totally internally reflected and a laser beam was illuminated the glass-water interface. GFP-PGP proteins that entered the evanescent field appeared as individual spots of light which were slighter than background fluorescence. We obtained high-resolution images and diffusion maps of membrane proteins on cell surface and showed the local diffusion properties of specific proteins on single cells. We also determined the diffusion coefficient, the mean square displacement and the average velocity of the tracked particles, as well as the heterogeneity of the cell environment. This study enabled us to understand single-molecule features in living cell and measure the diffusion kinetics of membrane-bound molecules.

The synthesis of Ag/Au nanoparticles (NPs) in a controlled manner has been a challenge for a long time. The aim of this report is to present a systematic study on the fabrication, characterization of Ag/Au alloy NP-based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. Silver (Ag) and gold (Au) colloidal NPs were prepared by chemical reduction route of the corresponding metal salts by trisodium citrate (TSC). Ag/Au alloy nanoparticles with varying molar fractions are prepared in aqueous solution by the simultaneous reduction of AgNO3 and HAuCl4 by TSC. The composition of Ag and Au in the alloy samples was controlled by tuning the molar ratio of Ag+/Au3+ in the mixture solution. The morphologies of the different products were characterized by TEM, and the size of obtained samples was in the range of 40 to 60 nm. The resulting samples were denoted as AgNPs, AuNPs, Ag3Au, AgAu, and AgAu3 NPs. In order to compare the optical property of the Ag/Au alloy and Ag/Au mixture, we mixed the pure Ag and Au NPs with different ratios to obtain the aggregated nanoparticles. Ag/Au alloy NPs were demonstrated as an ultrasensitive SERS substrate for the detection of rhodamine B (RhB) molecules. The concentration of RhB ranged from 10−11 to 10−5 M. The effect of the Au content on the optical and SERS properties of the Ag/Au alloys was studied. The obtained results show that the Au content in the Ag/Au alloys play an important role in the physical properties of Ag/Au alloy NPs. The SERS spectra of RhB from the as-prepared Ag/Au alloy NP substrates indicated the superior enhancement with high reproducibility and sensitivity compared to those of Ag or Au samples. Interestingly, the highest SERS activity was achieved for the Ag3Au sample with an enhancement factor larger than 1010 for 10−11 M RhB and a limit of detection (LOD) at 10−11 M, as well as good long-term stability after storage for 1 year. As far as we know, this is the highest sensitivity record of RhB by SERS detection. Furthermore, the composition-dependent SERS activity was explained in detail. These advantages demonstrated the potential for growing Ag/Au alloy NP-based SERS substrates in food safety and bioanalysis.

This study has approached the nature of the relationship between the factors affecting the Vietnamese decision to travel abroad. From the theoretical basis of consumer behavior and overview of theories about buying decision-making behavior of customers, the author has identified the factors, identified the relationship model among the factors in the total. (internal factors of each individual: attitude, motivation; factors from the external environment, including: destination image, business approach to customers, influence of reference group). Inheriting the theory of planned behavioral action by Ajzen (1991), model research on travel decisions by Um and Crompton (1990); Woodside and MacDonald (1994); Decrop (2006b), the author initially establishes a theoretical model suitable to the research context of factors affecting the decision to travel abroad of Vietnamese people.

The article provides an overview of the theoretical basis of a commercial bank's lending to corporate and individual customers. The article is based on an overview of the theoretical basis and law of Vietnam for general analysis.

This work developed silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as an effective adsorbent for phosphorus removal. The influence of various factors on the efficiency of phosphorus removal, such as the typ...

In this work, we have carried out systematic studies on the critical role of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and citrate in the well-known chemical reduction route to synthesize silver nanodecahedra (AgND). Silver nitrate (AgNO3) was used as silver source, which can be directly converted to metallic silver after being reduced by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) under blue light-emitting diode (LED) irradiation (λmax = 465 nm), and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a capping agent to assist the growth of AgND. The obtained products were silver nanodecahedra of excellent uniformity and stability with high efficiency and yield. The results showed that PVP acted as a capping agent to stabilize the silver nanoparticles, prolonging the initiation time required for nanodecahedra nucleation, thus inducing anisotropic growth, allowing the size and morphology of the AgND to be controlled successfully. This improved understanding allows a consistent process for the synthesis of AgND with significantly enhanced reproducibility to be developed and the formation mechanism of these nanostructures to be elucidated. This is a simple, cost-effective and easily reproducible method for creating AgND. The typical absorption maxima in the UV-vis spectroscopy of Ag seeds was λmax ∼400 nm and that of AgND was λmax ∼480 nm. The size of the prepared AgND was in the range of 60–80 nm. SEM images confirmed the uniform and high density of AgND when the concentration of PVP was 0.5 mM. The XRD pattern showed that the final product of AgND was highly crystallized. In addition, the prepared AgND can be used to detect methylene blue (MB) in a sensitive manner with good reproducibility and stability using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) phenomenon. Out of the obtained products, the AgND prepared with 50 min blue LED light irradiation (AgND-50) displayed the strongest SERS signal. Interestingly, MB in diluted solution can be detected with a concentration as low as 10−7 M (the limit of detection, LOD) and the linear dependence between SERS intensity and the MB concentration occurred in the range from 10−7 to 10−6 M. The enhancement factor (EF) of the SERS effect was about 1.602 × 106 with a MB concentration of 10−7 M using 532 nm laser excitation.

It is generally understood that the chemical enhancement process is essential in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of semiconductor-based substrates. Understanding the chemical enhancement mechanism is one of the most significant issues in improving the SERS activity of semiconductor substrates and designed hybrid substrates. Nevertheless, understanding the chemical enhancement process, on the other hand, remains controversial and elusive. In this study, ZnO semiconductor microstructures are prepared to investigate SERS activities in probing methylene blue (MB). The SERS mechanism is well elucidated based on the chemical enhancement mechanism related to both the formation of charge-transfer band and charge transfer from the second ionization of the oxygen vacancy defect (Vo••) to lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of MB. Remarkably, the charge-transfer band was evidenced by examining the ground state absorption spectra with a large band centred at 600 nm. These explanations are consistent with the strong SERS substrate behaviour of ZnO microstructures, with the SERS enhancement factor (EF) of ZnO plate substrates being highest among four investigated samples (ZnO tube, hexagonal, plate and flory-rod) at 2.9 × 104 at a concentration of MB of 10−4 M. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation of detecting MB molecules using a pure semiconductor surface with a strong SERS activity.

International audience; This article proposes new indices for microgridstability assessment. Various definitions of renewable penetrationlevel in the literature are firstly reviewed and their influence onpower system stability is discussed. It is found that the limit ofvariable renewable penetration varies on a case-per-case basis.Consequently, new indices are necessary as a guide in the designand operations of microgrids. The new indices are introducedbased on practical requirements of maintaining power supplyand balance stability. The usability of the indices is thenvalidated with the results from the literature, which hasconfirmed the practicability of the indices for microgrid planningand operations.

The gold nanocrescent (NC) particles possess a strong plasmon resonance which gives them a strong scattering cross section. They can thus be easily tracked using dark-field microscopy. In this study, we improved the optical configuration setup of dark-field video microscope to simultaneously measure the translational and rotational local temperatures within a glycerol medium. The translational and rotational local temperatures have been measured on the same single gold nanocrescent particle when it was excited by green and red laser. The rotational local temperature was measured by the technique of rotational scattering correlation spectroscopy (RSCS) and the translational local temperature was measured by tracking a single nanoparticle technique through the determination of translational diffusion coefficient under Brownian motion. The result showed that the translational local temperature was significant lower than the rotational local temperature for the same single gold nanocrescent. Remarkablely, we can affirm that the heterogeneity of the optical environment leads to the difference between these two temperatures. The obtained results have a great potential to probe the local nanorheology of a material.

The colloidal silver solution was synthesized by reducing silver nitrate () using sodium borohydride () and starch as a stabilizer agent. The size and optical properties of synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effects of several parameters on AgNPs were also investigated. The results have shown that the size of synthesized spherical silver nanoparticles was and disperse in water. The synthesized AgNPs of his study exhibited a strong antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The average zones of inhibition of AgNPs were of 7.7 mm for bacteria E. coli and 7.0 mm for S. aureus. In this study, the zone of inhibition of AgNPs was also compared to the reference antibiotics drug.

The ability of using dispersed generation (DG) in the distribution system restoration service in the context of smart networks is presented in this paper. The objectives are to reduce the consequences due to a major blackout in terms of the out-of-service load volume, and the duration of restoration process. Based on knapsack problem formulation and network represented graph modeling, a new restoration procedure for distribution network is proposed. An adapted branch-and-bound algorithm is then used to solve the problem. It maximizes the restored loads in distribution by using the DG availability. Simulation results on a study case will be shown to illustrate the proposed procedure and quantify the benefit of using DG in critical situations.

Tones in Northern Vietnamese are distinguished by pitch variations and phonation types, but falling pitch slopes are not considered as a major cue that its speakers rely on in tonal contrast. This may contribute to difficulties that native speakers of Northern Vietnamese are faced with when learning Mandarin tones, especially the distinction between the level (T1) and the falling (T4) tones. To examine how Northern Vietnamese speakers perceive the distinction between T1 and T4 in Mandarin and how well they adapt phonetic cues underlying the non-native distinction, an ABX identification experiment is carried out on perception of synthesized pitches with two inter-stimuli-intervals (ISI) at 500ms and 1500ms. Results suggest a combined effect of pitch slopes and pitch heights, the former of which claims more robust influence on tone perception. However, a reversed pattern is found when the ISI equals 500ms, where pitch heights exert a stronger effect on tone identification than pitch slopes.