From rule-based explicit instruction to explicit knowledge

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Kissling

This pilot study investigated university-level intermediate Spanish learners’ (n=16) explicit knowledge about a contrast in grammatical aspect (preterite/imperfect) after they received rule-based explicit instruction. Prior studies have found that learners’ explicit knowledge about preterite and imperfect includes partially understood rules, which can have long-lasting effects on their performance, so it is important to investigate the disconnect between what is taught and what is learned. Learners completed a cloze test and then introspected about their performance. The data were analysed qualitatively and compared to verbalisations of L1 Spanish speakers (n=6). Four main themes emerged: learners failed to learn the concept of grammatical aspect, they demonstrated confusion about lexical aspect, they attributed the difference between preterite and imperfect to a binary system of lexical aspect feature complexes based on duration of the verb/predicate, and they relied on self-developed categorical rules about adverbial markers. Suggestions for modifications to the conventional pedagogical rules are offered.

Probus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Grinstead ◽  
Paij Lintz ◽  
Juliana De la Mora ◽  
Myriam Cantú-Sánchez ◽  
Blanca Flores

AbstractThe Aspect-First Hypothesis observes that children tend to associate the lexical semantics of predicates with grammatical aspect marking and tense, and children with SLI are known to have problems with tense. A theoretical question raised by these facts is whether the SLI difficulty with tense is limited to morphosyntax, or whether it extends to the lexical semantics implicated in the Aspect-First phenomenon as well. In previous work, children with SLI have been less consistent than controls in their Aspect-First prototypical tense–aspect groupings. In the current project, we study the spontaneous production data of 38 five-year-old monolingual Spanish-speakers in Mexico, half of whom are diagnosed with SLI and half of whom are age-matched controls. We coded the spontaneous production of each child’s 20- to 30-minute language sample for tense, grammatical aspect and lexical aspect to determine: (1) whether each group followed Aspect-First prototypical tense–aspect groupings and (2) whether children in the SLI and TD groups were different from one another in their tense–aspect distributions. Children in both groups appeared to follow the Aspect-First prototypes, in contrast to comprehension findings. SLI children were not significantly different from TD children in their distribution of predicates, as a function of tense and lexical aspect, contra elicited production results from English. Results are discussed in terms of methodological and comprehension-production differences.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nestoras Mathioudakis ◽  
Estelle Everett ◽  
Noora Al-Hajri ◽  
Mohammed Abusamaan ◽  
Clare Lee ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND About one-third of American adults have prediabetes and are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies provide a scalable approach to diabetes prevention by encouraging physical activity (PA), weight loss, and adherence to a healthy diet in large numbers of patients. OBJECTIVE To identify factors associated with improvements in PA and glycated hemoglobin (A1c) measures among prediabetic adults who received a mobile intervention program (smartphone app in combination with a digital body weight scale) in a previously completed pilot study. METHODS We conducted a post hoc analysis of a 3-month prospective, single-arm, observational study using the Sweetch™ mHealth intervention among adults with prediabetes. Change in A1C was calculated as the difference between the 3-month and baseline A1C measurements and was categorized as decrease vs. no decrease. PA was evaluated using the total minutes and metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-hours per week. Change in MET-hours/week was categorized as increase vs. no increase. Age, sex, race, education, employment status, area deprivation, smartphone usage attitudes, and PA stage of change were compared between groups by outcomes of change in A1C and change in MET-hour/week. RESULTS A total of 37 adults received the final Sweetch mobile intervention and were included in the analysis. 62% were female and 81% were white, with average age of 57 years. The median [IQR] baseline A1C was 6.0% [5.8, 6.2]. A1C measure at 3-month was decreased in 24 (65%) participants when compared to baseline A1C. There was an inverse association between average MET-hours per week and change in A1C. Among participants whose A1C decreased vs. did not decrease, the MET-hours per week in last 2 weeks of study was 18.7 (8.4) and 15.0 (7.1), respectively (P=0.19), and the change in MET-hours per week was 2.1 (7.1) and 4.1(6.1), respectively (P=0.41). There were otherwise no statistically significant differences in participant factors by A1C and PA outcomes. CONCLUSIONS In this small pilot study, Sweetch mHealth intervention achieved comparable A1C response prediabetic adults with different individual, sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics. CLINICALTRIAL ClincialTrials.gov NCT02896010; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02896010 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6xJYxrgse)


Author(s):  
Bradford Skow

This book aims to answer the following questions: what is the difference between a cause and a background condition? What is it to manifest a disposition? Can dispositions be extrinsic? What is the most basic kind of causation? And, what might a structural explanation be? Each chapter takes up a subset of these questions; the chapters are written to be readable independently. The answers defended rely on three ideas. Two of those ideas use a distinction from the study of lexical aspect, namely the distinction between stative verbs and non-stative verbs. The first idea is that events go with non-stative verbs, in the sense that “If S, then an event occurred in virtue of the fact that S” is true when the main verb in the clause going in for “S” is non-stative. The second is that acting, doing something, goes with non-stative verbs, in the sense that “In Ving X did something” is true iff V is a non-stative verb. The third idea is about levels of explanation: “(A because B) because C” does not entail “A because C.”


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A225-A225
Author(s):  
J Xue ◽  
R Zhao ◽  
J Li ◽  
L Zhao ◽  
B Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction To evaluate the utility of the ring pulse oximeter for screening of OSA in adults. Methods 87 adults were monitored by a ring pulse oximeter and PSG simultaneously during a nocturnal in-lab sleep testing. 3% oxygen desaturation index (ODI3); Mean oxygen saturation(MSpO2), Saturation impair time below 90% (SIT90) derived from an automated algorithm of the ring pulse oximeter. Meanwhile, the parameters of PSG were scored manually according to the AASM Manual. Correlation and receiver operator characteristic curve analysis were used to measure the accuracy of ring pulse oximeter and its diagnostic value for moderate to severe OSA (AHI≥15). Results Among the 87 participants, 18 cases were AHI<5, 17 cases were diagnosed with mild OSA (AHI:5-14.9), 25 cases were diagnosed with moderate OSA (AHI:15-29.9) and 27 cases were diagnosed with severe OSA (AHI≥30). There was no significant difference between PSG and ring pulse oximeter in regard to ODI3 (23.4±23.5 vs 24.7 ± 21.7), and SIT90 (1.54%, range 0.14%-8.99% vs. 3.20%, range 0.60%, 12.30%) (P>0.05], Further analysis indicated that two parameters from the oximeter correlated well with that derived from PSG (r=0.889, 0.567, respectively, both p<0.05). Although MSpO2 correlated significantly (r=0.448, P<0.05), the difference was remarkable [95.9%, range 94.0% to 97.0% vs. 94.5%, range 93.3% to 95.7%, p<0.05]. Bland-Altman plots showed that the agreement of these three parameters was within the clinical acceptance range. The ROC curve showed that the sensitivity and specificity of the ring pulse oximeter when the oximeter derived ODI3 ≥12.5 in the diagnosis of moderate to severe OSA were 82.7% and 74.3%, respectively. Conclusion The pilot study indicated that ring pulse oximeter can detect oxygen desaturation events accurately, therefore to be used as a screening tool for moderate to severe OSA. Support The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81420108002 and NO. 81570083).


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2326
Author(s):  
Claudio Favi ◽  
Roberto Garziera ◽  
Federico Campi

Welding is a consolidated technology used to manufacture/assemble large products and structures. Currently, welding design issues are tackled downstream of the 3D modeling, lacking concurrent development of design and manufacturing engineering activities. This study aims to define a method to formalize welding knowledge that can be reused as a base for the development of an engineering design platform, applying design for assembly method to assure product manufacturability and welding operations (design for welding (DFW)). The method of ontology (rule-based system) is used to translate tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, while geometrical feature recognition with parametric modeling is adopted to couple geometrical information with the identification of welding issues. Results show how, within the design phase, manufacturing issues related to the welding operations can be identified and fixed. Two metal structures (a jack adapter of a heavy-duty prop and a lateral frame of a bracket structure) fabricated with arc welding processes were used as case studies and the following benefits were highlighted: (i) anticipation of welding issues related to the product geometry and (ii) reduction of effort and time required for the design review. In conclusion, this research moves forward toward the direction of concurrent engineering, closing the gap between design and manufacturing.


2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-70
Author(s):  
Björn Lundquist

It is well known that the aktionsart/lexical aspect of a predicate influences the temporal interpretation and the aspectual marking of a sentence, and also that languages differ with respect to which aktionsart properties feed into the tense-aspect system (see e.g. Bohnemeyer & Swift 2004). In this paper, I try to pin down the exact locus of variation between languages where the stative–dynamic distinction is mainly grammaticized (e.g. English, Saamáka) and languages where the telic–atelic distinction is mainly grammaticized (e.g. Swedish, Chinese and Russian). The focus will be on the differences between English and Swedish, and I will argue that these two languages crucially differ in the nature of Assertion Time (or Topic/Reference Time, Klein 1994, Demirdache & Uribe-Etxebarria 2000): whereas the assertion time in English is always punctual in imperfective contexts, assertion time in Swedish can extend to include minimal stages of events. The Assertion Time is introduced by a (viewpoint) aspect head that is present in both languages, but not phonologically realized. The difference can thus not be ascribed to the presence or absence of overt tense, aspect or verb morphology, or to a special tense value, as argued in one way or other by, for example, Giorgi & Pianesi (1997), Demirdache & Uribe-Etxebarria (2000) and Ramchand (2012). Once this factor (i.e. the nature of Assertion Time) has been isolated, it becomes evident that all verbs in English and Swedish, regardless of telicity or dynamicity, can be assigned either a perfective or an imperfective value. Moreover, I will argue that the English progressive–non-progressive (or ‘simple’) distinction is independent of viewpoint aspect (i.e. the perfective– imperfective distinction) made in, for example, the Romance languages.


2016 ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
Irfan Bashir Et al.,

The paper aimed to explore the use of different indicators of Emotional Intelligence based six leadership styles by the Heads of the Departments (HoDs) of Higher Education Institutes of Pakistan. Furthermore, the purpose was to compare self-report of HoDs regarding leadership styles and opinion of the faculty about leadership styles used by HoDs. This descriptive research used a random sampling technique to select 120 HoDs and 240 faculty members from various faculties and departments of 5 public and 5 private Sector universities of Punjab. The study used 5 point Likert Scale questionnaires based on Goleman’s leadership styles both for faculty and Heads of the Departments. Results of the study showed the difference between self-reported leadership styles of HoDs and opinion of the faculty. The study mainly suggested leadership courses and training for Heads of the Departments; strong and free communication between HoDs and the faculty; and reflective practices by Heads of the Departments.


Sensors ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Björn Friedrich ◽  
Carolin Lübbe ◽  
Enno-Edzard Steen ◽  
Jürgen Martin Bauer ◽  
Andreas Hein

The OTAGO exercise programme is effective in decreasing the risk for falls of older adults. This research investigated if there is an indication that the OTAGO exercise programme has a positive effect on the capacity and as well as on the performance in mobility. We used the data of the 10-months observational OTAGO pilot study with 15 (m = 1, f = 14) (pre-)frail participants aged 84.60 y (SD: 5.57 y). Motion sensors were installed in the flats of the participants and used to monitor their activity as a surrogate variable for performance. We derived a weighted directed multigraph from the physical sensor network, subtracted the weights of one day from a baseline, and used the difference in percent to quantify the change in performance. Least squares was used to compute the overall progress of the intervention (n = 9) and the control group (n = 6). In accordance with previous studies, we found indication for a positive effect of the OTAGO program on the capacity in both groups. Moreover, we found indication that the OTAGO program reduces the decline in performance of older adults in daily living. However, it is too early to conclude causalities from our findings because the data was collected during a pilot study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. p10
Author(s):  
Ayman R. Nazzal ◽  
Mohammad F. Khmous

This study investigates the inaccuracies manifested in the translation of dental terms from English into Arabic by Palestinian dentists. It underscores the fact that the translation of dental terms is part and parcel of technical translation; and accounts for the major causes and provides an adequate solution for such inaccuracies.The findings of the study point out the shortcomings of using different dental translation strategies simultaneously for the same term and point out that the experience and the institutional background of the dentists have a profound impact on the accuracy of translating dental terms. The findings have also underlined the difference between technical and conventional translation rules. While the study points out that dentists have used Arabicisation, transliteration, and descriptive translation strategies for the accomplishment of adequate equivalences in the translation of dental terms, it has shown also that Arabicisation is highly neglected and rarely used by dentists in comparison with the other two translation strategies. Transliteration is the most common especially among specialists and descriptive is mainly used by dentists with non-specialists.The methodology used in this study relied heavily on the data taken from a pilot study, carried out through the distribution of a questionnaire to a hundred dentists at the American University in the city of Jenin and in the city of Nablus on the West Bank, followed with a number of personal interviews with a number of dentists.


Author(s):  
Zol Bahri Razali

Practical intelligence is often referred to as the ability of a person to solve practical challenges in a given domain. The lack of practical intelligence may be due to the way in which explicit knowledge is valued and subsequently assessed in engineering education, namely via examinations, tests, laboratory reports, and tutorial exercises. The lack of effective assessments on practical intelligence indicates implicit devaluation, which can significantly impair engineering students' ability to acquire practical intelligence. To solve this problem, the authors propose a new method of assessment for measuring practical intelligence acquired by engineering students after performing engineering laboratory classes. The novices-experts approach is used in designing the assessment instruments, based on the behaviors' of novices/experts observed and novices/experts representative work-related situations. The practical intelligence can be measured by calculating the difference between participants' and the experts' ratings; the closer the novices to experts, the higher the practical intelligence acquired.


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