294 research outputs found

    Lack of semantic parafoveal preview benefit in reading revisited

    No full text
    In contrast to earlier research, evidence for semantic preview benefit in reading has been reported by Hohenstein and Kliegl (Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40, 166–190, 2013) in an alphabetic writing system; they also implied that prior demonstrations of lack of a semantic preview benefit needed to be reexamined. In the present article, we report a rather direct replication of an experiment reported by Rayner, Balota, and Pollatsek (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986). Using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm, subjects read sentences that contained a target word (razor), but different preview words were initially presented in the sentence. The preview was identical to the target word (i.e., razor), semantically related to the target word (i.e., blade), semantically unrelated to the target word (i.e., sweet), or a visually similar nonword (i.e., razar). When the reader’s eyes crossed an invisible boundary location just to the left of the target word location, the preview changed to the target word. Like Rayner et al. (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986), we found that fixations on the target word were significantly shorter in the identical condition than in the unrelated condition, which did not differ from the semantically related condition; when an orthographically similar preview had been initially present in the sentence, fixations were shorter than when a semantically unrelated preview had been present. Thus, the present experiment replicates the earlier data reported by Rayner et al. (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986), indicating evidence for an orthographic preview benefit but a lack of semantic preview benefit in reading English

    Beauty in the form of dance, or beauty of the form of dance? : on the need for philosophical aesthetics

    No full text
    Zasadniczym celem artykułu jest prezentacja wybranych, formalistycznych koncepcji piękna, które formułowane były w ramach estetyki filozoficznej, i ich odniesienie do tańca. Przywołane zostały : pojęcie przeżycia estetycznego w ujęciu Immanuela Kanta oraz formalizm właściwy reprezentowany przez Clive’a Bella, a także propozycje teoretyków tańca Davida M. Levina oraz Raynera Heppenstalla. Na koniec przedstawiam szersze rozumienie piękna jako estetyczności oraz koncepcję doświadczenia estetycznego autorstwa Arnolda Berleanta, by zastanowić się, czy we współczesności w ramach estetyki filozoficznej można jeszcze utrzymać tę kategorię pojęciową w odniesieniu do tańca.This article focuses on different concepts of beauty as discussed in philosophical aesthetics. An overview of the narrow formalist views on beauty proposed by Immanuel Kant and Clive Bell, and also by dance theorists such as David M. Levin and Rayner Heppenstall, aims to demonstrate that such theories are insufficient if applied to most dance practices. The author addresses and challenges the narrow formalist concept of beauty posed by the theory and practice of dance, discussing also broader ideas of beauty and aesthetic experience developed in the context of contemporary aesthetics, in particular those proposed by Arnold Berleant. The paper concludes with the question whether it is possible to look for beauty in contemporary dance practices

    FIR filter synthesis using the adaptive RLS algorithm

    No full text
    This project compares and contrasts computer program implementations of the traditional adaptive LMS FIR lowpass filter synthesis and a new adaptive RLS FIR lowpass filter synthesis method developed by the author. A performance comparison for the RLS and LMS algorithms is presented. Examples comparing the adaptation rate and the frequency response for several different filter lengths are included. Implementation issues are also discussed, including the effects of iteration count, numerical precision, and computational complexity. The comparison suggests that the RLS algorithm provides slightly better error performance at the cost of additional computational complexity.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76)California State University, Northridge. Department of Engineering

    The impact of vascular calcification on ambulatory and central aortic blood pressure in a South African dwelling dialysis population : a clinical, radiological and pathophysiological study of vascular health in a young prevalent dialysis population in a developing country

    No full text
    Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.In Sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of vascular calcification (VC) in CKD-5D is unknown. We undertook to determine the effect of ethnicity on VC, the risk factors for VC, the utility of abdominal X-ray (AXR) in predicting coronary calcium score (CCS) and the effect of VC on central aortic systolic pressure (CASP) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in South African dialysis patients. ... Black race significantly protects from VC in South African CKD-5D patients and warrants further study. The AXR is a useful screening tool for CCS in our population. VC does not appear to influence CASP in our population

    Listening to the voices of pupils: an alternative route to a balanced curriculum for junior middle schools in China

    No full text
    The development and understanding of curriculum are much influenced by learners’ cognitive and intellectual development. Since breadth, balance, relevance and differentiation are the four main factors to consider in the process of planning, implementing and assessing curriculum, this essay aims to provide the educators with a critical overview of the curriculum for junior middle schools in China with a focus on the issue of balance. In so doing, the author emphasizes with the support of a range of literature in the UK context the importance of voices of pupils (Garner & Sandow, 1995, Shevlin & Rose, 2003) in their intellectual development and academic attainment in regards of curriculum (Byers and Rose 2004, Darling, 1994, Sebba et al 1995). Meanwhile, the author listens to the perspectives of pupils with special educational needs as consumers on the current curriculum in their schools which show a strong desire for a balanced curriculum (Farrell, 1997; Rayner, 1998; McLaughlin & Tilstone, 2000). The author tends to argue by analyzing the sample curricular in two key junior middle schools of two cities in a province in China that there still exists a lack of balance in the curriculum in terms of the time allocation for the core and peripheral subjects and the balance within individual subjects in teaching and learning. The author thus suggests the decision makers of the curriculum and those who are involved in the implementing of the curriculum listen and respond to the voices as an alternative route to identify the causes for the failure of meeting the expectations of the curriculum by those pupils with special needs and develop a much appropriate balance in curriculum for them

    The proterozoic P-T-t evolution of the Kemp Land coast, east Antarctica; Constraints from Si-saturated and Si-undersaturated metapelites

    No full text
    Copyright © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.Integrated metamorphic and geochronological data place new constraints on the metamorphic evolution of a Neoproterozoic orogen in east Antarctica. Granulite-facies rocks from a 150 km stretch of the Kemp Land coast reflect peak conditions involving T 870–990°C at P 7·4–10 kbar, with pressure increasing westward towards an Archaean craton. Electron microprobe-derived (Th + U)–Pb monazite ages from metapelitic assemblages indicate that the major mineral textures in these rocks developed during the c. 940 Ma Rayner Orogeny. Complex compositional zoning in monazite suggests high-T recrystallization over c. 25 Myr. Diversity in metapelitic reaction textures reflects silica and ferromagnesian content: Si-saturated Fe-rich metapelites contain garnet that is partially pseudomorphed by biotite and sillimanite, whereas Si-saturated Mg-rich metapelites and Si-undersaturated metapelitic pods have reaction microstructures involving cordierite enclosing orthopyroxene, garnet and/or sapphirine, cordierite + sapphirine symplectites around sillimanite and coarse-grained orthopyroxene + corundum separated by sapphirine coronae. Interpretations based on P–T pseudosections provide integrated bulk-rock constraints and indicate a clockwise P–T–t path characterized by a post-peak P–T trajectory with dP/dT 15–20 bar/ °C. This moderately sloped decompressive-cooling P–T path is in contrast to near-isothermal decompression P–T paths commonly cited for this region of the Rayner Complex, with implications for the post-collisional tectonic response of the mid- to lower crust within this orogenic belt.J. A. Halpin, R. W. White, G. L. Clarke and D. E. Kelse

    Worldwide trends in diabetes prevalence and treatment from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 1108 population-representative studies with 141 million participants

    No full text
    Background Diabetes can be detected at the primary health-care level, and effective treatments lower the risk of complications. There are insufficient data on the coverage of treatment for diabetes and how it has changed. We estimated trends from 1990 to 2022 in diabetes prevalence and treatment for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 1108 population-representative studies with 141 million participants aged 18 years and older with measurements of fasting glucose and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), and information on diabetes treatment. We defined diabetes as having a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) of 7·0 mmol/L or higher, having an HbA1c of 6·5% or higher, or taking medication for diabetes. We defined diabetes treatment as the proportion of people with diabetes who were taking medication for diabetes. We analysed the data in a Bayesian hierarchical meta-regression model to estimate diabetes prevalence and treatment. Findings In 2022, an estimated 828 million (95% credible interval [CrI] 757–908) adults (those aged 18 years and older) had diabetes, an increase of 630 million (554–713) from 1990. From 1990 to 2022, the age-standardised prevalence of diabetes increased in 131 countries for women and in 155 countries for men with a posterior probability of more than 0·80. The largest increases were in low-income and middle-income countries in southeast Asia (eg, Malaysia), south Asia (eg, Pakistan), the Middle East and north Africa (eg, Egypt), and Latin America and the Caribbean (eg, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Costa Rica). Age-standardised prevalence neither increased nor decreased with a posterior probability of more than 0·80 in some countries in western and central Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia and the Pacific, Canada, and some Pacific island nations where prevalence was already high in 1990; it decreased with a posterior probability of more than 0·80 in women in Japan, Spain, and France, and in men in Nauru. The lowest prevalence in the world in 2022 was in western Europe and east Africa for both sexes, and in Japan and Canada for women, and the highest prevalence in the world in 2022 was in countries in Polynesia and Micronesia, some countries in the Caribbean and the Middle East and north Africa, as well as Pakistan and Malaysia. In 2022, 445 million (95% CrI 401–496) adults aged 30 years or older with diabetes did not receive treatment (59% of adults aged 30 years or older with diabetes), 3·5 times the number in 1990. From 1990 to 2022, diabetes treatment coverage increased in 118 countries for women and 98 countries for men with a posterior probability of more than 0·80. The largest improvement in treatment coverage was in some countries from central and western Europe and Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Costa Rica), Canada, South Korea, Russia, Seychelles, and Jordan. There was no increase in treatment coverage in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa; the Caribbean; Pacific island nations; and south, southeast, and central Asia. In 2022, age-standardised treatment coverage was lowest in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and treatment coverage was less than 10% in some African countries. Treatment coverage was 55% or higher in South Korea, many high-income western countries, and some countries in central and eastern Europe (eg, Poland, Czechia, and Russia), Latin America (eg, Costa Rica, Chile, and Mexico), and the Middle East and north Africa (eg, Jordan, Qatar, and Kuwait). Interpretation In most countries, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, diabetes treatment has not increased at all or has not increased sufficiently in comparison with the rise in prevalence. The burden of diabetes and untreated diabetes is increasingly borne by low-income and middle-income countries. The expansion of health insurance and primary health care should be accompanied with diabetes programmes that realign and resource health services to enhance the early detection and effective treatment of diabetes
    corecore