1,720,984 research outputs found
Sociolinguistic factors associated with the subjectively and objectively measured language development in German preschoolers in three follow-up studies
No full textThe study aimed at an analysis of sociolinguistic variables associated with the language acquisition progress between the first and the second test sessions in three follow-up studies with German preschool children. In all three samples, children acquiring German, both Germans and immigrants, were tested twice with validated language tests within a time span of several months. Furthermore, language skills of children were judged by daycare center teachers. The language competence of normally developed test subjects did not change much between two test sessions, whereas children acquiring German under more challenging circumstances were still in the process of active development, mostly due to the daycare center attendance, language courses, and medical therapies. Therefore, contra-intuitively at first sight, the following factors were associated with the quick progress in language development (floor effect): bad school marks for the language competence at the beginning of the daycare attendance, low age at the first test session, not regular attendance of the daycare centers, late contact to the German language, foreign language(s) spoken at home, medical issues, and some other unfavorable language acquisition conditions
Women's body movements are a potential cue to ovulation
No full textRecent evidence suggests that the concept of 'concealed ovulation' in women should be reconsidered, as there appear to be certain behavioural, visual, olfactory, and vocal cues that serve as indirect cues to female fertility. Here we test the hypothesis that men are able to discern fertile from non-fertile women based on their dance and gait movements. Digital videos of dances and gaits of 48 heterosexual women, aged 19-33 years, were recorded twice, once in the late follicular phase, and once in the mid-luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. Short video clips comprising movement silhouettes of dances and gaits were judged on attractiveness by a total of 200 men. Dances and gaits recorded in the late follicular were rated significantly more attractive compared to recordings in the mid-luteal phase. We suggest that (i) menstrual cycle effects on women's body movements exist, and (ii) men are sensitive to these effects, as they expressed a stronger preference (via attractiveness judgments) for women's body movements at times of peak fertility. Our data add body movements to the list of features that show systematic changes across the menstrual cycle and support the assertion that men are able to detect cues of female fertility. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Women's visual attention to variation in men's dance quality
No full textRecent research shows that 'good' male dancers display larger and more variable movements of their head, neck and trunk, and differ in certain personality characteristics from 'bad' dancers. Here we elaborate on these findings by testing the hypothesis that 'good' male dancers will also receive higher visual attention and will be judged as being more attractive by women. The eye-gaze of 46 women aged 19-33 years was tracked whilst they viewed pairs of video clips of male dancers in the form of avatars created using motion capture, each pair showing one 'good' and one 'bad' dancer together on the screen. In a subsequent rating task, women judged each dance avatar on perceived attractiveness and masculinity. Our data show that women viewed 'good' dancers significantly longer and more often than 'bad' dancers. In addition, visual attention was positively correlated with perceived attractiveness and masculinity, though the latter association failed to reach statistical significance. We conclude that (i) 'good' male dancers receive higher visual attention from women as compared to 'bad' dancers, and (ii) 'good' dancers are being judged as more attractive. This suggests that in following mating-related motives, women are selectively processing male dynamic displays, such as dance movements. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
The effectiveness of stuttering treatments in Germany
No full textPurpose: Persons who stutter (PWS) should be referred to the most effective treatments available, locally or regionally. A prospective comparison of the effects of the most common stuttering treatments in Germany is not available. Therefore, a retrospective evaluation by clients of stuttering treatments was carried out. Method: The five most common German stuttering treatments (231 single treatment cases) were rated as to their perceived effectiveness, using a structured questionnaire, by 88 PWS recruited through various sources. The participants had received between I and 7 treatments for stuttering. Results: Two stuttering treatments (stuttering modification, fluency shaping) showed favorable and three treatments (breathing therapy, hypnosis, unspecified logopedic treatment) showed unsatisfactory effectiveness ratings. The effectiveness ratings of stuttering modification and fluency shaping did not differ significantly. The three other treatments were equally ineffective. The differences between the effective and ineffective treatments were of large effect sizes. The typical therapy biography begins in childhood with an unspecified logopedic treatment administered extensively in single and individual sessions. Available comparisons showed intensive or interval treatments to be superior to extensive treatments, and group treatments to be superior to single client treatments. Conclusion: The stuttering treatment most often prescribed in Germany, namely a weekly session of individual treatment by a speech-language pathologist, usually with an assorted package of mostly unknown components, is of limited effectiveness. Better effectiveness can be expected from fluency shaping or stuttering modification approaches, preferably with an intensive time schedule and with group sessions. Educational objectives: Readers will be able to: (a) discuss the five most prevalent stuttering treatments in Germany; (b) summarize the effectiveness of these treatments; and (c) describe structural treatment components that seem to be preferable across different kinds of treatments. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Words Won’t Fail
No full textApplying sexual selection theory to language, it can be assumed that high verbal proficiency increases attractiveness, but male more than female attractiveness, because women have higher costs regarding reproduction and are thus more selective in mate choice. These predictions were tested experimentally. In the first study, videos were used as the stimuli for opposite-sex participants where an actor/actress performed verbal self-presentations. The content was alike but was delivered with three levels of verbal proficiency with respect to lexical, grammatical, and fluency features. The main effect of verbal proficiency on attractiveness was supported, but the interaction effect was not supported between verbal proficiency and sex according to which male more than female attractiveness is affected by verbal proficiency. In the second study, only audio tracks from the videos were used. Both effects were significant, supporting the assertion that language plays a significant role in mate choice, especially for male attractiveness
Water Swallow Screening Test for Patients After Surgery for Head and Neck Cancer: Early Identification of Dysphagia, Aspiration and Limitations of Oral Intake
No full textPatients with head and neck cancer (HNC) are at high risk for oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) following surgical therapy. Early identification of OD can improve outcomes and reduce economic burden. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of a water screening test using increasing volumes postsurgically for patients with HNC (N=80) regarding the early identification of OD in general, and whether there is a need for further instrumental diagnostics to investigate the presence of aspiration as well as to determine the limitations of oral intake as defined by fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. OD in general was identified in 65%, with aspiration in 49%, silent aspiration in 21% and limitations of oral intake in 56%. Despite a good sensitivity, for aspiration of 100% and for limitations of oral intake of 97.8%, the presented water screening test did not satisfactorily predict either of these reference criteria due to its low positive likelihood ratio (aspiration=2.6; limitations of oral intake=3.1). However, it is an accurate tool for the early identification of OD in general, with a sensitivity of 96.2% and a positive likelihood ratio of 5.4 in patients after surgery for HNC
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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