1,721,140 research outputs found
Do motor skills impact on language development in toddlers?
No full textRecent studies have shown that motor development and language development are more interrelated than it has previously been thought, mostly in the first years of life. It was found that the onset of motor milestones such as sitting and walking predicts both receptive and productive vocabulary at later ages (Libertus & Violi, 2016; West et al., 2019). However, attention has been paid to gross motor skills rather than to gross- and fine motor skills and motor coordination. Furthermore, the language outcome considered was mostly the general vocabulary. This study aims to: (1) deepen the relation between motor development and language development in the 2nd and 3rd year of life, assessing if/how gross and/or fine motor skills predict later receptive and productive vocabulary; (2) analyse if specific motor skills (both gross and fine) predict specific language skills, as the production of non-noun vs noun, and spatial vocabulary. 37 toddlers (23 females) divided in two age-groups: 13-19-month-olds, and 20-30-month-olds. The gross motor and fine motor skills were assessed using the Griffiths Mental Development Scales (GMDS-ER 2-8, 2006), subscales A: Locomotor, and D: Eye & hand coordination. The language skills were assessed using the GMDS, subscale C: Language, the McArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory-Italian vers.(Caselli et al., 2015), and 6 months later the PiNG test, subtests Nouns and Non-nouns (Bello et al., 2010). Hierarchical regression analyses were computed using language outcomes as target and gross and fine motor skills as predictors. The results have shown that fine motor skills combined with child gender in the youngers' group, and general motor coordination in the olders' group, predict non-noun productive vocabulary. These results extend previous evidence showing that in the 2nd and 3rd year of life the relationship between motor and later language skills involves fine motor skills
Language development and motor skills in Italian toddlers
No full textIn recent years many studies have shown a close relationship between language and motor skills in both typical and atypical populations, consistent with the embodied view of cognition (Iverson & Braddock, 2011). However, the association between specific components of language and motor abilities in toddlers with language delay has received little attention, and contrasting results have been reported. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between toddlers’ language development and their motor skills, focusing on motor profile of children with language delay. Thirty Italian children aged 24 to 36 months (M = 29.7 months) from three nursery schools, participated in the study. They were individually tested with the Griffiths Mental Development Scales (Luiz et al., 2006), including scales on both gross and fine motor skills, and on language and cognitive abilities, and the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (Caselli et al., 2007). Correlational analysis showed that fine motor skills were related to lexical production [r(30) = .42, p < .05] ]. Among the fine motor skills, visual-motor integration was more strongly related to language production [r(30) = .48; p <.01] than the other skills. However, different motor profiles emerged among children whose lexical production fell below the 10th percentile for age. Three children displayed a widespread delay in fine motor skills, showing lower scores in items involving object-oriented actions, visual-motor integration and complex sequences of fine motor actions; three children displayed a more specific delay in visual-motor integration, while a child did not show any delay in fine motor competence. These first results reflect the complexity of the relationship between language and motor development; furthermore, they could contribute to describe early indicators of developmental risk in a larger sample of children
Piezoelectric Sensors as Energy Harvesters for Ultra Low-Power IoT Applications
Full text linkThe aim of this paper is to discuss the usability of vibrations as energy sources, for the implementation of energy self-sufficient wireless sensing platforms within the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) framework. In this context, this paper proposes to equip vibrating assets like machinery with piezoelectric sensors, used to set up energy self-sufficient sensing platforms for hard-to-reach positions. Preliminary measurements as well as extended laboratory tests are proposed to understand the behavior of commercial piezoelectric sensors when employed as energy harvesters. First, a general architecture for a vibration-powered LoRaWAN-based sensor node is proposed. Final tests are then performed to identify an ideal trade-off between sensor sampling rates and energy availability. The target is to ensure continuous operation of the device while guaranteeing a charging trend of the storage component connected to the system. In this context, an Ultra-Low-Power Energy-Harvesting Integrated Circuit plays a crucial role by ensuring the correct regulation of the output with very high efficiency
La motricità fine influenza lo sviluppo linguistico nella prima infanzia?
No full textIntroduzione. Recenti studi hanno evidenziato una stretta relazione tra competenze motorie e competenze linguistiche nei primi anni di vita. In particolare, è emerso che l'età di comparsa di milestones grosso-motori (sitting e walking) predice il successivo vocabolario recettivo e produttivo (Libertus & Violi, 2016), in particolare vocabolario spaziale (Oudgenoeg-Paz, Volman, & Leseman, 2016) e predicati (He, Walle, & Campos, 2015). Il nostro studio ha analizzato se le abilità locomotorie e anche fino-motorie che si sviluppano nel 2° anno possono predire successive abilità lessicali in comprensione e produzione, in particolare predicati e vocabolario spaziale. Metodo. Hanno partecipato allo studio 37 bambini italiani (23 femmine) frequentanti 3 asili nido del Trentino, suddivisi in 2 fasce d’età: 13-19 mesi (M=16,93; DS= 1,73) e 20-30 mesi (M= 23.04; DS=3,14). Le loro abilità motorie sono state valutate con le Scale Griffiths A (ab.locomotorie) e D (coordinazione oculo-manuale); le abilità lessicali con Scala Griffiths-C, PVB, e 6 mesi dopo attraverso le prove PING (subtest Nomi e Predicati). Un set di correlazioni bivariate tra punteggi di abilità grosso- e fino-motorie, variabili sociodemografiche e punteggi di comprensione e produzione lessicale alle prove PING ha permesso di identificare associazioni significative e, quindi, potenziali predittori di abilità lessicali che sono stati utilizzati in analisi di regressione gerarchica. Risultati. Le analisi di regressione gerarchica realizzate inserendo le abilità fino-(non grosso-)motorie e il genere del bambino come predittori di abilità lessicali (punteggi PING in comprensione e produzione) mostrano che la combinazione di queste due variabili spiega: (a) un’elevata percentuale di varianza nella produzione lessicale dei bambini più piccoli, sub-test Predicati (non Nomi) [Adj.R2= .55; F(2, 11)= 8.77, p =.005; MotFineβ =.68, p =.004; Genereβ =.52, p =.020]; (b) il 28% della varianza negli errori di comprensione di Predicati dei bambini più grandi [Adj.R2= .28; F(2, 20)= 5.24, p =.015; MotFineβ =-.41, p =.038; Genereβ =.37, p =.058]. Le altre variabili e il genere del b. considerato singolarmente non risultano predittive. Conclusioni. Questi risultati ampliano i precedenti studi mostrando che nel 2° e 3° anno di vita la relazione tra abilità motorie e successivo sviluppo del linguaggio coinvolge la manualità fine. L’ulteriore analisi in corso permetterà di far luce sulla relazione con specifiche categorie lessicali
Expected Life and Failure Model in IGBT Modules under Vibration-Induced Stress: A Case Study
No full textThis article presents a case study on a gel-filled insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module under mechanical vibration, focusing on its failure mechanism and proposing a life model. First, we used finite element analysis (FEA) with ANSYS to predict the critical stress points, which turned out to be the bond wire feet. Second, we validated these findings to a high degree through experimental tests using a vibrating chamber. In both approaches, a strong correlation is found between the failure rate and the vibration profile, where wear rate increases as one approaches the bond wires' resonance frequency. In experimental tests, all samples happened to fail at the same location, i.e., the upper side foot of terminal bond wires. This result matches the simulation predictions, as these bond wires are the ones with the lowest resonance frequency, hence the closest to the real-world vibrations. A comparison between simulation and experimental results suggest that silicone gel adds to the system a beneficial low-pass behavior that is expected to extend bond wires lifespan
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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