Tracking who knows what: epistemic gaps and the prosodic realization of corrective focus

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 481-512
Author(s):  
Iris Chuoying Ouyang ◽  
Elsi Kaiser

Abstract Corrective information is produced with higher prosodic prominence than non-corrective information. However, it remains unclear how corrective prosody is realized in different communicative settings. We conducted two production experiments to investigate whether interlocutors’ prosodic realization of corrective focus depends on each other’s knowledge state. Participants carried out a statement-response task in pairs (e.g., Speaker B: Tina had shrimp at a restaurant. Speaker A: No, she had beef at a restaurant.). Our focus is on the prosody of Speaker A’s utterance. We manipulated whether Speaker B’s statement was implausible in the context (e.g., a context where it is known that Tina actually hates seafood). Furthermore, the two experiments differed in whether Speaker B knew that their statement (e.g., about Tina eating shrimp at a restaurant) was (im)plausible. In Experiment 1, both speakers had access to the crucial context concerning the probability of Speaker A’s statement (Tina’s preferences about food). In Experiment 2, only Speaker A had access to this background information. We found that Speaker A’s prosody when responding to Speaker B was influenced by both (i) the contextual probability of Speaker B’s statements and (ii) Speaker B’s knowledge (or lack thereof) about the contextual probability. We present an analysis where the prosodic prominence associated with corrective information reflects the gap between expectation and reality – in this case, what Speaker A had expected Speaker B to say and what Speaker B actually says.

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Primus

Variable success in audiometric assessment of young children with operant conditioning indicates the need for systematic examination of commonly employed techniques. The current study investigated response and reinforcement features of two operant discrimination paradigms with normal I7-month-old children. Findings indicated more responses prior to the onset of habituation when the response task was based on complex central processing skills (localization and coordination of auditory/visual space) versus simple detection. Use of animation in toy reinforcers resulted in more than a twofold increase in the number of subject responses. Results showed no significant difference in response conditioning rate or consistency for the response tasks and forms of reinforcement examined.


2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Hofmann ◽  
Joseph Bolton ◽  
Susan Ferry

Abstract At The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) we treat many children requiring tracheostomy tube placement. With potential for a tracheostomy tube to be in place for an extended period of time, these children may be at risk for long-term disruption to normal speech development. As such, speaking valves that restore more normal phonation are often key tools in the effort to restore speech and promote more typical language development in this population. However, successful use of speaking valves is frequently more challenging with infant and pediatric patients than with adult patients. The purpose of this article is to review background information related to speaking valves, the indications for one-way valve use, criteria for candidacy, and the benefits of using speaking valves in the pediatric population. This review will emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration from the perspectives of speech-language pathology and respiratory therapy. Along with the background information, we will present current practices and a case study to illustrate a safe and systematic approach to speaking valve implementation based upon our experiences.


Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Christian Ulrich Eriksen ◽  
Flemming Konradsen ◽  
Thilde Vildekilde

Abstract. Background: Information on methods of suicide is available online, and access to information on methods of suicide appears to contribute to a small but significant proportion of suicides. There is limited documentation of how methods of suicide are being profiled, as well as what content exists in other languages than English. Aim: We aimed to analyze and compare how methods of suicide are profiled on Danish and English-language websites. Method: We applied a categorization and content analysis of websites describing methods of suicide. Sites were retrieved by applying widely used Danish and English-language search terms. Results: A total of 136 English-language websites and 106 Danish-language websites were included for analysis. Websites were more often categorized as prevention or support sites, academic or policy sites, and against suicide sites than dedicated suicide sites (i.e., pro-suicide sites), or information sites. However, information on methods of suicide was available, and 20.1% and 8.9% of the English and Danish-language sites, respectively, suggested that a particular method of suicide was quick, easy, painless, or certain to result in death. Limitations: Only one author coded and analyzed all websites. A further operationalization of the content analysis checklist is warranted to increase reliability. Conclusion: The websites primarily had a prevention or anti-suicide focus, but information on methods of suicide was available, requiring an increased focus on how to diminish the negative effects of harmful online content.


2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (05) ◽  
pp. 171-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Behr ◽  
F. Grünwald ◽  
W. H. Knapp ◽  
L. Trümper ◽  
C. von Schilling ◽  
...  

Summary:This guideline is a prerequisite for the quality management in the treatment of non-Hodgkin-lymphomas using radioimmunotherapy. It is based on an interdisciplinary consensus and contains background information and definitions as well as specified indications and detailed contraindications of treatment. Essential topics are the requirements for institutions performing the therapy. For instance, presence of an expert for medical physics, intense cooperation with all colleagues committed to treatment of lymphomas, and a certificate of instruction in radiochemical labelling and quality control are required. Furthermore, it is specified which patient data have to be available prior to performance of therapy and how the treatment has to be carried out technically. Here, quality control and documentation of labelling are of greatest importance. After treatment, clinical quality control is mandatory (work-up of therapy data and follow-up of patients). Essential elements of follow-up are specified in detail. The complete treatment inclusive after-care has to be realised in close cooperation with those colleagues (haematology-oncology) who propose, in general, radioimmunotherapy under consideration of the development of the disease.


2021 ◽  
pp. 30-33
Author(s):  
David Jaynes ◽  
Paul Switzer

The purpose of this article is to provide background information and the current understanding of a less familiar cause of female breast cancer; exposure to ultraviolet light at night. Breast cancer is a common disease that causes significant morbidity and mortality in women. There are several risk factors for breast cancer, most of which are genetic and environmental in nature. An often-overlooked risk factor is exposure to blue light during night shift work, which decreases melatonin production. One of the many cancer-preventing properties of melatonin is to limit estrogen production. Increased lifetime exposure to estrogen is a well-known cause of breast cancer. Awareness of nighttime blue light exposure as a breast cancer risk factor by women doing night shift work and those exposed to nighttime light via smartphones and laptops, is essential information to know so that protective measures can be taken.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 30401-1-30401-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hsien Hsia ◽  
Ting-Yu Lin ◽  
Jen-Shiun Chiang

Abstract In recent years, the preservation of handwritten historical documents and scripts archived by digitized images has been gradually emphasized. However, the selection of different thicknesses of the paper for printing or writing is likely to make the content of the back page seep into the front page. In order to solve this, a cost-efficient document image system is proposed. In this system, the authors use Adaptive Directional Lifting-Based Discrete Wavelet Transform to transform image data from spatial domain to frequency domain and perform on high and low frequencies, respectively. For low frequencies, the authors use local threshold to remove most background information. For high frequencies, they use modified Least Mean Square training algorithm to produce a unique weighted mask and perform convolution on original frequency, respectively. Afterward, Inverse Adaptive Directional Lifting-Based Discrete Wavelet Transform is performed to reconstruct the four subband images to a resulting image with original size. Finally, a global binarization method, Otsu’s method, is applied to transform a gray scale image to a binary image as the output result. The results show that the difference in operation time of this work between a personal computer (PC) and Raspberry Pi is little. Therefore, the proposed cost-efficient document image system which performed on Raspberry Pi embedded platform has the same performance and obtains the same results as those performed on a PC.


Author(s):  
Ca Tran Ngoc

The paper examines the process of technology transfer from British industrial companies to Vietnamese companies, to look at the obstacles of this process, especially in dealing with different business culture environments. The study uses the case studies method, conducting interviews with about ten companies working in oil and gas service industry. Since this is only a first stage of the longer term project, only preliminary results were discussed. Therefore, a company in civil engineering consulting has been examined for comparison. The paper argues that the differences in perception of the same operation activity like service in oil and gas industry are crucial factors to take into account if the transfer process is to be successful. Also, the transferor and the recipient may have different behaviour in negotiating, in communicating with each other. Thus, the preparation of background information, to do "home work", patience and pro-active attitudes in trying to understand partners are important for transferring technology into different business environment.   In addition, the factors, sometime not very technology-related, such as internal political motives and organisational issues of the firms involved can be very influential in the success of technology transfer process.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Armstrong ◽  
Danica Wilbanks ◽  
Daniel Leong ◽  
Kean J. Hsu

Once a forgotten emotion, disgust is now studied in fields from evolutionary to clinical psychology. Although highly adaptive as a pathogen avoidance mechanism, disgust is prone to false positives. Indeed, several anxiety-related disorders involve excessive and irrational disgust. Furthermore, disgust resists corrective information, making it difficult to treat through cognitive-behavioral therapies. A deeper understanding of disgust could improve the treatment of mental disorders and other societal problems involving this peculiar emotion. However, researchers may need to improve the measurement of disgust to gain such insights. In this paper, we review psychology’s “measurement crisis” in the context of disgust. We suggest that self-report measures, though optimal in reliability, have compromised validity because the vernacular usage of disgust captures neighboring states of discomfort and disapproval. In addition to potential validity issues, we find that most non-self-report measures of disgust have questionable reliability. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were rarely reported for psychophysiological and neural measures, but the information available suggests that these measures of disgust have poor reliability and may not support individual difference research crucial to clinical psychology. In light of this assessment, we provide several recommendations for improving the reliability and validity of disgust measurement, including renewed attention to theory.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hikari Takashina ◽  
Kengo Yokomitsu

There are thousands of mobile apps delivering information and offering support and intervention in situations of daily life. The aim of this study was to identify the current state of apps for depressive symptoms or prevention of depression within the official Android and iOS app stores in Japan. The 47 apps for depression available for download from the app stores were evaluated by the App Evaluation Model regarding background information, risk/ privacy and security, evidence, ease of use, and interoperability. Also, we evaluated their primary purpose, technology components, and cognitive-behavioral therapy components. The results suggest that in general few apps have been developed that are evidence-based, secure, and provide the services that users expect. In the future, it will be necessary to develop a framework for developing and disseminating more effective apps. This study is the first review of apps for depression available in Japan and seeks to help create a framework for such apps.


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