A Pilot Study of Dynamic Assessment of Vocabulary in German for Bilingual Preschoolers in Switzerland

The vocabulary subtest of the Dynamic Assessment of Preschoolers’ Proficiency in Learning English (DAPPLE) was adapted in German and administered to 6 typically developing and 6 language-impaired bilingual preschoolers in Switzerland, as part of a short pilot project. The children were, also, assessed with a standardized test of vocabulary. Our aim was to determine whether the dynamic test would lead to a more accurate classification of the two groups (and their linguistic skills) than the standardized test. Overall, the findings confirm our initial question and are in line with the results of the DAPPLE study. This small-scale study may, therefore, be considered as a successful-initial-version of the vocabulary part of the DAPPLE in German. It, also, provides the basis for the creation of a more elaborate version of the DAPPLE battery and of a more comprehensive dynamic screening of bilingual children’s ability to learn German. Future adaptations and improvements are discussed.

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Accuracy of Four Language Analysis Procedures Performed Automatically

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/1058-0360(2001/017) ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 180-188 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Steven H. Long ◽

Ron W. Channell

Keyword(s):

Automatic Identification ◽

Published Data ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Language Impaired ◽

Productivity Data ◽

Language Analysis ◽

Word Classes ◽

Human Coder ◽

Impaired Children ◽

Metalinguistic Skills

Most software for language analysis has relied on an interaction between the metalinguistic skills of a human coder and the calculating ability of the machine to produce reliable results. However, probabilistic parsing algorithms are now capable of highly accurate and completely automatic identification of grammatical word classes. The program Computerized Profiling combines a probabilistic parser with modules customized to produce four clinical grammatical analyses: MLU, LARSP, IPSyn, and DSS. The accuracy of these analyses was assessed on 69 language samples from typically developing, speech-impaired, and language-impaired children, 2 years 6 months to 7 years 10 months. Values obtained with human coding and by the software alone were compared. Results for all four analyses produced automatically were comparable to published data on the manual interrater reliability of these procedures. Clinical decisions based on cutoff scores and productivity data were little affected by the use of automatic rather than human-generated analyses. These findings bode well for future clinical and research use of automatic language analysis software.

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Empowerment and Tech Adoption: Introducing the Treadle Pump Triggers Farmers’ Innovation in Eastern Ethiopia

10.20944/preprints201805.0108.v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Shimelis Beyene ◽

Teshome Regassa ◽

Belaineh Legesse ◽

Martha Mamo ◽

Tsegaye Tadesse

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

New Technology ◽

Labor Demand ◽

Pilot Project ◽

External Support ◽

Small Scale ◽

Eastern Ethiopia ◽

Well Drilling ◽

Community Ownership ◽

Technology Introduction

In 2013, thirty-eight treadle pumps (TPs) were installed as low-cost technology introduction for small-scale irrigation in eastern Ethiopia. The pilot project also included training of selected farmers on well excavation, installation and maintenance of pumps. In June 2015, researchers visited nine of the 38 TP sites, and found only two functional TPs. The rest were replaced with a new technology. Farmers who adopted the new technology stated that the limited water output and high labor demand of the conventional TP did not optimally fulfil their irrigation water requirements. The new hybrid technologies have spread quickly to more than one hundred households due to three key factors. First, farmers’ innovative modifications of the initial excavation technique addressed the discharge limitations of the conventional TP by excavating boreholes with wider diameter. Second, community ownership of the new technology, including local skills used in well drilling and fabricating excavation implement, made the new irrigation technology affordable and accessible to a higher number of households, leading to faster diffusion of the technology. Third, this innovation has spread organically without any external support. Adoption of the new technology enabled some farmers to accumulate enough resources to diversify their livelihoods into non-farm activities.

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Climate SPHINX: evaluating the impact of resolution and stochastic physics parameterisations in climate simulations

10.5194/gmd-2016-115 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Paolo Davini ◽

Jost von Hardenberg ◽

Susanna Corti ◽

Hannah M. Christensen ◽

Stephan Juricke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Large Scale ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Pilot Project ◽

Small Scale ◽

Low Resolution ◽

Climate Simulations ◽

Advanced Computing ◽

The Impact ◽

Stochastic Physics

Abstract. The Climate SPHINX (Stochastic Physics HIgh resolutioN eXperiments) project is a comprehensive set of ensemble simulations aimed at evaluating the sensitivity of present and future climate to model resolution and stochastic parameterisation. The EC-Earth Earth-System Model is used to explore the impact of stochastic physics in a large ensemble of 30-year climate integrations at five different atmospheric horizontal resolutions (from 125 km up to 16 km). The project includes more than 120 simulations in both a historical scenario (1979–2008) and a climate change projection (2039–2068), together with coupled transient runs (1850–2100). A total of 20.4 million core hours have been used, made available from a single year grant from PRACE (the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and close to 1.5 PBytes of output data have been produced on SuperMUC IBM Petascale System at the Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) in Garching, Germany. About 140 TBytes of post-processed data are stored on the CINECA supercomputing center archives and are freely accessible to the community thanks to an EUDAT Data Pilot project. This paper presents the technical and scientific setup of the experiments, including the details on the forcing used for the simulations performed, defining the SPHINX v1.0 protocol. In addition, an overview of preliminary results is given: an improvement in the simulation of Euro-Atlantic atmospheric blocking following resolution increases is observed. It is also shown that including stochastic parameterisation in the low resolution runs helps to improve some aspects of the tropical climate – specifically the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the tropical rainfall variability. These findings show the importance of representing the impact of small scale processes on the large scale climate variability either explicitly (with high resolution simulations) or stochastically (in low resolution simulations).

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Structural and Lexical Case in Child German: Evidence From Language-Impaired and Typically Developing Children

Language Acquisition ◽

10.1207/s15327817la1301_2 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 3-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Sonja Eisenbeiss ◽

Susanne Bartke ◽

Harald Clahsen

Keyword(s):

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Language Impaired ◽

Lexical Case

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Creating a competence profile of a new profession: social service agents in welfare centers

Employee Relations ◽

10.1108/er-01-2017-0009 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 362-380

Author(s):

Riitta Forsten-Astikainen ◽

Pia Heilmann

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Practical Knowledge ◽

Pilot Project ◽

Small Scale ◽

Content Type ◽

Care Services ◽

The Future ◽

To Come ◽

Context Specific

Purpose This study examines in detail how a new occupational group in a field creates and defines its professional competences. The background of the study refers to a new way of organizing social and health care services that requires new type of expertise. The authors examine the professionals of this new sector – service agents and the competences – they need in a multi-professional networking organization. The goal of this organizational pilot project is to gather both experience and practical knowledge of how the “gatekeeper” model can work between the customer and the service provider. The purpose of this paper is to learn the service agents’ perspective on their own work, namely, how they create their work, what their visions of the future are, and what can be learned from the new organizing model. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data collection and small-scale exploratory study of a new profession: eight service agents and their two supervisors were interviewed to raise awareness of what professional competences these new job contents require, how service agents can influence the content of their work, and what competence needs will emerge in the future. Findings The key findings indicate that service agents lack the courage to modify their own mission. When a new profession is created, they are uncertain about how to create self-content on their own terms. They assume they need a certain degree and to know something more than they already know. They do not dare define their own new professional territory, but rather wait for that definition to come from their organization or society. However, the results also show that some service agents have a hidden willingness to be creative even when there is a lack of courage. There is a need to take more initiative and for agents to think freely outside the box in this new situation. Research limitations/implications The number of interviewees is small and the context specific. However, the study gives an indication of the factors that need to be taken into account when the dissemination of the model starts. Originality/value The paper describes the results of the pilot project of a new profession and a customer-oriented model in the social and health care sector.

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The UNFC Concept and the Possibility of its Application in Azerbaijan

10.2118/207055-ms ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Narmina Garayeva ◽

Gasham Zeynalov ◽

Elkhan Ahmadov ◽

Agarza Hajiyev ◽

Farid Rahimov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Soviet Union ◽

Former Soviet Union ◽

Case Study Research ◽

Mineral Resources ◽

Pilot Project ◽

Environmental Stability ◽

Agenda 2030 ◽

Hydrocarbon Reserves

Abstract Moving towards sustainable development, Azerbaijan joining SDG Agenda 2030 adheres to the policy of developing both hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon resources for economic diversification. At the same time, efficient resource management becomes a vital process at the governmental and transnational companies’ levels. Therefore, a competent classification and structuring of all reserves and resources will be inevitable soon to improve their accurate estimates and effective management in various aspects, including resource availability, technical feasibility, and environmental-socio-economic viability. The importance of the latter is indisputable since social and environmental stability is an essential component of the country's sustainable economic development policy. From this perspective, the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) is seen as a tool to help accomplish these tasks and provide simple screening and verification procedures for evaluating future investment projects. Given that hydrocarbon reserves make a significant contribution to the economy, a study on the application and adaptation of UNFC to local petroleum resource management has been granted as a pilot project to assess the feasibility of its further implementation for other energy and mineral reserves and resources of the country. The UNFC current state analysis as a global standard for classifying energy and mineral resources and their applications is carried out to launch the project. The review covers various case studies, including the classification of hydrocarbon reserves and resources (HCRR) using UNFC (Mexico project, transition projects to the classification of the Russian Federation, etc.), as well as mineral resources in different countries. The research primary goal is to screen different approaches and techniques to assess the practicality of their application to petroleum reserves and resources of Azerbaijan in transferring currently used old Former Soviet Union HCRR classification to UNFC, possibly via PRMS. In addition, a Case Study Research based on the Field A data in Azerbaijan is conducted.

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