The process of problem posing: development of a descriptive phase model of problem posing

The aim of this study is to develop a descriptive phase model for problem-posing activities based on structured situations. For this purpose, 36 task-based interviews with pre-service primary and secondary mathematics teachers working in pairs who were given two structured problem-posing situations were conducted. Through an inductive-deductive category development, five types of activities (situation analysis, variation, generation, problem-solving, evaluation) were identified. These activities were coded in so-called episodes, allowing time-covering analyses of the observed processes. Recurring transitions between these episodes were observed, through which a descriptive phase model was derived. In addition, coding of the developed episode types was validated for its interrater agreement.

An Association Between Phonetic Complexity of Infant Vocalizations and Parent Vowel Hyperarticulation

Extreme or exaggerated articulation of vowels, or vowel hyperarticulation, is a characteristic commonly found in infant-directed speech (IDS). High degrees of vowel hyperarticulation in parent IDS has been tied to better speech sound category development and bigger vocabulary size in infants. In the present study, the relationship between vowel hyperarticulation in Swedish IDS to 12-month-old and phonetic complexity of infant vocalizations is investigated. Articulatory adaptation toward hyperarticulation is quantified as difference in vowel space area between IDS and adult-directed speech (ADS). Phonetic complexity is estimated using the Word Complexity Measure for Swedish (WCM-SE). The results show that vowels in IDS was more hyperarticulated than vowels in ADS, and that parents’ articulatory adaptation in terms of hyperarticulation correlates with phonetic complexity of infant vocalizations. This can be explained either by the parents’ articulatory behavior impacting the infants’ vocalization behavior, the infants’ social and communicative cues eliciting hyperarticulation in the parents’ speech, or the two variables being impacted by a third, underlying variable such as parents’ general communicative adaptiveness.

Non-Specialized Means of Causative Semantics Expression in the Slavic and Germanic Languages (Based on the Lexical Semantic Group of Defense and Protection)

The paper deals with the peculiarities of verbs that convey causative semantics without being specialized for it. The objective of the research is to identify the specific features of Slavic (Russian, Belarusian) and Germanic (English, German) defense and protection verbs with regard to causativity. The study of lexical semantic groups in the aspect of causativity is topical, because it contributes to the specification of causativity as a category. It works towards resolving a controversial causativity theory issue about the scope and boundaries of causative verbs class, as well as helps to reveal some internal laws of the causative category development (gradual nature of the causative category). The following methods were used: contextual, transformational, comparative methods; dictionary definitions analysis, component and distributive analysis. It was found that defense and protection verbs in three (Russian, Belarusian, German) of the four studied languages have units that do not contain a causative component. Within the analyzed lexical semantic group, there are verbs with a high and low degree of causativity (vertical changes of causativity degree). In these two groups, it is possible to identify the units that are able and unable to change the causativity degree in a context (horizontal changes of causativity degree). The gradual character of causativity is an integral feature of the studied Slavic and Germanic verbs. The degree of causativity is their differential trait.

Signals in the Waves of Surf: Category Development and Signals in Surf Music

The aim of this paper is to investigate to what extent the understanding of market categories changes over time and how this is reflected in the importance of different category signals in periods of category maturation and revival. We test the changing influence of different types of category signals on inclusion rates of surf music compilation albums, which represent the understanding of “surf music” from a market-based perspective. We find that “elaborate” signals to the category label of surf music showed to be important during both the stage of maturity and revival. However, restricted category signals using surf slang actually lost their importance over time. Finally, signaling surf-related locations had no effect in early times, but increased chances of inclusion during a revival. By addressing these changes over time in the importance of category signals, we add to recent studies on mechanisms of categorization during different stages of category development.

PROBLEMS OF FINANCIAL DECENTRALIZATION IN UKRAINE

To date, the Ukrainian state is in the process of changing the vector of economic development and updating the governance mechanism in the context of the European integration trend, which includes supporting, adopting and approximating to European standards of economic and social development and reforming budgetary policy in the direction of strengthening the role of local budgets. This requires a new look at the concept of «development budget» within the state's budget system, which emphasizes the need to research the category «development budget» and its role in managing local finances. The object of the study is the formation of local budgets in the context of decentralization. The purpose of the study is to study the ways of socio-economic development of Ukrainian regions. The research method is the method of analysis, analogy and method of comparisons KEYWORDS: LOCAL BUDGETS, DECENTRALIZATION, EXPENDITURE, DEVELOPMENT BUDGET

A Nonsymmetric Logit Model and Grouped Predictand Category Development

Logistic regression is an alternative to regression estimation of event probabilities (REEP) and other techniques for estimating weather event probabilities based on NWP output or other predictors. Logistic regression has the advantage over REEP in that the probability estimates are constrained between zero and unity, whereas REEP can “overshoot” these values. It may be a detriment in some applications that the curves developed, one for each of several predictand categories (events), are symmetric. This paper shows how the logit curve can easily be made nonsymmetric as a function of a predictor, and thereby possibly achieve a better fit to the data. As with REEP, the probabilities estimated by logistic regression for each of several categories of a variable may not be consistent. For instance, the probability of snow > 2 in. may exceed the probability of snow > 1 in. Such inconsistencies can be avoided by developing a single equation involving all predictand categories and including another predictor that is a function of the predictand. This effectively, for a single predictor, produces parallel curves separated along the predictor axis but imposes restrictions on the equations and probabilities produced from them. The relationship between the predictor(s) and the predictand must be considered in determining the functional form. With only one predictor, defining the function is relatively straightforward. However, with multiple predictors, the process is more problematic. This paper demonstrates an alternative to imposing a functional form by using binary predictors. This formulation also achieves the goal of producing consistent forecasts and generalizes more readily to multiple predictors.