Neurobehavioral Changes: An under looked aspect of Head Injury

Background: Different types of behavioral changes are seen in head injury patients, and these changes are directly or indirectly related to daily activities. Major alterations of personality after head injury are generally seen in the patients with severe head injury. However, disturbing post-concussional symptoms like headache, dizziness and memory problems generally persists for few months even in the less severely injured ones. Materials and methods: Objective: To analyze the neurobehavioral changes in adult head injured patients. Study design: Prospective analytical study. Sampling technique: Non - probability consecutive sampling. Site of study: National Institute of Neurological and Allied Sciences, Bansbari, Nepal. Inclusion Criteria: All head injured patients above the age of 16 years. Exclusion Criteria: Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale of less than 3 at 6 months follow up. Data Collection and Analysis: All patients above the age of 16 years with head injury who got admitted were enrolled in the study. Parameters like age, gender, mode of injury, GCS at presentation were recorded. Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale along with Neurobehavioral rating was evaluated at 6 months. Then neurobehavioral rating scale was obtained by direct interview. Data analysis was done using SPSS v.20. Results: Total number patients were 76 among which 71% were below 40 years of age and majorities (87%) were males. Neurobehavioral categories like abnormal intentional behavior, lowered emotional state, heightened emotional state, arousal state and language had significant association with GCS at presentation and EGOS at 6 months. Similarly, age had significant association with language, where there was absent to mild language difficulty in patients below 40 years of age. Likewise, language difficulty, lower emotional state and abnormal intentional behavior were significantly associated with gender, as it was mild to severe in 30% of the female population who had sustained head injury. Conclusion: Several neurobehavioral characters seem to be present in the various categories of the head injured patients in different ratios. Language problems seems to be less in the younger patients below the age of 40 years; although, few neurobehavioral parameters seems to affects the females more common compared to male counterparts. Also, family disruption and its extent of severity was significantly related to the severity of head injury.

Analysing Aspect Influencing the academic writing in English Language

Karimnia, A. (2013) express that writing research paper in English is important because journal in all over the world are written in English. To succeed in their career, researchers have to share their ideas to others by publishing in journal must written in English. so, the researchers must master in English. The language difficulty that non-English speaker faced are lack of appropriate vocabulary, misuse of articles etc. The learning strategies can be divided into two i) subject knowledge-oriented strategies ii) language-oriented strategies. In subject knowledge-oriented strategies, learning by reading as many research paper in English and to increase experience in writing research paper.

Eye Movements Predict Large-Scale Voting Decisions

More than 100 countries allow people to vote directly on policies in direct democracy elections (e.g., 2016 Brexit referendum). Politicians are often responsible for writing ballot language, and voters frequently encounter ballot measures that are difficult to understand. We examined whether eye movements from a small group of individuals can predict the consequences of ballot language on large-scale voting decisions. Across two preregistered studies (Study 1: N = 120 registered voters, Study 2: N = 120 registered voters), we monitored laboratory participants’ eye movements as they read real ballot measures. We found that eye-movement responses associated with difficulties in language comprehension predicted aggregate voting decisions to abstain from voting and vote against ballot measures in U.S. elections (total number of votes cast = 137,661,232). Eye movements predicted voting decisions beyond what was accounted for by widely used measures of language difficulty. This finding demonstrates a new way of linking eye movements to out-of-sample aggregate-level behaviors.

Analysis of Basic Students Learning Difficulties in Multiple Materials

<p><em>This study aims to obtain an overview of learning difficulties. This research was conducted in third class of SDN 2 Cintaraja. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The data collection technique was carried out in two ways, namely by giving story questions and interviews. The story questions used in this study were three questions which refer to four characteristics of student learning difficulties according to Jamaris in 2014 (weakness in counting, difficulty in transferring knowledge, understanding of mathematical language, difficulty in visual operations) regarding the multiplication. The results showed that there were still many students who had learning difficulties in this multiplication material, of the six students who were sampled all of them were only able to master one characteristic of the four characteristics of learning difficulties, namely in terms of understanding the language of mathematics, while the other three learning difficulties had not able to be mastered by them, namely in terms of calculating weaknesses, difficulties in transferring data, and difficulties in visual operations of the multiplication material.</em></p>

Lost in Translation? Analysts' Forecasts of Cross-Listed Firms

ABSTRACT The level of difficulty for U.S. analysts in the native language of a cross-listed firm increases their forecast errors. The association is decreased by analyst experience and analyst fluency in the language of the cross-listed firms. The association is also decreased for countries using IFRS and those with higher financial reporting quality. Investors react more strongly to forecasts for firms that present greater language difficulty to analysts. Overall, our findings suggest that the language difficulty of cross-listed firms is associated with a poor information environment and capital-market-related costs.

KURDISH STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF FILMS IN TEACHING LITERARY WORKS IN EFL CLASSROOM

The current study investigates Kurdish students’ attitudes towards the use of films in teaching literary works at universities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The study also highlights whether using films in teaching literary works is beneficial or not and what challenges are faced by them. The data were collected by using questionnaires and interviews from 60 students aged between 18-24 years old from both private and public universities. Out of 60 students, 15 were randomly chosen to be interviewed. Results show that some students consider teaching literary works using films is beneficial, as it encourages students to study and read more literary works and it also makes them actively interact with the content which helps them remember the events more effectively. However, the study also reveals that some Kurdish students consider teaching literary works using films is a waste of time, and this discourages interaction between students and their teacher. In addition, ‘boredom’ and ‘language difficulty’ are the other two major challenges faced by Kurdish students.

EXPLORING LANGUAGE INPUT OF THE READING TEXTS IN NORTHSTAR TEXTBOOKS FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY

There are many studies on English Language Teaching materials evaluation, but very few investigate the language input of reading materials though text input is considered a primary factor for successful foreign language learning. This research explored the language input of reading texts in a book series used in teaching reading for first-year English-major students at a foreign language university in central Vietnam. It aimed at investigating text topics, genres, length, language difficulty level and students’ as well as teachers’ perceptions of the studied texts in an attempt to facilitate students’ reading comprehension. Thirty-two reading texts were studied using a descriptive analytical approach. Individual and focus group interviews were implemented with 15 students and 7 lecturers. The findings showed the textbooks incorporated a wide variety of topics which are interesting and familiar to students. Article was the most popular text genre. The text length and language difficulty level proved to be appropriate to students’ levels. The lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of the texts also supported the textbook analysis findings. These findings implicated the selected textbooks should be kept in the curriculum but need further adaptation. Besides, some suggestions were made to help ELT lecturers modify the text input effectively.

Chinese Language in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and Recommendations

This study identifies potential challenges for learners, teachers, and curriculum designers regarding the recent inclusion of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in the Saudi education system, according to an in-depth review of previous research. This review focused on issues related to CFL learning, pedagogy, and curriculum. Factors were grouped into five categories: 1) CFL learning difficulty, 2) learner motivation and aptitude, 3) learner culture, 4) pedagogical effectiveness, and 5) curriculum design. To gain a deeper understanding, a sample of 25 foreign language learners and 15 curriculum designers was selected randomly from a university in the north of Saudi Arabia to complete a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to highlight the most important issues. The data analysis revealed serious concerns among CFL learners, such as language difficulty, learner motivation and aptitude, and learner culture. CFL pedagogy could also pose a challenge. However, no concerns were found related to CFL curriculum. Implications and recommendations are offered to help incorporate CFL into the Saudi education system and encourage further research.

Language Difficulty and Prior Learning Influence Foreign Vocabulary Acquisition

When learning a foreign language, words that are the hardest to learn are often the easiest to forget. Yet, there is also evidence that more challenging learning contexts can lead to greater long-term retention. Here, we investigate the effect of language difficulty on vocabulary retention by teaching participants novel words that varied in both imageability and similarity to a known language over a period of four weeks. We found that easier words (high-imageability and familiar) were generally retained better than harder words (low-imageability and unfamiliar). However, when words were fully learned during training, the more difficult unfamiliar words were later recalled with higher accuracy than easier familiar words. The effect of language difficulty on vocabulary retention therefore varies depending on how well words were initially encoded. We conclude that greater challenges can reap greater long-term rewards so long as learners establish a strong foundation during initial acquisition.

P.008 Triphasic waves in powassan encephalitis: a case report

Background: Powassan virus is a tick borne virus which can lead to encephalitis. Methods: 63 year old woman with history of migraine presented with 2 days of fever, headache, language difficulty and right sided facial droop. Her examination revealed right upper motor neuron type facial weakness and expressive aphasia. She rapidly deteriorated within 24 hours becoming non verbal and ultimately comatose. Results: MRI brain revealed T2 hyperintensities in bilateral caudate and putamen. Subsequent MRI brain showed progression of the caudate and basal ganglia changes and new T2 hyperintensities in bilateral thalami and midbrain with no abnormal enhancement. CSF revealed lymphocytic pleocytosis with normal protein and glucose. Viral Encephalitis was suspected and she was continued on Acyclovir until Varicella zoster and Herpes simplex virus serology in CSF returned negative. Prolonged video EEG showed near continuous generalized triphasic pattern without any evolution or seizure pattern. There was no improvement in clinical status or EEG with antiepileptic treatment. Paraneoplastic panel , serum HIV, Lyme and 14-3-3 protein were negative. Extensive viral serologies were sent and ultimately Powassan serology came back positive. Conclusions: This case highlights powassan virus as a cause of encephalitis and occurrence of triphasic waves in non metabolic causes of encephalopathy such as infectious encephalitis.