bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Public Awareness regarding Common Eye Diseases among Saudi Adults in Riyadh City: A Quantitative Study
Authors: Al Rashed Waleed A. , Bin Abdulrahman Amro K. , Zarban Ahmed A. , Almasri Mohammed S. , Mirza Abdulrahman S. , Khandekar Rajiv
Published: July 2017

Aim. The current study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of eye disease and awareness of eye care among the Saudi adults and to explore existing eye-related misconceptions in the community. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Riyadh city during May and June 2016. A self-administered anonymous online questionnaire was used to explore the most common misconceptions related to eye diseases and eye care. Results. Out of 1000 individuals, only 711 (71.1%) participant responses were received. The participants’ acceptable knowledge (score ≥50%) was high about the eye problem in diabetes (88.6%), ocular trauma (81.2%), and other general eye diseases (91.3%), whereas low about refractive errors (63%), pediatric eye problems (51.5%), and glaucoma (14.8%). The variation in knowledge about specific ocular morbidities was significant (p<0.001). The majority of participants reported sources of information about the common eye diseases and eye care encountered from the community, internet-based resources, and social media. Conclusions. The majority of the participants had awareness about the common eye diseases, whereas low percentage of participant’s awareness about specific condition of eye diseases. Public eye health awareness should be more focused on social media and the internet to be able to cover the younger individuals of the community.
A Trial-and-Error Method with Autonomous Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Traffic Counts for Cordon-Based Congestion Pricing
Authors: Liu Zhiyuan , Zhang Yong , Wang Shuaian , Li Zhibin
Published: July 2017

This study proposes a practical trial-and-error method to solve the optimal toll design problem of cordon-based pricing, where only the traffic counts autonomously collected on the entry links of the pricing cordon are needed. With the fast development and adoption of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) facilities, it is very convenient to autonomously collect these data. Two practical properties of the cordon-based pricing are further considered in this article: the toll charge on each entry of one pricing cordon is identical; the total inbound flow to one cordon should be restricted in order to maintain the traffic conditions within the cordon area. Then, the stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) with asymmetric link travel time functions is used to assess each feasible toll pattern. Based on a variational inequality (VI) model for the optimal toll pattern, this study proposes a theoretically convergent trial-and-error method for the addressed problem, where only traffic counts data are needed. Finally, the proposed method is verified based on a numerical network example.
Mesoscale Assessment of CO2 Storage Potential and Geological Suitability for Target Area Selection in the Sichuan Basin
Authors: Diao Yujie , Zhu Guowei , Cao Hong , Zhang Chao , Li Xufeng , Jin Xiaolin
Published: July 2017

In China, south of the Yangtze River, there are a large number of carbon sources, while the Sichuan Basin is the largest sedimentary basin; it makes sense to select the targets for CO2 geological storage (CGUS) early demonstration. For CO2 enhanced oil and gas, coal bed methane recovery (CO2-EOR, EGR, and ECBM), or storage in these depleted fields, the existing oil, gas fields, or coal seams could be the target areas in the mesoscale. This paper proposed a methodology of GIS superimposed multisource information assessment of geological suitability for CO2 enhanced water recovery (CO2-EWR) or only storage in deep saline aquifers. The potential per unit area of deep saline aquifers CO2 storage in Central Sichuan is generally greater than 50 × 104 t/km2 at P50 probability level, with Xujiahe group being the main reservoir. CO2 storage potential of depleted gas fields is 53.73 × 108 t, while it is 33.85 × 108 t by using CO2-EGR technology. This paper recommended that early implementation of CGUS could be carried out in the deep saline aquifers and depleted gas fields in the Sichuan Basin, especially that of the latter because of excellent traps, rich geological data, and well-run infrastructures.
Maresin 1 Ameliorates Lung Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Suppressing Oxidative Stress via Activation of the Nrf‐2‐Mediated HO‐1 Signaling Pathway
Authors: Sun Quanchao , Wu You , Zhao Feng , Wang Jianjun
Published: July 2017

Lung ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury occurs in various clinical conditions and heavily damaged lung function. Oxidative stress reaction and antioxidant enzymes play a pivotal role in the etiopathogenesis of lung I/R injury. In the current study, we investigated the impact of Maresin 1 on lung I/R injury and explored the possible mechanism involved in this process. MaR 1 ameliorated I/R‐induced lung injury score, wet/dry weight ratio, myeloperoxidase, tumor necrosis factor, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) leukocyte count, BALF neutrophil ratio, and pulmonary permeability index levels in lung tissue. MaR 1 significantly reduced ROS, methane dicarboxylic aldehyde, and 15‐F2t‐isoprostane generation and restored antioxidative enzyme (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase) activities. Administration of MaR 1 improved the expression of nuclear Nrf‐2 and cytosolic HO‐1 in I/R‐treated lung tissue. Furthermore, we also found that the protective effects of MaR 1 on lung tissue injury and oxidative stress were reversed by HO‐1 activity inhibitor, Znpp‐IX. Nrf‐2 transcription factor inhibitor, brusatol, significantly decreased MaR 1‐induced nuclear Nrf‐2 and cytosolic HO‐1 expression. In conclusion, these results indicate that MaR 1 protects against lung I/R injury through suppressing oxidative stress. The mechanism is partially explained by activation of the Nrf‐2‐mediated HO‐1 signaling pathway.
Dermal Substitutes Use in Reconstructive Surgery for Skin Tumors: A Single-Center Experience
Authors: Campagnari Mariane , Jafelicci Andrea S. , Carneiro Helio A. , Brechtbühl Eduard R. , Bertolli Eduardo , Duprat Neto João P.
Published: July 2017

Reconstructive surgery following skin tumor resection can be challenging. Treatment options after removing the tumor are skin grafting, local pedicled and axial flaps, or microsurgery for complex and extensive wounds correction. Recently, the use of dermal substitutes has been extended to reconstructive surgery in cutaneous oncology. Objectives. To report both a single-center experience using dermal substitutes in reconstructive surgery for skin malignancies and reconstructive surgery’s outcomes. Methods and Results. Among thirteen patients, seven (53.8%) were male with mean age of 62.6 years. Regarding diagnosis, there were five cases (38.5%) of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), two (15.4%) of melanoma in situ, two (15.4%) of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, one (7.7%) of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), one (7.7%) of angiosarcoma, and one (7.7%) of eccrine carcinoma (EC). The most common site of injury was scalp (53.8%) and lower limbs (23.1%). Seven (53.8%) patients used NPWT and six (46.2%) patients underwent Brown’s dressing. The most frequent complication of the first stage was wound contamination (38.5%). Average time to second-stage skin grafting was 43.9 days. Three (23%) patients developed tumor recurrence and one died. Conclusions. Use of dermal substitutes in oncology can be an option for reconstruction after extended resections, providing good aesthetical and functional results.
An Effect of Learning on Speech Perception: The Discrimination of Durations of Silence with and without Phonemic Significance
Authors: Liberman Alvin , Harris Katherine Safford , Eimas Peter , Lisker Leigh , Bastian Jarvis
Published: July 2017

Discrimination of an acoustic variable (various durations of silence) was measured when, as part of a synthetic speech pattern, that variable cued a phonemic distinction and when the same variable appeared in a non-speech context. in the speech case the durations of silence separated the two syllables of a synthesized word, causing it to be heard as rabid when the intersyllabic silence was of short duration and as rapid when it was long. with acoustic differences equal, discrimination proved to be more acute across the /b,p/ phoneme boundary than within either phoneme category. This effect approximated what one would expect on the extreme assumption that the listeners could hear these sounds only as phonemes, and could discriminate no other differences among them; however, the approximation was not so close as for certain other consonant distinctions.

In the case of the non-speech sounds the same durations of silence separated two bursts of noise tailored to match the onset, duration, and offset characteristics of the speech signals. There was, with these stimuli, no appreciable increase in discrimination in the region corresponding to the location of the phoneme boundary. If we assume that the functions obtained with the non-speech patterns represent the basic discriminability of the durations of silence, free of the influence of linguistic training, we may conclude that the discrimination peaks in the speech functions reflect an effect of learning on perception. It was found, too, that discrimination of the non-speech patterns was, in general, poorer than that of the speech. From this we conclude that the effect of learning must have been to increase discrimination across the phoneme boundary; there was no evidence of a reduction in discrimination within the phoneme category.
Relationships among Fundamental Frequency, Vocal Sound Pressure, and Rate of Speaking
Authors: Black John W.
Published: July 2017

Twenty males who could control their vocal effort to reach specified soft and loud vocal levels, spanning 30 db., practised and recorded three vowels and three phrases at four levels, ranging from soft to loud.

Increments in vocal effort were accompanied by increase in fundamental frequency, the latter shifting upward increasingly with successive steps in sound pressure.

The vocal changes that occurred from one level of speaking to another were somewhat specific to the material that was spoken.

Phrases that were spoken with different amounts of vocal effort, soft to loud, were spoken at the slowest rate when said softly.
Continuity of Speech Utterance, its Determinants and its Significance
Authors: Goldman-Eisler Frieda
Published: July 2017

Pause frequency and word length of speech sequences uttered without break (referred to as “phrases”) were measured, using speech produced under a variety of conditions. Several subjects were recorded in each condition. Individual differences as well as differences due to change of speech situation were highly significant. The significance of continuity in speech production is discussed in the light of the specific nature of these various differences.
Cognitive and Neurochemical Determination of Sentence Structure
Authors: Goldman-Eisler Frieda , Skarbek Andrew , Henderson Alan
Published: July 2017

Sentence structure as measured in terms of the proportion of subordinate propositions in utterances was studied when different degrees of cognitive complexity were involved in responding to verbal tasks, and under drug as well as no drug conditions. Not only does level of cognitive complexity seem to find its reflection in the complexity of sentence structure, but both factors seem to interact with the action of neuroleptic drugs such as chlorpromazine in such a way as to suggest the corrective influence of feedback. The examination of sentence structure in the light of the concomitant hesitation pauses indicates that the hierarchical structuring of sentences is more a matter of linguistic skill than of planning.
Variability in Vowel Perception
Authors: Laver J. D. M. H.
Published: July 2017

It was hypothesised that linguists vary, within their own performance, in locating a given vowel-stimulus on a Daniel Jones Cardinal Vowel diagram, over even a short period of time. The hypothesis was successfully tested, using material synthesised on PAT, the Resonance Analogue Speech Synthesiser at Edinburgh University, and an indication is given of the nature and extent of variation of location of the given stimuli, over a period of a week. The results of the variation are used to evaluate the short- and long-term efficiency of the Daniel Jones Cardinal Vowel System of locating vowels.
Bilingualism and Bicodalism
Authors: Kolers Paul A.
Published: July 2017

Bilingual subjects were presented with long lists of words which they subsequently tried to recall. On some lists the words appeared in red or in black; on other lists, they appeared in French or in English. On mixed lists, words appeared both in red and in black, or both in French and in English, but no word appeared in two colours or was translated. The main finding was that only about half as many words were recalled from the list with respect to colour (arbitrary code) as were recalled from the linguistically mixed list. A distinction is thus made experimentally between arbitrary and well-formed coding systems, as they affect short-term memory.
The Effect of Time Distortions on the Intelligibility of Deaf Children's Speech
Authors: John J. E. J. , Howarth Jean N.
Published: July 2017

Abnormal time relationships in the speech of deaf children are discussed. An experiment, the aim of which was to examine the effect of teaching directed solely at improving the time factors in the speech of a group of severely deaf children, is described. This teaching produced a 56% improvement in word intelligibility and an even greater improvement in listeners' abilities to recognize the complete syntactic patterns of the children's utterances. It is concluded that the information about linguistic sequences which is carried by the relative time factors in speech becomes critical in the interpretation of speech which is grossly defective in its articulation. It is suggested that in teaching speech to deaf children great emphasis should be given to non-articulatory aspects in the improvement of which there are quick returns for effort.
The Validity of the Probe-Latency Technique for Assessing Structure in Language
Authors: Suci George J. , Ammon Paul , Gamlin Peter
Published: July 2017

The probe-latency technique for assessing how language is structured by a hearer was evaluated for children and adults against syntactic criteria and found to validly separate noun and verb phrases. The technique also appears sensitive to structural variations within phrases. Structure was found relatively invariant over changes in length and in meaningfulness for adults. Children showed structural change as a function of length of input. The findings regarding length and meaningfulness were regarded as very tentative due to large individual differences between subjects, especially with children, on all tasks.
Aural Perception of Different Syntactic Structures and Lengths
Authors: Compton Arthur J.
Published: July 2017

Eleven sets of 16 sentences, previously rated as natural English statements, were presented to two groups of listeners. Each set of sentences differed in syntactic structure and contained four sentences of each of four lengths : 8, 10, 12, and 14 words. The listeners heard the sentences either under a fixed condition of filtering or without filtering; their task was to write as much of each sentence as possible immediately after it was presented. The sentences were scored for the number of words correctly reproduced, and differences in aural perception among the various sentence types and lengths were tested on the basis of the derived intelligibility scores. The results of the study indicated that (1) perception of the sentences was affected by their syntactic structure and varied, depending upon the grammatical complexity of the statements as specified by a generative-transformational grammar ; (2) the sentences of 12 words were more easily perceived than were the sentences of the other lengths ; (3) no relationship was established between the relative perception of the various sentence structures and their degree of naturalness.
Social and Psychological Factors Related to Variability of Answering Behaviour in Five-Year-Old Children
Authors: Rackstraw S.J. , Robinson W.P.
Published: July 2017

Speech samples were obtained from five-year-old children differing in social class, verbal intelligence test scores, sex and an index of mother-child interaction. As a subsidiary analysis inter-group comparisons were made of variations in the linguistic structure and word preferences in answers to three questions. Middle class children, especially those with high intelligence test scores, used more abstract structures and words, less self-referential speech, more precise words, and were more likely to summarize in their answers. These differences are consistent with Bernstein's specification of the nature and sociological location of an' elaborated' code.
Sequential Temporal Patterns and Cognitive Processes in Speech
Authors: Goldman-Eisler Frieda
Published: July 2017

Further evidence was found confirming that the successive speech and silence durations in spontaneous speech can have a regular structure, periods of considerable hesitancy alternating with periods of fluency in a rhythmic fashion. This structure, which it is suggested is due to a cognitive rhythm, although not evident in reading, was found however not to be specific to rational spontaneous speech, as was concluded by Henderson et al.

The only necessary though not sufficient condition for the appearance of temporal rhythm was that at least 30% of utterance time be pausing time. Readings and translations as well as spontaneous speech were capable of exhibiting a rhythmic structure when fulfilling this condition. The relative pausing time in the periods of high fluency seemed an additional factor in the occurrence of this rhythm. The implications of these results are discussed.
Distortion of the Temporal Pattern of Speech by Syllable-Tied Alternation
Authors: Huggins A.W.F.
Published: July 2017

Speech was switched alternately to the left and right ears of subjects (1) at every syllable boundary, (2) at every C-V junction, (3) at the middle of every vowel, (4) at every V-C junction, (5) at every C-V junction and at every V-C junction, and (6) regularly, at a rate equal to the average rate in 1 - 4 above. The intelligibility of the speech with each type of alternation was assessed from the performance of subjects who echoed what they heard. The results show that a greater reduction in intelligibility occurred when the alternation was tied to the syllables than when it was regular in time, but revealed only small differences between the five types of syllable-tied alternation.
Analysis of Word Frequencies in Spoken Language of Children
Authors: Beier Ernst G. , Starkweather John A. , Miller Don E.
Published: July 2017

Zipf (1935) states that a statistical relationship has been established between high frequency, small variety and shortness in length of words, a relationship which is presumably valid for language in general. Zipf based his work on the analysis of written language. The present study is concerned with discovering whether this law also holds for spoken language of children and if age differences influence the relationship between variety and frequency of occurrence of words, as well as the frequency of specific word groups (such as negative words, self-reference, etc.). For this purpose 15 12-year-old and 15 16-year-old boys of average intelligence were each given a small tape recorder to use in recording their verbal output. Forty thousand words of each of the groups were analysed with the Starkweather programme on an IBM 7094 computer. The results are presented in terms of lists of words used, the ratios of the number of different words spoken to the number of total words, and the ratio of variety to frequency of occurrence. It was thought that this study will contribute to a better understanding of children's spoken language and the growth of their available vocabulary.
Juncture Phenomena and the Segmentation of a Linguistic Corpus
Authors: Hannah Elaine P. , Engler Leo
Published: July 2017

The present study was an attempt to check the usefulness of the terminal juncture as a means of segmenting a linguistic corpus. Of importance are scorer agreement as to the occurrence of both juncture and hesitation phenomena, and consistency in perception of both types of phenomena. The perception of the pitch contour accompanying a terminal juncture is also examined.
Combined Effects of Interruption and Interaural Alternation on Speech Intelligibility
Authors: Hopkinson Norma T.
Published: July 2017

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of (1) interaural alternation, (2) interruption, and (3) the combination of interaural alternation and interruption upon the intelligibility of monosyllabic words. The interaural alternation of speech signals imposed little adverse effect on their intelligibility. When the same words were subjected to interruption alone, the effect varied with (1) duty-cycle, (2) with the distinctive sampling of speech peculiar to certain rates of interruption, and (3) with the effort and training of the listeners. Alternation of interrupted speech resulted in decrements in intelligibility compatible with the effect seen on uninterrupted signals. As duty-cycle decreased, intelligibility scores decreased because a smaller percentage of the signal was available to the listeners. At the rate of interruption of 2 i.p.s., scores were low. As rate of interruption increased from 2 through 8 i.p.s., intelligibility scores improved. However, those rates of interruption above 8 i.p.s. at which scores decreased, changed to lower rates of interruption as duty-cycle decreased. Between 2 and 8 i.p.s. and at 64 i.p.s. intelligibility remained surprisingly stable on re-test. On the other hand, scores obtained between 8 and 40 i.p.s. could be varied, usually in the direction of higher scores, when practice was provided. If the speech sample was no less than 4 msec. in duration and the listener was insured of at least five samples of the word, 50 per cent intelligibility could be maintained.
Verbal Punishment of Disfluencies During Spontaneous Speech
Authors: Siegel Gerald M. , Martin Richard R.
Published: July 2017

The subjects were 59 college adults who spoke spontaneously from a set of stimulus words for 36 minutes. The first 12 minutes was a Baseline segment during which disfluencies were counted. During the Treatment segment Contingent subjects were presented the word "wrong" through an earphone, contingent on each disfluency, Random subjects heard "wrong" on a random schedule, and no stimuli were introduced for Control subjects. During the Recovery segment the stimulus " wrong " was removed. Subjects were divided into high and low disfluency levels according to their performance during Baseline. A significant (p < 0.05) decrease in disfluencies was obtained from Baseline to Treatment for high level Contingent subjects. Low level Contingent subjects did not significantly alter their disfluencies, and Control and Random subjects maintained stable disfluency rates throughout the experiment. Rate of speech was not related to variations in fluency and also remained stable.
The Judgment of Vowel Quality
Authors: Hurford J.R.
Published: July 2017

Dialectology suffers from a lack of rigorously controlled techniques for recording vowel qualities. Instrumental investigation is often impracticable for the dialectologist An aural-imitative technique is here described, based on the cardinal vowel system. The degree of consistency achieved using this technique in a dialectological study is shown to compare favourably with that found in studies of the efficacy of the cardinal vowel system per se. No other dialectological study is known to have made such statistical observations on the reliability of its own statements about vowel quality. The value of two-dimensional vowel charts is also discussed.
A Study of Syllabic Stress in Some English Words as Produced By Deaf and Normally Hearing Speakers
Authors: Ando Kyoko , Canter Gerald J.
Published: July 2017

The aim of this investigation was to compare the syllable stress production of deaf and normally hearing speakers. Ten orally-trained deaf speakers and forty normally hearing speakers recorded six pairs of bisyllabic words which were either nouns or verb-adjectives depending upon the placement of primary stress. Syllabic differences in intensity, duration, and fundamental frequency were measured. In addition, a panel of expert listeners made judgments on which syllable had been given primary stress. Most (81%) of the words spoken by the hearing subjects were correctly judged , regarding the placement of primary stress, while relatively few (20%) of the words spoken by the deaf were judged correctly. Usually, greater intensity, longer duration, and higher fundamental frequency characterized the correctly identified primary syllable stress produced by both the hearing and the deaf subjects. However, in some instances all three acoustic cues were not necessary for the correct recognition of primary stress. Higher fundamental frequency was always present in the primary stressed syllable of correctly recognized nouns. Greater intensity and/or longer duration characterized the stressed syllables of correctly recognized verb-adjectives. Despite the presence of all three acoustic cues, some words spoken by the deaf subjects were not correctly identified. Inspection of spectrographic recordings suggested that these failures may have been due to lack of falling inflection on the initial syllable of nouns, inability to produce schwa vowels in verb-adjectives, and inappropriate and excessively long junctures between syllables.
Psycholinguistic Study of a Schizophrene's Speech
Authors: Krishnamurthy K.H.
Published: July 2017

An analysis of a schizophrene's speech using a phonological system of notation is presented here. Grouping the utterance data into phonemic and non-phonemic phonatory,. the latter in turn into the normal and occasional etc. rather than phonemic and prosodic, is shown to be more comprehensive and useful. The system aims at incorporating many fresh utterance details like stretches, response time, rate of phoneme production, tone-accent distribution and the like in an edited transcript which is also serially numbered in such a way as to help pinpoint discussion of any portion. This is shown to be a useful method of bringing out many features of psycholinguistic interest, such as the general description of a subject's phonation for comparative study, the richness and close correlation of the devices to the mood and contents, etc. It also shows that the way of using phonatory devices in active speech is more varied than our native grammatical conceptions indicate and includes illustrations of semantic incoherence and a thought-type involved at many levels characterising psychotic speech.
The Grammar of Working and Middle Class Children Using Elicited Imitations
Authors: Jordan Christina M. , Robinson W.P.
Published: July 2017

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the processes involved in imitation, in particular whether or not the child s own grammatical system influences elicited imitations. The problem was studied using pre-school children of middle and working class origin. It was found that when asked to repeat back sentences with verb forms found to be used by children of their own social class, subjects imitated accurately, but when presented with those of the other social class the verb forms were altered to produce those with which they were familiar. This led to the conclusion that the child does filter imitations through his own grammatical productive system as proposed by Slobin and Welsh (1968).
Articulation Generalization During Articulation Training
Authors: Mcreynolds Leija V.
Published: July 2017

Four children who misarticulated the /s/ phoneme were administered an articulation training programme which trained the child to emit the correct /s/ in isolation and in the initial, final and medial positions in nonsense syllables. Transfer of the correct /s/ was tested throughout training to determine if generalization of the trained response to untrained contexts assumes an orderly pattern of progress. Indications from the test probes were that (1) transfer of the correct articulation to untrained contexts begins when the /s/ is trained in the context of other phonemes, (2) that transfer increases rapidly when children are required to monitor the accuracy of their own articulation and (3) that generalization is influenced by shifting the position of the correct articulation within the context of the training item. Reasons for the lack of an orderly pattern of generalization acquisition are presented.
Oral or Written Language: the Consequences for Cognitive Development in Africa, the United States and England
Authors: Greenfield Patricia M.
Published: July 2017

The distinction between speaking an oral language and speaking a written language is applied to different cultural groups in the United States and Africa. It is shown that these two patterns of language use systematically related to different educational methods and to different courses of cognitive development.
Some Innovations in a Computer Approach to the Analysis of Speech Patterns
Authors: Barik Henri C.
Published: July 2017

A procedure is presented which contains a number of innovations in the analysis of temporal characteristics of speech patterns by computer. The computer set-up developed permits the duplication of the source tape as it is being analysed, with beep insertions on the duplicated tape at pause locations. A two-step "throwaway" procedure is introduced to eliminate speech bursts not reaching minimum criterion duration. This may ensure greater accuracy than the one-step procedure normally used. In addition, a method is described for substituting "tone" tapes for "live" recordings to overcome some of the problems associated with the automatized analysis of speech, especially of a spontaneous nature. The procedures are described in the context of a study on simultaneous interpretation, which involves two input sources.
Some Relationships Between Perceived Generality and Ambiguity in a Set of Words
Authors: Berdine William R.
Published: July 2017

The broad problem in this study is to examine some relationships between generality and ambiguity for a set of words. The generality of a word refers to the inclusivesness of a class which the word names; and the more general the word, the less narrow is the referent class it represents. The ambiguity of a word is a condition where a word evokes more than one meaning response in a perceiver. The results of this study suggest that no functional difference between the concepts of generality and ambiguity was perceived by the participating subjects.
Comparison of Methods of Estimating Transition Probability in Speech
Authors: Schiavetti Nicholas , Burke John P.
Published: July 2017

This study investigated the relationship between transition probability estimates derived from both the single and continuous forward guessing methods currently in use. Since the estimates derived from the two methods were highly correlated and yielded similar distributions, selection of forward guessing method by future investigators should be determined by subject v. time availability.
The Functional Development of Language in a Child of Two-and-a-Half Years
Authors: Schmidt Richard W.
Published: July 2017

A functional model of child language development put forth by Halliday (forthcoming) is applied to the speech of a 30 month old child. The functional system postulated for a child just beginning to speak no longer applies, but the principle of functional analysis is extended in other directions. An investigation of the language of control at this stage of development shows that the child has an extremely rich repertoire of verbal techniques for control. An analysis of these supports the notion that language is as it is at least partly because of the uses to which it is put, though the fit between functional and structural options is not complete and cannot be exhaustively analysed within a unified functional-syntactic system.
Units of Information in the Acquisition of Language
Authors: Du Preez Peter
Published: July 2017

The child learns language in melodic units called tone groups, which are units of information. The focus of what the speaker wishes to convey to the listener is found in the tonic. All child speech during the holophrastic period, and much adult speech later on, takes the form of telegraphic ellipsis, which relies on the non-language environment to explain the tonic. The development of language round the tonic is possible because the tonic can shift from place to place in the same sequence of words, depending on the information focus. This acts as the " inducer " of language growth. Nuclear linguistic structures are made perceptually prominent in the context of what is being attended to by the speaker and the listener.
Some Apparent Uniformities Between Languages in Colour-Naming
Authors: Allott R.M.
Published: July 2017

Survey of colour-names in many different languages shows that there is a greater resemblance between them in geographically distant and unrelated languages than can plausibly be explained as the result of chance, borrowing or hitherto unsuspected language relationships. This suggests a universal tendency for there to be a relation between the meaning, the percept and the phonological form which does not operate absolutely but tends to restrict the sounds used and increase the probability that certain patterns of words will be found for certain percepts, particularly where the percepts are sharply defined and uniformly recognized.
On Pushing the Voice-Onset-Time (Vot) Boundary About
Authors: Lisker L. , Liberman A.M. , Erickson D.M. , Dechovitz D. , Mandler R.
Published: July 2017

There is voluminous evidence that homorganic stop consonants are distinguishable on the basis of voice onset time relative to their supraglottal articulation. For initial stops a convenient acoustic reference point is the onset of the release burst, and VOT has been defined as the interval between this point and onset of glottal signal. VOT boundary values between voiced and voiceless initial stops of English have been established by spectrographic measurements of naturally produced isolated words and by perception testing of synthesized CV syllables. The close match between the two kinds of boundary values suggests that fairly natural values were chosen for the invariant features of the synthetic speech patterns tested. It is known, however, that certain of these affect voicing perception. New data from synthesis experiments show that VOT boundaries shift with changes in transition duration, and that it is the first formant and not higher ones which are responsible.
Judgments of Vocal Quality, Speech Fluency, and Confidence of Southern Black and White Speakers
Authors: Irwin Ruth Beckey
Published: July 2017

The present study was concerned with comparative judgments of vocal quality, speech fluency, and confidence of black and white speakers in southern universities. Specific objectives were to determine whether the following were related: (1) perception of vocal quality and judgment of confidence in the voice, (2) quality and fluency, (3) speech fluency and judgment of confidence; and to ascertain the differences between black and white speakers in vocal quality, speech fluency, and confidence. Stimuli were taken from a short passage read by 25 Negroes and 25 Caucasians. Using a seven-point scale, the following results were obtained: (1) the 50 speakers were correctly identified as to race by a majority of 36 listeners; (2) vocal quality and speech fluency were both perceived to be significantly better for white speakers; (3) confidence as perceived in the voice was also significantly better for white speakers; (4) relationships between all combinations of quality, fluency, and confidence were significant.
Reactions Toward Varying Degrees of Accentedness in the Speech of Spanish-English Bilinguals
Authors: Bouchard Ryan Ellen , Carranza Miguel A. , Moffie Robert W.
Published: July 2017

Approximately 100 college students were asked to evaluate Spanish-English bilingual speakers on the basis of taped readings of an English text. The speakers were chosen to represent a wide range of accentedness. The relationship between the amount of accentedness heard and the attributed characteristics of the speaker was investigated. The results show that the students made rather fine discriminations among varying degrees of accentedness in rating a speaker's personal attributes and speech. Support was thus found for the proposition that Spanish-accented English is negatively stereotyped and that the more accented the speech, the stronger the stereotype. By employing a seven-point rating scale with large groups rather than more involved scaling techniques based on individual testing, this study attempted to generalize the results of recent research which indicated that linguistically naive persons can reliably rate varying degrees of accentedness. Indeed, since the more convenient group-administered rating scale procedure provided high correlations with the accentedness scores obtained via more complicated scaling techniques, research concerned with reactions to a range of accentedness can progress rapidly.
Effects of Intonation Pattern of Synthesized and Natural Speech Upon Listener Resolution of Semantic Ambiguity
Authors: Mulac Anthony , Nash Rose
Published: July 2017

The semantically ambiguous phrase, "I thought so," was tape-recorded using three sources: (1) a professional radio announcer, (2) a computer speech synthesizer employing within-word intonation glides, and (3) a computer speech synthesizer without glides. Each subject heard four intonation patterns from one source and marked the "speaker's" apparent intended meaning for each utterance: (A) "and I was right," (B) "but I was wrong," or (C) "Can't tell which the speaker meant." Analyses indicated: (1) For the announcer and synthesized glide versions, listeners inferred confirmation from falling intonation on thought, and denial from rising thought. (2) Percentages of "Can't tell which the speaker meant" responses and intra-subject response agreements indicated that the announcer utterances were least ambiguous, while the synthesized non-glide utterances were most ambiguous.
Effects of Voiced-Voiceless Discrimination Training Upon Articulation of Hearing-Impaired Children
Authors: Bennett Clinton W. , Ling Daniel
Published: July 2017

Six severely hearing-impaired children were trained in the auditory discrimination of the voiced-voiceless distinction between pairs of stop consonants. The effects of this training upon articulation of the voiced-voiceless distinction were studied. Findings indicated that auditory discrimination training resulted in improved articulation of the voiced-voiceless distinction.
Acoustic Versus Contextual Factors in Stop Voicing Perception in Spontaneous French
Authors: Saerens Marco , Serniclaes Willy , Beeckmans Renaud
Published: July 2017

Previous studies on the perception of French stop consonants in isolated utterances have demonstrated that the timing relationship between the onset/offet of voice and the release of the closure provides a very reliable acoustic criterion to separate voiced from voiceless stops, and a major cue for the perception of the voicing feature. The aim of this work is to examine stops pronounced spontaneously during a conversation. Experiment 1, an acoustic analysis of spontaneous productions, largely confirms the high reliability of voice timing cues but also shows that they can be occasionally misleading. Experiment 2, where subjects were asked to identify stops contained in excerpts from the conversation, confirms the major part played by voice timing in the perception of voicing. It also suggests that the reliability of the voice timing cues is not optimally exploited by the perceptual system. Experiment 3 and a control condition, where subjects were asked to write down the contents of excerpts varying in duration, demonstrate that the supplementary information that allows correct identification in the frame of the conversation is provided by top-down processes. These experiments also suggest that secondary acoustic cues play a decisive part in the case of conflict between voice timing cues and top-down information.
Base-Language Effects on Word Identification in Bilingual Speech: Evidence from Categorical Perception Experiments
Authors: Bürki-Cohen Judith , Grosjean François , Miller Joanne L.
Published: July 2017

The categorical perception paradigm was used to investigate whether French-English bilinguals categorize a code-switched word as French or English on the basis of its acoustic-phonetic information alone or whether they are influenced by the base-language context in which the word occurs, that is, by the language in which the majority of words are spoken. Subjects identified stimuli from computer-edited series that ranged from an English to a French word as either the English or the French endpoint. The stimuli were preceded by either an English or a French context sentence. in accord with previous studies (Grosjean, 1988), it was found that the base language had a contrastive effect on the perception of a code-switched word when the endpoints of the between-language series were phonetically marked as English and French, respectively. When the endpoints of the series were phonetically unmarked and thus compatible with either language, however, no effect of the base language was found; in particular, we failed to find the assimilative effect that has been observed with other paradigms (Grosjean, 1988; Soares and Grosjean, 1984; Macnamara and Kushnir, 1971). The current results provide confirming evidence that the perception of a code-switched word is influenced by the base-language context in which it occurs and, moreover, that the nature of the effect depends on the acoustic-phonetic characteristics of the code-switched word. in addition, the finding that a contrastive effect occurs across all paradigms used to date, but that an assimilative effect occurs in only some paradigms, suggests that these two context effects may arise at different stages of processing.
Single and Correlated Cues in an Artificial Language Learning Paradigm
Authors: McDonald Janet L. , Plauché Michelle
Published: July 2017

The acquisition of the formal structure of an artificial language was examined using variants of the language that featured no cues, single extralinguistic or linguistic cues, and correlated pairs of these cues to word class. While performance on a grammatical judgment test was generally better for single cues than no cues and equal for all types of single cues, performance for correlated pairs of cues only exceeded that of corresponding single cues when both cues were fairly transparent as markers. In addition, distinctiveness of the markings played a role in ease of acquisition. These results clarify previous artificial language learning results, and are in accord with data from natural language learning.
Sociocultural Aspects of Pitch Differences between Japanese and Dutch Women
Authors: van Bezooijen Reneé
Published: July 2017

Japanese women have been found to have higher pitches than Dutch women. This finding has been explained in the past by assuming that Japanese women raise their pitch in order to project a vocal image associated with feminine attributes of powerlessness. In the present study three hypotheses underlying such an assumption were tested experimentally: (1) the association of high pitch with attributes of physical and psychological powerlessness (short, weak, dependent, modest) in the Dutch and Japanese cultures, (2) a stronger differentiation between the ideal woman and man, in terms of powerlessness/power, in Japan than in the Netherlands, and (3) a preference for high pitch in women in Japan and for medium or low pitch in women in the Netherlands. All three hypotheses were confirmed. However, results also suggest a strong emphasis in Japan on masculinity in men, possibly leading to a lowering of pitch.
Festival Management: A Case Study Perspective
Authors: Frisby Wendy , Getz Donald
Published: July 2017

A case study analysis of festival management is presented to determine how the tourism potential of these events can be improved. The results highlight some of the unique management problems that festival organizers face which are often a reflection of the stage of growth of the organization and stage in the product life cycle. Recommendations for festival organizers and tourism agencies are provided.
International Travel by U.S. Conservation Groups and Professional Societies
Authors: Laarman Jan G. , Stewart Timothy P. , Prestemon Jeffrey P.
Published: July 2017

The U.S. conservation organizations, together with the U.S. scientific and professional societies most closely allied to natural resources, are termed the “conservation sector.” This sector was surveyed to determine the volumes, destinations, objectives, and decisionmaking criteria for international travel. The resulting profile indicates a small, high-cost, and immature market segment driven mainly by the desire to provide educational and professional experiences.
Assessing the Economic Impact of Outdoor Recreation Travel to the Texas Gulf Coast
Authors: Fesenmaier Daniel R. , Jones Lonnie , Um Seoho , Ozuna Teofilo
Published: July 2017

The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic impacts of outdoor recreation activity (specifically, sport fishing, hunting, picnicking, swimming, camping, pleasure boating and sightseeing) on the economies of the Texas Gulf Coast region and the state of Texas in the form of output, employment, income, and state and local tax revenues. The statewide Texas Gulf Coast economic impacts were estimated using the statewide expenditure data for the entire Texas Gulf Coast collected for this study and the 1986 Texas Input-Output Model developed for this study. The results of this analysis indicated that the total output impact during 1986 amounted to $1.19 billion for the Texas Gulf Coast and $1.91 billion for the state. The results also show that 59% of these impacts resulted from fishing-related travel to this area.
Highlights of the 20th Annual TTRA Conference Honolulu, Hawaii, June 11–14, 1989
Authors: DiPersio Cindy , Hayden Gin , Goeldner C. R.
Published: July 2017

The following paragraphs briefly summarize the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Travel and Tourism Research Association held in Honolulu, Hawaii. Conference registrants and members of TTRA will automatically receive a copy of the conference proceedings when they are published. Other readers who wish to receive a copy of the proceedings may order copies from Mari Lou Wood, Executive Director, TTRA, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah, P.O. Box 58066, Foothill Station, Salt Lake City, Utah 84158.
Tourism in the 1990s: The Next Move
Authors: Goeldner C. R.
Published: July 2017

This report presents the highlights of the conference held March 13–14, 1989 at the Gloucester Hotel in London, England, sponsored by Tourism Management and the University of Surrey. Papers presented at the conference will appear in the Fall 1989 issue of Tourism Management.