bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Generalizing Classification Tables to Large Populations
Authors: Koslowsky Meni
Published: July 2017

In a mailing of an insurance offering to 303,000 credit customers in one of the large Midwestern states, the small number of responders necessitated a modification of the usual classification procedure. The researchers examined the technique of generalizing sample results in a classification study to large subpopulations of unequal sizes. The usual output from the discriminant analysis routine in SPSS was extended to handle the present statistical problems. Some of the advantages of the technique were discussed and a word of caution was noted.
An Initial Look at the Validity of Diagnoses Based on Sato's Caution Index
Authors: Blixt Sonya L. , Dinero Thomas E.
Published: July 2017

Sato's Caution Index is a method of analyzing item response patterns independently of total score. One method of giving a substantive interpretation to the index is to classify people above or below an arbitrary cutting score. The present research was a first attempt to validate the interpretations with use of student reports. The results indicate support for certain interpretations of the index.
Assessing English Composition Skills in Spanish-Speaking Populations
Authors: Breland Hunter M. , Duran Richard P.
Published: July 2017

The English writing ability of Mexican-American and Puerto Rican college candidates taking the College Board's English Composition Test (ECT) in December 1979 was studied. Mexican-American and Puerto Rican candidates were partitioned into groups indicating that English was the best language or else groups indicating that English was not the best language. The performances of three groups on essay portions and multiple-choice portions of the ECT were compared with each other and with performance on the same measures by December 1979 ECT test takers as a whole. The results of the various analyses indicated that the ECT essay writing ability of Hispanics tended to be overestimated by the indirect, multiple-choice ECT assessment of writing skills. However, evidence emerged that some Hispanics who score high on the ECT essay writing task and who judge that Spanish is their best language may have their ECT essay writing skills underestimated by the ECT indirect measure of writing skills. Further research is needed, clarifying the generality of these findings, their linguistic basis, and their implications for college placement.
The Validation of a Developmental Scale for Seriation
Authors: Kingma Johannes , Loth Franciska L.
Published: July 2017

This study was concerned with the validation of the developmental Mokken scale for seriation. It was shown that the observed scale was invariant for different samples from previous research. A high correlation of .89 was found between the total score of the items on the scale and number line comprehension task (criterion variables). Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that a selection of two seriation tasks on the scale accounted for 76.4% of the explained variance, whereas the remaining tasks on the scale did not add significantly to the predictive validity. It was concluded that these two seriation tasks might be used for diagnostic purposes, whereas the found seriation scale consisting of six seriation tasks might be employed for the evaluation of seriation development.
Relative Validity of the Orleans-Hanna Algebra Prognosis Test in the Prediction of Girls' and Boys' Grades in First-Year Algebra
Authors: Hanna Gerald S. , Sonnenschein Joan L.
Published: July 2017

The relative predictive validity of girls' and boys' success in algebra is examined. Eighth-grade students took the Orleans-Hanna Algebra Prognosis Test. These prognosis test scores were correlated with grades that 519 girls and 421 boys subsequently earned in first-year algebra. Algebra grades of girls proved to be more predictable than those of boys ( p <.05). Comparison of the present findings with those of an earlier study suggest that no changes during a 14-year period in the differential predictive validity of the sexes is evident. Implications for counselors and teachers are drawn and discussed.
The Relationship of Level of Eye-Hand Coordination and Answer Marking Format to the Test Performance of First — And Second-Grade Pupils; Implications for Test Validity
Authors: Ramseyer Gary C. , Cashen Valjean M.
Published: July 2017

This study was concerned with the effects of eye-hand coordination on the ability of first- and second-grade pupils to use separate answer sheets on the California Test of Mental Maturity, Short Form (CTMM). The subjects were 57 pupils enrolled in these two grades at one elementary school. In terms of their scores on Subtest I of the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception, subjects were grouped into low, middle, and high levels of eye-hand coordination. The CTMM was then administered twice to all subjects: once using the test booklet marking format and once employing a separate answer sheet. Order of administration was counterbalanced within each eye-hand group. As expected, the analysis of variance yielded significant main effects of marking format at each grade level in favor of the booklet marking format. Moreover, marking format and eye-hand group membership yielded a significant interaction ( p <.05) at grade one. Simple effects tests indicated significant differences in favor of the booklet format for low and middle range eye-hand groups but not for the high group. It was concluded that a low level of eye-hand coordination contributes to a severe depression of separate answer sheet performance at grade one. Developmental differences were cited as the probable cause. Implications for test validity were discussed briefly.
The Predictive Validity of the Graduate Record Examinations for Subgroups of Students in Different Academic Disciplines
Authors: Thornell John G. , Mccoy Anthony
Published: July 2017

This study examined the relationship between graduate grade point average and subtests of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test for subsamples of graduate students in different academic disciplines. Validity coefficients for the two variables were calculated for a sample of 582 graduate students. Results indicated considerable variability in validity coefficients. The Total and Verbal scores on the GRE were comparable in predictive validity, whereas the Quantitative score had less prognostic value. There was also variability in validity coefficients for subgroups in different disciplines with Education, Humanities, and Mathematics/Science subsamples being comparable and with the Fine Arts subgroup having much lower coefficients.
"Let There Be Peace On Earth"
Authors: Miller Sy , Jackson Jill
Published: July 2017

Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me; Let there be peace on earth, The peace that was meant to be.

With God as our Father, Brothers all are we. Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me, Let this be the moment now. With ev'ry step I take, Let this be my solemn vow:

To take each moment and live each moment In peace eternally. Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me.
Parental Influence On Creativity of Fifth Grade Children
Authors: Wallinga Charlotte Rae , Crase Sedahlia Jasper
Published: July 2017

In a study of the relationship between children and parents' scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Sixty-five fifth-grade children and 121 parents were administered the TTCT. There were no significant correlations between scores for mothers and children. There were significant correlations between scores for fathers and children and mothers and fathers.
Listener Comprehension of Speakers of Three Status Groups
Authors: Harms L. S.
Published: July 2017

Listeners of three statuses attempt to reconstruct spoken messages of speakers of three statuses. Speakers of high status were most comprehensible. However, listeners achieved highest relative comprehension when speaker and listener status coincided.
Congenital Language Disability as a Study Model of Evolution in Communication
Authors: Arnold Godfrey E.
Published: July 2017

The relation between various forms of congenital language disability and laterality are reviewed in detail and the problem of cerebral dominance in man and its influence on linguistic activity is considered. The relevance of results with delayed auditory feed-back to such problems is discussed and the theory is presented that language disorders are the result of deficient homeostasis.
Effect of Succeeding Vowel on Consonant Recognition in Noise
Authors: Sadler Victor
Published: July 2017

Eighteen subjects were required to identify 23 consonants each presented in CV pairs with each of five vowels in white noise at a S/N ratio of 6 db. Overall articulation scores varied with the vowel used, and there was evidence of strong interaction between vowels and consonants. Judgements were also influenced by linguistic frequencies. It was concluded that the discriminability of CV letter-names could be greatly improved by manipulation of the vowel.
An Investigation into Denotative Aspects of Word-Meaning
Authors: Riegel Klaus F. , Riegel Ruth M.
Published: July 2017

Five tasks of restricted associations (synonyms, co-ordinates, superordinates, attributes, and antonyms) were applied to analyse some aspects of denotative meaning. Nine subjects gave two responses each to 120 German words and under all five conditions. The results of factor analyses indicated most clearly the prevalence of a superordinate - co-ordinate dimension and its high stability across form classes. Other factors are : attribute - synonyms, antonyms - synonyms, and co-ordinate -synonyms. Thus, synonyms seem to indicate least clearly the denotative meaning of words. Interpretations and rationales for the procedure are presented.
Preliminary Studies for Machine Generated Index Vocabularies
Authors: Meetham A. R.
Published: July 2017

The studies form part of a programme in which a computer will be used to generate an “index vocabulary” appropriate for the indexing and retrieval of documents in various scientific disciplines; the computer will then index a suitable collection of documents and retrieve documents in response to specific enquiries.

The present paper describes how such a system works for a particularly simple text. Then, ten evaluation methods are put forward, and used to assess individual descriptors, indexing rules, and the system as a whole. In this exercise the evaluation methods themselves are on trial and four are selected as being more generally useful than the others.

For evaluating whole retrieval systems a type of random enquiry is used for which the perfect answer is computable; relevance and recall ratios can then be objectively determined.
Remarks Upon the Acquisition of Language in Deaf Children
Authors: Grewel F.
Published: July 2017

The deaf child must switch over during his development from a quite different and poorer gesture language to verbal language. He masters verbal language along the abnormal visual and kinaesthetic channels and at a later age than the normal child. The resultant mainly visual approach to verbal language influences his use of phonemes, ties the child to the concrete, but most of all hinders the use of syntax.

Some linguistic, educational and didactic problems are mentioned and the serious complications in multiply handicapped children are alluded to.
A Factor Analysis of Consonant Articulations of Children
Authors: Schutz Richard E. , Mowrer Donald , Baker Robert L.
Published: July 2017

The responses of 64 children to a picture articulation test of 18 consonants in the initial, medial, and final positions were analysed. A principal components analysis was performed and components rotated to simple structure. The analysis yielded 13 factors which are interpretable in terms of the standard consonant classification system but which suggest modifications in the system.
Speech Synthesis by Rule
Authors: Holmes J. N. , Mattingly Ignatius G. , Shearme J. N.
Published: July 2017

Intelligible English has been synthesized in part “by rule”, with a system consisting of a computer programme and an electronic analogue synthesizer. Methods for the synthesis of the various phonetic classes and their transitions are described.
Acoustic Correlates of Stress
Authors: Morton John , Jassem Wiktor
Published: July 2017

The use of the term ‘stress’ is reviewed, and inconsistencies are pointed out An experiment is described in which synthetic nonsense syllables of the forms /sisi/, /S⊃S⊃/ and /sasa/ were played to subjects who were asked to judge the position of the stress. The parameters of fundamental frequency, intensity and duration were varied systematically.

The results revealed a high level of consistency between the (naive) subjects. Variations in fundamental frequency produced far greater effects than variations in either intensity or duration, a syllable being marked as stressed if it differed from the ‘context’ fundamental. A raised fundamental was more efficient than a lowered one. In general the more intense and longer syllables were more likely to be marked as stressed, the exception being when a syllable was reduced in duration by 40%, when some listeners marked it as stressed.

The use and limitations of the results and method are discussed.
The Predictability of Words as a Function of Auditory and Contextual Cues
Authors: Fillenbaum Samuel , Jones Lyle V.
Published: July 2017

To assess the effects on the predictability of speech of auditory context above and beyond structural environmental context, the “cloze” technique was used with aphasic and normal speech records. It was found both with regard to verbatim and form-class accuracy that subjects who listened to tape recordings while reading printed transcripts of the same utterances performed better than those provided only with the printed transcripts; linguistically trained listeners performed better than naive college-student listeners. In each instance the differences in performance, while consistent, were quite small. However, subjects rpovided only with a tape recording of normal speech performed far worse than those presented only with a printed transcript, or than those presented with both transcript and tape. These results are interpreted as indicating the preponderant importance of structural as compared to auditory cues in the successful prediction of missing words.
Emphasis and Meaning in Recall in Normal and Autistic Children
Authors: Aurnhammer-Frith Uta
Published: July 2017

An experiment was designed to investigate the effects of some aspects of phonological and syntactic structure of verbal material on recall in normal and autistic children. It was found that autistic children were impaired in their appreciation of syntactic structure but not of phonological structure. It was also found that there are developmental changes in the influence of these variables. With increasing cognitive development meaningful grammatical context gains in importance whereas the dependence on emphasis decreases.
Subject Speech Rates as a Function of Interviewer Behaviour
Authors: Webb James T.
Published: July 2017

Distinctions have been made between two speech rate measures. Previously these measures have been studied only in naturalistic settings. Also, methodological problems in prior studies generated questionable conclusions. The present study replicated and extended earlier studies. Subjects were interviewed in a Standardized Interview and a Non-Standardized Interview. For both interview situations the following areas were examined for the two speech rate measures: (a) frequency distributions, (b) relative variability, (c) interrelations of the two rate measures, (d) relations of subject's rates to experimenter's rates, (e) relations of the two rates to the lengths of speech units. Interviewer speech rates in the two interview situations were found to influence the subject's speech rates. Marked differences in the variability of the two rate measures were shown. And each rate measure was related to the syllable length of its relevant speech unit. Some implications of the present results for further research are discussed.
Effects of Unisensory and Multisensory Presentation of Stimuli Upon Naming By Aphasic Subjects
Authors: Gardiner Beverly J. , Brookshire Robert H.
Published: July 2017

Eight aphasic subjects participated in a Picture-naming and a Word-reading task. Stimuli were presented in three conditions for each task: (a) Auditory Condition (A), during which the subject was required to repeat the name of a stimulus item spoken by the experimenter; (b) Visual Condition (V), during which the subject was required to name a picture in the Picture-naming task and read a printed word in the Word-reading task; (c) Combined Condition (C), during which auditory and visual stimuli were presented simultaneously and the subject was required to respond by repeating the auditory stimulus or reading the stimulus item. Different stimuli were used in Picture-naming than in Word-reading. The results were as follows: (1) Performance of subjects during Combined Condition was generally superior to performance during Auditory and Visual Conditions; (2) Subjects generally had fewer correct responses during Visual Condition than during Auditory Condition; (3) The naming performance of aphasic subjects between sessions improved more frequently during unisensory conditions than during multisensory conditions, the greatest amount of improvement occurring during Visual Condition; (4) Visual Conditions had a pronounced debilitating effect on naming performance during subsequent Combined Conditions. The study generally supports the conclusion that multisensory presentation of stimuli facilitates the performance of aphasic patients on a naming task. However, single-subject analysis suggests that a multisensory approach would not necessarily best meet the needs of each aphasic patient.
The Effects of Time-Out From Speaking on the Disfluency Rates of Normal Speakers
Authors: Martin Richard R. , Rangaswamy Kamala
Published: July 2017

Three adults spoke spontaneously for a total of 19 forty-minute sessions, while the experimenter tallied disfluencies. After disfluency rate stabilized, each subject was run for 14 sessions in which he was required to remain silent for a period of 10 seconds (" time-out ") contingent upon each speech disfluency. In the case of all three subjects, disfluency rate reduced essentially to zero during the early treatment sessions and remained at that low level throughout the experiment.
The Development of Connotative and Denotative Meaning in Middle and Lower-Class Children
Authors: Smith Anne B. , Lefrancois Guy R.J.
Published: July 2017

Word meanings for high socio-economic status children were compared to those for low socio-economic status children from each of grades 3, 6 and 9. Only at grade 3 and 6 was there a significantly greater tendency for low socio-economic status children to operate more on a sensorimotor affective and perceptual level of meaning rather than a conceptual level, when compared to high socio-economic status children.
Generalization During Speech Sound Discrimination Training
Authors: Mcreynolds Leija V.
Published: July 2017

An experiment was conducted to determine whether training discrimination of a phoneme in one position in a context results in children responding to the phoneme when it is presented in other positions in contexts. Five subjects were trained to respond correctly to a phoneme in the initial, final and medial positions in a context in three progressive phases of training. At the conclusion of each training phase the remaining two positions were tested. Results showed that the subjects generalized from initial position training to the final position. The two positions were more likely to function as members of one class of stimuli, whereas the medial position functioned more nearly like a discrete and separate class of stimuli.
Stability of Specific Meanings of Certain Terms on the None-All Scale of Amount
Authors: Simpson Ray H. , Riley Jack
Published: July 2017

The normative meaning and the variance of meaning of each of thirteen terms of number or amount were investigated and compared with similar data obtained by the senior author about 25 years earlier. Although this time has elapsed and although new subjects have been used and the section of the country from which most of them came was different, normative meanings found in the forties were strikingly similar to those of the seventies. The same is also true, with two exceptions, for the degree of variance or ambiguity. However, the variance or ambiguity of these terms of number or amount should warn writers and speakers to use such terms with caution, particularly where more precise quantitative descriptions can be given.
The Role of Prior Message Context in Evaluative Judgments of High- and Low-Diversity Messages
Authors: Bradac James J. , Davies Robert A. , Courtright John A.
Published: July 2017

Two studies are reported. The first explored the possibility of contrast effects in judgments of messages exhibiting high or low lexical and syntactic diversity. Listeners heard an initial message and then a subsequent message which differed in diversity level. Results indicated that contrast effects were obtained, though these effects were facilitated or inhibited by other aspects of message quality. In light of a previous negative result, the second study examined the effects of nearly immediate comparisons of messages exhibiting high or low syntactic diversity, with lexical diversity held constant. No significant main effects or interractions were obtained. This led to the inference that listeners are sensitive to variations in lexical, as opposed to syntactic, diversity.
Social Class and Grammatical Development: a Comparison of the Speech of Five Year Olds From Middle and Working Class Backgrounds
Authors: Poole Johnston Rhona
Published: July 2017

A picture-strip task was used to elicit speech from 36 middle and working class children; this speech was later transcribed and analysed according to traditional grammar. It was found that the working class children made greater use of verbs and pronouns, whereas the middle class children made greater use of subordinate clauses. When further analysis was carried out into the choice made between nouns and pronouns in the subject position of sentences, working class children were found to make greater use of pronouns in this position, while middle class children made greater use of nouns. It was suggested that this preference may arise from social class differences in the functional use of language by young children, and the communication demands made of them in their social environment.
A Temporal Order Effect in Voice Onset Time Discrimination
Authors: Uselding Douglas K.
Published: July 2017

In two experiments ten adults were required to discriminate between synthetic speech stimuli varying in voice onset time. The stimuli included labial and velar stops. The data, analysed, using ANOVA and post hoc comparison techniques, indicated that while adult phoneme perception was categorical, it was also asymmetrical. Discrimination of VOT changes from voiceless to voiced stimuli was significantly better than detection of voiced to voiceless changes. The data are interpreted as supporting a theory that VOT perception is mediated by a dual feature detector mechanism.
Segment or Syllable? A Reaction-Time Investigation of Phonetic Processing
Authors: Barry W.J.
Published: July 2017

Reaction-time (RT) investigations connected with the basic unit of speech perception are reinterpreted with a view to specifying the attentional constraints operating during speeded speech-unit identification tasks. Within the explanatory framework offered a test paradigm is presented that allows RT data to be interpreted as evidence for the segment or the syllable as the basic perceptual unit. Nonsense syllables of the structure /b/ or /d/ + /i/ or /u/ with devoiced, correctly voiced and incorrectly voiced initial plosives are played to subjects for either consonant or vowel identification. The effects of incorrect voicing on the RTs for consonant and vowel decisions are examined with a view to deciding whether or not the voicing information is an integral part of the perceptual unit. Results point to the possibility of segmental processing but indicate also that strategies differ across subjects.
Inferring Indirect Objects in Sentences: Some Implications for the Semantics of Verbs
Authors: Cotter Carole A.
Published: July 2017

Certain verbs imply specific instruments, and readers appear to make such inferences when reading the verb (Garrod and Sanford, 1981). For other verbs the implications seem much weaker and no specific inferences are made when reading the verb (Singer, 1979). The present studies explore the reasons for this disparity. A study of dictionary entries for the two kinds of verbs suggested that instruments for Garrod and Sanford verbs are a more inherent part of the definition than they are for Singer verbs. However, two measures of verb-instrument relation, (instrument generation tasks), showed no difference between the two sets of verbs. Experiment I, using a mixture of verb types, excluded methodological factors as the reason for the different findings of Garrod and Sanford and Singer. It pointed to there being verb differences which are tapped by a reading task and not by questionnaires, where there are no time pressures. Experiments II and III measured the strength of the verb-instrument relation using a "word-recognition" task and found that one set of verbs (Garrod and Sanford) seemed to be more closely linked with particular indirect objects than did the other set (Singer). In Experiment IV, reading was slowed by the introduction of an uncommon instrument only after mentioning a verb from the set having stronger verb-instrument links (Garrod and Sanford verbs). Experimental results, together with the dictionary study, supported the idea of "semantic-relatedness" for Garrod and Sanford verbs, and their instruments contrasted with "association" for Singer verbs. Experiment V examined the relationship between a category and its noun exemplar. Reading was slowed by the introduction of an uncommon exemplar suggesting that a category is instantiated at the time of reading. This effect was stronger than that found previously for verbs suggesting that verbs and nouns differ in the structure of their semantic representations.
Differences in Manner of Phonation of Infant Cries: Relationship to Communicative Context
Authors: Franco Fabia
Published: July 2017

In this work all cry vocalizations produced by four subjects observed from four to 10 months of age were analyzed. By means of videorecordings, cries were classified according to three categories, functionally distinguishable from a communicative point of view. Spectrographic analysis showed that the three functional categories differed with respect to different manners of phonation, although the relation between each category and the specific type of phonation was determined by individual preference. Moreover, data showed a relation between duration of vocalization and manner of phonation. On the basis of these results, the author discusses the hypothesis that differences in the functional meaning of cries are marked by some non-segmental regularities.
Representation of Nasality in Children's Non-Standard Spellings
Authors: Zifcak Michael
Published: July 2017

Recent research has suggested the importance of oral language ability in learning to read. It has been shown that the young child's awareness of phonological structure can greatly influence early reading success. To expand our understanding of this linguistic awareness, children's written spellings of nasality were examined in four distinct contexts: (1) consonant, vowel, nasal, voiceless stop consonant; (2) consonant, vowel, nasal, voiced stop consonant; (3) consonant, vowel, non-homorganic nasal-consonant pair; and, (4) nasals in other positions. The results indicated that the young child's nasal representations reflect a highly developed awareness of phonetic detail, an awareness that becomes quite evident when the child constructs his own written cipher for the sounds that he hears.
Imitation of Foreign Sounds: What Is the Effect of Age?
Authors: Loewenthal Kate , Bull Deborah
Published: July 2017

This study showed an improvement with age in children's replications of sounds in a novel foreign language. The finding holds even when confounded age-related factors are controlled for. Some other studies have shown a similar, older-better effect, while others have shown the opposite: a younger-better effect. The conflict is suggested to be due to the social-psychological conditions of the testing situations.
Evidence of Talker-Independent Information for Vowels
Authors: Verbrugge Robert R. , Rakerd Brad
Published: July 2017

The vowel information present in initial and final regions of /b/—vowel—/b/ syllables was examined in this study. Vowels were identified for unedited syllables spoken by a man and a woman, for the initial 20% of those syllables, for the final 20% of the syllables, for the initial and final 20% of the syllables combined and separated by a 60% silent gap, and for the initial and final 20% of the syllables interchanged across talkers and separated by a 60% silent gap. Results indicate: (1) that there is considerable vowel information present in the dynamic regions at the beginnings and endings of syllables; (2) that the information is, to a large extent, carried relationally by those regions; (3) that the information is talker-independent in form; and (4) that the information is complementary to, and distinct from, formant frequency information present in a syllable's center. An experiment assessing the perceived source(s) of these stimuli suggests that source perception is influenced by as yet unspecified acoustic modulations defined at the syllable level.
Pronoun Choice for Gender-Unspecified Agent Words: Developmental Differences
Authors: Hughes Diana L. , Casey Patricia L.
Published: July 2017

This study investigated pronoun choices made by third-grade, eighth-grade, and college students on a written production task for 10 agent words which could be of either male or female gender. Masculine pronouns were the predominant choice by all age groups for five words, and feminine pronouns for one word. Four words showed variation across age groups. Both prescriptive grammar rules and knowledge of the world were considered as possible explanations for these results.
Durations of Italian Diphthongs and Vowel Clusters
Authors: Salza Pier Luigi
Published: July 2017

Traditional grammars consider the presence of one segment marked [+high] and the presence of stress (lexical accent) on the contiguous [—high] vowel as the main factors responsible for diphthong realization in Italian; yet, they report that diphthongs also occur in unstressed contiguous vowels. These statements are considered here as the hypotheses to be investigated. Assuming that the gliding process of diphthongization involves shortening, durations of Italian vowels and vowel-like sounds in candidate diphthongs and nondiphthongs (i.e., vowel clusters) occurring in both stressed and unstressed sequences within word boundaries were measured in two different speech materials: (1) nonsense words embedded in sentence frames; (2) meaningful words in sentences. in both contexts, the test words contained pairs of contiguous vowels to be pronounced as a diphthong or as a vowel cluster, according to recognized Italian phonotactic possibilities. Results show the following: (1) in both corpora, segmental duration differences do not effectively characterize the realization of diphthongs and vowel clusters in stressed sequences, while in unstressed sequences there is a strong duration difference between a diphthong and the corresponding vowel cluster, but only in the onglide ([+high/-high]) case. (2) Vowel clusters appear to be articulated differently in meaningful sentences than in nonsense utterances, even when the speaker manages to maintain the same nominal speaking rate. These results will be applied in the text-to-speech synthesis of Italian which is now being developed.
Detection of Target Phonemes in Spontaneous and Read Speech
Authors: Mehta Gita , Cutler Anne
Published: July 2017

Although spontaneous speech occurs more frequently in most listeners' experience than read speech, laboratory studies of human speech recognition typically use carefully controlled materials read from a script. The phonological and prosodic characteristics of spontaneous and read speech differ considerably, however, which suggests that laboratory results may not generalise to the recognition of spontaneous speech. in the present study listeners were presented with both spontaneous and read speech materials, and their response time to detect word-initial target phonemes was measured. Responses were, overall, equally fast in each speech mode. However, analysis of effects previously reported in phoneme detection studies revealed significant differences between speech modes. in read speech but not in spontaneous speech, later targets were detected more rapidly than earlier targets, and targets preceded by long words were detected more rapidly than targets preceded by short words. in contrast, in spontaneous speech but not in read speech, targets were detected more rapidly in accented than in unaccented words and in strong than in weak syllables. An explanation for this pattern is offered in terms of characteristic prosodic differences between spontaneous and read speech. The results support claims from previous work that listeners pay great attention to prosodic information in the process of recognising speech.
Acoustic Parameters in Human Speaker Recognition
Authors: Van Dommelen Wim A.
Published: July 2017

Four speaker identification tests were conducted using five female speakers known to the listeners. Starting from acoustic recordings of reiterant “ma” syllables, the perceptual importance of the following three factors was investigated: Fo height, Fo contour, and speech rhythm. For speakers with typically low or high voices Fo height turned out to be a highly relevant cue in speaker identification. For all speakers Fo contour was of secondary importance, whereas speech rhythm had a small but consistent influence on recognition rates. It could be inferred that remaining factors alone (mainly global spectral information) would yield recognition scores of approximately 50%. Consistent with previous investigations, the relevance of perceptual cues in the recognition of familiar voices was shown to be not hierarchically fixed, but to depend on speaker-specific voice characteristics.
The Structure and Development of French Prosodic Representations
Authors: Gérard Claire , Clément Juliette
Published: July 2017

Prosody is assumed to play a crucial role during the preverbal stage of infancy, as well as to be essential for the pragmatics of speech. Our experiments are aimed at analyzing the production and perception of illocutionary forms. Using a semantic neutralization procedure, the performance of children (5, 7, and 9 years old) and adults was compared in two experiments focusing on prosodic representations in production and perception tasks. The first experiment investigated subjects' control of prosody in the unfolding of utterances by studying the acoustic configurations of four illocutionary forms, two corresponding to the linguistic mode (assertion, interrogation) and two corresponding to the emotional mode (happiness, sadness). The second experiment examined subjects' identification of the same illocutionary forms as above, plus an additional form, irony, all produced by an expert speaker, using a word-by-word gating procedure. During speech production, control of the fundamental frequency of the voice emerged earlier in childhood (5-year-olds) than control of rhythmic parameters (7-year-olds) for the linguistic mode, whereas control of all parameters was achieved by the age of five for the emotional mode. Children were similar to adults with respect to the planning of intonation and they used it right from the beginning of the sentence, which was not the case for the planning of duration. During speech perception, only adults were able to anticipate illocutionary forms. Taken together, the results strengthen the idea that prosodic representations are acquired gradually during development, and they show that pitch contour is acquired before duration parameters.
Syntactic Persistence in Dutch
Authors: Hartsuiker Robert J. , Kolk Herman H. J.
Published: July 2017

Three experiments are reported that showed effects of “structure priming,” the tendency to repeat syntactic structure across successive sentences. These effects were demonstrated in a previously untested language, Dutch. All experiments studied spoken sentence production. Importantly, pre-experimental baselines were measured for all target structures in order to assess possible effects of frequency on the magnitude of priming effect. We obtained priming with dative sentences, including datives with medially placed prepositional phrases, a sentence type not tested before. In one experiment we obtained priming effects with passives, including passives with sentence-final verbs, which also have never been tested before. However, we failed to obtain priming effects with active transitives. A comparison with the baseline data suggested that priming is not related to baseline frequency. Further, the results allowed us to draw an empirical generalization: Structure priming is a relatively long-term event, lasting at least several trials. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Look at it This Way
Authors: Dastagiri M.B.
Published: July 2017

‘Look at it this way’ features contributions from distinguished scientists on contentious and current issues in areas such as development, population growth, agricultural production and policy.
The Role of Livestock in Food Security and Environmental Protection
Authors: Ehui Simeon , Li-Pun Hugo , Mares Victor , Shapiro Barry
Published: July 2017

Per capita consumption of milk and meat products in developing Asia (including China) grew by 2.4% and 5% respectively between 1975–79 and 1990–94. This growth can be attributed to high growth rate in income and rapid urbanization. For Latin America, per capita milk and meat consumption has stagnated over the same period, perhaps because the region is already largely urbanized. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) per capita consumption of milk and meat declined by 0.2 and 0.4% over the same period because of declining real incomes. The scope for further increases in demand for livestock production as a result of income increases and urbanization is still large in the developing regions. Projections indicate likely increases in income in developing countries ranging from 3% per annum in SSA and Latin America, and to about 6% in Asia. It is projected that more than four in every ten people will live in urban centres. Projection results indicate that while the share of total meat consumption in the developed countries as a group will decrease from 53 to 36% between 1993 and 2020, in the developing world the share of total meat consumption will increase from 47% to 64% over the same period.
Engineering Stress Tolerance in Maize
Authors: Van Breusegem Frank , Van Montagu Marc , Inzé Dirk
Published: July 2017

A wide range of environmental stresses (such as chilling, ozone, high light, drought, and heat) can damage crop plants, with consequent high annual yield losses. A common factor in all these unrelated adverse conditions, called oxidative stress, is the enhanced production of active oxygen species (AOS) within several subcellular compartments of the plant. AOS can react very rapidly with DNA, lipids and proteins, causing severe cellular damage. Under normal growth conditions, AOS are efficiently scavenged by both enzymatic and non-enzymatic detoxification mechanisms. Nevertheless, during prolonged stress conditions such detoxification systems get saturated and damage occurs. The main players within the defence system are superoxide dismutases, ascorbate peroxidase, and catalases. These enzymes directly eliminate the harmful AOS. By enhancing the levels of these proteins in transgenic plants via transformation technology the improvement of tolerance against oxidative stress is being attempted. In our research, we are generating transgenic maize lines that overproduce various antioxidative stress enzymes and we are assessing the performance of these plants during chilling stress.
The Use of Renewable Energies for Nigerian Agriculture: Progress, Prospects and Problems
Authors: Umar Bobboi
Published: July 2017

Renewable energies have great potential to improve agricultural activities and rural development. Positive results are already being achieved with these relatively benign energies in many countries. In Nigeria, there is need to improve agricultural production for the increasing population and to conserve the fossil fuel reserves. Although renewable energy sources such as solar radiation and biomass are abundant, harnessing them for agricultural and rural development needs is very slow. This article extols the virtues of these energy sources, analyses the progress made so far in renewable energy technologies in Nigeria, identifies the major obstacles and suggests some solutions to overcome them.
Look at it This Way
Authors: Bonte-Friedheim Christian H.
Published: July 2017

‘Look at it this way’ features contributions from distinguished scientists on contentious and current issues in areas such as development, population growth, agricultural production and policy.
Eco-Restructuring: A Holistic Methodological Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Development
Authors: Regmi Punya P. , Weber Karl E.
Published: July 2017

In this paper, an attempt is made to illustrate how sustainable agricultural development can be achieved through the application of a holistic eco-restructuring method (ERM). Before describing the concept of eco-restructuring, its importance and its methodological framework, the derivation and some antecedents of sustainable development, the concept of sustainable development (SD) as an interface between environment and development, and the need for sustainable agricultural development (SAD) are discussed briefly.
The Role of the Universities in Agriculture Teaching and Research in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Phillips Clive
Published: July 2017

The universities have an essential role to play in the next century in fostering the development of agriculture. They will increasingly function in an international capacity, cooperating to produce the most efficient training and research forum for all aspects of agriculture, with greater emphasis on environmental impact and the development of production potential in developing countries. Such cooperation should allow specialization of individual establishments, and within establishments allow individuals to concentrate on developing their subject area at the forefront of knowledge. Distance learning programmes will offer new opportunities for students in remote regions to study agriculture, and will make more extensive use of interactive learning by new methods of communication.
The Indigenous, Nonracist Origins of the American Skinhead Subculture
Authors: WOOD ROBERT T.
Published: July 2017

Researchers claim that the American skinhead subculture largely has been a racist phenomenon since its emergence. Moreover, researchers posit that the American skinhead subculture emerged primarily as a result of social network connections between organized American racists and British skinheads. This study challenges and adds to these claims. In particular, analyses of music lyrics, primary subcultural artifacts, and secondary sources indicate that the development of the American skinhead phenomenon largely was influenced by an indigenous and nonracist subculture known as “hardcore.” Findings contribute to a more complete understanding of American skinhead subcultural origins. Findings also provide support for recent theories about evolution and schism among contemporary youth subcultures.
Family Context and Criminal Victimization in Adolescence
Authors: ESBENSEN FINN-AAGE , HUIZINGA DAVID , MENARD SCOTT
Published: July 2017

In this article, data from the Denver Youth Survey, a panel study of families in Denver, Colorado, are used to investigate the influence of family factors in predicting adolescent victimization. Statistically controlling for respondents' sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity), we examine the predictive impact on adolescent victimization of family sociodemographic characteristics, family vulnerability to victimization, parental involvement in violent behavior and substance use, parental discipline and monitoring practices, and the climate of interaction in the family. Results indicate that the family context (particularly parental problem behavior), family involvement, adolescent social isolation from the family, and positive parenting practices and possibly parental victimization, parental monitoring, and attachment to parents are predictive of adolescent victimization, but the best predictors of victimization are prior victimization and gender. Victimization is only weakly explained by the family variables included in this analysis.
Schooling and Racialized Masculinities
Authors: PRICE JEREMY N.
Published: July 2017

This article contributes new understandings of masculinities through examination of the complex social circumstances of 2 working-class, African American, young men. The author considers the young men's differing meanings of the diploma, relationships with teachers, and relations with male peers in the production of their racial, masculine identities. Each of these sites serves as a lens through which to view the complexity of, and interconnections among, class, race, and gender relations and the ways these social processes are interwoven through experience. Though the 2 young men are from similar social locations, they develop different meanings of relationships and experiences in and out of school. This analysis explains these different meanings by examining the ways the men resist and experience race, class, and gender domination on three levels: the level of personal biography, the group level of the cultural context, and the level of social institutions.
The Missiological Significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Authors: Heideman Eugene
Published: July 2017

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, 10 December 1948, is the international affirmation of faith in fundamental human rights. As the most widely officially adopted creed in the world, it is of great significance for persons engaged in cross-cultural and international missions. As we have recently recognized the fiftieth anniversary year of its adoption, missiologists must continue to struggle with issues it raises, such as the relation of Christian liberty to human rights, the relation of “rights” to “duties,” and the theological basis for a doctrine of human rights.
The Future of Ecumenical Mission: An Assessment of the WCC's Harare Assembly
Authors: Thomas Norman E.
Published: July 2017

Harare 1998, the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, was designed to set new directions for the world body in this its jubilee year. In this article expectations and key issues are identified. The WCC at Harare modeled a new style for world conferences that gives space for expression and even confrontation of differing interests and convictions with cross-fertilization by delegates and invited guests. Priority issues for the world body in mission and evangelism are identified.
How Church and Parachurch Should Relate: Arguments for a Servant-Partnership Model
Authors: Hammett John S.
Published: July 2017

This article addresses the relationship between churches and parachurch groups and argues for a servant-partnership approach. With this model parachurch organizations work as legitimate and valuable partners with churches in ministry, but possessing a status subordinate to that of churches. This model is based on a claim of theological priority for the church, in both local and denominational expressions, and the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.