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Sample records for silent reading rates

  1. Eye Movement during Silent and Oral Reading: How Can we Compensate the Loss of Multisensory Process during Silent Reading?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maiko Takahashi

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available While reading texts orally, we process the multisensory language information. Accordingly, in the context of reading aloud, we process the visually presented text and produce the auditory information of the text through articulatory movement. These multisensory processing activities are assumed to facilitate the memory and comprehension of textual information. Conversely, while reading silently, we process only the visual information of the text. Although we cannot use the multisensory language information while reading silently, several researchers have found that there is little difference between the degree of comprehension based on silent and oral reading for adult readers. The purpose of this study is to explain how we compensate the loss of multisensory process during silent reading by comparing the visual processing process during silent and oral reading. By conducting two experiments, we measured and compared the eye movement during silent and oral reading. The results showed that silent reading took shorter time for comprehension than oral reading, and readers had more visual fixation points and read back frequently during reading silently than orally. These reading strategies during silent reading seemed to compensate the loss of multisensory process and support the text comprehension.

  2. A Comparison of Reading Rates, Comprehension, and Stamina in Oral and Silent Reading of Fourth-Grade Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trainin, Guy; Hiebert, Elfrieda H.; Wilson, Kathleen M.

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the relationships between silent and oral reading fluency and comprehension. Findings indicated that fourth grade students had consistent levels of comprehension in both reading modes. Students of all reading levels showed a similar pattern across the segments of a text set in both oral and silent reading--a gradual increase in…

  3. Monitoring Progress toward Independent Silent Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franc, Lillian H.; Hildebrandt, Jeannette

    1984-01-01

    Concludes, among other things, that fluent oral reading is an important step toward reading for meaning and independent silent reading and that silent reading should be encouraged from the beginning of reading instruction. (FL)

  4. Underlying skills of oral and silent reading

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Den Boer, Madelon; van Bergen, Elsje; de Jong, Peter F.

    2014-01-01

    Many studies have examined reading and reading development. The majority of these studies, however, focused on oral reading rather than on the more dominant silent reading mode. Similarly, it is common practice to assess oral reading abilities rather than silent reading abilities in schools and in

  5. Assessing reading fluency in Kenya: Oral or silent assessment?

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    Piper, Benjamin; Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons

    2015-04-01

    In recent years, the Education for All movement has focused more intensely on the quality of education, rather than simply provision. Many recent and current education quality interventions focus on literacy, which is the core skill required for further academic success. Despite this focus on the quality of literacy instruction in developing countries, little rigorous research has been conducted on critical issues of assessment. This analysis, which uses data from the Primary Math and Reading Initiative (PRIMR) in Kenya, aims to begin filling this gap by addressing a key assessment issue - should literacy assessments in Kenya be administered orally or silently? The authors compared second-grade students' scores on oral and silent reading tasks of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) in Kiswahili and English, and found no statistically significant differences in either language. They did, however, find oral reading rates to be more strongly related to reading comprehension scores. Oral assessment has another benefit for programme evaluators - it allows for the collection of data on student errors, and therefore the calculation of words read correctly per minute, as opposed to simply words read per minute. The authors therefore recommend that, in Kenya and in similar contexts, student reading fluency be assessed via oral rather than silent assessment.

  6. Oral Reading Fluency as a Predictor of Silent Reading Fluency at Secondary and Postsecondary Levels

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    Seok, Soonhwa; DaCosta, Boaventura

    2014-01-01

    This research investigated oral reading fluency as a predictor of silent reading fluency at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Several measures were used, including the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency, the Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency, and the Reading Observation Scale. A total of 223 students…

  7. The Keefe Inventory of Silent Reading: A Window into the Reading Process.

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    Keefe, Donald

    1993-01-01

    Contains part of the Keefe Inventory of Silent Reading, a silent informal reading inventory. Presents a case study of a student to whom it was administered, including analysis of this individual's reading ability and description of the specific strategies used with this individual on the basis of the results of the inventory. (RS)

  8. The Effect of Background Music While Silent Reading on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

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    sakineh sahebdel

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This study attempted to determine the effect of background music while silent reading on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. The participants were 57 Iranian EFL learners between the ages of 14 and 16 in two 3rd grade high schoolclasses at pre-intermediate proficiency level. Before treatment,both experimental and control groups took a reading comprehension pretest. In the experimental group, the researchers played Mozart sonatas as background music and asked them to read the passage silently and then answer the reading comprehension questions. In the control group, the procedure was the same, but no music was played while silent reading by the students. After ten sessions, the students of both groups were asked to answer another independent but parallel form of reading section of PET as their post-test. The independent samples t-testresultsindicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in reading comprehension posttest, and listening to background music while silent reading had a significantly positive effect on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. The results of the present study have implications for EFL students, teachers, and teacher educators as well as syllabus designers and materials developers.

  9. The written voice: implicit memory effects of voice characteristics following silent reading and auditory presentation.

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    Abramson, Marianne

    2007-12-01

    After being familiarized with two voices, either implicit (auditory lexical decision) or explicit memory (auditory recognition) for words from silently read sentences was assessed among 32 men and 32 women volunteers. In the silently read sentences, the sex of speaker was implied in the initial words, e.g., "He said, ..." or "She said...". Tone in question versus statement was also manipulated by appropriate punctuation. Auditory lexical decision priming was found for sex- and tone-consistent items following silent reading, but only up to 5 min. after silent reading. In a second study, similar lexical decision priming was found following listening to the sentences, although these effects remained reliable after a 2-day delay. The effect sizes for lexical decision priming showed that tone-consistency and sex-consistency were strong following both silent reading and listening 5 min. after studying. These results suggest that readers create episodic traces of text from auditory images of silently read sentences as they do during listening.

  10. Does phonological recoding occur during silent reading and is it necessary for orthographic learning?

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    de Jong, P.F.; Bitter, D.J.L.; van Setten, M.; Marinus, E.

    2009-01-01

    Two studies were conducted to test the central claim of the self-teaching hypothesis (i.e., phonological recoding is necessary for orthographic learning) in silent reading. The first study aimed to demonstrate the use of phonological recoding during silent reading. Texts containing pseudowords were

  11. Silent reading of music and texts; eye movements and integrative reading mechanisms

    OpenAIRE

    Cara, Michel André; Gómez, Gabriela

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates to what extent structural units defined by physical and structural markers elicit different eye movement patterns when reading contrasting stimuli of music and verbal texts. Eye movements were tracked and compared in ten musicians undergoing Bachelor’s degrees as they silently read six texts and six pieces of music for piano: the music was contemporary, in modal style, and the style of the texts was informative and literary. Participants were music students at Universi...

  12. Using Vocal and Silent Reading Approaches for the Enhancement ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nekky Umera

    An International Multi-Disciplinary Journal. Vol. 3 (1) ... expresses his thoughts and feelings in such a way that the person can be ... creative, critical and evaluative. .... In the first week, the research assistants taught the oral and silent reading.

  13. Direct and Indirect Effects of Print Exposure on Silent Reading Fluency

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    Mano, Quintino R.; Guerin, Julia M.

    2018-01-01

    Print exposure is an important causal factor in reading development. Little is known, however, of the mechanisms through which print exposure exerts an effect onto reading. To address this gap, we examined the direct and indirect effects of print exposure on silent reading fluency among college students (n = 52). More specifically, we focused on…

  14. Direct speech quotations promote low relative-clause attachment in silent reading of English.

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    Yao, Bo; Scheepers, Christoph

    2018-07-01

    The implicit prosody hypothesis (Fodor, 1998, 2002) proposes that silent reading coincides with a default, implicit form of prosody to facilitate sentence processing. Recent research demonstrated that a more vivid form of implicit prosody is mentally simulated during silent reading of direct speech quotations (e.g., Mary said, "This dress is beautiful"), with neural and behavioural consequences (e.g., Yao, Belin, & Scheepers, 2011; Yao & Scheepers, 2011). Here, we explored the relation between 'default' and 'simulated' implicit prosody in the context of relative-clause (RC) attachment in English. Apart from confirming a general low RC-attachment preference in both production (Experiment 1) and comprehension (Experiments 2 and 3), we found that during written sentence completion (Experiment 1) or when reading silently (Experiment 2), the low RC-attachment preference was reliably enhanced when the critical sentences were embedded in direct speech quotations as compared to indirect speech or narrative sentences. However, when reading aloud (Experiment 3), direct speech did not enhance the general low RC-attachment preference. The results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggest a quantitative boost to implicit prosody (via auditory perceptual simulation) during silent production/comprehension of direct speech. By contrast, when reading aloud (Experiment 3), prosody becomes equally salient across conditions due to its explicit nature; indirect speech and narrative sentences thus become as susceptible to prosody-induced syntactic biases as direct speech. The present findings suggest a shared cognitive basis between default implicit prosody and simulated implicit prosody, providing a new platform for studying the effects of implicit prosody on sentence processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Silent reading of direct versus indirect speech activates voice-selective areas in the auditory cortex.

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    Yao, Bo; Belin, Pascal; Scheepers, Christoph

    2011-10-01

    In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, for silent reading, the representational consequences of this distinction are still unclear. Although many of us share the intuition of an "inner voice," particularly during silent reading of direct speech statements in text, there has been little direct empirical confirmation of this experience so far. Combining fMRI with eye tracking in human volunteers, we show that silent reading of direct versus indirect speech engenders differential brain activation in voice-selective areas of the auditory cortex. This suggests that readers are indeed more likely to engage in perceptual simulations (or spontaneous imagery) of the reported speaker's voice when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech statements as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Our results may be interpreted in line with embodied cognition and form a starting point for more sophisticated interdisciplinary research on the nature of auditory mental simulation during reading.

  16. The Effects of the Sustained Silent Reading Program on Cultivating Students' Habits and Attitudes in Reading Books for Leisure

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    Chua, Siah Poh

    2008-01-01

    The author examines the effects of the sustained silent reading program on cultivating students' habits and attitudes in reading books for leisure. The author used a time-series design and measured students' reading habits and attitudes three times in twelve months. It was expected that if the program created positive effects on cultivating…

  17. Contextual modulation of reading rate for direct versus indirect speech quotations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Bo; Scheepers, Christoph

    2011-12-01

    In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, the processing consequences of this distinction are largely unclear. In two experiments, participants were asked to either orally (Experiment 1) or silently (Experiment 2, eye-tracking) read written stories that contained either a direct speech or an indirect speech quotation. The context preceding those quotations described a situation that implied either a fast-speaking or a slow-speaking quoted protagonist. It was found that this context manipulation affected reading rates (in both oral and silent reading) for direct speech quotations, but not for indirect speech quotations. This suggests that readers are more likely to engage in perceptual simulations of the reported speech act when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech quotations, as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. The Relations among Oral and Silent Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Middle School: Implications for Identification and Instruction of Students with Reading Difficulties

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    Denton, Carolyn A.; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Sharon; Cirino, Paul T.; Romain, Melissa; Francis, David J.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations among oral and silent reading fluency and reading comprehension for students in Grades 6 to 8 (n = 1,421) and the use of fluency scores to identify middle school students who are at risk for failure on a high-stakes reading test. Results indicated moderate positive relations between…

  19. Reading comprehension and reading related abilities in adolescents with reading disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

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    Ghelani, Karen; Sidhu, Robindra; Jain, Umesh; Tannock, Rosemary

    2004-11-01

    Reading comprehension is a very complex task that requires different cognitive processes and reading abilities over the life span. There are fewer studies of reading comprehension relative to investigations of word reading abilities. Reading comprehension difficulties, however, have been identified in two common and frequently overlapping childhood disorders: reading disability (RD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The nature of reading comprehension difficulties in these groups remains unclear. The performance of four groups of adolescents (RD, ADHD, comorbid ADHD and RD, and normal controls) was compared on reading comprehension tasks as well as on reading rate and accuracy tasks. Adolescents with RD showed difficulties across most reading tasks, although their comprehension scores were average. Adolescents with ADHD exhibited adequate single word reading abilities. Subtle difficulties were observed, however, on measures of text reading rate and accuracy as well as on silent reading comprehension, but scores remained in the average range. The comorbid group demonstrated similar difficulties to the RD group on word reading accuracy and on reading rate but experienced problems on only silent reading comprehension. Implications for reading interventions are outlined, as well as the clinical relevance for diagnosis.

  20. The effects of whispering-to-oneself and silent reading on text memory and comprehension in children

    OpenAIRE

    Matsumi, Norio; Furumoto, Yumi; Mitsuke, Ai

    2005-01-01

    An experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of whispering-to-oneself reading on text memory and comprehension in children (6th grade). A2×2 factorial design was used in the experiment: the first independent variable was whispering-to-oneself or silent reading, the second was large- or small-working memory span which were measured by the reading span test (RST). Four aspects of the text memory and comprehension were observed as dependent variables: text memory both on the literal ...

  1. Enhancing the Reading Fluency and Comprehension of Children with Reading Disabilities in an Orthographically Transparent Language

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    Snellings, Patrick; van der Leij, Aryan; de Jong, Peter F.; Blok, Henk

    2009-01-01

    Breznitz (2006) demonstrated that Hebrew-speaking adults with reading disabilities benefited from a training in which reading rate was experimentally manipulated. In the present study, the authors examine whether silent reading training enhances the sentence reading rate and comprehension of children with reading disabilities and whether results…

  2. Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences.

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    Drury, John E; Baum, Shari R; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

    2016-01-01

    This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party ). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

  3. Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drury, John E.; Baum, Shari R.; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

    2016-01-01

    This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading. PMID:27695428

  4. Punctuation and implicit prosody in silent reading: An ERP study investigating English garden-path sentences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John E. Drury

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 x 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party versus John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party. The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011. In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

  5. Silent music reading: auditory imagery and visuotonal modality transfer in singers and non-singers.

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    Hoppe, Christian; Splittstößer, Christoph; Fliessbach, Klaus; Trautner, Peter; Elger, Christian E; Weber, Bernd

    2014-11-01

    In daily life, responses are often facilitated by anticipatory imagery of expected targets which are announced by associated stimuli from different sensory modalities. Silent music reading represents an intriguing case of visuotonal modality transfer in working memory as it induces highly defined auditory imagery on the basis of presented visuospatial information (i.e. musical notes). Using functional MRI and a delayed sequence matching-to-sample paradigm, we compared brain activations during retention intervals (10s) of visual (VV) or tonal (TT) unimodal maintenance versus visuospatial-to-tonal modality transfer (VT) tasks. Visual or tonal sequences were comprised of six elements, white squares or tones, which were low, middle, or high regarding vertical screen position or pitch, respectively (presentation duration: 1.5s). For the cross-modal condition (VT, session 3), the visuospatial elements from condition VV (session 1) were re-defined as low, middle or high "notes" indicating low, middle or high tones from condition TT (session 2), respectively, and subjects had to match tonal sequences (probe) to previously presented note sequences. Tasks alternately had low or high cognitive load. To evaluate possible effects of music reading expertise, 15 singers and 15 non-musicians were included. Scanner task performance was excellent in both groups. Despite identity of applied visuospatial stimuli, visuotonal modality transfer versus visual maintenance (VT>VV) induced "inhibition" of visual brain areas and activation of primary and higher auditory brain areas which exceeded auditory activation elicited by tonal stimulation (VT>TT). This transfer-related visual-to-auditory activation shift occurred in both groups but was more pronounced in experts. Frontoparietal areas were activated by higher cognitive load but not by modality transfer. The auditory brain showed a potential to anticipate expected auditory target stimuli on the basis of non-auditory information and

  6. Measuring the prevalence of regional mutation rates: an analysis of silent substitutions in mammals, fungi, and insects

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    Tuch Brian B

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The patterns of mutation vary both within and across genomes. It has been shown for a few mammals that mutation rates vary within the genome, while for unknown reasons, the sensu stricto yeasts have uniform rates instead. The generality of these observations has been unknown. Here we examine silent site substitutions in a more expansive set (20 mammals, 27 fungi, 4 insects to determine why some genomes demonstrate this mosaic distribution and why others are uniform. Results We applied several intragene and intergene correlation tests to measure regional substitution patterns. Assuming that silent sites are a reasonable approximation to neutrally mutating sequence, our results show that all multicellular eukaryotes exhibit mutational heterogeneity. In striking contrast, all fungi are mutationally uniform – with the exception of three Candida species: C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, and C. tropicalis. We speculate that aspects of replication timing may be responsible for distinguishing these species. Our analysis also reveals classes of genes whose silent sites behave anomalously with respect to the mutational background in many species, indicating prevalent selective pressures. Genes associated with nucleotide binding or gene regulation have consistently low silent substitution rates in every mammalian species, as well as multiple fungi. On the other hand, receptor genes repeatedly exhibit high silent substitution rates, suggesting they have been influenced by diversifying selection. Conclusion Our findings provide a framework for understanding the regional mutational properties of eukaryotes, revealing a sharp difference between fungi and multicellular species. They also elucidate common selective pressures acting on eukaryotic silent sites, with frequent evidence for both purifying and diversifying selection.

  7. Silent store detection and recording in memory storage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bose, Pradip; Cher, Chen-Yong; Nair, Ravi

    2017-03-14

    An aspect includes receiving a write request that includes a memory address and write data. Stored data is read from a memory location at the memory address. Based on determining that the memory location was not previously modified, the stored data is compared to the write data. Based on the stored data matching the write data, the write request is completed without writing the write data to the memory and a corresponding silent store bit, in a silent store bitmap is set. Based on the stored data not matching the write data, the write data is written to the memory location, the silent store bit is reset and a corresponding modified bit is set. At least one of an application and an operating system is provided access to the silent store bitmap.

  8. Silent store detection and recording in memory storage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bose, Pradip; Cher, Chen-Yong; Nair, Ravi

    2017-03-07

    An aspect includes receiving a write request that includes a memory address and write data. Stored data is read from a memory location at the memory address. Based on determining that the memory location was not previously modified, the stored data is compared to the write data. Based on the stored data matching the write data, the write request is completed without writing the write data to the memory and a corresponding silent store bit, in a silent store bitmap is set. Based on the stored data not matching the write data, the write data is written to the memory location, the silent store bit is reset and a corresponding modified bit is set. At least one of an application and an operating system is provided access to the silent store bitmap.

  9. The Habit of Reading: A Neglected Dimension of Adult Reading Instruction.

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    Fink, Katherine T.; Devine, Thomas G.

    1993-01-01

    Less competent adult readers have not developed the habit of reading. Ways to cultivate adult reading habits include relevant material, environment saturated with reading material, reading aloud to adults, having them read to children, sustained silent reading, modeling, book sharing, author conferences, and recognition. (SK)

  10. The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson.

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    Kerstetter, Ned

    1996-01-01

    Presents a lesson plan examining Rachel Carson's call to arms concerning the harmful consequences of pesticides. Students view a video documentary on Carson's work and read a synopsis of her book, "Silent Spring." Assessment is provided by various activities including writing assignments, creating posters, and editorial cartoons. (MJP)

  11. The way we encounter reading material influences how frequently we mind wander

    OpenAIRE

    Trish L Varao Sousa; Jonathan S A Carriere; Dan eSmilek

    2013-01-01

    We examined whether different encounters of reading material influence the likelihood of mind wandering, memory for the material, and the ratings of interest in the material. In a within-subjects design participants experienced three different reading encounters: (1) reading a passage aloud, (2) listening to a passage being read to them, and (3) reading a passage silently. Throughout each reading encounter probes were given in order to identify mind wandering. After finishing the passage part...

  12. Clinical evidence of the role of the cerebellum in the suppression of overt articulatory movements during reading. A study of reading in children and adolescents treated for cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ait Khelifa-Gallois, N; Puget, S; Longaud, A; Laroussinie, F; Soria, C; Sainte-Rose, C; Dellatolas, G

    2015-04-01

    It has been suggested that the cerebellum is involved in reading acquisition and in particular in the progression from automatic grapheme-phoneme conversion to the internalization of speech required for silent reading. This idea is in line with clinical and neuroimaging data showing a cerebellar role in subvocal rehearsal for printed verbalizable material and with computational "internal models" of the cerebellum suggesting its role in inner speech (i.e. covert speech without mouthing the words). However, studies examining a possible cerebellar role in the suppression of articulatory movements during silent reading acquisition in children are lacking. Here, we report clinical evidence that the cerebellum plays a part in this transition. Reading performances were compared between a group of 17 paediatric patients treated for benign cerebellar tumours and a group of controls matched for age, gender, and parental socio-educational level. The patients scored significantly lower on all reading, but the most striking difference concerned silent reading, perfectly acquired by almost all controls, contrasting with 41 % of the patients who were unable to read any item silently. Silent reading was correlated with the Working Memory Index. The present findings converge with previous reports on an implication of the cerebellum in inner speech and in the automatization of reading. This cerebellar implication is probably not specific to reading, as it also seems to affect non-reading tasks such as counting.

  13. Myocardial perfusion in silent myocardial ischemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Narita, Michihiro; Kurihara, Tadashi; Murano, Kenichi; Usami, Masahisa

    1989-01-01

    To investigate myocardial perfusion in silent myocardial ischemia, we performed exercise stress myocardial tomography with thallium-201 (Tl) in 85 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Exercise stress myocardial tomography was obtained both immediately after exercise and three hours later. Patients were classified into two groups according to the presence (Symptomatic Group, n=36) or absence (Silent Group, n=49) of chest pain during exercise stress. Clinical features (age, gender and history of myocardial infarction) and arteriographically determined severity of CAD were the same in both groups. The extent of myocardial ischemia (% Ischemia) estimated by exercise stress myocardial tomography was the same in each group (30±10 % in Silent Group, 28±12 % in Symptomatic Group, NS). The severity of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia was expressed as a minimal value of myocardial Tl washout rate (minimal WOR) of each patient. Although exercise heart rate was identical in both groups, minimal WOR in Silent Group was significantly higher than that of Symptomatic Group (4±10% vs -16±14%, p<0.001). The study in patients who exhibited both silent and symptomatic ischemia showed the same results. These findings suggest that the severity of ischemia is a fundamental factor in determining the presence or absence of pain during exercise induced ischemia. (author)

  14. Reimagining Reading: Creating a Classroom Culture That Embraces Independent Choice Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dickerson, Katie

    2015-01-01

    Many of us are plagued by negative memories of sustained silent reading. In some of these memories, we are the students, attempting to read a book that didn't hold our interest or trying to read over the din of our disengaged classmates. In other memories, we are the teachers, suffering through a ten-minute classroom management nightmare, deciding…

  15. Measuring College Students' Reading Comprehension Ability Using Cloze Tests

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    Williams, Rihana Shiri; Ari, Omer; Santamaria, Carmen Nicole

    2011-01-01

    Recent investigations challenge the construct validity of sustained silent reading tests. Performance of two groups of post-secondary students (e.g. struggling and non-struggling) on a sustained silent reading test and two types of cloze test (i.e. maze and open-ended) was compared in order to identify the test format that contributes greater…

  16. STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS: BRAILLE READING RATE

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    Daniela Blagoj Dimitrova-Radojichikj

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available A comparison reading performance was done between 8 students who are using Braille and 14 students who are using enlarged print to read. Reading performance was determined using reading rate (words per minute, wpm. Reading rate results showed no significant difference (p>0.05 between those using the Braille (16.62±11.61 wpm and those using the enlarged print (27.21±24.89 wpm. This study has shown that Braille reader students read at lower reading rate compared to print reader students with visual impairment.

  17. Identifying Children in Middle Childhood Who Are at Risk for Reading Problems.

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    Speece, Deborah L; Ritchey, Kristen D; Silverman, Rebecca; Schatschneider, Christopher; Walker, Caroline Y; Andrusik, Katryna N

    2010-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate a universal screening battery for reading that is appropriate for older elementary students in a response to intervention model. Multiple measures of reading and reading correlates were administered to 230 fourth-grade children. Teachers rated children's reading skills, academic competence, and attention. Children were classified as not-at-risk or at-risk readers based on a three-factor model reflecting reading comprehension, word recognition/decoding, and word fluency. Predictors of reading status included group-administered tests of reading comprehension, silent word reading fluency, and teacher ratings of reading problems. Inclusion of individually administered tests and growth estimates did not add substantial variance. The receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis yielded an area under the curve index of 0.90, suggesting this model may both accurately and efficiently screen older elementary students with reading problems.

  18. Usefulness of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in silent myocardial ischemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hou, Mami

    1996-01-01

    The usefulness of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was assessed in patients with exercise-induced asymptomatic myocardial ischemia (silent ischemia) and compared with exercise-induced symptomatic myocardial ischemia (symptomatic ischemia). Patients with single vessel coronary artery disease (51 with angina pectoris, 40 with old myocardial infarction) and evidence of stress-induced ischemia on thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) underwent successful PTCA. Thirty-seven percent of angina patients and 60% of infarction patients showed asymptomatic exercise-induced ischemia. There was no significant difference in population characteristics between silent and symptomatic patients. Patients with silent angina had significantly higher percentage thallium uptake and washout rate than symptomatic patients. After PTCA, both percentage diameter stenosis and percentage thallium uptake were improved in all patients with angina irrespective of the presence or absence of symptoms. There were no significant differences in percentage thallium uptake and washout rate between patients with silent and symptomatic infarction. After PTCA, percentage diameter stenosis, percentage thallium uptake, and washout rate improved in all infarction patients irrespective of the symptoms. Zero percent of silent angina patients, 12% of symptomatic angina patients, 12% of silent infarction patients, 19% of symptomatic infarction patients had cardiac events during about 4.5 years after PTCA. The incidence of cardiac events did not significantly differ in any patient group. PTCA improved myocardial perfusion in all patients, and the incidence of cardiac events did not differ between the silent and symptomatic groups. Revascularization with PTCA is suitable for patients with silent as well as symptomatic ischemia. (author)

  19. The Interplay of Silent Reading, Reading-While-Listening and Listening-Only

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakashima, Kohji; Stephens, Meredith; Kamata, Suzanne

    2018-01-01

    Leading scholars (Gilbert, 2009; Walter, 2008) have highlighted the importance of phonological processing in learning to read. Nevertheless, reading in Japan has traditionally been taught without adequate attention to the role of phonological processing. Accordingly, it was speculated that Japanese university students would demonstrate superior…

  20. A functional near-infrared spectroscopic investigation of speech production during reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Nick; Hancock, Allison S; Moon, Todd K; Gillam, Ronald B

    2018-03-01

    This study was designed to test the extent to which speaking processes related to articulation and voicing influence Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) measures of cortical hemodynamics and functional connectivity. Participants read passages in three conditions (oral reading, silent mouthing, and silent reading) while undergoing fNIRS imaging. Area under the curve (AUC) analyses of the oxygenated and deoxygenated hemodynamic response function concentration values were compared for each task across five regions of interest. There were significant region main effects for both oxy and deoxy AUC analyses, and a significant region × task interaction for deoxy AUC favoring the oral reading condition over the silent reading condition for two nonmotor regions. Assessment of functional connectivity using Granger Causality revealed stronger networks between motor areas during oral reading and stronger networks between language areas during silent reading. There was no evidence that the hemodynamic flow from motor areas during oral reading compromised measures of language-related neural activity in nonmotor areas. However, speech movements had small, but measurable effects on fNIRS measures of neural connections between motor and nonmotor brain areas across the perisylvian region, even after wavelet filtering. Therefore, researchers studying speech processes with fNIRS should use wavelet filtering during preprocessing to reduce speech motion artifacts, incorporate a nonspeech communication or language control task into the research design, and conduct a connectivity analysis to adequately assess the impact of functional speech on the hemodynamic response across the perisylvian region. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Current practice for diagnosis and management of silent atrial fibrillation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dobreanu, Dan; Svendsen, Jesper Hastrup; Lewalter, Thorsten

    2013-01-01

    for the diagnosis and management of silent AF. This survey is based on an electronic questionnaire sent to the European Heart Rhythm Association Research Network partners. Responses were received from 33 centres in 16 countries. The preferred screening methods for silent AF in patients with rhythm control...... for such patients. Most responders preferred rate control over rhythm control in patients with silent AF, although some favoured pulmonary vein isolation in young patients. However, oral anticoagulant therapy in patients at high thromboembolic risk was considered mandatory by most, provided that at least one......Although it is well known that silent atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with morbidity and mortality rates similar to those of symptomatic AF, no specific strategy for screening and management of this form of AF has been advocated. The purpose of this survey was to identify current practices...

  2. The prevalence and quality of silent, socially silent, and disclosed autobiographical memories across adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alea, Nicole

    2010-02-01

    Two separate studies examined the prevalence and quality of silent (infrequently recalled), socially silent (i.e., recalled but not shared), and disclosed autobiographical memories. In Study 1 young and older men and women remembered positive events. Positive memories were more likely to be disclosed than to be kept socially silent or completely silent. However, socially silent and disclosed memories did not differ in memory quality: the memories were equally vivid, significant, and emotional. Silent memories were less qualitatively rich. This pattern of results was generally replicated in Study 2 with a lifespan sample for both positive and negative memories, and with additional qualitative variables. The exception was that negative memories were kept silent more often. Age differences were minimal. Women disclosed their autobiographical memories more, but men told a greater variety of people. Results are discussed in terms of the functions that memory telling and silences might serve for individuals.

  3. Teacher Modeling: Its Impact on an Extensive Reading Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loh, Jason Kok Khiang

    2009-01-01

    This case study investigates whether teachers model reading in 1 Singapore primary school during an exercise called "uninterrupted sustained silent reading" (USSR) carried out in the classroom. Even though reading is an important determinant of a student's growth in language skills and ability, and modeling the act of reading is…

  4. Multiple Silent Lacunes Are Associated with Recurrent Ischemic Stroke

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Søren Due; Skjøth, Flemming; Yavarian, Yousef

    2016-01-01

    ackground: Silent lacunes are a common finding on brain imaging in ischemic stroke patients, but the prognostic significance of these lesions is uncertain. We aimed at investigating the association of silent lacunes and the risk of ischemic stroke recurrence, death, and cardiovascular events...... in a cohort of patients with incident ischemic stroke and no atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: We included 786 patients (mean age 59.5 (SD 14.0); 42.9% females) in a registry-based, observational cohort study on patients with first-ever ischemic stroke. On brain MRI we assessed the number of silent lacunes...... as none, single, or multiple and we calculated stratified incidence rates of the outcomes. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for age, gender, congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and vascular disease were calculated with no silent lacunes as reference. In additional analyses, we...

  5. Reading and company

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuzmičová, Anežka; Dias, Patrícia; Vogrinčič Čepič, Ana

    2017-01-01

    in the environment where one engages in individual silent reading. The primary goal of the study was to explore the role and possible associations of a number of variables (text type, purpose, device) in selecting generic (e.g. indoors vs outdoors) as well as specific (e.g. home vs library) reading environments....... Across all six samples included in the study, participants spontaneously attested to varied, and partly surprising, forms of sensitivity to company and social space in their daily efforts to align body with mind for reading. The article reports these emergent trends and discusses their potential...

  6. Assessment of Silent T1-weighted head imaging at 7 T

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Costagli, Mauro; Tiberi, Gianluigi; Tosetti, Michela [Imago7 Foundation, Pisa (Italy); IRCCS Stella Maris, Laboratory of Medical Physics and Biotechnologies for Magnetic Resonance, Pisa (Italy); Symms, Mark R. [GE Applied Science Laboratory, Pisa (Italy); Angeli, Lorenzo [University of Pisa, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Pisa (Italy); Kelley, Douglas A.C. [GE Healthcare Technologies, San Francisco, CA (United States); Biagi, Laura [IRCCS Stella Maris, Laboratory of Medical Physics and Biotechnologies for Magnetic Resonance, Pisa (Italy); Farnetani, Andrea [University of Ferrara, Engineering Department, Ferrara (Italy); Materiacustica s.r.l., Ferrara (Italy); Rua, Catarina [University of Pisa, Department of Physics, Pisa (Italy); Donatelli, Graziella [Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana (AOUP), Neuroradiology Unit, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Pisa (Italy); Cosottini, Mirco [Imago7 Foundation, Pisa (Italy); University of Pisa, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Pisa (Italy)

    2016-06-15

    This study aimed to assess the performance of a ''Silent'' zero time of echo (ZTE) sequence for T1-weighted brain imaging using a 7 T MRI system. The Silent sequence was evaluated qualitatively by two neuroradiologists, as well as quantitatively in terms of tissue contrast, homogeneity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and acoustic noise. It was compared to conventional T1-weighted imaging (FSPGR). Adequacy for automated segmentation was evaluated in comparison with FSPGR acquired at 7 T and 1.5 T. Specific absorption rate (SAR) was also measured. Tissue contrast and homogeneity in Silent were remarkable in deep brain structures and in the occipital and temporal lobes. Mean tissue contrast was significantly (p < 0.002) higher in Silent (0.25) than in FSPGR (0.11), which favoured automated tissue segmentation. On the other hand, Silent images had lower SNR with respect to conventional imaging: average SNR of FSPGR was 2.66 times that of Silent. Silent images were affected by artefacts related to projection reconstruction, which nevertheless did not compromise the depiction of brain tissues. Silent acquisition was 35 dB(A) quieter than FSPGR and less than 2.5 dB(A) louder than ambient noise. Six-minute average SAR was <2 W/kg. The ZTE Silent sequence provides high-contrast T1-weighted imaging with low acoustic noise at 7 T. (orig.)

  7. Phrasing in the speech and reading of the hearing impaired.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory, J F

    1986-08-01

    The study reported here explored a partial explanation for the fourth-grade "bottleneck" in literacy advancement by hearing-impaired students. Speech samples from 21 deaf subjects were rated for degree of evident phrasal quality. Likewise, reading comprehension scores for each student were obtained under four reading conditions: reading in whole sentences, in phrases, in fragmented word groups, and in single words. Degree of rated speech phrasality was found to relate significantly and positively to correct recall answers to questions based upon silent reading of passages typed in meaningful word groups (but not when the passages were typed in whole sentences, fragmented word groups, or in single words). The results were taken to suggest that--whereas staccato-speaking deaf students may lack a sense of the phrase altogether--phrasal-speaking deaf youngsters fail to independently apply their phrase sense in the normal reading situation. Thus, both types of deaf youngsters have difficulty affecting the transition to phrase reading that is common for hearing students at or about the fourth-grade level. Finally, I argue that this phrase sense can be instilled in hearing-impaired students and that they can be trained to use it in reading.

  8. Reading Speed of Contracted French Braille

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laroche, Louise; Boule, Jacinthe; Wittich, Walter

    2012-01-01

    This study was designed to address three hypotheses: (1) The reading speed of both readers of French braille and readers of French print will be faster in the silent condition; however, this gain in speed will be larger for print readers; (2) Individuals who acquired braille before age 10 will display faster reading speeds at lower error rates…

  9. Imitated prosodic fluency predicts reading comprehension ability in good and poor high school readers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mara Breen

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Researchers have established a relationship between beginning readers’ silent comprehension ability and their prosodic fluency, such that readers who read aloud with appropriate prosody tend to have higher scores on silent reading comprehension assessments. The current study was designed to investigate this relationship in two groups of high school readers: Specifically Poor Comprehenders (SPCs, who have adequate word level and phonological skills but poor reading comprehension ability, and a group of age- and decoding skill-matched controls. We compared the prosodic fluency of the two groups by determining how effectively they produced prosodic cues to syntactic and semantic structure in imitations of a model speaker’s production of syntactically and semantically varied sentences. Analyses of pitch and duration patterns revealed that speakers in both groups produced the expected prosodic patterns; however, controls provided stronger durational cues to syntactic structure. These results demonstrate that the relationship between prosodic fluency and reading comprehension continues past the stage of early reading instruction. Moreover, they suggest that prosodically fluent speakers may also generate more fluent implicit prosodic representations during silent reading, leading to more effective comprehension.

  10. 'Silent mentors'

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Douglas-Jones, Rachel

    2017-01-01

    Unlike cadaver donation in the West, which has to a large degree maintained the anonymity of the body used to teach medical students, the Taiwanese Tzu Chi Buddhist Silent Mentor programme at the centre of this article foregrounds the identity of the training cadaver as an essential element in me...... for medical pedagogy, body donation, and Buddhist practices prompted by this programme, putting the ‘Silent Mentors’ into conversation with the ‘new immortalities’ of this special issue....

  11. Teaching children with dyslexia to spell in a reading-writers' workshop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berninger, Virginia W; Lee, Yen-Ling; Abbott, Robert D; Breznitz, Zvia

    2013-04-01

    To identify effective treatment for both the spelling and word decoding problems in dyslexia, 24 students with dyslexia in grades 4 to 9 were randomly assigned to treatments A (n=12) or B (n=12) in an after-school reading-writers' workshop at the university (thirty 1-h sessions twice a week over 5 months). First, both groups received step 1 treatment of grapheme-phoneme correspondences (gpc) for oral reading. At step 2, treatment A received gpc training for both oral reading and spelling, and treatment B received gpc training for oral reading and phonological awareness. At step 3, treatment A received orthographic spelling strategy and rapid accelerated reading program (RAP) training, and treatment B continued step 2 training. At step 4, treatment A received morphological strategies and RAP training, and treatment B received orthographic spelling strategy training. Each treatment also had the same integrated reading-writing activities, which many school assignments require. Both groups improved significantly in automatic letter writing, spelling real words, compositional fluency, and oral reading (decoding) rate. Treatment A significantly outperformed treatment B in decoding rate after step 3 orthographic training, which in turn uniquely predicted spelling real words. Letter processing rate increased during step 3 RAP training and correlated significantly with two silent reading fluency measures. Adding orthographic strategies with "working memory in mind" to phonics helps students with dyslexia spell and read English words.

  12. The threat of silent earthquakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cervelli, Peter

    2004-01-01

    Not all earthquakes shake the ground. The so-called silent types are forcing scientists to rethink their understanding of the way quake-prone faults behave. In rare instances, silent earthquakes that occur along the flakes of seaside volcanoes may cascade into monstrous landslides that crash into the sea and trigger towering tsunamis. Silent earthquakes that take place within fault zones created by one tectonic plate diving under another may increase the chance of ground-shaking shocks. In other locations, however, silent slip may decrease the likelihood of destructive quakes, because they release stress along faults that might otherwise seem ready to snap.

  13. Differences in autonomic nerve function in patients with silent and symptomatic myocardial ischaemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakespeare, C. F.; Katritsis, D.; Crowther, A.; Cooper, I. C.; Coltart, J. D.; Webb-Peploe, M. W.

    1994-01-01

    BACKGROUND--Autonomic neuropathy provides a mechanism for the absence of symptoms in silent myocardial ischaemia, but characterisation of the type of neuropathy is lacking. AIM--To characterise and compare autonomic nerve function in patients with silent and symptomatic myocardial ischaemia. METHODS AND RESULTS--The Valsalva manoeuvre, heart rate variation (HRV) in response to deep breathing and standing, lower body negative pressure, isometric handgrip, and the cold pressor test were performed by patients with silent (n = 25) and symptomatic (n = 25) ambulatory ischaemia and by controls (n = 21). No difference in parasympathetic efferent function between patients with silent and symptomatic ischaemia was recorded, but both had significantly less HRV in response to standing than the controls (p < 0.005 for silent and p < 0.01 for symptomatic). Patients with silent ischaemia showed an increased propensity for peripheral vasodilatation compared with symptomatic patients (p < 0.02) and controls (p < 0.04). Impaired sympathetic function was found in patients with pure silent ischaemia (n = 4) compared with the remaining patients with silent ischaemia whose pain pathways were presumed to be intact. CONCLUSIONS--Patients with silent ischaemia and pain pathways presumed to be intact have an enhanced peripheral vasodilator response, and if this applied to the coronary vasculature it could provide a mechanism for limiting ischaemia to below the pain threshold. Patients with pure silent ischaemia have evidence of sympathetic autonomic dysfunction. Images PMID:8297687

  14. Silent ischaemia and hypertension

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boon, D.; Piek, J. J.; van Montfrans, G. A.

    2000-01-01

    For many years now, silent ischaemia has been recognized as a distinct clinical entity, and its relevance in different patient groups has been established. However, a number of basic questions have not been answered. In explaining the pathophysiology of silent ischaemia, factors affecting both the

  15. Progress Monitoring Instrument Development: Silent Reading Fluency, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension. Technical Report #1110

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nese, Joseph F. T.; Anderson, Daniel; Hoelscher, Kyle; Tindal, Gerald; Alonzo, Julie

    2011-01-01

    Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is designed to measure students' academic status and growth so the effectiveness of instruction may be evaluated. In the most popular forms of reading CBM, the student's oral reading fluency is assessed. This behavior is difficult to sample in a computer-based format, a limitation that may be a function of the…

  16. SSR: Its Effects on Students' Reading Habits after They Complete the Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiesendanger, Katherine D.; Bader, Lois

    1989-01-01

    Studies the effect of sustained silent reading (SSR) on recreational reading habits after termination of instruction. Finds that SSR students read more than those not in the program, and that SSR has no impact on above average readers, great impact on average readers, and little impact on below average readers. (RS)

  17. I read, you read, we read: the history of reading in Slovenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anja Dular

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACTPurpose: The aim of the article is to research reading habits in Slovenia in the period between 16th and 19th century and to find similarities with Austria and other European countries of that time.Methodology/approach: For the purpose of the analysis different resources were used – study books, catechisms, prayer books and manuals. We were focused on introductions in which readers are advised how to read, explaining to whom the work is intended and emphasizing the importance of meditation on the texts.Results: Historically the laud reading was prefered, as to continue the folk tradition. However, the 16th century texts were transmitted by women while the folk tradition was narrated by males. In the 18th century the higher level of literacy and greater book production and availability caused that the books were not a privilege of a few. At that time more texts were intended for silent, individual reading. Interestingly, the authors emphasized the importance of meditation on the texts, too. It was also advised when to read – it wasrecommedend to read in leisure time on Sundays, and on holidays. The role of books was also to breakaway with the reality and to forget everyday problems. Due to the overproduction of books in the 17th centrury it was concerned that books are misleading the crowds. The church considered the reading of books as inappropriate, and criticized fiction, novels and adventure stories mostly read by women.Research limitation: The study is based on Slovenian texts only, although the foreign literature, especially in German, was generally available, too.Originality/practical implications: The study is fullfiling the gap in the history of reading in Slovenia.

  18. It matters whether reading comprehension is conceptualised as rate or accuracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rønberg, Louise Flensted-Jensen; Petersen, Dorthe Klint

    2016-01-01

    reading comprehension is conceptualised as rate (i.e., percentage of correct items per minute spent); then the unique contribution of word reading increases. Moreover, this study indicates that it is not merely efficient word reading that influences the process of comprehending at a fast rate. With gender...

  19. Memory Retention after Reading Alould and its Effects on the Internalization of New Items

    OpenAIRE

    佐藤, あずさ; Azusa, SATO; 安田女子大学大学院

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports the results of two studies focusing on internalization of newly learned items. In study 1, internalization was not confirmed, but reading and memory retention abilities of the reading-aloud subgroup (i.e., students with lower reading proficiency) improved significantly more than the reading-silently subgroup. In study 2 the same effects were confirmed in the reading-aloud subgroup, and internalization of newly learned items was finally confirmed in the reading-aloud group.

  20. Text-fading based training leads to transfer effects on children’s sentence reading fluency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Telse eNagler

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies used a text-fading procedure as a training tool with the goal to increase silent reading fluency (i.e., proficient reading rate and comprehension. In recently published studies, this procedure resulted in lasting reading enhancements for adult and adolescent research samples. However, studies working with children reported mixed results. While reading rate improvements were observable for Dutch reading children in a text-fading training study, reading fluency improvements in standardized reading tests post-training attributable to the fading manipulation were not detectable. These results raise the question of whether text-fading training is not effective for children or whether research design issues have concealed possible transfer effects. Hence, the present study sought to investigate possible transfer effects resulting from a text-fading based reading training program, using a modified research design. Over a period of three weeks, two groups of German third-graders read sentences either with an adaptive text-fading procedure or at their self-paced reading rate. A standardized test measuring reading fluency at the word, sentence, and text level was conducted pre- and post-training. Text level reading fluency improved for both groups equally. Post-training gains at the word level were found for the text-fading group, however, no significant interaction between groups was revealed for word reading fluency. Sentence level reading fluency gains were found for the text-fading group, which significantly differed from the group of children reading at their self-paced reading routine. These findings provide evidence for the efficacy of text-fading as a training method for sentence reading fluency improvement also for children.

  1. Ocoee Junior High School's Total School Reading Program on a Shoestring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinson, Bess; Williams, Robert W.

    The total school reading program described in this booklet includes a program for remedial, developmental, and special education students. Faculty members and students not participating in this program spend one half hour a day in a silent reading program. The booklet outlines each facet of the program, lists the equipment and materials used,…

  2. Scaffolded Silent Reading (ScSR): Advocating a Policy for Adolescents' Independent Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Karen P.

    2013-01-01

    Structured independent reading among students is often a vital missing component in many school districts' literacy curriculum. The nationwide implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) requires districts to re-think their literacy curriculum and what instruction might entail in order for students to demonstrate proficiency in…

  3. Characteristics of silent countingin synchronized swimmers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey V. Leonov

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the temporal characteristics of silent counting as used duringa competition by the Russian youth team of synchronized swimmers. Theathletes listened to the music that accompanied their performance at the competition.Diff erent indices of silent counting were defi ned, such as the beginningand cessation of diff erent periods of counting, counting frequency, the stabilityof the temporal structure of silent counting, the degree of synchronization of silentcounting at diff erent moments during the sports program. We studied therelationship of these characteristics of counting with expert estimates of the athletes’sense of tempo, coordination of movements, and choreographic abilities.

  4. Unusual ocular manifestations of silent sinus syndrome

    OpenAIRE

    Fonseca, Fabricio Lopes da; Mazoti, Luciana; Polati, Mariza

    2014-01-01

    Silent sinus syndrome is an acquired condition in which there is a gradual collapse of the orbital floor and inward retraction of the maxillary sinus (atelectasis of the maxillary sinus). This in turn may cause associated ocular occurrences of enophthalmos and hypotropia. This is a report of an 8 year-old boy with silent sinus syndrome and associated ocular motility disorders. The association between silent sinus syndrome and ocular motility disturbance has been recently described in the lite...

  5. Silent communication: toward using brain signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pei, Xiaomei; Hill, Jeremy; Schalk, Gerwin

    2012-01-01

    From the 1980s movie Firefox to the more recent Avatar, popular science fiction has speculated about the possibility of a persons thoughts being read directly from his or her brain. Such braincomputer interfaces (BCIs) might allow people who are paralyzed to communicate with and control their environment, and there might also be applications in military situations wherever silent user-to-user communication is desirable. Previous studies have shown that BCI systems can use brain signals related to movements and movement imagery or attention-based character selection. Although these systems have successfully demonstrated the possibility to control devices using brain function, directly inferring which word a person intends to communicate has been elusive. A BCI using imagined speech might provide such a practical, intuitive device. Toward this goal, our studies to date addressed two scientific questions: (1) Can brain signals accurately characterize different aspects of speech? (2) Is it possible to predict spoken or imagined words or their components using brain signals?

  6. The Compensatory Effectiveness of Optical Character Recognition/Speech Synthesis on Reading Comprehension of Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higgins, Eleanor L.; Raskind, Marshall H.

    1997-01-01

    Thirty-seven college students with learning disabilities were given a reading comprehension task under the following conditions: (1) using an optical character recognition/speech synthesis system; (2) having the text read aloud by a human reader; or (3) reading silently without assistance. Findings indicated that the greater the disability, the…

  7. Transluminal coronary angioplasty in the treatment of silent ischemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergin, P.; Myler, R.K.; Shaw, R.E.; Stertzer, S.H.; Clark, D.A.; Ryan, C.; Murphy, M.C.

    1988-01-01

    Fifty-four asymptomatic patients with positive thallium exercise tests underwent coronary angiography followed by coronary angioplasty (PTCA), as the primary therapy for silent ischemia. The procedure was technically successful in 89% of these patients. Emergency bypass graft surgery was necessary in 2 (3.6%) and q-wave myocardial infarction occurred in 1 (1.8%) of these. All fifty-four patients have been followed for a mean of 35 months since angioplasty. Of the 48 patients with initially successful PTCA, 12 had either clinical restenosis (9/14 or 19%) or a new lesion (3/48 or 6%) during follow-up, which required a repeat PTCA. At the longest follow-up, 46 (85%) had been successfully treated with on or more PTCA procedures. Two patients (3.6%) had sustained late q-wave myocardial infarction and two additional patients reported angina pectoris. There were no deaths. Angioplasty as a primary therapy for silent ischemia appears efficacious, with success and restenosis rates comparable to those in the symptomatic population. Event-free survival is improved, compared with natural history data for patients with silent ischemia from other studies. Prudent risk/benefit analysis may help to define subgroups most likely to benefit from this intervention

  8. Unusual ocular manifestations of silent sinus syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabricio Lopes da Fonseca

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Silent sinus syndrome is an acquired condition in which there is a gradual collapse of the orbital floor and inward retraction of the maxillary sinus (atelectasis of the maxillary sinus. This in turn may cause associated ocular occurrences of enophthalmos and hypotropia. This is a report of an 8 year-old boy with silent sinus syndrome and associated ocular motility disorders. The association between silent sinus syndrome and ocular motility disturbance has been recently described in the literature. However, this is an infrequent association, mainly in childhood.

  9. Clinical study of correlation of pre-senile and senile depressive stage with silent cerebral infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujikawa, Tokumi; Yamawaki, Shigeto; Fujita, Yasunobu; Shibata, Youko; Touhouda, Yoshikuni.

    1992-01-01

    The relationship between the pre-senile/senile depressive state and silent cerebral infarction was examined by MRI. Consecutive 56 depressive patients aged 50 years or older underwnt MRI. MRI revealed silent cerebral infarction in 60.3% of patients in whom depression occurred at the age of less than 65 years. The complication rate was significantly higher in these patients than the younger patients (60.9% vs 20%). Complications of silent cerebral infarction were found in 53.6% for patients in whom depression occurred at the age of less than 65 years and symptoms were deteriorated at the age of 65 years or older and in 100% for patients in whom it occurred at the age of 65 years or older and hospitalization was simultaneously required. These figures were remarkably higher than the age-related complication rate of silent cerebral infarction in non-depressive normal persons. This suggested that approximately half of depressive patients of pre-senile onset and majority of depressive patients of senile onset might have parenchymal involvement due to silent cerebral infarction. Both perforating-type and cortical-type infarcts were found. This has a implication for the involvement of multiple infarct-related foci in depressive state. For cortical-type infarcts, partial lesions were predominant, followed by frontal and temporal lesions. The incidence of left frontal infarcts was significanly higher than that of right frontal infarcts. Infarcts in both the parietal and left frontal lobes may be responsible for depressive state. (N.K.)

  10. Silent Synapse-Based Circuitry Remodeling in Drug Addiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Yan

    2016-05-01

    Exposure to cocaine, and likely other drugs of abuse, generates α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor-silent glutamatergic synapses in the nucleus accumbens. These immature synaptic contacts evolve after drug withdrawal to redefine the neurocircuital properties. These results raise at least three critical questions: (1) what are the molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate drug-induced generation of silent synapses; (2) how are neurocircuits remodeled upon generation and evolution of drug-generated silent synapses; and (3) what behavioral consequences are produced by silent synapse-based circuitry remodeling? This short review analyzes related experimental results, and extends them to some speculations. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

  11. How Does Mozart's Music Affect Children's Reading? The Evidence from Learning Anxiety and Reading Rates with E-Books

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Yen-Ning; Kao, Chih-Chien; Hsu, Chia-Cheng; Pan, Lu-Chun; Cheng, Shu-Chen; Huang, Yueh-Min

    2017-01-01

    Some music has been proved effectively to mitigate anxiety, beneficial to reading. However, little was known on its influence of reading behaviors and outcomes. Thanks to the advance of e-book technology, it becomes possible to track reading rate and outcomes in a real-time manner by the underlying mobile devices. This study intends to examine the…

  12. Electrocardiographically and symptomatically silent myocardial ischemia during exercise testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kurata, Chinori; Tawarahara, Kei; Sakata, Kazuyuki; Taguchi, Takahisa; Fukumoto, Yoshihiro; Kobayashi, Akira; Yamazaki, Noboru; Tanaka, Hiroshi

    1991-01-01

    Certain patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) may have neither ST depression nor chest pain during exercise despite the presence of myocardial ischemia. The frequency and characteristics of such electrocardiographically and symptomatically silent ischemia were studied in 171 patients with both angiographically documented CAD and scintigraphically documented ischemia. Fifty-six (33%) of 171 patients had neither ST depression nor chest pain (Group N), and 115 (67%) had ST depression and/or chest pain (Group P). The two groups were similar with respect to age, gender, the prevalence of prior infarction, and peak systolic blood pressure. Group N patients, however, had a higher mean peak heart rate and rate-pressure product, less severe scintigraphic ischemia, a lower lung thallium-201 uptake, and a smaller number of diseased vessels. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed a history of effort angina, lung thallium-201 uptake, and scintigraphic severity of ischemia to be significant discriminators between Groups N and P. In conclusion, electrocardiographically and symptomatically silent ischemia may be common during exercise in patients with CAD, and less severe ischemia may be one of important determinants. (author)

  13. Modification of hormonal secretion in clinically silent pituitary adenomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daems, Tania; Verhelst, Johan; Michotte, Alex; Abrams, Pascale; De Ridder, Dirk; Abs, Roger

    2009-01-01

    Silent pituitary adenomas are a subtype of adenomas characterized by positive immunoreactivity for one or more hormones classically secreted by normal pituitary cells but without clinical expression, although in some occasions enhanced or changed secretory activity can develop over time. Silent corticotroph adenomas are the classical example of this phenomenon. A series of about 500 pituitary adenomas seen over a period of 20 years were screened for modification in hormonal secretion. Biochemical and immunohistochemical data were reviewed. Two cases were retrieved, one silent somatotroph adenoma and one thyrotroph adenoma, both without specific clinical features or biochemical abnormalities, which presented 20 years after initial surgery with evidence of acromegaly and hyperthyroidism, respectively. While the acromegaly was controlled by a combination of somatostatin analogs and growth hormone (GH) receptor antagonist therapy, neurosurgery was necessary to manage the thyrotroph adenoma. Immunohistochemical examination demonstrated an increase in the number of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)-immunoreactive cells compared to the first tissue. Apparently, the mechanisms responsible for the secretory modifications are different, being a change in secretory capacity in the silent somatotroph adenoma and a quantitative change in the silent thyrotroph adenoma. These two cases, one somatotroph and one thyrotroph adenoma, are an illustration that clinically silent pituitary adenomas may in rare circumstances evolve over time and become active, as previously demonstrated in silent corticotroph adenomas.

  14. The Relationship of Error Rate and Comprehension in Second and Third Grade Oral Reading Fluency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbott, Mary; Wills, Howard; Miller, Angela; Kaufman, Journ

    2012-01-01

    This study explored the relationships of oral reading speed and error rate on comprehension with second and third grade students with identified reading risk. The study included 920 2nd graders and 974 3rd graders. Participants were assessed using Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT) Passage Comprehension subtest. Results from this study further illuminate the significant relationships between error rate, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension performance, and grade-specific guidelines for appropriate error rate levels. Low oral reading fluency and high error rates predict the level of passage comprehension performance. For second grade students below benchmark, a fall assessment error rate of 28% predicts that student comprehension performance will be below average. For third grade students below benchmark, the fall assessment cut point is 14%. Instructional implications of the findings are discussed.

  15. Eye Movements Reveal Readers' Lexical Quality and Reading Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Jessica Nelson; Perfetti, Charles A.

    2016-01-01

    Two experiments demonstrate that individual differences among normal adult readers, including lexical quality, are expressed in silent reading at the word level. In the first of two studies we identified major dimensions of variability among college readers and among words using factor analysis. We then examined the effects of these dimensions of…

  16. Recurrent Silent Thyroiditis as a Sequela of Postpartum Thyroiditis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Thyroiditis encompasses a group of disorders characterized by thyroid inflammation. Though clinically indistinguishable from silent thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis occurs in women within 12 months after delivery. Recurrent postpartum thyroiditis in subsequent pregnancies is common, but recurrent silent thyroiditis is rare. We reported a case of patient with recurrent episodes of thyroiditis, unrelated to pregnancy, after an episode of postpartum thyroiditis. It is of interest that postpartum thyroiditis and silent thyroiditis could occur closely to each other; however, the link between these disorders is not well established. This report is to remind physicians of the possibility of recurrent silent thyroiditis in women with a history of postpartum thyroiditis. PMID:24987536

  17. Human Schedule Performance, Protocol Analysis, and the "Silent Dog" Methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabello, Francisco; Luciano, Carmen; Gomez, Inmaculada; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate the role of private verbal behavior on the operant performances of human adults, using a protocol analysis procedure with additional methodological controls (the "silent dog" method). Twelve subjects were exposed to fixed ratio 8 and differential reinforcement of low rate 3-s schedules. For…

  18. Silent Atrial Fibrillation in Elderly Pacemaker Users: A Randomized Trial Using Home Monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lima, Ceb; Martinelli, M; Peixoto, G L; Siqueira, S F; Wajngarten, Maurício; Silva, Rodrigo Tavares; Costa, Roberto; Filho, Roberto; Ramires, José Antônio Franchini

    2016-05-01

    Pacemaker with remote monitoring (PRM) may be useful for silent atrial fibrillation (AF) detection. The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of silent AF, the role of PRM, and to determine predictors of silent AF occurrence. Three hundred elderly patients with permanent pacemaker (PPM) were randomly assigned to the remote group (RG) or control group (CG). All patients received PPM with remote monitoring capabilities. Primary end point was AF occurrence rate and the secondary end points were time to AF detection and number of days with AF. During the average follow-up of 15.7±7.7 months, AF episodes were detected in 21.6% (RG = 24% vs CG = 19.3%, P = 0.36]. There was no difference in the time to detect the first AF episode. However, the median time to detect AF recurrence in the RG was lower than that in the CG (54 days vs 100 days, P = 0.004). The average number of days with AF was 16.0 and 51.2 in the RG and CG, respectively (P = 0.028). Predictors of silent AF were left atrial diameter (odds ratio [OR] 1.2; 95% CI = 1.1-1.3; P pacemaker; left atrial diameter and diastolic dysfunction were predictors of its occurrence. AF monitoring by means of pacemaker is a valuable tool for silent AF detection and continuous remote monitoring allows early AF recurrence detection and reduces the number of days with AF. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Incidence and implications of silent hydronephrosis following percutaneous nephrolithotomy
.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagrosa, Lawrence; Moses, Rachel; Pais, Vernon M

    2017-01-01

    While routine renal imaging following ureteroscopy for urinary calculi has been recommended to screen for asymptomatic "silent" obstruction, the rate of silent obstruction following percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) remains poorly defined, and no consensus recommendations exist on routine postoperative imaging. At our institution, we sought to assess the incidence of silent hydronephrosis (SH), as a screen for obstruction, following PCNL. The records of all 162 patients who met study inclusion criteria were reviewed. Of this group, 112 patients presented for their scheduled renal ultrasonography 4 - 6 weeks following stent removal to screen for SH. Asymptomatic patients found to have ultrasonographic evidence of hydronephrosis were further analyzed. SH was noted in 16% (18/112) of patients. Two required subsequent ureteroscopic stone extraction (1.8%), one of which also underwent endoureterotomy for a ureteral stricture. Four patients (22%) had stable hydronephrosis and declined functional imaging, 2 patients (11%) had a known partial ureteropelvic junction obstruction and declined intervention. SH resolved spontaneously in 50% (9/18) with a mean time to resolution of 6.3 months. There was no difference in stone complexity based on Guy's stone score between groups, 2.8 (± 0.92) vs. 2.4 (± 1.03), p = 0.34. Although not statistically significant, patients with SH were more likely to have had residual stone fragments postoperatively, 39% (7/18) vs. 19% (18/94), p = 0.067. SH following, PCNL was identified in 16% of this screened population, with the majority requiring no intervention. However, SH may be attributed to residual stone or stricture, which may have been otherwise unrecognized in up to 2% of patients undergoing PCNL. Consideration should be given for routine postoperative ultrasound to screen for silent obstruction following PCNL.
.

  20. Evidence for presynaptically silent synapses in the immature hippocampus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoon, Jae Young; Choi, Sukwoo

    2017-01-01

    Silent synapses show NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated synaptic responses, but not AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses. A prevailing hypothesis states that silent synapses contain NMDARs, but not AMPARs. However, alternative presynaptic hypotheses, according to which AMPARs are present at silent synapses, have been proposed; silent synapses show slow glutamate release via a fusion pore, and glutamate spillover from the neighboring synaptic terminals. Consistent with these presynaptic hypotheses, the peak glutamate concentrations at silent synapses have been estimated to be ≪170 μM, much lower than those seen at functional synapses. Glutamate transients predicted based on the two presynaptic mechanisms have been shown to activate only high-affinity NMDARs, but not low-affinity AMPARs. Interestingly, a previous study has developed a new approach to distinguish between the two presynaptic mechanisms using dextran, an inert macromolecule that reduces the diffusivity of released glutamate: postsynaptic responses through the fusion pore mechanism, but not through the spillover mechanism, are potentiated by reduced glutamate diffusivity. Therefore, we reasoned that if the fusion pore mechanism underlies silent synapses, dextran application would reveal AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses at silent synapses. In the present study, we recorded AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses at the CA3-CA1 synapses in neonatal rats in the presence of blockers for NMDARs and GABAARs. Bath application of dextran revealed synaptic responses at silent synapses. GYKI53655, a selective AMPAR-antagonist, completely inhibited the unsilenced synaptic responses, indicating that the unsilenced synaptic responses are mediated by AMPARs. The dextran-mediated reduction in glutamate diffusivity would also lead to the activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), which might induce unsilencing via the activation of unknown intracellular signaling. Hence, we determined whether mGluR-blockers alter

  1. Prevalence of silent gastrointestinal complications in maintenance renal transplant population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teplitsky Susan

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to determine the prevalence of silent GI complications within a stable renal transplant population and to investigate whether the conversion to enteric-coated myco-phenolate sodium (EC-MPS, Myfortic; would improve symptom scores. This was a single-center, open-label, non-randomized, prospective study. Patients without any history of GI com-plaints were evaluated by means of the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS, with subse-quent switch to EC-MPS in a group of patients. Silent complications were defined as patients who voiced no GI complaints at clinic visits despite a score of ≥ 2 on GSRS scale. A total of 236 stable patients participated in the trial. The prevalence of baseline scores ≥ 2 was relatively high with abdominal pain 29.66%, reflux 37.28%, indigestion 50%, constipation 58.47% and diarrhea 33.4%. Of 236 patients, 80 were converted to EC-MPS. There was statistically significant improvement on all scales in the subgroup of patients with GSRS score ≥ 2 (P< 0.05. In conclusion, the GSRS scale identified a high percentage of silent gastrointestinal complications in this renal transplant population. The converted patients with higher GSRS scores reported a sustained improvement.

  2. Specificity control for read alignments using an artificial reference genome-guided false discovery rate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giese, Sven H; Zickmann, Franziska; Renard, Bernhard Y

    2014-01-01

    Accurate estimation, comparison and evaluation of read mapping error rates is a crucial step in the processing of next-generation sequencing data, as further analysis steps and interpretation assume the correctness of the mapping results. Current approaches are either focused on sensitivity estimation and thereby disregard specificity or are based on read simulations. Although continuously improving, read simulations are still prone to introduce a bias into the mapping error quantitation and cannot capture all characteristics of an individual dataset. We introduce ARDEN (artificial reference driven estimation of false positives in next-generation sequencing data), a novel benchmark method that estimates error rates of read mappers based on real experimental reads, using an additionally generated artificial reference genome. It allows a dataset-specific computation of error rates and the construction of a receiver operating characteristic curve. Thereby, it can be used for optimization of parameters for read mappers, selection of read mappers for a specific problem or for filtering alignments based on quality estimation. The use of ARDEN is demonstrated in a general read mapper comparison, a parameter optimization for one read mapper and an application example in single-nucleotide polymorphism discovery with a significant reduction in the number of false positive identifications. The ARDEN source code is freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/arden/.

  3. The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suk, Namhee

    2017-01-01

    Several empirical studies and syntheses of extensive reading have concluded that extensive reading has positive impacts on language learning in second- and foreign-language settings. However, many of the studies contained methodological or curricular limitations, raising questions about the asserted positive effects of extensive reading. The…

  4. A Study to Determine the Existence and Characteristics of Distinctively Different Subpopulations Subsumed within the Reading Disabled Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinberg, Laurie S.

    Forty-five third-grade and fourth-grade boys identified by their schools as being both normal in intelligence and severely disabled in reading were given a battery of tests of language, visual perception, silent reading comprehension, and finger agnosia. Three consistent groups of subjects emerged from cluster analyses of the results. One group…

  5. Rate of Speech and Reading in Second and Fifth Grade Primary Students in Tehran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hourieh Ahadi

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: The purpose of this research is to study the standardization of speaking and reading rates in a group of normal speaker of female students, and to compare them. As the rate of speech is an important variable in the evaluation and treatment of stuttering, cluttering, dysarthria and apraxia. Materials and Method: One hundred of second grade students of primary school and an equal number of fifth grade students participated in this study. All subjects were native speakers of Farsi, who passed an informal, screening test of articulation and speech. None of the subjects had a history of speech, hearing, or neurological disorders. The subjects were asked to read from the 180 words portion of their Farsi book and tell story. Their speech was recorded by using a tape recorder. Then the data were analyzed for word and syllable rate. In transcribing the samples, single morpheme was counted as single word and compound words were counted as two words if they had two free morphemes. Non-word interjections were excluded from word and syllable counts while word interjections and repeated words were included in the count. Independent t-test and paired t-test were used for analyzing. Results: In the second grade students the reading rate is, on the average, 189.4 syllable per minute (SPM(94.9 word per minute(WPM, 3.1 syllable per second(SPS and the talking rate is 189.8 SPM (99.1 WPM, 3.1 SPS and in the fifth grade student the reading rate is 223.9 SPM (119.0 WPM, 3.7SPS and the talking rate is 210.26 SPM (109.5 WPM , 3.4 SPS. Conclusion: The result highlight that in the fifth grade students, reading rates are higher than talking rates while in the second grade they are not, because they do not have enough skills for whole word reading. A remarkable finding in this research is that, reading and talking rates in the fifth grade students are higher than the second grade students.

  6. Basic Concepts of Reading Instruction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gökhan ARI

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Reading act is performed by connected physiological, psychological and cognitive processes. The operations taking place in these processes are expected to continue for life by being developed with certain strategies. A lot of information is gained with reading skill in education life. Therefore, basic concepts that constitute reading education in teaching and improving reading are important for teachers. The aim of this study is to submit information compiled from the literature about reading education process and which basic concepts are used in reading education. While teaching reading from part to whole, from whole to part and interactional approaches are used. From part to whole approach is at the forefront. Then with interactional approach strategies, both code solving and making sense is improved. Teachers should know the characteristics of bouncing, stopping, turning back, and scanning movements of the eye both in code solving and making sense. The teacher should configure the teaching for the students to gain fluid reading elements by making use of reading out and reading silently. After reading act is acquired; good reader characteristics should be gained by improving asking questions, guessing, summarizing, interpretation skills in integrated readings. Reading skill is improved by studies on the text. Therefore, the students should come across texts that are suitable to their levels, textuality and readability criteria. The vocabulary of children should be improved in a planned way with text-based word and meaning studies. Fluid reading, making sense and interpretation skills of children should be pursued with different evaluation types. In the long term, work should be done to make reading a habit for them.

  7. Relativistic numerical cosmology with silent universes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolejko, Krzysztof

    2018-01-01

    Relativistic numerical cosmology is most often based either on the exact solutions of the Einstein equations, or perturbation theory, or weak-field limit, or the BSSN formalism. The silent universe provides an alternative approach to investigate relativistic evolution of cosmological systems. The silent universe is based on the solution of the Einstein equations in 1  +  3 comoving coordinates with additional constraints imposed. These constraints include: the gravitational field is sourced by dust and cosmological constant only, both rotation and magnetic part of the Weyl tensor vanish, and the shear is diagnosable. This paper describes the code simsilun (free software distributed under the terms of the reposi General Public License), which implements the equations of the silent universe. The paper also discusses applications of the silent universe and it uses the Millennium simulation to set up the initial conditions for the code simsilun. The simulation obtained this way consists of 16 777 216 worldlines, which are evolved from z  =  80 to z  =  0. Initially, the mean evolution (averaged over the whole domain) follows the evolution of the background ΛCDM model. However, once the evolution of cosmic structures becomes nonlinear, the spatial curvature evolves from ΩK =0 to ΩK ≈ 0.1 at the present day. The emergence of the spatial curvature is associated with ΩM and Ω_Λ being smaller by approximately 0.05 compared to the ΛCDM.

  8. Silent Flange Coupling Design Used for the Schenck Eddy Current Dynamometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schinteie, D.; Croitorescu, V.

    2016-11-01

    The silent flange used for coupling different machines/systems to an eddy current dynamometer represents one of the modular components each test-bench should use. By introducing a silent flange into a dynamometer, the coupling steps are easier and faster. For an appropriate design, the silent flange was analyzed using dedicated software during different operation procedures and scenarios, for materials that allow easy manufacturing. This study shows that the design for this silent flange model has no danger of failure due to the small deformation and the values for the equivalent stresses. The silent flange coupling is suitable for the dynamometer for his high positioning accuracy, the zero backlash and the fact that there is no motion between the shafts.

  9. Music Reading in Digital Environments; Apps for Tablets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Félix MERCHÁN SÁNCHEZ-JARA

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Reading music allows, through different processes, learnt abilities and previous experiences, for the recreation or interpretation of the musical message which had been previously coded using one of the many notation systems available. In the same way, reading music enables the experienced musician to generate musical images internally, which silently represent the coded message. The most generic processes and characteristics amongst musical reading will be analysed, along with the most common forms and applications of these reading models and the most widely used codes and notation systems. In the second part, the development and use of new tecnologies for reading music in electronic devices are described and the penetration of these tools in the musical community analysed and classified, bearing in mind the most common types and functions and the characteristics and basic functionalities of the most representative applications. Some solutions, developed in order to deal with historical problems within the reading of music, such as the turning over of the page, are also considered.

  10. The Impact of a Modified Repeated-Reading Strategy Paired with Optical Character Recognition on the Reading Rates of Students with Visual Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pattillo, Suzan Trefry; Heller, Kathryn Wolf; Smith, Maureen

    2004-01-01

    The repeated-reading strategy and optical character recognition were paired to demonstrate a functional relationship between the combined strategies and two factors: the reading rates of students with visual impairments and the students' self-perceptions, or attitudes, toward reading. The results indicated that all five students increased their…

  11. Middle School Students' Perceptions of Their Interests in Reading as Defined by Engagement and Social Interaction When Using Sustained Silent Reading, SSR, and Peer Interests Reading Strategies, PIRS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ware, Regina J.

    2012-01-01

    Alarming statistics report that middle school students are not reading as much as they should be reading. This study is an examination of two interventions that were incorporated into the regular curriculum to determine if these two reading interventions would encourage this researcher's students to read more. The "Nation's Report Card"…

  12. Kurzweil Reading Machine: A Partial Evaluation of Its Optical Character Recognition Error Rate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodrich, Gregory L.; And Others

    1979-01-01

    A study designed to assess the ability of the Kurzweil reading machine (a speech reading device for the visually handicapped) to read three different type styles produced by five different means indicated that the machines tested had different error rates depending upon the means of producing the copy and upon the type style used. (Author/CL)

  13. Using Early Silent Film to Teach French: The Language of "Cinema Muet."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloom, Michelle E.

    1995-01-01

    Discusses the use of early silent films in second-language classrooms, focusing on the experiences of one instructor in using early French silents in elementary and intermediate French courses. Sample lesson plans and information on the availability of French silents are also provided. (Contains 17 references.) (MDM)

  14. Visual supports for shared reading with young children: the effect of static overlay design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood Jackson, Carla; Wahlquist, Jordan; Marquis, Cassandra

    2011-06-01

    This study examined the effects of two types of static overlay design (visual scene display and grid display) on 39 children's use of a speech-generating device during shared storybook reading with an adult. This pilot project included two groups: preschool children with typical communication skills (n = 26) and with complex communication needs (n = 13). All participants engaged in shared reading with two books using each visual layout on a speech-generating device (SGD). The children averaged a greater number of activations when presented with a grid display during introductory exploration and free play. There was a large effect of the static overlay design on the number of silent hits, evidencing more silent hits with visual scene displays. On average, the children demonstrated relatively few spontaneous activations of the speech-generating device while the adult was reading, regardless of overlay design. When responding to questions, children with communication needs appeared to perform better when using visual scene displays, but the effect of display condition on the accuracy of responses to wh-questions was not statistically significant. In response to an open ended question, children with communication disorders demonstrated more frequent activations of the SGD using a grid display than a visual scene. Suggestions for future research as well as potential implications for designing AAC systems for shared reading with young children are discussed.

  15. Language differences in the brain network for reading in naturalistic story reading and lexical decision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaojuan; Yang, Jianfeng; Yang, Jie; Mencl, W Einar; Shu, Hua; Zevin, Jason David

    2015-01-01

    Differences in how writing systems represent language raise important questions about whether there could be a universal functional architecture for reading across languages. In order to study potential language differences in the neural networks that support reading skill, we collected fMRI data from readers of alphabetic (English) and morpho-syllabic (Chinese) writing systems during two reading tasks. In one, participants read short stories under conditions that approximate natural reading, and in the other, participants decided whether individual stimuli were real words or not. Prior work comparing these two writing systems has overwhelmingly used meta-linguistic tasks, generally supporting the conclusion that the reading system is organized differently for skilled readers of Chinese and English. We observed that language differences in the reading network were greatly dependent on task. In lexical decision, a pattern consistent with prior research was observed in which the Middle Frontal Gyrus (MFG) and right Fusiform Gyrus (rFFG) were more active for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior temporal sulcus was more active for English than for Chinese. We found a very different pattern of language effects in a naturalistic reading paradigm, during which significant differences were only observed in visual regions not typically considered specific to the reading network, and the middle temporal gyrus, which is thought to be important for direct mapping of orthography to semantics. Indeed, in areas that are often discussed as supporting distinct cognitive or linguistic functions between the two languages, we observed interaction. Specifically, language differences were most pronounced in MFG and rFFG during the lexical decision task, whereas no language differences were observed in these areas during silent reading of text for comprehension.

  16. Silent pituitary macroadenoma co-secreting growth hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sen, Orhan; Ertorer, M Eda; Aydin, M Volkan; Erdogan, Bulent; Altinors, Nur; Zorludemir, Suzan; Guvener, Nilgun

    2005-04-01

    Silent pituitary adenomas are a group of tumors showing heterogenous morphological features with no hormonal function observed clinically. To date no explanation has been provided as to why these tumors remain "silent". We report a case of a silent macroadenoma with both growth hormone (GH) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) staining and secretion but with no clinical manifestations, in particular, the absence of features of acromegaly or hyperthyroidism. The relevant literature is reviewed.

  17. Some Semi-Deep Thoughts about Deep Reading: Rejoinder to "Digital Technology and Student Cognitive Development: The Neuroscience of the University Classroom"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mannheimer, Steve

    2016-01-01

    The author of this thought-provoking article joins an impressive cohort of current commentators and scholars united in their concern over the state of the art of reading. Mostly, they are concerned with the sustained, silent, generally solitary process of reading in which the reader is deeply focused on and immersed in the text. Their fear is that…

  18. Silent stroke and advance in neuroimaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Okada, Yasushi; Sadoshima, Seizo; Hasuo, Kanehiro; Saku, Yoshisuke; Fujishima, Masatoshi (Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan). Faculty of Medicine)

    1990-10-01

    Recently, silent strokes are more frequently demonstrated by CT and MRI with the advance of neuroimaging. The infarcted lesions unrelated to the neurological symptoms were detected in 8, 30, 28, 34, 60, 63% of the patients with cerebral infarction in 1977-78, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, respectively, by CT and/or MRI, and the asymptomatic patients with incidentally diagnosed cerebral infarction were amounted to 16% (8 of 51 cases) in 1988. Of the recent 50 patients with cerebral infarction examined by CT and MRI, asymptomatic cerebrovascular lesions were detected in 25 (50%) by CT and in 35 (70%) by MRI. MRI also revealed asymptomatic old hemorrhage in 7 (14%). The clinical significance of silent stroke was discussed. (author).

  19. Examining Reliability of Reading Comprehension Ratings of Fifth Grade Students' Oral Retellings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernfeld, L. Elizabeth Shirley; Morrison, Timothy G.; Sudweeks, Richard R.; Wilcox, Brad

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to rate oral retellings of fifth graders to determine how passages, raters, and rating occasions affect those ratings, and to identify what combination of those elements produce reliable retelling ratings. A group of 36 fifth grade students read and orally retold three contemporary realistic fiction passages. Two…

  20. Left ventricular function abnormalities as a manifestation of silent myocardial ischemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, C R; Conti, C R; Pepine, C J

    1986-11-01

    A large body of evidence exists indicating that left ventricular dysfunction is a common occurrence in patients with severe coronary artery disease and represents silent or asymptomatic myocardial ischemia. Such dysfunction probably occurs early in the time course of every ischemic episode in patients with coronary artery disease whether symptoms are eventually manifested or not. The pathophysiology of silent versus symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction due to ischemia appears to be identical. Silent ischemia-related left ventricular dysfunction can be documented during spontaneous or stress-induced perturbations in the myocardial oxygen supply/demand ratio. It also may be detected by nitroglycerin-induced improvement in ventricular function or by salutary changes in wall motion following revascularization. Silent left ventricular dysfunction is a very early occurrence during ischemia and precedes electrocardiographic abnormalities. In this light, its existence should always be kept in mind when dealing with patients with ischemic heart disease. It can be hypothesized that because silent ischemia appears to be identical to ischemia with symptoms in a pathophysiologic sense, prognosis and treatment in both cases should be the same.

  1. EFFICACY OF METOPROLOL AND DILTIAZEM IN TREATING SILENT-MYOCARDIAL-ISCHEMIA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    PORTEGIES, MCM; SIJBRING, P; GOBEL, JAM; VIERSMA, JW; LIE, KI

    1994-01-01

    Recent studies strongly support the prognostic importance of transient silent ischemia. Because patients with silent ischemia are at higher risk of a cardiac event, they are likely to benefit not only from control of symptoms, but also from treatment directed at prevention of ischemia. The efficacy

  2. (In-)Secure messaging with the Silent Circle instant messaging protocol

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verschoor, S.R.; Lange, T.

    2016-01-01

    Silent Text, the instant messaging application by the company Silent Circle, provides its users with end-to-end encrypted communication on the Blackphone and other smartphones. The underlying protocol, SCimp, has received many extensions during the update to version 2, but has not been subjected to

  3. Typical and atypical (silent) subacute thyroiditis in a wife and husband

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morrison, J.; Caplan, R.H.

    1978-01-01

    Typical subacute thyroiditis was diagnosed in a woman. Three weeks later, signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism developed in her husband. Although the right lobe of his thyroid gland was slightly enlarged, pain and tenderness were absent throughout the course of his illness. The free thyroxine equivalent (FTE) value and the sedimentation rate were elevated; the low uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland was consistent with ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. We postulate that a common etiology, probably viral, was operative in both cases. Nine additional cases of hyperthyroidism with low levels of thyroidal uptake of radioactive iodine are described. The thyroid glands of these patients were normal or slightly enlarged. Antithyroglobulin antibody levels determined in seven patients were not substantially elevated. The clinical course of these patients was characteristic of ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. Although the origin of the syndrome remains unclear, the disease is self-limited and therapy, if any, is supportive

  4. Typical and atypical (silent) subacute thyroiditis in a wife and husband

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morrison, J.; Caplan, R.H.

    1978-01-01

    Typical subacute thyroiditis was diagnosed in a woman. Three weeks later, signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism developed in her husband. Although the right lobe of his thyroid gland was slightly enlarged, pain and tenderness were absent throughout the course of his illness. The free thyroxine equivalent (FTE) value and the sedimentation rate were elevated; the low uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland was consistent with ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. We postulate that a common etiology, probably viral, was operative in both cases. Nine additional cases of hyperthyroidism with low levels of thyroidal uptake of radioactive iodine are described. The thyroid glands of these patients were normal or slightly enlarged. Antithyroglobulin antibody levels determined in seven patients were not substantially elevated. The clinical course of these patients was characteristic of ''silent'' subacute thyroiditis. Although the origin of the syndrome remains unclear, the disease is self-limited and therapy, if any, is supportive.

  5. Recurrent Silent Thyroiditis as a Sequela of Postpartum Thyroiditis

    OpenAIRE

    Hanseree, Preaw; Salvador, Vincent Bryan; Sachmechi, Issac; Kim, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Thyroiditis encompasses a group of disorders characterized by thyroid inflammation. Though clinically indistinguishable from silent thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis occurs in women within 12 months after delivery. Recurrent postpartum thyroiditis in subsequent pregnancies is common, but recurrent silent thyroiditis is rare. We reported a case of patient with recurrent episodes of thyroiditis, unrelated to pregnancy, after an episode of postpartum thyroiditis. It is of interest that postpar...

  6. Language differences in the brain network for reading in naturalistic story reading and lexical decision.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaojuan Wang

    Full Text Available Differences in how writing systems represent language raise important questions about whether there could be a universal functional architecture for reading across languages. In order to study potential language differences in the neural networks that support reading skill, we collected fMRI data from readers of alphabetic (English and morpho-syllabic (Chinese writing systems during two reading tasks. In one, participants read short stories under conditions that approximate natural reading, and in the other, participants decided whether individual stimuli were real words or not. Prior work comparing these two writing systems has overwhelmingly used meta-linguistic tasks, generally supporting the conclusion that the reading system is organized differently for skilled readers of Chinese and English. We observed that language differences in the reading network were greatly dependent on task. In lexical decision, a pattern consistent with prior research was observed in which the Middle Frontal Gyrus (MFG and right Fusiform Gyrus (rFFG were more active for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior temporal sulcus was more active for English than for Chinese. We found a very different pattern of language effects in a naturalistic reading paradigm, during which significant differences were only observed in visual regions not typically considered specific to the reading network, and the middle temporal gyrus, which is thought to be important for direct mapping of orthography to semantics. Indeed, in areas that are often discussed as supporting distinct cognitive or linguistic functions between the two languages, we observed interaction. Specifically, language differences were most pronounced in MFG and rFFG during the lexical decision task, whereas no language differences were observed in these areas during silent reading of text for comprehension.

  7. An evaluation of the nursing success program: reading comprehension, graduation rates, and diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Symes, Lene; Tart, Kathryn; Travis, Lucille

    2005-01-01

    The Nursing Success Program was developed to enhance retention of baccalaureate nursing students. Reading comprehension scores are used to identify students who are at risk for failure and direct them into the retention program that addresses their skill deficits. To evaluate the program, the authors assessed reading comprehension, graduation rates, and ethnic diversity.

  8. Silent Conversations in the Labyrinth of Artistic Research and Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eis, Andrea

    2013-01-01

    This essay explores silent conversations with the past, but also navigates through the labyrinth of artistic process, with its manifold passages of research, chance occurrence and aesthetic experimentation. The double metaphors of silent conversations and labyrinths apply to the essay and the artwork within it, to the research and to the practice.…

  9. Not all reading is alike: Task modulation of magnetic evoked response to visual word

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    Pavlova A. A.

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Background. Previous studies have shown that brain response to a written word depends on the task: whether the word is a target in a version of lexical decision task or should be read silently. Although this effect has been interpreted as an evidence for an interaction between word recognition processes and task demands, it also may be caused by greater attention allocation to the target word. Objective. We aimed to examine the task effect on brain response evoked by non- target written words. Design. Using MEG and magnetic source imaging, we compared spatial-temporal pattern of brain response elicited by a noun cue when it was read silently either without additional task (SR or with a requirement to produce an associated verb (VG. Results.The task demands penetrated into early (200-300 ms and late (500-800 ms stages of a word processing by enhancing brain response under VG versus SR condition. The cortical sources of the early response were localized to bilateral inferior occipitotemporal and anterior temporal cortex suggesting that more demanding VG task required elaborated lexical-semantic analysis. The late effect was observed in the associative auditory areas in middle and superior temporal gyri and in motor representation of articulators. Our results suggest that a remote goal plays a pivotal role in enhanced recruitment of cortical structures underlying orthographic, semantic and sensorimotor dimensions of written word perception from the early processing stages. Surprisingly, we found that to fulfil a more challenging goal the brain progressively engaged resources of the right hemisphere throughout all stages of silent reading. Conclusion. Our study demonstrates that a deeper processing of linguistic input amplifies activation of brain areas involved in integration of speech perception and production. This is consistent with theories that emphasize the role of sensorimotor integration in speech understanding.

  10. The Effect of a Specialized Dyslexia Font, Opendyslexic, on Reading Rate and Accuracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wery, Jessica J.; Diliberto, Jennifer A.

    2017-01-01

    A single-subject alternating treatment design was used to investigate the extent to which a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, impacted reading rate or accuracy compared to two commonly used fonts when used with elementary students identified as having dyslexia. OpenDyslexic was compared to Arial and Times New Roman in three reading tasks:…

  11. Correlation between increased platelet ADP aggregability and silent brain infarcts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ono, Kenichiro; Arimoto, Hirohiko; Shirotani, Toshiki

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between platelet aggregability and silent brain infarcts. The study subjects were 445 people (264 men, 181 women; mean age, 53±14 years) with no neurologic signs, history of brain tumor, trauma, cerebrovascular disease, or antiplatelet medications. Adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation was measured by the aggregation-size analytic method. Platelet aggregability was classified into 9 classes. The presence of headache/vertigo, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, or smoking was elicited by questioning or blood sampling. A head MRI scan was performed, and if marked atherosclerosis or obvious stenosis in the intracranial vessels was detected, it was defined as a positive MR angiography (MRA) finding. Silent brain infarcts were detected in 26.3% of subjects. Hyperaggregability defined as that above class 6, 7, and 8 was present in 43.8%, 30.8%, and 15.7% of subjects, respectively. The risk factors for silent brain infarcts by multiple logistic regression analysis were aging, hypertension, positive MRA findings, and hyperaggregability. Platelet ADP hyperaggregability might be a risk factor for silent brain infarcts. (author)

  12. Silent (painless) thyroiditis. Evidence of a geographic variation in frequency

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vitug, A.C.; Goldman, J.M.

    1985-03-01

    Recent reports suggest that 14% to 23% of thyrotoxic patients have silent (painless) thyroiditis, a newly described syndrome characterized by transient thyrotoxicosis with a low radioactive iodine uptake. A three-year review at a Brooklyn (NY) hospital showed only one definite and three possible cases of silent thyroiditis among 86 thyrotoxic patients. At most, 4% to 5% of thyrotoxic patients had silent thyroiditis. The authors suggest a geographic variation in this syndrome. Most cases and the largest series are from Japan and the Great Lakes area of North America. The latter may be related to increased iodine intake over many years in a previously endemic area of hypoiodidism and goiter, although other local factors may also be involved.

  13. Silent (painless) thyroiditis. Evidence of a geographic variation in frequency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vitug, A.C.; Goldman, J.M.

    1985-01-01

    Recent reports suggest that 14% to 23% of thyrotoxic patients have silent (painless) thyroiditis, a newly described syndrome characterized by transient thyrotoxicosis with a low radioactive iodine uptake. A three-year review at a Brooklyn (NY) hospital showed only one definite and three possible cases of silent thyroiditis among 86 thyrotoxic patients. At most, 4% to 5% of thyrotoxic patients had silent thyroiditis. The authors suggest a geographic variation in this syndrome. Most cases and the largest series are from Japan and the Great Lakes area of North America. The latter may be related to increased iodine intake over many years in a previously endemic area of hypoiodidism and goiter, although other local factors may also be involved

  14. The Role of RAN and Reading Rate in Predicting Reading Self-Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasperski, Ronen; Shany, Michal; Katzir, Tami

    2016-01-01

    Social identity theory states that a person's self-concept is created from comparison with others (Walsh & Gordon, 2008). In the case of reading, oral reading is a salient feature young children have to compare themselves on to their classroom peer group. The current study was set to explore the ability of oral reading tasks such as rapid…

  15. Migraine with aura and silent brain infarcts lack of mediation of patent foramen ovale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calviere, L; Tall, P; Massabuau, P; Bonneville, F; Larrue, V

    2013-12-01

    Population-based studies have shown a heightened prevalence of clinically silent brain infarcts in subjects who have migraine with aura (MA). We sought to determine whether this association could be confirmed in young patients with cryptogenic ischemic stroke, and explored the role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) as a potential underlying mechanism. Patients were selected from a registry of young patients consecutively treated for ischemic stroke in a tertiary university hospital among those without definite cause of stroke. Patients with PFO were matched for age and gender with patients with normal atrial septum. Migraine and MA were evaluated after patient selection and matching. Silent brain infarcts were independently evaluated on MRI. We included 100 patients [60 men; mean age (SD), 44.8 years (8.3)], 50 patients with PFO. We found silent brain infarcts in 36 patients and MA in 13 patients. MA was more frequent in patients with silent brain infarcts than in patients without silent brain infarcts (25.0% vs. 6.3%; OR, 5; 95% CI, 1.4-17.6; P = 0.01). Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were not associated with silent brain infarcts. PFO was neither associated with MA (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 0.5-5.3) nor silent brain infarcts (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.3-1.5). The association of MA with silent brain infarcts was not altered after adjustment for PFO. Findings suggest that silent brain infarcts in young patients with cryptogenic stroke is associated with MA. We found no evidence for a mediating effect of PFO on this association. © 2013 The Author(s) European Journal of Neurology © 2013 EFNS.

  16. The prevalence and the clinical characteristics of silent myocardial ischemia detected by stress thallium scintigraphy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuo, Hitoshi; Watanabe, Sachiro; Nishida, Yoshio

    1992-01-01

    The prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia was retrospectively assessed in a group of 100 consecutive patients with angiographically proved coronary artery disease, and diagnostic ECG, by symptom-limited exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy. Twenty-four patients had no evidence of ischemia despite adequate exercise level. So among 76 patients with exercise induced ischemia, only 33 patients (43%) stopped exercise due to anginal pain (symptomatic ischemia: Group 3). And 43 patients with asymptomatic ischemia composed of 23 patients (30%) with ECG change (Group 2B) and 20 patients (26%) without ECG change (Group 2A). Patients background including the history of old myocardial infarction and diabetes mellitus, were similar among Group 2A, 2B, and Group 3. Our Major observation was that the extent and severity of quantified SPECT perfusion defects was nearly identified between 3 groups. Thus in this study group, there was a rather high prevalence rate of silent ischemia (57%) by exercise thallium-201 criteria. Patients with silent ischemia, associated with positive and negative exercise ECG findings, and those with exercise angina had similar background and comparable amount of jeopardized myocardium. (author)

  17. An investigation of the reduction of carbon dioxide in a silent electric discharge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luce, R. S.; Greenough, B. (Editor)

    1978-01-01

    The reduction of CO2 to O2 and CO in a silent electric discharge was studied. It was found that current alone (in the ionized plasma induced by the silent electric discharge) was reponsible for the CO2 reduction process. Voltage and frequency were important only in so far as they induced current in the plasma. Pressure and temperature were of minimum influence in the process. The large power consumption in the process was recognized as resulting from the low power factor of the reactor vessel which electrically behaved like a capacitor. The power factor was subsequently improved by adding an inductive element to make the reactor vessel capacitance part of a resonant circuit. It was found that the CO2 reduction process was most efficient in terms of power vs reduction rate when a voltage was employed that was only slightly higher than that needed to induce the plasma.

  18. Contextual Modulation of Reading Rate for Direct versus Indirect Speech Quotations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Bo; Scheepers, Christoph

    2011-01-01

    In human communication, direct speech (e.g., "Mary said: "I'm hungry"") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., "Mary said [that] she was hungry"). However, the processing consequences of this distinction are largely unclear. In two experiments, participants were asked to either orally (Experiment 1) or silently (Experiment 2,…

  19. Investigating the Effects of Repeated Reading and NLP : Language Patterns on Reading Rate

    OpenAIRE

    Ben, Backwell; Brian, Cullen

    2018-01-01

    This paper investigates EFL student reading speed and describes a quasi-experimental study that attempted to quantify the effects of repeated reading and the use of NLP language patterns in the instructions. An experimental group (n=30) and a control group (n=30) carried out the same timed reading activity three times each lesson for five lessons. The instructions for the experimental group included NLP language patterns designed to promote faster reading. It was shown that the repeated readi...

  20. Effects of nitrogen application rate and leaf age on the distribution pattern of leaf SPAD readings in the rice canopy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hu Yang

    Full Text Available A Soil-Plant Analysis Development (SPAD chlorophyll meter can be used as a simple tool for evaluating N concentration of the leaf and investigating the combined effects of nitrogen rate and leaf age on N distribution. We conducted experiments in a paddy field over two consecutive years (2008-2009 using rice plants treated with six different N application levels. N distribution pattern was determined by SPAD readings based on the temporal dynamics of N concentrations in individual leaves. At 62 days after transplantation (DAT in 2008 and DAT 60 in 2009, leaf SPAD readings increased from the upper to lower in the rice canopy that received N levels of 150 to 375 kg ha(-1The differences in SPAD readings between the upper and lower leaf were larger under higher N application rates. However, as plants grew, this atypical distribution of SPAD readings in canopy leaf quickly reversed to the general order. In addition, temporal dynamics of the leaf SPAD readings (N concentrations were fitted to a piecewise function. In our model, changes in leaf SPAD readings were divided into three stages: growth, functioning, and senescence periods. The leaf growth period lasted approximately 6 days, and cumulative growing days were not affected by N application rates. The leaf functioning period was represented with a relatively stable SPAD reading related to N application rate, and cumulative growing days were extended with increasing N application rates. A quadratic equation was utilized to describe the relationship between SPAD readings and leaf age during the leaf senescence period. The rate of decrease in SPAD readings increased with the age of leaves, but the rate was slowed by N application. As leaves in the lower canopy were physiologically older than leaves in the upper canopy, the rate of decrease in SPAD readings was faster in the lower leaves.

  1. Distinct transmitter release properties determine differences in short-term plasticity at functional and silent synapses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabezas, Carolina; Buño, Washington

    2006-05-01

    Recent evidence suggests that functional and silent synapses are not only postsynaptically different but also presynaptically distinct. The presynaptic differences may be of functional importance in memory formation because a proposed mechanism for long-term potentiation is the conversion of silent synapses into functional ones. However, there is little direct experimentally evidence of these differences. We have investigated the transmitter release properties of functional and silent Schaffer collateral synapses and show that on the average functional synapses displayed a lower percentage of failures and higher excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) amplitudes than silent synapses at +60 mV. Moreover, functional but not silent synapses show paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) at +60 mV and thus presynaptic short-term plasticity will be distinct in the two types of synapse. We examined whether intraterminal endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ stores influenced the release properties of these synapses. Ryanodine (100 microM) and thapsigargin (1 microM) increased the percentage of failures and decreased both the EPSC amplitude and PPF in functional synapses. Caffeine (10 mM) had the opposite effects. In contrast, silent synapses were insensitive to both ryanodine and caffeine. Hence we have identified differences in the release properties of functional and silent synapses, suggesting that synaptic terminals of functional synapses express regulatory molecular mechanisms that are absent in silent synapses.

  2. Analysis of read-out heating rate effects on the glow peaks of TLD-100 using WinGCF software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bauk, Sabar, E-mail: sabar@usm.my [Physics Section, School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang (Malaysia); Hussin, Siti Fatimah [School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang (Malaysia); Alam, Md. Shah [Physics Section, School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang (Malaysia); Physics Department, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet (Bangladesh)

    2016-01-22

    This study was done to analyze the effects of the read-out heating rate on the LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100) thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) glow peaks using WinGCF computer software. The TLDs were exposed to X-ray photons with a potential difference of 72 kVp and 200 mAs in air and were read-out using a Harshaw 3500 TLD reader. The TLDs were read-out using four read-out heating rates at 10, 7, 4 and 1 °C s{sup −1}. It was observed that lowering the heating rate could separate more glow peaks. The activation energy for peak 5 was found to be lower than that for peak 4. The peak maximum temperature and the integral value of the main peak decreased as the heating rate decreases.

  3. Patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading in Portuguese

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Senaha M.L.H.

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available According to the concepts of cognitive neuropsychology, there are two principal routes of reading processing: a lexical route, in which global reading of words occurs and a phonological route, responsible for the conversion of the graphemes into their respective phonemes. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI was used to investigate the patterns of cerebral activation in lexical and phonological reading by 13 healthy women with a formal educational level greater than 11 years. Participants were submitted to a silent reading task containing three types of stimuli: real words (irregular and foreign words, nonwords and illegitimate graphic stimuli. An increased number of activated voxels were identified by fMRI in the word reading (lexical processing than in the nonword reading (phonological processing task. In word reading, activation was greater than for nonwords in the following areas: superior, middle and inferior frontal gyri, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right cerebellum and the left precentral gyrus, as indicated by fMRI. In the reading of nonwords, the activation was predominant in the right cerebellum and in the left superior temporal gyrus. The results of the present study suggest the existence of differences in the patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading, with greater involvement of the right hemisphere in reading words than nonwords.

  4. Silent Speech Recognition as an Alternative Communication Device for Persons with Laryngectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meltzner, Geoffrey S; Heaton, James T; Deng, Yunbin; De Luca, Gianluca; Roy, Serge H; Kline, Joshua C

    2017-12-01

    Each year thousands of individuals require surgical removal of their larynx (voice box) due to trauma or disease, and thereby require an alternative voice source or assistive device to verbally communicate. Although natural voice is lost after laryngectomy, most muscles controlling speech articulation remain intact. Surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity of speech musculature can be recorded from the neck and face, and used for automatic speech recognition to provide speech-to-text or synthesized speech as an alternative means of communication. This is true even when speech is mouthed or spoken in a silent (subvocal) manner, making it an appropriate communication platform after laryngectomy. In this study, 8 individuals at least 6 months after total laryngectomy were recorded using 8 sEMG sensors on their face (4) and neck (4) while reading phrases constructed from a 2,500-word vocabulary. A unique set of phrases were used for training phoneme-based recognition models for each of the 39 commonly used phonemes in English, and the remaining phrases were used for testing word recognition of the models based on phoneme identification from running speech. Word error rates were on average 10.3% for the full 8-sensor set (averaging 9.5% for the top 4 participants), and 13.6% when reducing the sensor set to 4 locations per individual (n=7). This study provides a compelling proof-of-concept for sEMG-based alaryngeal speech recognition, with the strong potential to further improve recognition performance.

  5. The clinical dilemma of "silent desensitization" in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Andrew A; Bosso, John V; Stevenson, Donald D

    2013-01-01

    Aspirin desensitization is a treatment option for patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Some patients with an excellent history of aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) reactions have negative aspirin challenges/desensitization. This study discusses the clinical entity of silent desensitization in AERD and the dilemma that this presents to the practicing allergist/immunologist. We discuss a series of patients with a strong history of NSAID reactions who initially underwent a negative challenge/silent desensitization. These patients were subsequently proven to have AERD after a second positive aspirin challenge. Silent desensitization is an uncommon but important outcome to recognize in AERD. Clinicians performing aspirin desensitization should understand that this can occur and consider a second confirmatory aspirin challenge in some patients.

  6. Processing rhythmic pattern during Chinese sentence reading: An eye movement study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yingyi eLuo

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Prosodic constraints play a fundamental role during both spoken sentence comprehension and silent reading. In Chinese, the rhythmic pattern of the verb-object (V-O combination has been found to rapidly affect the semantic access/integration process during sentence reading (Luo and Zhou, 2010. Rhythmic pattern refers to the combination of words with different syllabic lengths, with certain combinations disallowed (e.g., [2+1]; numbers standing for the number of syllables of the verb and the noun respectively and certain combinations preferred (e.g., [1+1] or [2+2]. This constraint extends to the situation in which the combination is used to modify other words. A V-O phrase could modify a noun by simply preceding it, forming a V-O-N compound; when the verb is disyllabic, however, the word order has to be O-V-N and the object is preferred to be disyllabic. In this study, we investigated how the reader processes the rhythmic pattern and word order information by recording the reader’s eye-movements. We created four types of sentences by crossing rhythmic pattern and word order in compounding. The compound, embedding a disyllabic verb, could be in the correct O-V-N or the incorrect V-O-N order; the object could be disyllabic or monosyllabic. We found that the reader spent more time and made more regressions on and after the compounds when either type of anomaly was detected during the first pass reading. However, during re-reading (after all the words in the sentence have been viewed, less regressive eye movements were found for the anomalous rhythmic pattern, relative to the correct pattern; moreover, only the abnormal rhythmic pattern, not the violated word order, influenced the regressive eye movements. These results suggest that while the processing of rhythmic pattern and word order information occurs rapidly during the initial reading of the sentence, the process of recovering from the rhythmic pattern anomaly may ease the reanalysis

  7. Processing Rhythmic Pattern during Chinese Sentence Reading: An Eye Movement Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Yingyi; Duan, Yunyan; Zhou, Xiaolin

    2015-01-01

    Prosodic constraints play a fundamental role during both spoken sentence comprehension and silent reading. In Chinese, the rhythmic pattern of the verb-object (V-O) combination has been found to rapidly affect the semantic access/integration process during sentence reading (Luo and Zhou, 2010). Rhythmic pattern refers to the combination of words with different syllabic lengths, with certain combinations disallowed (e.g., [2 + 1]; numbers standing for the number of syllables of the verb and the noun respectively) and certain combinations preferred (e.g., [1 + 1] or [2 + 2]). This constraint extends to the situation in which the combination is used to modify other words. A V-O phrase could modify a noun by simply preceding it, forming a V-O-N compound; when the verb is disyllabic, however, the word order has to be O-V-N and the object is preferred to be disyllabic. In this study, we investigated how the reader processes the rhythmic pattern and word order information by recording the reader's eye-movements. We created four types of sentences by crossing rhythmic pattern and word order in compounding. The compound, embedding a disyllabic verb, could be in the correct O-V-N or the incorrect V-O-N order; the object could be disyllabic or monosyllabic. We found that the reader spent more time and made more regressions on and after the compounds when either type of anomaly was detected during the first pass reading. However, during re-reading (after all the words in the sentence have been viewed), less regressive eye movements were found for the anomalous rhythmic pattern, relative to the correct pattern; moreover, only the abnormal rhythmic pattern, not the violated word order, influenced the regressive eye movements. These results suggest that while the processing of rhythmic pattern and word order information occurs rapidly during the initial reading of the sentence, the process of recovering from the rhythmic pattern anomaly may ease the reanalysis processing at the

  8. Effect of Kanji and Kana reading on cerebral blood flow patterns measured by PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiyosawa, Motohiro; Itoh, Masatoshi; Nakagawa, Youichi; Kobayashi, Naoki; Tamai, Makoto.

    1995-01-01

    To investigate the respective functions of pathways in processing visual information from different types of symbols, by positron emission tomography (PET) we examined the effect on cerebral blood flow (CBF) of reading the Japanese morphogram (kanji) versus the syllabogram (kana). Nine Japanese men were presented with three visual conditions in random order 2 minutes before the scan: eyes open controls, kanji morphogram reading, and kana syllabogram reading. Three words written in kanji or kana were shown, and subjects were instructed to read them silently and to identify the word unrelated logically to the other two. The reading and analyzing tasks activated wide areas of vision-related cortices. The comparison of the kanji and kana readings showed higher metabolism, with the former only in the posterior part of the primary visual cortex. Most of the CBF increases were common for both stimuli, although the patterns of these increases differed slightly. The correlation matrix of CBF change in the left hemisphere showed a ventral connection in kanji reading and a dorsal connection in kana reading. Our results suggest there is a functional differentiation in the brain between patterned and sequential perception when reading Japanese morphograms and syllabograms. (author)

  9. Silent method for mathematics instruction: An overview of teaching subsets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugiman, Apino, Ezi

    2017-05-01

    Generally, teachers use oral communication for teaching mathematics. Taking an opposite perspective, this paper describes how instructional practices for mathematics can be carried out namely a silent method. Silent method uses body language, written, and oral communication for classroom interaction. This research uses a design research approach consisting of four phases: preliminary, prototyping and developing the instruction, and assessment. There are four stages of silent method. The first stage is conditioning stage in which the teacher introduces the method and makes agreement about the `rule of the game'. It is followed by the second one, elaborating stage, where students guess and explore alternative answers. The third stage is developing mathematical thinking by structuring and symbolizing. Finally, the method is ended by reinforcing stage which aims at strengthening and reflecting student's understanding. In this paper, every stage is described on the basis of practical experiences in a real mathematics classroom setting.

  10. Screening for silent myocardial ischemia caseof diabetics : interest of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bahri, Haifa

    2007-01-01

    Silent myocardial ischemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Its diagnosis by noninvasive means such as myocardial SPECT would improve the management of these patients. The purpose of this study is to assess the frequency of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic diabetics and their evolution. As a result, the myocardial SPECT is a reliable tool for screening for silent myocardial ischemia in diabetic patients. Its prognostic value allows to stratify the cardiac risk and guide therapeutic management. Its integration into a screening strategy in Tunisia seems limited by its low availability and cost. The latter could be reduced by better patient selection.

  11. Eye movement analysis of reading from computer displays, eReaders and printed books.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zambarbieri, Daniela; Carniglia, Elena

    2012-09-01

    To compare eye movements during silent reading of three eBooks and a printed book. The three different eReading tools were a desktop PC, iPad tablet and Kindle eReader. Video-oculographic technology was used for recording eye movements. In the case of reading from the computer display the recordings were made by a video camera placed below the computer screen, whereas for reading from the iPad tablet, eReader and printed book the recording system was worn by the subject and had two cameras: one for recording the movement of the eyes and the other for recording the scene in front of the subject. Data analysis provided quantitative information in terms of number of fixations, their duration, and the direction of the movement, the latter to distinguish between fixations and regressions. Mean fixation duration was different only in reading from the computer display, and was similar for the Tablet, eReader and printed book. The percentage of regressions with respect to the total amount of fixations was comparable for eReading tools and the printed book. The analysis of eye movements during reading an eBook from different eReading tools suggests that subjects' reading behaviour is similar to reading from a printed book. © 2012 The College of Optometrists.

  12. Silent ischemic brain lesions after transcatheter aortic valve replacement : lesion distribution and predictors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Samim, Mariam; Hendrikse, Jeroen; van der Worp, H. Bart; Agostoni, Pierfrancesco; Nijhoff, Freek; Doevendans, Pieter A.; Stella, Pieter R.

    Silent ischemic brain lesions and ischemic stroke are known complications of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). We aimed to investigate the occurrence and distribution of TAVR-related silent ischemic brain lesions using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI). Consecutive

  13. Generational differences in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in the context of chronic diseases and pain: baby boomers versus the silent generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Tiffany F; Rowland-Seymour, Anastasia; Frankel, Eitan S; Li, Susan Q; Mao, Jun J

    2014-01-01

    More people are supplementing conventional medicine with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), but studies have not compared CAM use between baby boomers (adults born from 1946 to 1964) and the so-called silent generation (born from 1925 to 1945). This study compares CAM usage between baby boomers (n = 7734) and the silent generation (n = 4682) through secondary analyses of the 2007 National Health Interview Survey data. The analysis also compares chronic disease and pain status. Multivariate logistic regression models were developed to identify generational differences. Although the silent generation reported twice as many chronic disease (51.3% vs 26.1%; P painful conditions (56.1% vs 52.2%; P CAM within the past year (43.1% vs 35.4%; P CAM than adults from the silent generation. Chronic pain status was independently associated with greater CAM use (adjusted odds ratio, 2.26; 95% confidence interval, 2.03-2.52). Baby boomers reported significantly higher rates of CAM use than the silent generation for both chronic diseases and painful conditions. Family physicians caring for the aging population must use patient-centered communication about the risks/benefits of CAM, which is necessary to promote effective coping with chronic illnesses and pain. © Copyright 2014 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  14. Production improves memory equivalently following elaborative vs non-elaborative processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forrin, Noah D; Jonker, Tanya R; MacLeod, Colin M

    2014-01-01

    Words that are read aloud are better remembered than those read silently. Recent research has suggested that, rather than reflecting a benefit for produced items, this production effect may reflect a cost to reading silently in a list containing both aloud and silent items (Bodner, Taikh, & Fawcett, 2013). This cost is argued to occur because silent items are lazily read, receiving less attention than aloud items which require an overt response. We examined the possible role of lazy reading in the production effect by testing whether the effect would be reduced under elaborative encoding, which precludes lazy reading of silent items. Contrary to a lazy reading account, we found that production benefited generated words as much as read words (Experiment 1) and deeply imagined words as much as shallowly imagined words (Experiment 2). We conclude that production stands out as equally distinct-and consequently as equally memorable-regardless of whether it accompanies deep or shallow processing, evidence that is inconsistent with a lazy reading account.

  15. Purely Magnetic Silent Universes do not Exist

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vu, K. T.; Carminati, J.

    2008-09-01

    We present a new Maple package called STeM (Symbolic Tetrad Manipulation). Using STeM, we outline, using a formalism which is a hybrid of the NP and Orthonormal ones, the proof of the nonexistence of purely magnetic silent universes.

  16. Silent Thyroiditis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Peter

    1984-01-01

    Silent or painless thyroiditis is a frequent cause of transient hyperthyroidism, which is characterized by recent onset of symptoms in a patient with a normal to modestly enlarged and firm thyroid gland. The hallmarks of the disease are the absence of thyroidal pain or tenderness and a markedly reduced radioiodine uptake. Histologically, the gland is characterized by an important lymphocytic infiltration, occasionally to the point of lymphoid follicle formation. However, other indices of an autoimmune cause are usually absent. The disease appears to have a predilection for the postpartum period. Relapses may occur with subsequent pregnancies. Otherwise, the course is usually benign and transient, requiring moderate doses of β-adrenergic blocking agents for symptomatic relief. No pathogenetic factors are known, but the disease may conceivably have an autoimmune basis, particularly in the postpartum patient. PMID:21278944

  17. Silent Film in the German Classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caldwell, David

    In addition to using films in the German classroom to introduce students to German culture and history, it is important to show and study the film as film. This procedure emphasizes the importance of the film as a part of creative arts in Germany and demands student participation in observation and discussion. Many German silent films are…

  18. Silent Corticotroph Adenomas After Stereotactic Radiosurgery: A Case–Control Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Zhiyuan; Ellis, Scott; Lee, Cheng-Chia; Starke, Robert M.; Schlesinger, David; Lee Vance, Mary; Lopes, M. Beatriz; Sheehan, Jason

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To investigate the safety and effectiveness of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with a silent corticotroph adenoma (SCA) compared with patients with other subtypes of non–adrenocorticotropic hormone staining nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFA). Methods and Materials: The clinical features and outcomes of 104 NFA patients treated with SRS in our center between September 1994 and August 2012 were evaluated. Among them, 34 consecutive patients with a confirmatory SCA were identified. A control group of 70 patients with other subtypes of NFA were selected for review based on comparable baseline features, including sex, age at the time of SRS, tumor size, margin radiation dose to the tumor, and duration of follow-up. Results: The median follow-up after SRS was 56 months (range, 6-200 months). No patients with an SCA developed Cushing disease during the follow-up. Tumor control was achieved in 21 of 34 patients (62%) in the SCA group, compared with 65 of 70 patients (93%) in the NFA group. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 58 months in the SCA group. The actuarial PFS was 73%, 46%, and 31% in the SCA group and was 94%, 87%, and 87% in the NFA group at 3, 5, and 8 years, respectively. Silent corticotroph adenomas treated with a dose of ≥17 Gy exhibited improved PFS. New-onset loss of pituitary function developed in 10 patients (29%) in the SCA group, whereas it occurred in 18 patients (26%) in the NFA group. Eight patients (24%) in the SCA group experienced worsening of a visual field deficit or visual acuity attributed to the tumor progression, as did 6 patients (9%) in the NFA group. Conclusion: Silent corticotroph adenomas exhibited a more aggressive course with a higher progression rate than other subtypes of NFAs. Stereotactic radiosurgery is an important adjuvant treatment for control of tumor growth. Increased radiation dose may lead to improved tumor control in SCA patients

  19. Silent Corticotroph Adenomas After Stereotactic Radiosurgery: A Case–Control Study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xu, Zhiyuan; Ellis, Scott; Lee, Cheng-Chia; Starke, Robert M. [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Schlesinger, David [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Lee Vance, Mary [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Lopes, M. Beatriz [Division of Neuropathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Sheehan, Jason, E-mail: jsheehan@virginia.edu [Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States)

    2014-11-15

    Purpose: To investigate the safety and effectiveness of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with a silent corticotroph adenoma (SCA) compared with patients with other subtypes of non–adrenocorticotropic hormone staining nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFA). Methods and Materials: The clinical features and outcomes of 104 NFA patients treated with SRS in our center between September 1994 and August 2012 were evaluated. Among them, 34 consecutive patients with a confirmatory SCA were identified. A control group of 70 patients with other subtypes of NFA were selected for review based on comparable baseline features, including sex, age at the time of SRS, tumor size, margin radiation dose to the tumor, and duration of follow-up. Results: The median follow-up after SRS was 56 months (range, 6-200 months). No patients with an SCA developed Cushing disease during the follow-up. Tumor control was achieved in 21 of 34 patients (62%) in the SCA group, compared with 65 of 70 patients (93%) in the NFA group. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 58 months in the SCA group. The actuarial PFS was 73%, 46%, and 31% in the SCA group and was 94%, 87%, and 87% in the NFA group at 3, 5, and 8 years, respectively. Silent corticotroph adenomas treated with a dose of ≥17 Gy exhibited improved PFS. New-onset loss of pituitary function developed in 10 patients (29%) in the SCA group, whereas it occurred in 18 patients (26%) in the NFA group. Eight patients (24%) in the SCA group experienced worsening of a visual field deficit or visual acuity attributed to the tumor progression, as did 6 patients (9%) in the NFA group. Conclusion: Silent corticotroph adenomas exhibited a more aggressive course with a higher progression rate than other subtypes of NFAs. Stereotactic radiosurgery is an important adjuvant treatment for control of tumor growth. Increased radiation dose may lead to improved tumor control in SCA patients.

  20. STUDY OF IMMUNITY TO POLIOVIRUSES ON CERTAIN "SILENT" TERRITORIES OF RUSSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. I. Romanenkova

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract. The degree of immunity to polioviruses of three serotypes among children of different ages was analysed on certain "controlled" and "silent" territories of Russia in different periods of Polio Eradication Initiative. It was shown that the levels of immunity of children’s population to polioviruses on "controlled" and "silent" territories had no significant difference. It was stated that on the phase which preceded the certification for the absence of circulation of wild polioviruses, when the National Immunisation Days were conducted in the country, the percentage of eronegative children to polioviruses of different serotypes was low on all the territories of Russia. After Russia as a part of the WHO European region was certified as a polio free country and mass immunisation was stopped thepercentage of seronegative children increased, especially to poliovirus of serotype 3, both on the "controlled" and on the "silent" territories.

  1. What oral text reading fluency can reveal about reading comprehension

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veenendaal, N.J.; Groen, M.A.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2015-01-01

    Text reading fluency – the ability to read quickly, accurately and with a natural intonation – has been proposed as a predictor of reading comprehension. In the current study, we examined the role of oral text reading fluency, defined as text reading rate and text reading prosody, as a contributor

  2. Improvement of ozone yield by a multi-discharge type ozonizer using superposition of silent discharge plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Hyun-Jig; Chun, Byung-Joon; Lee, Kwang-Sik

    2004-01-01

    In order to improve ozone generation, we experimentally investigated the silent discharge plasma and ozone generation characteristics of a multi-discharge type ozonizer. Ozone in a multi-discharge type ozonizer is generated by superposition of a silent discharge plasma, which is simultaneously generated in separated discharge spaces. A multi-discharge type ozonizer is composed of three different kinds of superposed silent discharge type ozonizers, depending on the method of applying power to each electrode. We observed that the discharge period of the current pulse for a multi discharge type ozonizer can be longer than that of silent discharge type ozonizer with two electrodes and one gap. Hence, ozone generation is improved up to 17185 ppm and 783 g/kwh in the case of the superposed silent discharge type ozonizer for which an AC high voltages with a 180 .deg. phase difference were applied to the internal electrode and the external electrode, respectively, with the central electrode being grounded.

  3. Effects of reading goals on reading comprehension, reading rate, and allocation of working memory in children and adolescents with spina bifida meningomyelocele

    Science.gov (United States)

    ENGLISH, LIANNE; BARNES, MARCIA A.; FLETCHER, JACK M.; DENNIS, MAUREEN; RAGHUBAR, KIMBERLY P.

    2011-01-01

    Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with intact word decoding and deficient text and discourse comprehension. This study investigated the ability to adjust reading in accordance with specified reading goals in 79 children and adolescents with SBM (9–19 years of age) and 39 controls (8–17 years of age). Both groups demonstrated slower reading times and enhanced comprehension when reading to study or to come up with a title than when reading for specific information or for entertainment. For both groups, verbal working memory contributed to comprehension performance in those reading conditions hypothesized to require more cognitive effort. Despite their sensitivity to the goals of reading, the group with SBM answered fewer comprehension questions correctly across all reading goal conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesized cognitive underpinnings of comprehension deficits in SBM and to current models of text comprehension. PMID:20338082

  4. Effects of reading goals on reading comprehension, reading rate, and allocation of working memory in children and adolescents with spina bifida meningomyelocele.

    Science.gov (United States)

    English, Lianne; Barnes, Marcia A; Fletcher, Jack M; Dennis, Maureen; Raghubar, Kimberly P

    2010-05-01

    Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with intact word decoding and deficient text and discourse comprehension. This study investigated the ability to adjust reading in accordance with specified reading goals in 79 children and adolescents with SBM (9-19 years of age) and 39 controls (8-17 years of age). Both groups demonstrated slower reading times and enhanced comprehension when reading to study or to come up with a title than when reading for specific information or for entertainment. For both groups, verbal working memory contributed to comprehension performance in those reading conditions hypothesized to require more cognitive effort. Despite their sensitivity to the goals of reading, the group with SBM answered fewer comprehension questions correctly across all reading goal conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesized cognitive underpinnings of comprehension deficits in SBM and to current models of text comprehension.

  5. Neocortical inhibitory activities and long-range afferents contribute to the synchronous onset of silent states of the neocortical slow oscillation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemieux, Maxime; Chauvette, Sylvain; Timofeev, Igor

    2015-02-01

    During slow-wave sleep, neurons of the thalamocortical network are engaged in a slow oscillation (<1 Hz), which consists of an alternation between the active and the silent states. Several studies have provided insights on the transition from the silent, which are essentially periods of disfacilitation, to the active states. However, the conditions leading to the synchronous onset of the silent state remain elusive. We hypothesized that a synchronous input to local inhibitory neurons could contribute to the transition to the silent state in the cat suprasylvian gyrus during natural sleep and under ketamine-xylazine anesthesia. After partial and complete deafferentation of the cortex, we found that the silent state onset was more variable among remote sites. We found that the transition to the silent state was preceded by a reduction in excitatory postsynaptic potentials and firing probability in cortical neurons. We tested the impact of chloride-mediated inhibition in the silent-state onset. We uncovered a long-duration (100-300 ms) inhibitory barrage occurring about 250 ms before the silent state onset in 3-6% of neurons during anesthesia and in 12-15% of cases during natural sleep. These inhibitory activities caused a decrease in cortical firing that reduced the excitatory drive in the neocortical network. That chain reaction of disfacilitation ends up on the silent state. Electrical stimuli could trigger a network silent state with a maximal efficacy in deep cortical layers. We conclude that long-range afferents to the neocortex and chloride-mediated inhibition play a role in the initiation of the silent state. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  6. Scaling of silent electrical discharge reactors for hazardous organics destruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coogan, J.J.; Rosocha, L.A.; Brower, M.J.; Kang, M.; Schmidt, C.A.

    1993-01-01

    Silent electrical discharges are used to produce highly reactive free radicals that destroy hazardous compounds entrained in gaseous effluents at ambient gas temperatures and pressures. We have carried out destruction experiments at Los Alamos on a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including trichloroethylene (TCE), carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene (PCE), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). We have measured a ''nine-factor'', the amount of energy required to reduce the VOC concentration by a factor of ten. For practical reactor power densities, the ''nine-factor'' can be used to predict the destruction an removal efficiency (DRE) in terms of gas flow rate and the number of reactor modules. This report proposes a modular, stackable architecture for scaling up the reactor throughput

  7. Malaria - Africa's silent tsunami | IDRC - International Development ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2011-01-12

    Jan 12, 2011 ... Less well known is the continuous “silent tsunami” of malaria in Africa ... This means almost 3 lives per minute lost from an easily preventable and treatable disease. It was gratifying to see the beginnings of similar passion to deal with ... often in shapes, sizes, and colours unpopular in African households.

  8. Morphology and Spelling in French Students with Dyslexia: The Case of Silent Final Letters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quémart, Pauline; Casalis, Séverine

    2017-01-01

    Spelling is a challenge for individuals with dyslexia. Phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence rules are highly inconsistent in French, which make them very difficult to master, in particular for dyslexics. One recurrent manifestation of this inconsistency is the presence of silent letters at the end of words. Many of these silent letters perform a…

  9. The eye-voice span during reading aloud

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jochen eLaubrock

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Although eye movements during reading are modulated by cognitive processing demands, they also reflect visual sampling of the input, and possibly preparation of output for speech or the inner voice. By simultaneously recording eye movements and the voice during reading aloud, we obtained an output measure that constrains the length of time spent on cognitive processing. Here we investigate the dynamics of the eye-voice span (EVS, the distance between eye and voice. We show that the EVS is regulated immediately during fixation of a word by either increasing fixation duration or programming a regressive eye movement against the reading direction. EVS size at the beginning of a fixation was positively correlated with the likelihood of regressions and refixations. Regression probability was further increased if the EVS was still large at the end of a fixation: if adjustment of fixation duration did not sufficiently reduce the EVS during a fixation, then a regression rather than a refixation followed with high probability. We further show that the EVS can help understand cognitive influences on fixation duration during reading: in mixed model analyses, the EVS was a stronger predictor of fixation durations than either word frequency or word length. The EVS modulated the influence of several other predictors on single fixation durations. For example, word-N frequency effects were larger with a large EVS, especially when word N-1 frequency was low. Finally, a comparison of single fixation durations during oral and silent reading showed that reading is governed by similar principles in both reading modes, although EVS maintenance and articulatory processing also cause some differences. In summary, the eye-voice span is regulated by adjusting fixation duration and/or by programming a regressive eye movement when the eye-voice span gets too large. Overall, the EVS appears to be directly related to updating of the working memory buffer during reading.

  10. Working memory influences processing speed and reading fluency in ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Lisa A; Ryan, Matthew; Martin, Rebecca B; Ewen, Joshua; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Denckla, Martha B; Mahone, E Mark

    2011-01-01

    Processing-speed deficits affect reading efficiency, even among individuals who recognize and decode words accurately. Children with ADHD who decode words accurately can still have inefficient reading fluency, leading to a bottleneck in other cognitive processes. This "slowing" in ADHD is associated with deficits in fundamental components of executive function underlying processing speed, including response selection. The purpose of the present study was to deconstruct processing speed in order to determine which components of executive control best explain the "processing" speed deficits related to reading fluency in ADHD. Participants (41 ADHD, 21 controls), ages 9-14 years, screened for language disorders, word reading deficits, and psychiatric disorders, were administered measures of copying speed, processing speed, reading fluency, working memory, reaction time, inhibition, and auditory attention span. Compared to controls, children with ADHD showed reduced oral and silent reading fluency and reduced processing speed-driven primarily by deficits on WISC-IV Coding. In contrast, groups did not differ on copying speed. After controlling for copying speed, sex, severity of ADHD-related symptomatology, and GAI, slowed "processing" speed (i.e., Coding) was significantly associated with verbal span and measures of working memory but not with measures of response control/inhibition, lexical retrieval speed, reaction time, or intrasubject variability. Further, "processing" speed (i.e., Coding, residualized for copying speed) and working memory were significant predictors of oral reading fluency. Abnormalities in working memory and response selection (which are frontally mediated and enter into the output side of processing speed) may play an important role in deficits in reading fluency in ADHD, potentially more than posteriorally mediated problems with orienting of attention or perceiving the stimulus.

  11. Resolution and Efficiency of Monitored Drift-Tube Chambers with Final Read-out Electronics at High Background Rates

    CERN Document Server

    Dubbert, J; Kortner, O; Kroha, H; Manz, A; Mohrdieck-Möck, S; Rauscher, F; Richter, R; Staude, A; Stiller, W

    2003-01-01

    The performance of a monitored drift-tube chamber for ATLAS with the final read-out electronics was tested at the Gamma Irradiation facility at CERN under varyin photon irradiation rates of up to 990~Hz\\,cm$^{-2}$ which corresponds to 10 times the highest background rate expected in ATLAS. The signal pulse-height measurement of the final read-out electronics was used to perform time-slewing corrections. The corrections improve the average single-tube resolution from 106~$\\mu$m to 89~$\\mu$m at the nominal discriminator threshold of 44~mV without irradiation, and from 114~$\\mu$m to 89~$\\mu$m at the maximum nominal irradiation rate in ATLAS of 100~Hz\\,cm$^{-2}$. The reduction of the threshold from 44~mV to 34~mV and the time-slewing corrections lead to an average single-tube resolution of 82~$\\mu$m without photon background and of 89~$\\mu$m at 100~Hz\\,cm$^{-2}$. The measured muon detection efficiency agrees with the expectation for the final read-out electronics.

  12. Studies of Braille Reading Rates and Implications for the Unified English Braille Code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wetzel, Robin; Knowlton, Marie

    2006-01-01

    Reading rate data was collected from both print and braille readers in the areas of mathematics and literary braille. Literary braille data was collected for contracted and uncontracted braille text with dropped whole-word contractions and part-word contractions as they would appear in the Unified English Braille Code. No significant differences…

  13. Is Reading Instruction Evidence-Based? Analyzing Teaching Practices Using T-Patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez, Natalia; Sánchez, Carmen R; Jiménez, Juan E; Anguera, M Teresa

    2018-01-01

    The main goal of this study was to analyze whether primary teachers use evidence-based reading instruction for primary-grade readers. The study sample consisted of six teachers whose teaching was recorded. The observation instrument used was developed ad hoc for this study. The recording instrument used was Match Vision Studio. The data analysis was performed using SAS, GT version 2.0 E, and THEME. The results indicated that the teaching practices used most frequently and for the longest duration were: feedback (i.e., correcting the student when reading); fluency (i.e., individual and group reading, both out loud and silently, with and without intonation); literal or inference comprehension exercises (i.e., summarizing, asking questions); and use of educational resources (i.e., stories, songs, poems). Later, we conducted analyses of T-Patterns that showed the sequence of instruction in detail. We can conclude that practices used by the majority of teachers were based on the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (NRP). Only one teacher followed best practices. The same was the case for instructional time spent on the five essential components of reading, with the exception of teacher E., who dedicated 70.31% of class time implementing best practices. Teaching practices (i.e., learners' activities) designed and implemented to exercise and master alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills were used less frequently in the classroom.

  14. Silent Circulation of Ross River Virus in French Polynesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maite Aubry

    2015-08-01

    Discussion: Our results support the existence of autochthonous RRV transmission and suggest that this pathogen has silently circulated in French Polynesia. These findings raise the question of possible undetected circulation of RRV in other Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

  15. RADAR: A novel fast-screening method for reading difficulties with special focus on dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyrnakis, Ioannis; Andreadakis, Vassilios; Selimis, Vassilios; Kalaitzakis, Michail; Bachourou, Theodora; Kaloutsakis, Georgios; Kymionis, George D.; Smirnakis, Stelios; Aslanides, Ioannis M.

    2017-01-01

    Dyslexia is a developmental learning disorder of single word reading accuracy and/or fluency, with compelling research directed towards understanding the contributions of the visual system. While dyslexia is not an oculomotor disease, readers with dyslexia have shown different eye movements than typically developing students during text reading. Readers with dyslexia exhibit longer and more frequent fixations, shorter saccade lengths, more backward refixations than typical readers. Furthermore, readers with dyslexia are known to have difficulty in reading long words, lower skipping rate of short words, and high gaze duration on many words. It is an open question whether it is possible to harness these distinctive oculomotor scanning patterns observed during reading in order to develop a screening tool that can reliably identify struggling readers, who may be candidates for dyslexia. Here, we introduce a novel, fast, objective, non-invasive method, named Rapid Assessment of Difficulties and Abnormalities in Reading (RADAR) that screens for features associated with the aberrant visual scanning of reading text seen in dyslexia. Eye tracking parameter measurements that are stable under retest and have high discriminative power, as indicated by their ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves, were obtained during silent text reading. These parameters were combined to derive a total reading score (TRS) that can reliably separate readers with dyslexia from typical readers. We tested TRS in a group of school-age children ranging from 8.5 to 12.5 years of age. TRS achieved 94.2% correct classification of children tested. Specifically, 35 out of 37 control (specificity 94.6%) and 30 out of 32 readers with dyslexia (sensitivity 93.8%) were classified correctly using RADAR, under a circular validation condition (see section Results/Total Reading Score) where the individual evaluated was not included in the test construction group. In conclusion, RADAR is a novel

  16. RADAR: A novel fast-screening method for reading difficulties with special focus on dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyrnakis, Ioannis; Andreadakis, Vassilios; Selimis, Vassilios; Kalaitzakis, Michail; Bachourou, Theodora; Kaloutsakis, Georgios; Kymionis, George D; Smirnakis, Stelios; Aslanides, Ioannis M

    2017-01-01

    Dyslexia is a developmental learning disorder of single word reading accuracy and/or fluency, with compelling research directed towards understanding the contributions of the visual system. While dyslexia is not an oculomotor disease, readers with dyslexia have shown different eye movements than typically developing students during text reading. Readers with dyslexia exhibit longer and more frequent fixations, shorter saccade lengths, more backward refixations than typical readers. Furthermore, readers with dyslexia are known to have difficulty in reading long words, lower skipping rate of short words, and high gaze duration on many words. It is an open question whether it is possible to harness these distinctive oculomotor scanning patterns observed during reading in order to develop a screening tool that can reliably identify struggling readers, who may be candidates for dyslexia. Here, we introduce a novel, fast, objective, non-invasive method, named Rapid Assessment of Difficulties and Abnormalities in Reading (RADAR) that screens for features associated with the aberrant visual scanning of reading text seen in dyslexia. Eye tracking parameter measurements that are stable under retest and have high discriminative power, as indicated by their ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves, were obtained during silent text reading. These parameters were combined to derive a total reading score (TRS) that can reliably separate readers with dyslexia from typical readers. We tested TRS in a group of school-age children ranging from 8.5 to 12.5 years of age. TRS achieved 94.2% correct classification of children tested. Specifically, 35 out of 37 control (specificity 94.6%) and 30 out of 32 readers with dyslexia (sensitivity 93.8%) were classified correctly using RADAR, under a circular validation condition (see section Results/Total Reading Score) where the individual evaluated was not included in the test construction group. In conclusion, RADAR is a novel

  17. RADAR: A novel fast-screening method for reading difficulties with special focus on dyslexia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioannis Smyrnakis

    Full Text Available Dyslexia is a developmental learning disorder of single word reading accuracy and/or fluency, with compelling research directed towards understanding the contributions of the visual system. While dyslexia is not an oculomotor disease, readers with dyslexia have shown different eye movements than typically developing students during text reading. Readers with dyslexia exhibit longer and more frequent fixations, shorter saccade lengths, more backward refixations than typical readers. Furthermore, readers with dyslexia are known to have difficulty in reading long words, lower skipping rate of short words, and high gaze duration on many words. It is an open question whether it is possible to harness these distinctive oculomotor scanning patterns observed during reading in order to develop a screening tool that can reliably identify struggling readers, who may be candidates for dyslexia. Here, we introduce a novel, fast, objective, non-invasive method, named Rapid Assessment of Difficulties and Abnormalities in Reading (RADAR that screens for features associated with the aberrant visual scanning of reading text seen in dyslexia. Eye tracking parameter measurements that are stable under retest and have high discriminative power, as indicated by their ROC (receiver operating characteristic curves, were obtained during silent text reading. These parameters were combined to derive a total reading score (TRS that can reliably separate readers with dyslexia from typical readers. We tested TRS in a group of school-age children ranging from 8.5 to 12.5 years of age. TRS achieved 94.2% correct classification of children tested. Specifically, 35 out of 37 control (specificity 94.6% and 30 out of 32 readers with dyslexia (sensitivity 93.8% were classified correctly using RADAR, under a circular validation condition (see section Results/Total Reading Score where the individual evaluated was not included in the test construction group. In conclusion, RADAR is a

  18. Silent Bodies: Japanese taciturnity and image thinking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Došen

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available A nonverbal transmission and an implicit way of communication are highly encouraged in Japanese society. The reason for this “silence prerogative” is often found in historical facts of lengthy feudal era or in ancient philosophies and religions such as Buddhism and Confucianism and their various concepts which privilege taciturn way of communication. Moreover, the unspoken comprehension is often complemented by the attitude which equates truthfulness with silence. This paper explores the silence as a communicative act in the domain of Japanese art, where the body takes over the place of the language. In traditional Japanese theatrical performance, such as noh, words are often inadequate to convey emotion and therefore the aesthetics of emptiness, understatement and abstraction is transcended by the masks with "nonmoving lips". Drawing on theoretical perspectives from both East and West, I argue that the silent bodies operate as deliberate and integral determinants of Japanese non-silent art forms – especially in cinema and theatre. In the Eastern thought, visual perception is fundamental in cognition of the world, whereas auditory discernment is secondary to "image-thinking" (Yuasa. Accustomed to taciturnity, Japanese audience effectively corresponds to the performance and "completes" it in silence.

  19. Isquemia miocárdica silente en diabéticos tipo 2 Silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetes patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yordanka Piña Rivera

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Objetivos: determinar la frecuencia de isquemia miocárdica silente en diabéticos tipo 2 y su relación con el control metabólico. Métodos: se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal en 79 pacientes asintomáticos con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 sin antecedentes de cardiopatía isquémica, hipertensión arterial o de ser fumador, que acudieron a la Consulta de Endocrinología del Hospital Militar Central "Dr. Carlos J. Finlay", entre febrero de 2009 y febrero de 2011. Se les realizó ecocardiografía con doppler tisular y se determinaron los niveles de glucemia en ayunas, posprandial, hemoglobina glucosilada, colesterol y triglicéridos. Las variables clínicas analizadas en relación con la isquemia miocárdica silente fueron: edad, sexo, tiempo de evolución de la diabetes e índice de masa corporal. Para las variables cualitativas se utilizaron distribuciones de frecuencia con el cálculo del porcentaje y para establecer relación entre variables la prueba de chi cuadrado. Resultados: la edad media del total de pacientes fue de 54 años, de ellos el 69,1 % correspondió al sexo masculino y el 31,9 % al femenino. En el 20,2 % de los pacientes se observaron signos de isquemia miocárdica por doppler tisular, y de ellos, un 75 % tuvo niveles patológicos de colesterol total, con relación estadísticamente significativa (p= 0,01, sujetos que tuvieron 4,4 veces más riesgo relativo de presentar isquemia miocárdica, que los pacientes con colesterol normal. Las cifras de glucemia en ayunas, posprandial y hemoglobina glucosilada fueron significativamente mayor en el grupo con isquemia. Los pacientes con niveles elevados de glucemia en ayunas tuvieron 10,5 veces más riesgo de isquemia miocárdica que los que tenían cifras adecuadas. Igualmente, los casos con cifras elevadas de glucemia posprandial presentaron 12 veces más riesgo de enfermar. Conclusiones: la isquemia miocárdica silente es frecuente en los diabéticos tipo 2 y se relaciona

  20. Silent ischemia and beta-blockade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egstrup, K

    1991-01-01

    and should also be directed at the other coronary artery risk factors of the patients. The effects of beta-blockers, which reduce the duration and frequency of silent ischemic episodes, is well described. The effect is most pronounced in the morning, when the frequency of ischemia is highest......, and the mechanism of action seems mainly mediated through a reduction in myocardial oxygen demand. beta-Blockers have shown effectiveness in both effort-induced angina and mixed angina, and increased anti-ischemic potency may be achieved by combination therapy with a calcium antagonist. Abrupt withdrawal of beta-blockers...

  1. Reading Fluency and Students with Reading Disabilities: How Fast Is Fast Enough to Promote Reading Comprehension?

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connor, Rollanda E.

    2018-01-01

    The goal of improving reading rate and fluency is to positively impact reading comprehension; however, it is unclear how fast students with learning disabilities (LD) need to read to reap this benefit. The purpose of this research was to identify the point of diminishing return for students who were dysfluent readers. Participants included 337…

  2. Scoring an Abstract Contemporary Silent Film

    OpenAIRE

    Frost, Crystal

    2014-01-01

    I composed an original digital audio film score with full sound design for a contemporary silent film called Apple Tree. The film is highly conceptual and interpretive and required a very involved, intricate score to successfully tell the story. In the process of scoring this film, I learned new ways to convey an array of contrasting emotions through music and sound. After analyzing the film's emotional journey, I determined that six defining emotions were the foundation on which to build an ...

  3. Low fetal hemoglobin percentage is associated with silent brain lesions in adults with homozygous sickle cell disease

    OpenAIRE

    Calvet, David; Tuilier, Titien; Mélé, Nicolas; Turc, Guillaume; Habibi, Anoosha; Abdallah, Nassim Ait; Majhadi, Loubna; Hemery, François; Edjlali, Myriam; Galacteros, Frédéric; Bartolucci, Pablo

    2017-01-01

    Low %HbF is independently associated with silent WMCs on brain imaging in adults with SCD.Our results highlight the potential use of therapeutic strategies inducing HbF expression in SCD patients with silent white matter changes.

  4. Processing implicit control: evidence from reading times

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael eMcCourt

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Sentences such as The ship was sunk to collect the insurance exhibit an unusual form of anaphora, implicit control, where neither anaphor nor antecedent is audible. The nonfinite reason clause has an understood subject, PRO, that is anaphoric; here it may be understood as naming the agent of the event of the host clause. Yet since the host is a short passive, this agent is realized by no audible dependent. The putative antecedent to PRO is therefore implicit, which it normally cannot be. What sorts of representations subserve the comprehension of this dependency? Here we present four self-paced reading time studies directed at this question. Previous work showed no processing cost for implicit versus explicit control, and took this to support the view that PRO is linked syntactically to a silent argument in the passive. We challenge this conclusion by reporting that we also find no processing cost for remote implicit control, as in: The ship was sunk. The reason was to collect the insurance. Here the dependency crosses two independent sentences, and so cannot, we argue, be mediated by syntax. Our Experiments 1-4 examined the processing of both implicit (short passive and explicit (active or long passive control in both local and remote configurations. Experiments 3 and 4 added either three days ago or just in order to the local conditions, to control for the distance between the passive and infinitival verbs, and for the predictability of the reason clause, respectively. We replicate the finding that implicit control does not impose an additional processing cost. But critically we show that remote control does not impose a processing cost either. Reading times at the reason clause were never slower when control was remote. In fact they were always faster. Thus efficient processing of local implicit control cannot show that implicit control is mediated by syntax; nor, in turn, that there is a silent but grammatically active argument in passives.

  5. High-data-transfer-rate read heads composed of spin-torque oscillators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mizushima, K; Kudo, K; Nagasawa, T; Sato, R

    2011-01-01

    The signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the high-data-transfer-rate read heads beyond 3 Gbits/s composed of spin-torque oscillators (STOs) are calculated under the thermal magnetization fluctuations by using the recent nonlinear theories. The STO head senses the media field as a modulation in the oscillation frequency, enabling high signal transfer rates beyond the limit of ferromagnetic relaxation. The output (digital) signal is obtained by FM (frequency modulation) detection, which is commonly used in communication technologies. As the problem of rapid phase diffusion in STOs caused by the thermal fluctuations is overcome by employing a delay detection method, the sufficiently large SNRs are obtained even in nonlinear STOs less than 30 x 30 nm 2 in size.

  6. Anamnesis and the Silent Narrator in Plato and John

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George L. Parsenios

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The Gospel of John is often compared to the dialogues of Plato by those who connect Johannine theology and Platonic philosophy. The comparison operates on the level of ideas. The present paper does not ignore issues of theology and philosophy but grounds a comparison of John and Plato first and foremost on the literary level. In several key places in John 1, 3, and 14, the Johannine narrator recedes from view and is unexpectedly silent where one would expect a narrator’s comment to organize the conversations and interactions between characters in John. Plato also renders the voice of the narrator silent in a dialogue like the Theaetetus. This paper argues that John and Plato both suppress the narrator’s voice in order to further their anamnetic efforts and to make later generations not only readers but participants in their original conversations.

  7. Imaging seizure activity: a combined EEG/EMG-fMRI study in reading epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salek-Haddadi, Afraim; Mayer, Thomas; Hamandi, Khalid; Symms, Mark; Josephs, Oliver; Fluegel, Dominique; Woermann, Friedrich; Richardson, Mark P; Noppeney, Uta; Wolf, Peter; Koepp, Matthias J

    2009-02-01

    To characterize the spatial relationship between activations related to language-induced seizure activity, language processing, and motor control in patients with reading epilepsy. We recorded and simultaneously monitored several physiological parameters [voice-recording, electromyography (EMG), electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG)] during blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in nine patients with reading epilepsy. Individually tailored language paradigms were used to induce and record habitual seizures inside the MRI scanner. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used for structural brain analysis. Reading-induced seizures occurred in six out of nine patients. One patient experienced abundant orofacial reflex myocloni during silent reading in association with bilateral frontal or generalized epileptiform discharges. In a further five patients, symptoms were only elicited while reading aloud with self-indicated events. Consistent activation patterns in response to reading-induced myoclonic seizures were observed within left motor and premotor areas in five of these six patients, in the left striatum (n = 4), in mesiotemporal/limbic areas (n = 4), in Brodmann area 47 (n = 3), and thalamus (n = 2). These BOLD activations were overlapping or adjacent to areas physiologically activated during language and facial motor tasks. No subtle structural abnormalities common to all patients were identified using VBM, but one patient had a left temporal ischemic lesion. Based on the findings, we hypothesize that reflex seizures occur in reading epilepsy when a critical mass of neurons are activated through a provoking stimulus within corticoreticular and corticocortical circuitry subserving normal functions.

  8. ELL High School Students' Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Use and Reading Proficiency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong-Nam, Kay

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the metacognitive awareness and reading strategies use of high school-­aged English language learners (ELLs) and the relationship between ELL reading strategy use and reading proficiency as measured by a standardized reading test and self-­rated reading proficiency. Results reveal that participants reported moderate use of…

  9. Development and Evaluation of a Remedial Reading Workbook for Navy Training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1979-12-01

    effective. Currently the Navy is considering establishing remedial programs for class "A" schools and apprentice training schools and also expanding the...add silent e) 6. stem (add silent a) 3. rip (add silent e) 7. strip (add silent e) 4. per (add silent i) 8. for (add silent e) Exercise 3 WHAT TO DO...lungs. Quickly I slid my chair behind his, and placed my arms around his body from behind, with my right hand, curled in a fist, positioned slightly

  10. Brain bases of reading fluency in typical reading and impaired fluency in dyslexia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joanna A Christodoulou

    Full Text Available Although the neural systems supporting single word reading are well studied, there are limited direct comparisons between typical and dyslexic readers of the neural correlates of reading fluency. Reading fluency deficits are a persistent behavioral marker of dyslexia into adulthood. The current study identified the neural correlates of fluent reading in typical and dyslexic adult readers, using sentences presented in a word-by-word format in which single words were presented sequentially at fixed rates. Sentences were presented at slow, medium, and fast rates, and participants were asked to decide whether each sentence did or did not make sense semantically. As presentation rates increased, participants became less accurate and slower at making judgments, with comprehension accuracy decreasing disproportionately for dyslexic readers. In-scanner performance on the sentence task correlated significantly with standardized clinical measures of both reading fluency and phonological awareness. Both typical readers and readers with dyslexia exhibited widespread, bilateral increases in activation that corresponded to increases in presentation rate. Typical readers exhibited significantly larger gains in activation as a function of faster presentation rates than readers with dyslexia in several areas, including left prefrontal and left superior temporal regions associated with semantic retrieval and semantic and phonological representations. Group differences were more extensive when behavioral differences between conditions were equated across groups. These findings suggest a brain basis for impaired reading fluency in dyslexia, specifically a failure of brain regions involved in semantic retrieval and semantic and phonological representations to become fully engaged for comprehension at rapid reading rates.

  11. Reading Fluency Instruction for Students at Risk for Reading Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ring, Jeremiah J.; Barefoot, Lexie C.; Avrit, Karen J.; Brown, Sasha A.; Black, Jeffrey L.

    2013-01-01

    The important role of reading fluency in the comprehension and motivation of readers is well documented. Two reading rate intervention programs were compared in a cluster-randomized clinical trial of students who were considered at-risk for reading failure. One program focused instruction at the word level; the second program focused instruction…

  12. Detecting Silent Data Corruption for Extreme-Scale Applications through Data Mining

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bautista-Gomez, Leonardo [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Cappello, Franck [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

    2014-01-16

    Supercomputers allow scientists to study natural phenomena by means of computer simulations. Next-generation machines are expected to have more components and, at the same time, consume several times less energy per operation. These trends are pushing supercomputer construction to the limits of miniaturization and energy-saving strategies. Consequently, the number of soft errors is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years. While mechanisms are in place to correct or at least detect some soft errors, a significant percentage of those errors pass unnoticed by the hardware. Such silent errors are extremely damaging because they can make applications silently produce wrong results. In this work we propose a technique that leverages certain properties of high-performance computing applications in order to detect silent errors at the application level. Our technique detects corruption solely based on the behavior of the application datasets and is completely application-agnostic. We propose multiple corruption detectors, and we couple them to work together in a fashion transparent to the user. We demonstrate that this strategy can detect the majority of the corruptions, while incurring negligible overhead. We show that with the help of these detectors, applications can have up to 80% of coverage against data corruption.

  13. Functionally distinct contributions of the anterior and posterior putamen during sublexical and lexical reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marion eOberhuber

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have investigated orthographic-to-phonological mapping during reading by comparing brain activation for (1 reading words to object naming, or (2 reading pseudowords (e.g. phume to words (e.g. plume. Here we combined both approaches to provide new insights into the underlying neural mechanisms. In fMRI data from 25 healthy adult readers, we first identified activation that was greater for reading words and pseudowords relative to picture and color naming. The most significant effect was observed in the left putamen, extending to both anterior and posterior borders. Second, consistent with previous studies, we show that both the anterior and posterior putamen are involved in articulating speech with greater activation during our overt speech production tasks (reading, repetition, object naming and color naming than silent one-back-matching on the same stimuli. Third, we compared putamen activation for words versus pseudowords during overt reading and auditory repetition. This revealed that the anterior putamen was most activated by reading pseudowords, whereas the posterior putamen was most activated by words irrespective of whether the task was reading words or auditory word repetition. The pseudoword effect in the anterior putamen is consistent with prior studies that associated this region with the initiation of novel sequences of movements. In contrast, the heightened word response in the posterior putamen is consistent with other studies that associated this region with memory guided movement. Our results illustrate how the functional dissociation between the anterior and posterior putamen supports sublexical and lexical processing during reading.

  14. Is Reading Instruction Evidence-Based? Analyzing Teaching Practices Using T-Patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalia Suárez

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this study was to analyze whether primary teachers use evidence-based reading instruction for primary-grade readers. The study sample consisted of six teachers whose teaching was recorded. The observation instrument used was developed ad hoc for this study. The recording instrument used was Match Vision Studio. The data analysis was performed using SAS, GT version 2.0 E, and THEME. The results indicated that the teaching practices used most frequently and for the longest duration were: feedback (i.e., correcting the student when reading; fluency (i.e., individual and group reading, both out loud and silently, with and without intonation; literal or inference comprehension exercises (i.e., summarizing, asking questions; and use of educational resources (i.e., stories, songs, poems. Later, we conducted analyses of T-Patterns that showed the sequence of instruction in detail. We can conclude that <50% of the teaching practices used by the majority of teachers were based on the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (NRP. Only one teacher followed best practices. The same was the case for instructional time spent on the five essential components of reading, with the exception of teacher E., who dedicated 70.31% of class time implementing best practices. Teaching practices (i.e., learners' activities designed and implemented to exercise and master alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills were used less frequently in the classroom.

  15. Agreement of the silent partnership – tax and legal consequences of its conclusion and execution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Zieniewicz

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The institution of the silent partnership is not currently regulated by any legal act in the Polish legal system, although its importance in practice is not in doubt. As every action made in the economic sphere and economic execution of the contract is associated with specific effects on the basis of the tax laws. However, due to the lack of statutory regulation of the institution of silent partnership problematic is the question of determining the effects of tax legislation. Therefore, special attention is needed to determine the issue of these effects on the basis of income tax, tax on goods and services, transfer tax and the tax on inheritance and donations, as well as the question of liability for the tax liabilities of the silent partnership.

  16. The Relation between Reading Skills and Eye Movement Patterns in Adolescent Readers: Evidence from a Regular Orthography.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Krieber

    Full Text Available Over the past decades, the relation between reading skills and eye movement behavior has been well documented in English-speaking cohorts. As English and German differ substantially with regard to orthographic complexity (i.e. grapheme-phoneme correspondence, we aimed to delineate specific characteristics of how reading speed and reading comprehension interact with eye movements in typically developing German-speaking (Austrian adolescents. Eye movements of 22 participants (14 females; mean age = 13;6 years;months were tracked while they were performing three tasks, namely silently reading words, texts, and pseudowords. Their reading skills were determined by means of a standardized German reading speed and reading comprehension assessment (Lesegeschwindigkeits- und -verständnistest für Klassen 6-12. We found that (a reading skills were associated with various eye movement parameters in each of the three reading tasks; (b better reading skills were associated with an increased efficiency of eye movements, but were primarily linked to spatial reading parameters, such as the number of fixations per word, the total number of saccades and saccadic amplitudes; (c reading speed was a more reliable predictor for eye movement parameters than reading comprehension; (d eye movements were highly correlated across reading tasks, which indicates consistent reading performances. Contrary to findings in English-speaking cohorts, the reading skills neither consistently correlated with temporal eye movement parameters nor with the number or percentage of regressions made while performing any of the three reading tasks. These results indicate that, although reading skills are associated with eye movement patterns irrespective of language, the temporal and spatial characteristics of this association may vary with orthographic consistency.

  17. The long-term significance of teacher-rated hyperactivity and reading ability in childhood: findings from two longitudinal studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGee, Rob; Prior, Margot; Willams, Sheila; Smart, Diana; Sanson, Anne

    2002-11-01

    The aims of this study were twofold: first, to examine behavioural and academic outcomes of children with hyperactivity, using data from two longitudinal studies; and second, to examine comparable psychosocial outcomes for children with early reading difficulties. Measures of teacher-rated persistent hyperactivity, and reading ability obtained during early primary school were available for children from the Australian Temperament Project and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Both samples were followed up to assess behavioural and academic outcomes during the adolescent and early adult years. Family background, antisocial behaviour and literacy were controlled in the first set of analyses to examine the influence of early hyperactivity. There were strong linear relationships between early hyperactivity and later adverse outcomes. Adjustment for other childhood variables suggested that early hyperactivity was associated with continuing school difficulties, problems with attention and poor reading in adolescence. Early reading difficulties, after controlling for early hyperactivity, predicted continuing reading problems in high school and leaving school with no qualifications. The findings suggest that there are dual pathways from early inattentive behaviours to later inattention and reading problems, and from early reading difficulties to substantial impairments in later academic outcomes.

  18. Prevalence of symptomatic and silent stress-induced perfusion defects in diabetic patients with suspected coronary artery disease referred for myocardial perfusion scintigraphy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prior, John O.; Calcagni, Maria-Lucia; Bischof Delaloye, Angelika [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV University Hospital), Division of Nuclear Medicine, Lausanne (Switzerland); Monbaron, David; Ruiz, Juan [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV University Hospital), Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Lausanne (Switzerland); Koehli, Melanie [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV University Hospital), Division of Nuclear Medicine, Lausanne (Switzerland); Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV University Hospital), Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Lausanne (Switzerland)

    2005-01-01

    Silent myocardial ischaemia - as evaluated by stress-induced perfusion defects on myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) in patients without a history of chest pain - is frequent in diabetes and is associated with increased rates of cardiovascular events. Its prevalence has been determined in asymptomatic diabetic patients, but remains largely unknown in diabetic patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) in the clinical setting. In this study we therefore sought (a) to determine the prevalence of symptomatic and silent perfusion defects in diabetic patients with suspected CAD and (b) to characterise the eventual predictors of abnormal perfusion. The patient population comprised 133 consecutive diabetic patients with suspected CAD who had been referred for MPS. Studies were performed with exercise (41%) or pharmacological stress testing (1-day protocol, {sup 99m}Tc-sestamibi, {sup 201}Tl or both). We used semi-quantitative analysis (20-segment polar maps) to derive the summed stress score (SSS) and the summed difference score (SDS). Abnormal MPS (SSS{>=}4) was observed in 49 (37%) patients (SSS=4.9{+-}8.4, SDS=2.4{+-}4.7), reversible perfusion defects (SDS{>=}2) in 40 (30%) patients [SSS=13.3{+-}10.9; SDS=8.0{+-}5.6; 20% moderate to severe (SDS>4), 7% multivessel] and fixed defects in 21 (16%) patients. Results were comparable between patients with and patients without a history of chest pain. Of 75 patients without a history of chest pain, 23 (31%, 95% CI=21-42%) presented reversible defects (SSS=13.9{+-}11.3; SDS=7.4{+-}1.2), indicative of silent ischaemia. Reversible defects were associated with inducible ST segment depression during MPS stress (odds ratio (OR)=3.2, p<0.01). Fixed defects were associated with erectile dysfunction in males (OR=3.7, p=0.02) and lower aspirin use (OR=0.25, p=0.02). Silent stress-induced perfusion defects occurred in 31% of the patients, a rate similar to that in patients with a history of chest pain. MPS could identify

  19. silent no more: sexual violence in conflict as a challenge

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Rights (FIDH), Violence Against Women in Syria: Breaking the Silence, Briefing. Paper Based on an .... not perceived as the church's concern”, Silent No More, p. 8. .... travel all night to retrieve the bodies and bury them with dignity.23 In the.

  20. Compositionality for Markov reward chains with fast and silent transitions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Markovski, J.; Sokolova, A.; Trcka, N.; Vink, de E.P.

    2009-01-01

    A parallel composition is defined for Markov reward chains with stochastic discontinuity, and with fast and silent transitions. In this setting, compositionality with respect to the relevant aggregation preorders is established. For Markov reward chains with fast transitions the preorders are

  1. Child-centered reading intervention: See, talk, dictate, read, write!

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammet BAŞTUĞ

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Poor reading achievement of children in elementary schools has been one of the major concerns in education. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a child-centered reading intervention in eliminating the reading problems of a student with poor reading achievement. The research was conducted with a student having difficulty in reading. A reading intervention was designed that targeted multiple areas of reading and aimed to improve reading skills through the use of multiple strategies. This intervention is child-centered and includes visual aids, talking, dictating, reading and writing stages. The study was performed in 35 sessions consisting of stages of a single sentence (5 sessions, two sentences (5 sessions, three sentences (20 sessions and the text stage (5 sessions. The intervention sessions were audio-taped. These recordings and the written responses to the reading comprehension questions provided the data for analysis. The findings on the reading intervention revealed positive outcomes. The student exhibited certain improvements at the levels of reading, reading rate and reading comprehension. These results were discussed in the literature and the findings suggest that child-centered reading strategies such as talking, dictating and writing should be the main focus of instruction for students with low reading literacy achievement to enable these students to meet the demands of the curriculum.

  2. Teen Depression and Suicide, A SILENT CRISIS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kroning, Maureen; Kroning, Kayla

    2016-01-01

    Adolescent depression is a serious problem affecting 10.7% of all teens and 29.9% of high school students; 17% of high school students have contemplated suicide. Yet, depression in teens is often unrecognized. This article relays the tragic death of a 17-year-old, along with symptoms of depression and suicide in adolescents; DSM-5 criteria for depression; treatments including protective factors, psychotherapy, and medications; and imparts interventions for addressing this huge but silent crisis.

  3. Risk factors associated with the occurrence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis of the lower limb.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Fenghe; Wang, Xuehu; Huang, Wen; Ren, Wei; Cheng, Jun; Zhang, Mao; Zhao, Yu

    2014-08-01

    The aim of our study is to investigate the prevalence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis in the lower limbs and to evaluate the associated risk factors. A total of 322 patients with acute deep venous thrombosis confirmed by CT venography or Doppler ultrasonography were studied. The diagnosis of silent pulmonary embolism was established by computed tomography pulmonary arteriography (CTPA). The association between covariates and the prevalence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs were assessed using chi-square test and multivariable regression. The incidence of silent pulmonary embolism was 33.5% (108 in 322 patients) in all patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs. Chi-square test showed male gender, the right lower limb, proximal location of the thrombus, unprovoked venous thrombosis and coexisting heart diseases were related to a higher incidence of silent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs. The multivariate regression analysis confirmed that the risk factors associated with silent pulmonary embolism in deep venous thrombosis patients included the right side and proximal location of the thrombus (odds ratio: 2.023, 95% CI: 1.215-3.368; odds ratio: 3.610, 95% CI: 1.772-7.354), unprovoked venous thrombosis (odds ratio: 2.037, 95% CI: 1.188-3.493), coexisting heart diseases (odds ratio: 4.507, 95% CI: 2.667-7.618). Silent pulmonary embolism occurred frequently in patients with deep venous thrombosis in lower limbs. The right side, the proximal location of the thrombus, unprovoked venous thrombosis and coexisting heart diseases increased the risk for the occurrence of silent pulmonary embolism. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  4. Harmony hurts: participation and silent conflict at an Indonesian fish pond.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tam, Chui-Ling

    2006-07-01

    Participatory environmental and resource management is premised on open communication to reach consensus. However, deliberate and open communication cannot adequately address silent conflict. This begs two questions. First, how is the existence of covert communication and silent conflict to be recognized and addressed? Second, how are the wider social relations and traditions that encompass communication and conflict to be described and explained? These questions revolve around communicative power. Communication of environmental knowledge is deeply embedded in social power structures, with direct implications for participatory resource planning and implementation. Ethnographic research conducted at a failed community-managed fish farming project in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia shows that a culture of harmony and respect for authority can silence environmental conflict in the hierarchical "community." Three propositions are offered. First, communication amnesia and exclusion jeopardize participation. Second, cultures of harmony and silent conflict shape planning processes and outcomes. Third, the weak use manipulation and communication strategy to acquire a "voice" while preserving harmony. These propositions address five unresolved issues in participatory resource management: analysis of groups, contextuality, social relationships, nonparticipants, and informal communication. Power, tradition, and social networks affect the valuing of knowledge relative to the power of different individuals and institutions to communicate priorities, values, and needs. These factors are critical to the inclusion of both participants and nonparticipants.

  5. Neural correlates reveal sub-lexical orthography and phonology during reading aloud: A review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kalinka eTimmer

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The sub-lexical conversion of graphemes-to-phonemes (GPC during reading has been investigated extensively with behavioral measures, as well as event-related potentials (ERPs. Most research utilizes silent reading (e.g., lexical decision task for which phonological activation is not a necessity. However, recent research employed reading aloud to capture sub-lexical GPC. The masked priming paradigm avoids strategic processing and is therefore well suitable for capturing sub-lexical processing instead of lexical effects. By employing ERPs, the on-line time course of sub-lexical GPC can be observed before the overt response. ERPs have revealed that besides phonological activation, as revealed by behavioral studies, there is also early orthographic activation. This review describes studies in one’s native language, in one’s second language, and in a cross-language situation. We discuss the implications the ERP results have on different (computational models. First, the ERP results show that computational models should assume an early locus of the grapheme-to-phoneme-conversion (GPC. Second, cross-language studies reveal that the phonological representations from both languages of a bilingual become activated automatically and the phonology belonging to the context is selected rapidly. Therefore, it is important to extend the scope of computational models of reading (aloud to multiple lexicons.

  6. Silent Warning: Understanding the National Terrorism Advisory System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited SILENT WARNING...PERFORMING OR GANIZATION NA:i\\ti E (S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SP ONSORING /MONIT ORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND...Homeland Sectu’ity Advisory System, Boston Marathon bombing, Christmas Day bomber, tmderwear bomber, hum cane , cotmteiteiTO!’ism, CT AB

  7. The Influence of Translation on Reading Amount, Proficiency, and Speed in Extensive Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakurai, Nobuko

    2015-01-01

    This study attempted to examine the influence of a decrease in translation on the number of words read, reading comprehension, and reading rate in an extensive reading (ER) program. The participants were 70 first-year university students who experienced ER both in and outside the classroom for 15 weeks. The results of regression analyses confirmed…

  8. Characterisation of silent and active genes for a variable large protein of Borrelia recurrentis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scragg Ian G

    2002-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We report the characterisation of the variable large protein (vlp gene expressed by clinical isolate A1 of Borrelia recurrentis; the agent of the life-threatening disease louse-borne relapsing fever. Methods The major vlp protein of this isolate was characterised and a DNA probe created. Use of this together with standard molecular methods was used to determine the location of the vlp1B. recurrentis A1 gene in both this and other isolates. Results This isolate was found to carry silent and expressed copies of the vlp1B. recurrentis A1 gene on plasmids of 54 kbp and 24 kbp respectively, whereas a different isolate, A17, had only the silent vlp1B. recurrentis A17 on a 54 kbp plasmid. Silent and expressed vlp1 have identical mature protein coding regions but have different 5' regions, both containing different potential lipoprotein leader sequences. Only one form of vlp1 is transcribed in the A1 isolate of B. recurrentis, yet both 5' upstream sequences of this vlp1 gene possess features of bacterial promoters. Conclusion Taken together these results suggest that antigenic variation in B. recurrentis may result from recombination of variable large and small protein genes at the junction between lipoprotein leader sequence and mature protein coding region. However, this hypothetical model needs to be validated by further identification of expressed and silent variant protein genes in other B. recurrentis isolates.

  9. Accuracy of Ultrasonography and Rectal Palpation in the Diagnosis of Silent Heat in Cows Compared to Plasma Progesterone Concentration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zdunczyk, S.; Janowski, T.; Ras, A.; Baranski, W.

    2009-01-01

    The study was carried out on five dairy herds in the North-East Poland. The cows, which showed no visible oestrus signs until day 60 postpartum, were examined by ultrasonography and rectal palpation twice, at a 10-d interval. A real-time, B-mode scanner with a 5 MHz probe was used. The plasma progesterone concentration was determined using RIA. A high progesterone level on the first examination, but low on the second, or low on the first and high on the second examination were interpreted as a silent heat. Based on the progesterone values, silent heat was diagnosed in 145 anoestrous cows, whereas ultrasonographically, 106 cows were found to have silent heat. The accuracy of the ultrasonography and rectal palpation in the diagnosis of silent heat in cows was 89.0 % and 69.7 %, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). For the diagnosis of the corpus luteum, the sensitivity and specificity of the ultrasonography was 94.7 % and 84.0 %, and for rectal palpation 86.2 % and 70.3 %, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). Our results showed that ultrasonography is a useful tool in the diagnosis of silent heat in cows. (authors)

  10. Linguistic and perceptual-motor contributions to the kinematic properties of the braille reading finger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Barry; Van Gemmert, Arend W A; Stelmach, George E

    2011-08-01

    Recordings of the dominant finger during the reading of braille sentences by experienced readers reveal that the velocity of the finger changes frequently during the traverse of a line of text. These changes, not previously reported, involve a multitude of accelerations and decelerations, as well as reversals of direction. We investigated the origin of these velocity intermittencies (as well as movement reversals) by asking readers to twice read out-loud or silently sentences comprising high- or low-frequency words which combined to make grammatical sentences that were either meaningful or nonmeaningful. In a control condition we asked braille readers to smoothly scan lines of braille comprised of meaningless cell combinations. Word frequency and re-reading each contribute to the kinematics of finger movements, but neither sentence meaning nor the mode of reading do so. The velocity intermittencies were so pervasive that they are not easily attributable either to linguistic processing, text familiarity, mode of reading, or to sensory-motor interactions with the textured patterns of braille, but seem integral to all braille finger movements except reversals. While language-related processing can affect the finger movements, the effects are superimposed on a highly intermittent velocity profile whose origin appears to lie in the motor control of slow movements. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Scintigraphic diagnosis of silent aspiration following double-sided lung transplantation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toenshoff, G.; Stock, U.; Bohuslavizki, K.H.; Brenner, W.; Costard-Jaeckle, A.; Cremer, J.; Clausen, M.

    1996-01-01

    We present a case of a 25 year old patient who underwent double-sided lung transplantation and suffered from recurrent pneumonia. Silent aspiration was suspected clinically. Aspiration was proved by scintigraphy enabling to discriminate between direct oro-pulmonal aspiration and aspiration after gastro-esophageal reflux. (orig.) [de

  12. A Correlational Study of a Reading Comprehension Program and Attrition Rates of ESL Nursing Students in Texas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donnell, Wendy M

    The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between English as a second language (ESL), a reading comprehension program, and attrition rates of nursing students. Higher attrition rates of ESL nursing students are an assumption, seemingly based on anecdotal evidence. Data reflecting ESL student attrition should be measured and analyzed so that students can be identified prior to attrition. A secondary analysis of a large database of 27 initial licensure programs in Texas was completed. Data analysis identified that ESL students who used a reading comprehension program were almost twice as likely to be off track or out of the program as ESL students who did not use the program. Nurse educators need to evaluate student profile characteristics in a comprehensive way when determining risk of attrition.

  13. Gated single photon emission computer tomography for the detection of silent myocardial ischemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pena Q, Yamile; Coca P, Marco Antonio; Batista C, Juan Felipe; Fernandez-Britto, Jose; Quesada P, Rodobaldo; Pena C; Andria

    2009-01-01

    Background: Asymptomatic patients with severe coronary atherosclerosis may have a normal resting electrocardiogram and stress test. Aim: To assess the yield of Gated Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT) for the screening of silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetic patients. Material and methods: Electrocardiogram, stress test and gated-SPECT were performed on 102 type 2 diabetic patients aged 60 ± 8 years without cardiovascular symptoms. All subjects were also subjected to a coronary angiography, whose results were used as gold standard. Results: Gated-SPECT showed myocardial ischemia on 26.5% of studied patients. The sensibility, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 92.3%, 96%, 95%, 88.8%, 97.3%, respectively. In four and six patients ischemia was detected on resting electrocardiogram and stress test, respectively. Eighty percent of patients with doubtful resting electrocardiogram results and 70% with a doubtful stress test had a silent myocardial ischemia detected by gated-SPECT. There was a good agreement between the results of gated-SPECT and coronary angiography (k =0.873). Conclusions: Gated-SPECT was an useful tool for the screening of silent myocardial ischemia

  14. “Silent” Diabetes and Clinical Outcome After Treatment With Contemporary Drug-Eluting Stents : The BIO-RESORT Silent Diabetes Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    von Birgelen, Clemens; Kok, Marlies M.; Sattar, Naveed; Zocca, Paolo; Doelman, Cees; Kant, Gert D.; Löwik, Marije M.; van der Heijden, Liefke C.; Sen, Hanim; van Houwelingen, Gert K.; Stoel, Martin G.; Louwerenburg, J. (Hans) W.; Hartmann, Marc; de Man, Frits H.A.F.; Linssen, Gerard C.M.; Doggen, Carine J.M.; Tandjung, Kenneth

    2018-01-01

    Objectives: This study sought to assess the prevalence and clinical impact of silent diabetes and pre-diabetes in “nondiabetic” percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) all-comers. Background: Patients with undetected and thus untreated (silent) diabetes may have higher event risks after PCI with

  15. Agreement of the silent partnership – tax and legal consequences of its conclusion and execution

    OpenAIRE

    Monika Zieniewicz

    2016-01-01

    The institution of the silent partnership is not currently regulated by any legal act in the Polish legal system, although its importance in practice is not in doubt. As every action made in the economic sphere and economic execution of the contract is associated with specific effects on the basis of the tax laws. However, due to the lack of statutory regulation of the institution of silent partnership problematic is the question of determining the effects of tax legislation. Therefore, speci...

  16. Silent, indirect strategic processes in small and medium sized enterprises

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Mette Vinther; Madsen, Charlotte Øland; Rasmussen, Jørgen Gulddahl

    Based on empirical data we in this paper explore day-to-day strategising with an emphasis on phronesis. This way we shed some light on the nearly silent, quiet, indirect strategic change processes as they are practiced and reflected upon by leaders in small companies in their daily practice...

  17. Perspectives on the "Silent Period" for Emergent Bilinguals in England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bligh, Caroline; Drury, Rose

    2015-01-01

    This article draws together the research findings from two ethnographic studies as a means to problematize the "silent period" as experienced by young bilingual learners in two English speaking early-years settings in England. Most teachers and senior early-years practitioners in England are monolingual English speakers. The children…

  18. Reading from electronic devices versus hardcopy text.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hue, Jennifer E; Rosenfield, Mark; Saá, Gianinna

    2014-01-01

    The use of electronic reading devices has increased dramatically. However, some individuals report increased visual symptoms when reading from electronic screens. This investigation compared reading from two electronic devices (Amazon Kindle or Apple Ipod) versus hardcopy text in two groups of 20 subjects. Subjects performed a 20 min reading task for each condition. Both the accommodative response and reading rate were monitored during the trial. Immediately post-task, subjects completed a questionnaire concerning the ocular symptoms experienced during the task. In comparing the Kindle with hardcopy, no significant difference in the total symptom score was observed, although the mean score for the symptoms of tired eyes and eye discomfort was significantly higher with the Kindle. No significant differences in reading rate were found. When comparing the Ipod with hardcopy, no significant differences in symptom scores were found. The mean reading rate with the Ipod was significantly slower than for hardcopy while the mean lag of accommodation was significantly larger for the Ipod. Given the significant increase in symptoms with the Kindle, and larger lag of accommodation and reduced reading rate with the Ipod, one may conclude that reading from electronic devices is not equivalent to hardcopy.

  19. The Rachel Carson Letters and the Making of Silent Spring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Paull

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Environment, conservation, green, and kindred movements look back to Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring as a milestone. The impact of the book, including on government, industry, and civil society, was immediate and substantial, and has been extensively described; however, the provenance of the book has been less thoroughly examined. Using Carson’s personal correspondence, this paper reveals that the primary source for Carson’s book was the extensive evidence and contacts compiled by two biodynamic farmers, Marjorie Spock and Mary T. Richards, of Long Island, New York. Their evidence was compiled for a suite of legal actions (1957-1960 against the U.S. Government and that contested the aerial spraying of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT. During Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime, Spock and Richards both studied at Steiner’s Goetheanum, the headquarters of Anthroposophy, located in Dornach, Switzerland. Spock and Richards were prominent U.S. anthroposophists, and established a biodynamic farm under the tutelage of the leading biodynamics exponent of the time, Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer. When their property was under threat from a government program of DDT spraying, they brought their case, eventually lost it, in the process spent US$100,000, and compiled the evidence that they then shared with Carson, who used it, and their extensive contacts and the trial transcripts, as the primary input for Silent Spring. Carson attributed to Spock, Richards, and Pfeiffer, no credit whatsoever in her book. As a consequence, the organics movement has not received the recognition, that is its due, as the primary impulse for Silent Spring, and it is, itself, unaware of this provenance.

  20. Estimation of cortical silent period following transcranial magnetic stimulation using a computerised cumulative sum method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Nicolas K K; Kuppuswamy, Annapoorna; Strutton, Paul H; Davey, Nick J

    2006-01-15

    The cortical silent period (CSP) following transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex can be used to measure intra-cortical inhibition and changes in a number of important pathologies affecting the central nervous system. The main drawback of this technique has been the difficulty in accurately identifying the onset and offset of the cortical silent period leading to inter-observer variability. We developed an automated method based on the cumulative sum (Cusum) technique to improve the determination of the duration and area of the cortical silent period. This was compared with experienced raters and two other automated methods. We showed that the automated Cusum method reliably correlated with the experienced raters for both duration and area of CSP. Compared with the automated methods, the Cusum also showed the strongest correlation with the experienced raters. Our results show the Cusum method to be a simple, graphical and powerful method of detecting low-intensity CSP that can be easily automated using standard software.

  1. Diagnosis of silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetic patients by electrocardiogram, ergometry and Gated-SPECT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Penna Quian, Yamile; Fernandez-Britto Rodriguez, Jose; Bacallao Gallestey, Jorge; Batista Cuellar, Juan Felipe; Coca Perez, Marco Antonio; Toirac Garcia, Noresma; Penna Coego, Andria

    2008-01-01

    31 asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients were studied by lab tests, electrocardiogram, ergometry, Gated-SPECT and coronariography to determine the relation between the atherosclerotic risk factors and the silent myocardial ischemia. Patients were classified into two groups: positive SPECT and negative SPECT. Association tests were made for each variable and ROC curves were constructed to identify risk markers. In 35.5% of the patients silent myocardial ischemia was detected with a good angiographic correlation. A significant association was evidenced between positive SPECT and the atherosclerotic risk factors, namely, low values of HDLc, family pathological history of ischemic heart disease and peripheral vascular disease. The logistic regression models showed that low values of HDLc together with family pathological history of ischemic heart disease may be strong predictors of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients

  2. An introduction to silent speech interfaces

    CERN Document Server

    Freitas, João; Dias, Miguel Sales; Silva, Samuel

    2017-01-01

    This book provides a broad and comprehensive overview of the existing technical approaches in the area of silent speech interfaces (SSI), both in theory and in application. Each technique is described in the context of the human speech production process, allowing the reader to clearly understand the principles behind SSI in general and across different methods. Additionally, the book explores the combined use of different data sources, collected from various sensors, in order to tackle the limitations of simpler SSI approaches, addressing current challenges of this field. The book also provides information about existing SSI applications, resources and a simple tutorial on how to build an SSI.

  3. Silent infarction on a second CT scan in 91 patients without manifest stroke in the Dutch TIA trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herderscheê, D.; Hijdra, A.; Algra, A.; Kappelle, L. J.; Koudstaal, P. J.; van Gijn, J.

    1994-01-01

    The frequency of silent infarction is an important issue because it is a marker of vascular disease. We studied the occurrence of silent infarction in a sample of patients from the Dutch TIA trial, in which patients were randomized between 30 and 283 mg of aspirin. A total of 91 patients with TIA or

  4. Altered Modulation of Silent Period in Tongue Motor Cortex of Persistent Developmental Stuttering in Relation to Stuttering Severity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busan, Pierpaolo; Del Ben, Giovanni; Bernardini, Simona; Natarelli, Giulia; Bencich, Marco; Monti, Fabrizio; Manganotti, Paolo; Battaglini, Piero Paolo

    2016-01-01

    Motor balance in developmental stuttering (DS) was investigated with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), with the aim to define novel neural markers of persistent DS in adulthood. Eleven DS adult males were evaluated with TMS on tongue primary motor cortex, compared to 15 matched fluent speakers, in a "state" condition (i.e. stutterers vs. fluent speakers, no overt stuttering). Motor and silent period thresholds (SPT), recruitment curves, and silent period durations were acquired by recording tongue motor evoked potentials. Tongue silent period duration was increased in DS, especially in the left hemisphere (Pstuttering severity. Pre-TMS electromyography data gave overlapping evidence. Findings suggest the existence of a complex intracortical balance in DS tongue primary motor cortex, with a particular interplay between excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms, also in neural substrates related to silent periods. Findings are discussed with respect to functional and structural impairments in stuttering, and are also proposed as novel neural markers of a stuttering "state" in persistent DS, helping to define more focused treatments (e.g. neuro-modulation).

  5. Prevalence of symptomatic and silent stress-induced perfusion defects in diabetic patients with suspected coronary artery disease referred for myocardial perfusion scintigraphy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prior, John O.; Calcagni, Maria-Lucia; Bischof Delaloye, Angelika; Monbaron, David; Ruiz, Juan; Koehli, Melanie

    2005-01-01

    Silent myocardial ischaemia - as evaluated by stress-induced perfusion defects on myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) in patients without a history of chest pain - is frequent in diabetes and is associated with increased rates of cardiovascular events. Its prevalence has been determined in asymptomatic diabetic patients, but remains largely unknown in diabetic patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) in the clinical setting. In this study we therefore sought (a) to determine the prevalence of symptomatic and silent perfusion defects in diabetic patients with suspected CAD and (b) to characterise the eventual predictors of abnormal perfusion. The patient population comprised 133 consecutive diabetic patients with suspected CAD who had been referred for MPS. Studies were performed with exercise (41%) or pharmacological stress testing (1-day protocol, 99m Tc-sestamibi, 201 Tl or both). We used semi-quantitative analysis (20-segment polar maps) to derive the summed stress score (SSS) and the summed difference score (SDS). Abnormal MPS (SSS≥4) was observed in 49 (37%) patients (SSS=4.9±8.4, SDS=2.4±4.7), reversible perfusion defects (SDS≥2) in 40 (30%) patients [SSS=13.3±10.9; SDS=8.0±5.6; 20% moderate to severe (SDS>4), 7% multivessel] and fixed defects in 21 (16%) patients. Results were comparable between patients with and patients without a history of chest pain. Of 75 patients without a history of chest pain, 23 (31%, 95% CI=21-42%) presented reversible defects (SSS=13.9±11.3; SDS=7.4±1.2), indicative of silent ischaemia. Reversible defects were associated with inducible ST segment depression during MPS stress (odds ratio (OR)=3.2, p<0.01). Fixed defects were associated with erectile dysfunction in males (OR=3.7, p=0.02) and lower aspirin use (OR=0.25, p=0.02). Silent stress-induced perfusion defects occurred in 31% of the patients, a rate similar to that in patients with a history of chest pain. MPS could identify these patients with a

  6. Construction of the Cylindrical Ozone Generator by Silent Discharge Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agus Purwadi; Widdi Usada; Suryadi; Isyuniarto; Sri Sukmajaya

    2002-01-01

    It has been constructed the ozone generator by silent discharge method. Anode and cathode of discharge tube were made of stainless steel (SS) in the cylinder form with diameters of 22 mm and 25 mm, the length of 100 mm and 110 mm, the equal thickness of 1 mm respectively. The dielectric was made of cylinder glass with diameter of 23 cm, the length of 105 cm and the thickness of 1 mm. The testing of apparatus was carried out by using discharge voltage of 12.5 kV and frequency of 1.5 kHz. Identification of the ozone gas formation was marked by the existing of special ozone smell and the separated of iodine molecule (yellow colour) from the potassium iodide solution which contaminated gas out put from the ozonizer. By using absorbing method can be shown that the ozone production rate was 0.196 mg/s by using oxygen gas input and 0.065 mg/s by using ordinary air input. (author)

  7. Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela; Iov, F.; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

    , connection of the wind turbine at different types of grid and storage systems. Different control strategies have been developed and implemented for these wind turbine concepts, their performance in normal or fault operation being assessed and discussed by means of simulations. The described control......This report presents a collection of models and control strategies developed and implemented in the power system simulation tool PowerFactory DIgSILENT for different wind turbine concepts. It is the second edition of Risø-R-1400(EN) and it gathers and describes a whole wind turbine model database...... of the interaction between the mechanical structure of the wind turbine and the electrical grid during different operational modes. The report provides thus a description of the wind turbines modelling, both at a component level and at a system level. The report contains both the description of DIgSILENT built...

  8. Silent Aortic Dissection Presenting as Transient Locked-In Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nadour, Wadih; Goldwasser, Brian; Biederman, Robert W.; Taffe, Kevin

    2008-01-01

    Acute aortic dissection is a medical emergency. Without prompt recognition and treatment, the mortality rate is high. An atypical presentation makes timely diagnosis difficult, especially if the patient is experiencing no characteristic pain. Many patients with aortic dissection are reported to have presented with various neurologic manifestations, but none with only a presentation of transient locked-in syndrome. Herein, we report a case of completely painless aortic dissection in a woman who presented with a transient episode of anarthria, quadriplegia, and preserved consciousness. On physical examination, she had a 40-point difference in blood pressure between her left and right arms, and a loud diastolic murmur. The diagnosis of acute aortic dissection was reached via a combination of radiography, computed tomography, echocardiography, and a high index of clinical suspicion. The patient underwent emergency surgery and ultimately experienced a successful outcome. To our knowledge, this is the 1st report of aortic dissection that presented solely as locked-in syndrome. We suggest that silent aortic dissection be added to the differential diagnosis for transient locked-in syndrome. PMID:18941610

  9. Stopping the Silent Killer: Hepatitis B Among Asian Americans

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    This podcast discusses an underappreciated health threat to many Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States: chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus. Dr. John Ward, director of CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis, and Dr. Sam So, founder of the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, address the importance of testing, vaccination, and care to prevent serious health consequences from this "silent" disease.

  10. Hydrocoele: A Silent Disability Affecting Quality of Life in Katakwi ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Katakwi district is one of the rural districts in eastern Uganda in Teso Sub Region. The district is heavily infested with filarial worms a major cause for hydrocoele and elephantiasis if the infection is left untreated. Hydrocoele in Katakwi district are still a big cause of silent morbidity though it's an operable ...

  11. Veratridine activates a silent sodium-channel in rat isolated aorta

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    WERMELSKIRCHEN, D; WILFFERT, B; NEBEL, U; LEIDIG, A; WIRTH, A; Peters, Thies

    1992-01-01

    To investigate the existence of silent Na+ channels, isolated rat aorta was treated with veratridine (0.1 mM) and the resulting Ca2+ uptake was determined. After 30-min incubation the total tissue uptake of Ca2+ and Ca2+ uptake increased from 2.325 +/- 0.017 to 2.614 +/- 0.080 nmol/mg wet weight

  12. Health Education Films of the Silent Era: A Historical Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sofalvi, Alan

    2011-01-01

    Films have been used to present health messages throughout the history of the medium. The purpose of this article is to describe pictures from the silent film era that were designed to educate people about health issues. Films still available in at least one format were reviewed. Published reviews were also used to obtain information about these…

  13. THE EFFECT OF USING SHORT SILENT ANIMATIONS ON EFL LEARNERS WRITING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamid Marashi

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the effect of short silent animations on pre-intermediate EFL learners writing. A homogenized group of 60 participants was non-randomly chosen and assigned as the control and experimental groups. Those in the control group watched five short animations with dialogue, while those in the experimental group had five short animations which were silent. The procedure lasted 10 sessions. In both groups, the participants were asked to write five writings regarding the subjects of the animations during the term and each of the writings should have contained a minimum of 90 and maximum of 140 words. The participants were provided both oral and written feedback. At the end of the instruction, a sample PET writing posttest was administered to both groups, an independent samples t-test was run on the mean scores of the two groups, and the results (t = -2.02, p = 0.037˂0.05 revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group.

  14. Detection of silent cells, synchronization and modulatory activity in developing cellular networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hjorth, Johannes J J; Dawitz, Julia; Kroon, Tim; Pires, Johny; Dassen, Valerie J; Berkhout, Janna A; Emperador Melero, Javier; Nadadhur, Aish G; Alevra, Mihai; Toonen, Ruud F; Heine, Vivi M; Mansvelder, Huibert D; Meredith, Rhiannon M

    2016-04-01

    Developing networks in the immature nervous system and in cellular cultures are characterized by waves of synchronous activity in restricted clusters of cells. Synchronized activity in immature networks is proposed to regulate many different developmental processes, from neuron growth and cell migration, to the refinement of synapses, topographic maps, and the mature composition of ion channels. These emergent activity patterns are not present in all cells simultaneously within the network and more immature "silent" cells, potentially correlated with the presence of silent synapses, are prominent in different networks during early developmental periods. Many current network analyses for detection of synchronous cellular activity utilize activity-based pixel correlations to identify cellular-based regions of interest (ROIs) and coincident cell activity. However, using activity-based correlations, these methods first underestimate or ignore the inactive silent cells within the developing network and second, are difficult to apply within cell-dense regions commonly found in developing brain networks. In addition, previous methods may ignore ROIs within a network that shows transient activity patterns comprising both inactive and active periods. We developed analysis software to semi-automatically detect cells within developing neuronal networks that were imaged using calcium-sensitive reporter dyes. Using an iterative threshold, modulation of activity was tracked within individual cells across the network. The distribution pattern of both inactive and active, including synchronous cells, could be determined based on distance measures to neighboring cells and according to different anatomical layers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Enhancing the production effect in memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinlan, Chelsea K; Taylor, Tracy L

    2013-01-01

    The production effect is the finding that subsequent memory is better for words that are produced than for words that are not produced. Whereas the current literature demonstrates that reading aloud is the most effective form of production, the distinctiveness account used to explain the production effect predicts that there is nothing special about reading aloud per se: Other forms of vocal production that include an additional distinct element should produce even greater subsequent memory benefits than reading aloud. To test this, we presented participants with study words that they were instructed to read aloud loudly, read aloud, or read silently (Experiment 1); sing, read aloud, or read silently (Experiment 2); and sing, read aloud loudly, read aloud, or read silently (Experiment 3). We observed that both reading items aloud loudly (Experiments 1 and 3) and singing items (Experiments 2 and 3) at study resulted in greater subsequent recognition than reading items aloud in a normal voice; singing had a larger memory benefit than reading aloud loudly (Experiment 3). Our findings support the distinctiveness hypothesis by demonstrating that there are other forms of production, such as singing and reading aloud loudly that have a more pronounced effect on memory than reading aloud.

  16. Reading up on sex: Learning to read. Why sex matters, and whether physical fitness and activity are relevant in reading acquisition

    OpenAIRE

    Tunstad, Hege Jørgensen

    2013-01-01

    When you read this thesis, you rely on a skill you acquired as a child. Most children start at the age of 5-6 years to learn single letters, write their name, and gradually develop the functional skill of decoding strings of letters; in other words, reading. By the age of 10 they are expected to read texts with concentration, endurance, fluency and coherence. The success rate varies, and Norwegian children score slightly above average when reading skills are measured globally, and are better ...

  17. Silent Patent Ductus Arteriosus Aneurysm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aline Medeiros Botta

    2002-09-01

    Full Text Available Ductus arteriosus aneurysm, a rare and potentially fatal condition, has been reported as a complication after surgical ductus arteriosus closure. Its spontaneous appearance as a septic complication, which was common in the presurgical and preantibiotic era, has been rarely reported in the contemporary literature. Persistence of silent ductus arteriosus in healthy children and adults is a frequent condition that currently has an increasing diagnostic possibility due to the availability of more accurate investigative methods, especially echocardiography. We report the case of a 1-year-old child, in whom no previous heart disease was known, who developed a giant aneurysm of the ductus arteriosus during a staphylococcal infection. This complication appeared after craniotomy for emptying an accidental subdural hematoma. This report associates the persistence of ductus arteriosus with a complication considered rare, which has a rapidly fatal evolution.

  18. Phonological coding during reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leinenger, Mallorie

    2014-11-01

    The exact role that phonological coding (the recoding of written, orthographic information into a sound based code) plays during silent reading has been extensively studied for more than a century. Despite the large body of research surrounding the topic, varying theories as to the time course and function of this recoding still exist. The present review synthesizes this body of research, addressing the topics of time course and function in tandem. The varying theories surrounding the function of phonological coding (e.g., that phonological codes aid lexical access, that phonological codes aid comprehension and bolster short-term memory, or that phonological codes are largely epiphenomenal in skilled readers) are first outlined, and the time courses that each maps onto (e.g., that phonological codes come online early [prelexical] or that phonological codes come online late [postlexical]) are discussed. Next the research relevant to each of these proposed functions is reviewed, discussing the varying methodologies that have been used to investigate phonological coding (e.g., response time methods, reading while eye-tracking or recording EEG and MEG, concurrent articulation) and highlighting the advantages and limitations of each with respect to the study of phonological coding. In response to the view that phonological coding is largely epiphenomenal in skilled readers, research on the use of phonological codes in prelingually, profoundly deaf readers is reviewed. Finally, implications for current models of word identification (activation-verification model, Van Orden, 1987; dual-route model, e.g., M. Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001; parallel distributed processing model, Seidenberg & McClelland, 1989) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansen, A.C.; Jauch, C.; Soerensen, P.; Iov, F.; Blaabjerg, F.

    2003-12-01

    The present report describes the dynamic wind turbine models implemented in the power system simulation tool DIgSILENT (Version 12.0). The developed models are a part of the results of a national research project, whose overall objective is to create a model database in different simulation tools. This model database should be able to support the analysis of the interaction between the mechanical structure of the wind turbine and the electrical grid during different operational modes. The report provides a description of the wind turbines modelling, both at a component level and at a system level. The report contains both the description of DIgSILENT built-in models for the electrical components of a grid connected wind turbine (e.g. induction generators, power converters, transformers) and the models developed by the user, in the dynamic simulation language DSL of DIgSILENT, for the non-electrical components of the wind turbine (wind model, aerodynamic model, mechanical model). The initialisation issues on the wind turbine models into the power system simulation are also presented. However, the main attention in this report is drawn to the modelling at the system level of two wind turbine concepts: 1. Active stall wind turbine with induction generator 2. Variable speed, variable pitch wind turbine with doubly fed induction generator. These wind turbine concept models can be used and even extended for the study of different aspects, e.g. the assessment of power quality, control strategies, connection of the wind turbine at different types of grid and storage systems. For both these two concepts, control strategies are developed and implemented, their performance assessed and discussed by means of simulations. (au)

  20. Neural responses to silent lipreading in normal hearing male and female subjects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ruytjens, Liesbet; Albers, Frans; van Dijk, Pim; Wit, Hero; Willemsen, Antoon

    In the past, researchers investigated silent lipreading in normal hearing subjects with functional neuroimaging tools and showed how the brain processes visual stimuli that are normally accompanied by an auditory counterpart. Previously, we showed activation differences between males and females in

  1. Towards Contactless Silent Speech Recognition Based on Detection of Active and Visible Articulators Using IR-UWB Radar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Young Hoon; Seo, Jiwon

    2016-10-29

    People with hearing or speaking disabilities are deprived of the benefits of conventional speech recognition technology because it is based on acoustic signals. Recent research has focused on silent speech recognition systems that are based on the motions of a speaker's vocal tract and articulators. Because most silent speech recognition systems use contact sensors that are very inconvenient to users or optical systems that are susceptible to environmental interference, a contactless and robust solution is hence required. Toward this objective, this paper presents a series of signal processing algorithms for a contactless silent speech recognition system using an impulse radio ultra-wide band (IR-UWB) radar. The IR-UWB radar is used to remotely and wirelessly detect motions of the lips and jaw. In order to extract the necessary features of lip and jaw motions from the received radar signals, we propose a feature extraction algorithm. The proposed algorithm noticeably improved speech recognition performance compared to the existing algorithm during our word recognition test with five speakers. We also propose a speech activity detection algorithm to automatically select speech segments from continuous input signals. Thus, speech recognition processing is performed only when speech segments are detected. Our testbed consists of commercial off-the-shelf radar products, and the proposed algorithms are readily applicable without designing specialized radar hardware for silent speech processing.

  2. Silent and a audible stereotypes: The constitution of "ethnic character" in Serbian epic poetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Đerić Gordana

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the explanatory relevance of the concept of stereotype in one of its original meanings - as a "mental image". This meaning of the term is the starting point for further differentiations, such as: between linguistic and behavioral stereotypes (in the sense of nonverbal, expected responses; universal and particular stereotypes; self representative and introspective stereotypes; permanent and contemporary stereotypes; and finally, what is most important for our purposes, the difference between silent and audible stereotypes. These distinctions, along with the functions of stereotype, are discussed in the first part of the paper. In the second part, the relations of silent and audible stereotypes are tested against the introduction of "innovative vocabularies" in popular lore. In other words, the explanatory power of this differentiation is checked through an analysis of unconventional motives in Serbian epic poems. The goal of the argument is to clarify the procedure of self creation of masculinity as a relevant feature of the "national character" through "tactic games" of silent and audible stereotypes. The examination of these "poetic strategies" serves a twofold purpose: to illustrate the process of constructing particular features of the "ethno type", on one hand, and to check hypotheses and models which are taken as frameworks in analyzing stereotypes, on the other.

  3. When Spiders Bite: The Use, Misuse, and Unintended Consequences of ``Silent Information''

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keenan, Thomas P.

    Spiders are the workhorses of the Internet, silently (and almost invisibly) traversing the online world, 24 hours a day, looking for information that may be of interest to someone. It is being archived, organized, and sold, usually without the knowledge or consent of the subject of the information. Serious consequences are starting to appear, such as the withdrawal of three candidates from the October 2008 Canadian Federal election because of previous online indiscretions. While these were intentional if mis-guided postings, information made available without our consent can have equally devastating effects. Advances in artificial intelligence, as well as the increasing tendency to post more and more information, such as videos, will make the gathering, aggregation, and republishing of this “silent information” an increasingly important issue that must be addressed from the technical, social, ethical and legal perspectives, and sooner rather than later.

  4. Rate of decay of auditory sensation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plomp, R.

    1964-01-01

    The rate of decay of auditory sensation was investigated by measuring the minimum silent interval that must be introduced between two noise pulses to be perceived. The value of this critical time Δt was determined for difierent intensity levels of both the first and the second pulse. It is shown

  5. Reading with a simulated 60-channel implant

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelica ePerez Fornos

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available First generation retinal prostheses containing 50-60 electrodes are currently in clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the theoretical upper limit (best possible reading performance attainable with a state-of-the-art 60-channel retinal implant and to find the optimum viewing conditions for the task. Four normal volunteers performed full-page text reading tasks with a low resolution, 60-pixel viewing window that was stabilized in the central visual field. Two parameters were systematically varied: (1 spatial resolution (image magnification and (2 the orientation of the rectangular viewing window. Performance was measured in terms of reading accuracy (% of correctly read words and reading rates (words/min. Maximum reading performances were reached at spatial resolutions between 3.6 and 6 pixels/char. Performance declined outside this range for all subjects. In optimum viewing conditions (4.5 pixels/char, subjects achieved almost perfect reading accuracy and mean reading rates of 26 words/min for the vertical viewing window and of 34 words/min for the horizontal viewing window. These results suggest that, theoretically, some reading abilities can be restored with actual state-of-the-art retinal implant prototypes if image magnification is within an optimum range. Future retinal implants providing higher pixel resolutions, thus allowing for a wider visual span might allow faster reading rates.

  6. Ventricular Fibrillation Associated With Dynamic Changes in J-Point Elevation in a Patient With Silent Thyroiditis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karashima, Shigehiro; Tsuda, Toyonobu; Wakabayashi, Yusuke; Kometani, Mitsuhiro; Demura, Masashi; Ichise, Taro; Kawashiri, Masa-Aki; Takeda, Yoshiyu; Hayashi, Kenshi; Yoneda, Takashi

    2018-02-01

    A J wave is a common electrocardiographic finding in the general population. Individuals with prominent J waves in multiple electrocardiogram (ECG) leads have a higher risk of lethal arrhythmias than those with low-amplitude J waves. There are few reports about the relationship between thyroid function and J-wave amplitude. We report the case of a 45-year-old man who had unexpected ventricular fibrillation (VF). He had dynamic J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Possible early repolarization syndrome was diagnosed. He also had thyrotoxicosis caused by silent thyroiditis, and his J-wave amplitude decreased according to changes in thyroid function because of spontaneous remission of silent thyroiditis. There was a positive correlation between serum triiodothyronine levels and J-wave amplitudes. The findings in case suggested silent thyroiditis may contribute to the occurrence of VF in a patient with dynamic changes in J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Thyrotoxicosis is a relatively common endocrine disease; therefore, clinicians should pay attention to J-wave amplitude in the ECG of patients with thyrotoxicosis.

  7. Ventricular Fibrillation Associated With Dynamic Changes in J-Point Elevation in a Patient With Silent Thyroiditis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsuda, Toyonobu; Wakabayashi, Yusuke; Kometani, Mitsuhiro; Demura, Masashi; Ichise, Taro; Kawashiri, Masa-aki; Takeda, Yoshiyu; Hayashi, Kenshi; Yoneda, Takashi

    2018-01-01

    A J wave is a common electrocardiographic finding in the general population. Individuals with prominent J waves in multiple electrocardiogram (ECG) leads have a higher risk of lethal arrhythmias than those with low-amplitude J waves. There are few reports about the relationship between thyroid function and J-wave amplitude. We report the case of a 45-year-old man who had unexpected ventricular fibrillation (VF). He had dynamic J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Possible early repolarization syndrome was diagnosed. He also had thyrotoxicosis caused by silent thyroiditis, and his J-wave amplitude decreased according to changes in thyroid function because of spontaneous remission of silent thyroiditis. There was a positive correlation between serum triiodothyronine levels and J-wave amplitudes. The findings in case suggested silent thyroiditis may contribute to the occurrence of VF in a patient with dynamic changes in J-point elevation in multiple ECG leads. Thyrotoxicosis is a relatively common endocrine disease; therefore, clinicians should pay attention to J-wave amplitude in the ECG of patients with thyrotoxicosis. PMID:29383332

  8. Behavioral Attention: A Longitudinal Study of Whether and How It Influences the Development of Word Reading and Reading Comprehension among At-Risk Readers

    OpenAIRE

    Miller, Amanda C.; Fuchs, Douglas; Fuchs, Lynn S.; Compton, Donald L.; Kearns, Devin; Zhang, Wenjuan; Yen, Loulee; Patton, Samuel; Kirchner, Danielle

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which teacher ratings of behavioral attention predicted responsiveness to word reading instruction in first grade and third-grade reading comprehension performance. Participants were 110 first grade students identified as at-risk for reading difficulties who received 20 weeks of intensive reading intervention in combination with classroom reading instruction. Path analysis indicated that teacher ratings of student attention significantly ...

  9. Silent cerebral infarction, income, and grade retention among students with sickle cell anemia

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Allison A.; Rodeghier, Mark J.; Panepinto, Julie Ann; Strouse, John J.; Casella, James F.; Quinn, Charles T.; Dowling, Michael M.; Sarnaik, Sharada A.; Thompson, Alexis A.; Woods, Gerald M.; Minniti, Caterina P.; Redding-Lallinger, Rupa C.; Kirby-Allen, Melanie; Kirkham, Fenella J.; McKinstry, Robert; Noetzel, Michael J.; White, Desiree A.; Kwiatkowski, Janet K.; Howard, Thomas H.; Kalinyak, Karen A.; Inusa, Baba; Rhodes, Melissa M.; Heiny, Mark E.; Fuh, Ben; Fixler, Jason M.; Gordon, Mae O.; DeBaun, Michael R.

    2014-01-01

    Children with sickle cell anemia have a higher-than-expected prevalence of poor educational attainment. We test two key hypotheses about educational attainment among students with sickle cell anemia, as measured by grade retention and use of special education services: (1) lower household per capita income is associated with lower educational attainment; (2) the presence of a silent cerebral infarct is associated with lower educational attainment. We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional study of cases from 22 U.S. sites included in the Silent Infarct Transfusion Trial. During screening, parents completed a questionnaire that included sociodemographic information and details of their child’s academic status. Of 835 students, 670 were evaluable; 536 had data on all covariates and were used for analysis. The students’ mean age was 9.4 years (range: 5–15) with 52.2% male; 17.5% of students were retained one grade level and 18.3% received special education services. A multiple variable logistic regression model identified that lower household per capita income (odds ratio [OR] of quartile 1 = 6.36, OR of quartile 2 = 4.7, OR of quartile 3 = 3.87; P = 0.001 for linear trend), age (OR = 1.3; P sickle cell anemia, household per capita income is associated with grade retention, whereas the presence of a silent cerebral infarct is not. Future educational interventions will need to address both the medical and socioeconomic issues that affect students with sickle cell anemia. PMID:25042018

  10. Reading Achievement and In-Grade Retention Rate Differentials for Mexican-American and Black Students in Selected States of the Southwest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casavantes, Edward Joseph

    Two sets of data from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' Mexican American Education Study were selected for analysis in the areas of (1) comparative reading achievement rates of Mexican Americans and black students; and (2) differential in-grade retention rates of Anglo, Mexican American, and black students. Two separate issues were examined.…

  11. Stillelesing i norskfaget – pustepause for læreren eller veiledningsøkt i lesing?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingvill Krogstad Svanes

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Denne studien undersøker hva fire lærere på barnetrinnet gjør når elevene leser stille. Stillelesing er en vanlig aktivitet i norske klasserom, men kunnskapen om hva læreren gjør i denne tiden og hvordan hun veileder faglig, er begrenset. Studien ønsker å bidra til økt viten om dette. For å belyse lærerens rolle under stillelesing, kombinerer studien forskning på stillelesing fra amerikanske klasserom med forskning på læreres tilbakemeldinger når elevene leser. De fire lærerne arbeider på 3. trinn. De er observert i en uke hver, og materialet består av videoopptak fra stillelesingsstundene i den uka lærerne er observert. Videoopptakene analyseres i lys av de fem grunnpilarene for leseopplæring (National reading panel, 2000: fonologisk bevissthet, avkoding, ordforråd, flyt og leseforståelse. Studien viser at lærerne bruker tiden under stillelesing svært forskjellig. To av lærerne bruker det aller meste av tiden på å høre på elevene lese og veilede dem faglig. De to andre lærerne bruker den største delen av tiden på organisering eller annet forefallende arbeid der de ikke kommuniserer med elever, for eksempel å rydde i klasserommet. Gjennom næranalyser av lærernes faglige veiledning finner studien at lærerne veileder i alle de relevante grunnpilarene for leseopplæring, men i ulik grad. Lærerne varierer også i hva slags type tilbakemeldinger de gir, og de bruker både ‘endelige’ tilbakemeldinger og ‘støttende’ tilbakemeldinger. Lærerne varierer veiledningen i større grad enn tidligere klasseromsstudier tilsier. Det kan imidlertid se ut som at lærere ville tjene på en bevisstgjøring rundt stillelesing som undervisningstid, og om ulike typer tilbakemeldinger.Nøkkelord: stillelesing, muntlige tilbakemeldinger, leseopplæring, barnetrinnet, norskfagetAbstractThis study explores what four teachers in primary school do when the pupils read silently. Silent reading (independent reading is a common

  12. Silent Localization of Underwater Sensors Using Magnetometers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonas Callmer

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Sensor localization is a central problem for sensor networks. If the sensor positions are uncertain, the target tracking ability of the sensor network is reduced. Sensor localization in underwater environments is traditionally addressed using acoustic range measurements involving known anchor or surface nodes. We explore the usage of triaxial magnetometers and a friendly vessel with known magnetic dipole to silently localize the sensors. The ferromagnetic field created by the dipole is measured by the magnetometers and is used to localize the sensors. The trajectory of the vessel and the sensor positions are estimated simultaneously using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF. Simulations show that the sensors can be accurately positioned using magnetometers.

  13. Soundless Speech/ Wordless Writing: Language and German Silent Cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc Silberman

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Speech / Wordless Writing: Language and German Silent Cinema Marc Silberman If language loses its communicative and interpretative functions in direct proportion to the loss of its referential grounding, then the modernist crisis is simultaneously a crisis of its signifying practices. This means that the evolution of the silent cinema is a particularly rich site to examine the problematic relationship of language and image. This essay presents several expressionist films as a specific response to this crisis in order to describe the diverse cinematic forms of resistance to the word, to articulated speech. While some film makers developed the silence of the silent film into a “gestural language” that dramatized light and movement, others reproduced the film figures’ silent speech by means of graphically stylized intertitles. My thesis is that the expressionist cinema maintained an idealistic notion of the film as a pure work of art that aimed at a unified composition of all elements and missed the opportunity to explore the rich semiotic possibilities of the new technological medium with its hybrid, synergetic forms and provocative force. Hence, the expressionist cinema marks a transition or even the endpoint of a long process of reflection about the communicative possibilities of language that shifted to a fundamentally new level with the invention of sound cinema at the end of the 1920s. Parole muette / écriture sans mot: Le langage et le cinéma allemand muet Marc Silberman Le langage, dit-on, perd de ses functions communicatrices et interpretatives en proportion directe à la perte de sa force référentielle. On dira que la crise moderniste est également une crise des pratiques signifiantes. Ce qui revient à dire aussi que l’évolution du cinéma muet serait une site particulièrement riche pour examiner les problématiques du langage vs. l’image. Cet essai présente quelques films expressionnistes comme réactions à la crise

  14. The Tzu Chi Silent Mentor Program: Application of Buddhist Ethics to Teach Student Physicians Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Sacrifice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santibañez, Scott; Boudreaux, Debra; Tseng, Guo-Fang; Konkel, Kimberly

    2016-10-01

    The Buddhist Tzu Chi Silent Mentor Program promotes the donation of one's body to science as a selfless act by appealing to the Buddhist ethics of compassion and self-sacrifice. Together, faculty, families, and donors help medical students to learn the technical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological aspects of medicine. Students assigned to each "Silent Mentor" visit the family to learn about the donor's life. They see photos and hear family members' stories. Afterwards, students write a brief biography of the donor which is posted on the program website, in the medical school, and on the dissection table. In this paper, we: (1) summarize the Silent Mentor Program; (2) describe findings from an assessment of medical students who recently completed a new version of the program in Malaysia; and (3) explore how healthcare settings could benefit from this innovative program.

  15. Silent hepatitis E virus infection in Dutch blood donors, 2011 to 2012

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slot, E.; Hogema, B. M.; Riezebos-Brilman, A.; Kok, T. M.; Molier, M.; Zaaijer, H. L.

    2013-01-01

    In Europe, the dynamics of endemic hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection remain enigmatic. We studied the presence of silent HEV infection among Dutch blood donors. Using donations collected throughout the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012, 40,176 donations were tested for HEV RNA in 459 pools of 48 or 480

  16. BOOK REVIEW: ARE YOU AN ADVOCATE, TACIT SUPPORTER, CRITICAL SKEPTIC, OR SILENT SKEPTIC?

    Science.gov (United States)

    "Silent Sperm," "You're not half the man your grandfather was," "Assault on the Male," "Gender Benders,"-perhaps no other public health concern has given rise to the number of memorable sound bites than has the issue of whether environmental contaminants are causing adverse healt...

  17. How Reading Volume Affects both Reading Fluency and Reading Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard L. ALLINGTON

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Long overlooked, reading volume is actually central to the development of reading proficiencies, especially in the development of fluent reading proficiency. Generally no one in schools monitors the actual volume of reading that children engage in. We know that the commonly used commercial core reading programs provide only material that requires about 15 minutes of reading activity daily. The remaining 75 minute of reading lessons is filled with many other activities such as completing workbook pages or responding to low-level literal questions about what has been read. Studies designed to enhance the volume of reading that children do during their reading lessons demonstrate one way to enhance reading development. Repeated readings have been widely used in fostering reading fluency but wide reading options seem to work faster and more broadly in developing reading proficiencies, including oral reading fluency.

  18. Dual silent communication system development based on subvocal speech and Raspberry Pi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Daniel Ramírez-Corzo

    2016-09-01

    Additionally, in this article we show the speech subvocal signals’ recording system realization. The average accuracy percentage was 72.5 %, and includes a total of 50 words by class, this is 200 signals. Finally, it demonstrated that using the Raspberry Pi it is possible to set a silent communication system, using subvocal. speech signals.

  19. Direct reading dosimeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomson, I.

    1985-01-01

    This invention is a direct reading dosimeter which is light, small enough to be worn on a person, and measures both dose rates and total dose. It is based on a semiconductor sensor. The gate threshold voltage change rather than absolute value is measured and displayed as a direct reading of the dose rate. This is effected by continuously switching the gate of an MOS transistor from positive to negative bias. The output can directly drive a digital readout or trigger an audible alarm. The sensor device can be a MOSFET, bipolar transistor, or MOSFET capacitor which has its electrical characteristics change due to the trapped charge in the insulating layer of the device

  20. Improved read disturb and write error rates in voltage-control spintronics memory (VoCSM) by controlling energy barrier height

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inokuchi, T.; Yoda, H.; Kato, Y.; Shimizu, M.; Shirotori, S.; Shimomura, N.; Koi, K.; Kamiguchi, Y.; Sugiyama, H.; Oikawa, S.; Ikegami, K.; Ishikawa, M.; Altansargai, B.; Tiwari, A.; Ohsawa, Y.; Saito, Y.; Kurobe, A.

    2017-06-01

    A hybrid writing scheme that combines the spin Hall effect and voltage-controlled magnetic-anisotropy effect is investigated in Ta/CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB/Ru/CoFe/IrMn junctions. The write current and control voltage are applied to Ta and CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB junctions, respectively. The critical current density required for switching the magnetization in CoFeB was modulated 3.6-fold by changing the control voltage from -1.0 V to +1.0 V. This modulation of the write current density is explained by the change in the surface anisotropy of the free layer from 1.7 mJ/m2 to 1.6 mJ/m2, which is caused by the electric field applied to the junction. The read disturb rate and write error rate, which are important performance parameters for memory applications, are drastically improved, and no error was detected in 5 × 108 cycles by controlling read and write sequences.

  1. Measuring the cortical silent period can increase diagnostic confidence for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schelhaas, H.J.; Arts, I.M.P.; Overeem, S.; Houtman, C.J.; Janssen, H.; Kleine, B.U.; Munneke, M.; Zwarts, M.J.

    2007-01-01

    We evaluated a modified measurement of the cortical silent period (CSP) as a simple procedure to add further confidence in the diagnostic work-up for ALS. Thirty-seven consecutive patients with a suspicion of having ALS were included together with 25 healthy volunteers, and followed until a final

  2. Hypoxia-Induced neonatal seizures diminish silent synapses and long-term potentiation in hippocampal CA1 neurons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Chengwen; Bell, Jocelyn J. Lippman; Sun, Hongyu; Jensen, Frances E.

    2012-01-01

    Neonatal seizures can lead to epilepsy and long-term cognitive deficits in adulthood. Using a rodent model of the most common form of human neonatal seizures, hypoxia-induced seizures (HS), we aimed to determine whether these seizures modify long-term potentiation (LTP) and “silent” N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-only synapses in hippocampal CA1. At 48-72 hours (hrs) post-HS, electrophysiology and immunofluorescent confocal microscopy revealed a significant decrease in the incidence of silent synapses, and an increase in amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) at the synapses. Coincident with this decrease in silent synapses, there was an attenuation of LTP elicited by either tetanic stimulation of Schaffer collaterals or a pairing protocol, and persistent attenuation of LTP in slices removed in later adulthood after P10 HS. Furthermore, post-seizure treatment in vivo with the AMPAR antagonist 2,3-dihydroxy-6-nitro-7-sulfonyl-benzo[f]quinoxaline (NBQX) protected against the HS-induced depletion of silent synapses and preserved LTP. Thus, this study demonstrates a novel mechanism by which early-life seizures could impair synaptic plasticity, suggesting a potential target for therapeutic strategies to prevent long-term cognitive deficits. PMID:22171027

  3. Pathway evidence of how musical perception predicts word-level reading ability in children with reading difficulties.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugo Cogo-Moreira

    Full Text Available To investigate whether specific domains of musical perception (temporal and melodic domains predict the word-level reading skills of eight- to ten-year-old children (n = 235 with reading difficulties, normal quotient of intelligence, and no previous exposure to music education classes.A general-specific solution of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA, which underlies a musical perception construct and is constituted by three latent factors (the general, temporal, and the melodic domain, was regressed on word-level reading skills (rate of correct isolated words/non-words read per minute.General and melodic latent domains predicted word-level reading skills.

  4. Do bells affect behaviour and heart rate variability in grazing dairy cows?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Johns

    Full Text Available In alpine regions cows are often equipped with bells. The present study investigated the impact of wearing a bell on behaviour and heart rate variability in dairy cows. Nineteen non-lactating Brown-Swiss cows with bell experience were assigned to three different treatments. For 3 days each, cows were equipped with no bell (control, with a bell with inactivated clapper (silent bell or with a functional bell (functional bell. The bells weighed 5.5 kg and had frequencies between 532 Hz and 2.8 kHz and amplitudes between 90 and 113 dB at a distance of 20 cm. Data were collected on either the first and third or on all 3 days of each treatment. Whereas duration of rumination was reduced with a functional bell and a silent bell compared with no bell, feeding duration was reduced with a silent bell and was intermediate with a functional bell. Head movements were reduced when wearing a silent bell compared with no bell and tended to be reduced when wearing a functional compared to no bell. With a functional bell, lying duration was reduced by almost 4 hours on the third day of treatment compared with the first day with a functional bell and compared with no bell or a silent bell. All additional behavioural measures are consistent with the hypothesis of a restriction in the behaviour of the cows wearing bells, although this pattern did not reach significance. There was no treatment effect on heart rate variability, suggesting that the bells did not affect vago-sympathetic balance. An effect of experimental day was found for only 1 out of 10 behavioural parameters, as shown by a decrease in lying with a functional bell on day 3. The results indicate behavioural changes in the cows wearing a bell over 3 days, without indication of habituation to the bell. Altogether, the behavioural changes suggest that the behaviour of the cows was disturbed by wearing a bell. If long-lasting, these effects may have implications for animal welfare.

  5. Do Bells Affect Behaviour and Heart Rate Variability in Grazing Dairy Cows?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johns, Julia; Patt, Antonia; Hillmann, Edna

    2015-01-01

    In alpine regions cows are often equipped with bells. The present study investigated the impact of wearing a bell on behaviour and heart rate variability in dairy cows. Nineteen non-lactating Brown-Swiss cows with bell experience were assigned to three different treatments. For 3 days each, cows were equipped with no bell (control), with a bell with inactivated clapper (silent bell) or with a functional bell (functional bell). The bells weighed 5.5 kg and had frequencies between 532 Hz and 2.8 kHz and amplitudes between 90 and 113 dB at a distance of 20 cm. Data were collected on either the first and third or on all 3 days of each treatment. Whereas duration of rumination was reduced with a functional bell and a silent bell compared with no bell, feeding duration was reduced with a silent bell and was intermediate with a functional bell. Head movements were reduced when wearing a silent bell compared with no bell and tended to be reduced when wearing a functional compared to no bell. With a functional bell, lying duration was reduced by almost 4 hours on the third day of treatment compared with the first day with a functional bell and compared with no bell or a silent bell. All additional behavioural measures are consistent with the hypothesis of a restriction in the behaviour of the cows wearing bells, although this pattern did not reach significance. There was no treatment effect on heart rate variability, suggesting that the bells did not affect vago-sympathetic balance. An effect of experimental day was found for only 1 out of 10 behavioural parameters, as shown by a decrease in lying with a functional bell on day 3. The results indicate behavioural changes in the cows wearing a bell over 3 days, without indication of habituation to the bell. Altogether, the behavioural changes suggest that the behaviour of the cows was disturbed by wearing a bell. If long-lasting, these effects may have implications for animal welfare. PMID:26110277

  6. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of hippocampal activation during silent mantra meditation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engström, Maria; Pihlsgård, Johan; Lundberg, Peter; Söderfeldt, Birgitta

    2010-12-01

    The objective of the present study was to investigate whether moderately experienced meditators activate hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex during silent mantra meditation, as has been observed in earlier studies on subjects with several years of practice. Subjects with less than 2 years of meditation practice according to the Kundalini yoga or Acem tradition were examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging during silent mantra meditation, using an on-off block design. Whole-brain as well as region-of-interest analyses were performed. The most significant activation was found in the bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampal formations. Other areas with significant activation were the bilateral middle cingulate cortex and the bilateral precentral cortex. No activation in the anterior cingulate cortex was found, and only small activation clusters were observed in the prefrontal cortex. In conclusion, the main finding in this study was the significant activation in the hippocampi, which also has been correlated with meditation in several previous studies on very experienced meditators. We propose that the hippocampus is activated already after moderate meditation practice and also during different modes of meditation, including relaxation. The role of hippocampal activity during meditation should be further clarified in future studies, especially by investigating whether the meditation-correlated hippocampal activity is related to memory consolidation.

  7. General Education Teachers' Ratings of the Academic Engagement Level of Students Who Read Braille: A Comparison with Sighted Peers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bardin, Julie A.; Lewis, Sandra

    2011-01-01

    English and language arts teachers of braille-reading students in general education classes rated these students' academic engagement and the academic achievement of low- and average-achieving sighted students in the same classrooms. The braille readers were found to be statistically similar to the low-achieving students with regard to effort,…

  8. Investigating Metacognitive Awareness and Reading Strategy Use of EFL Korean University Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong-Nam, Kay; Page, Larkin

    2014-01-01

    The metacognitive awareness and reading strategy use by Korean university students in Korea was investigated. The relationships between reading strategy use, self-rated English proficiency, and self-rated reading proficiency were examined. Differences in reading strategy use were also explored by gender and academic classification. Problem-solving…

  9. Origin of the low-level EMG during the silent period following transcranial magnetic stimulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Butler, Jane E; Petersen, Nicolas C; Herbert, Robert D

    2012-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: The cortical silent period refers to a period of near silence in the electromyogram (EMG) after transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex during contraction. However, low-level EMG of unknown origin is often present. We hypothesised that it arises through spinal...

  10. Silent synapses in neuromuscular junction development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomàs, Josep; Santafé, Manel M; Lanuza, Maria A; García, Neus; Besalduch, Nuria; Tomàs, Marta

    2011-01-01

    In the last few years, evidence has been found to suggest that some synaptic contacts become silent but can be functionally recruited before they completely retract during postnatal synapse elimination in muscle. The physiological mechanism of developmental synapse elimination may be better understood by studying this synapse recruitment. This Mini-Review collects previously published data and new results to propose a molecular mechanism for axonal disconnection. The mechanism is based on protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent inhibition of acetylcholine (ACh) release. PKC activity may be stimulated by a methoctramine-sensitive M2-type muscarinic receptor and by calcium inflow though P/Q- and L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels. In addition, tropomyosin-related tyrosine kinase B (trkB) receptor-mediated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) activity may oppose the PKC-mediated ACh release depression. Thus, a balance between trkB and muscarinic pathways may contribute to the final functional suppression of some neuromuscular synapses during development. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  11. Various Models for Reading Comprehension Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parastoo Babashamsi

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years reading can be viewed as a process, as a form of thinking, as a true experience, and as a tool subject. As a process, reading includes visual discrimination, independent recognition of word, rhythmic progression along a line of print, precision in the return sweep of the eyes, and adjustment of rate. In the same line, the present paper aims at considering the various models of reading process. Moreover, the paper will take a look at various factors such as schema and vocabulary knowledge which affect reading comprehension process.

  12. A System for Detecting Miscues in Dyslexic Read Speech

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Morten Højfeldt; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Lindberg, Børge

    2009-01-01

    While miscue detection in general is a well explored research field little attention has so far been paid to miscue detection in dyslexic read speech. This domain differs substantially from the domains that are commonly researched, as for example dyslexic read speech includes frequent regressions...... that the system detects miscues at a false alarm rate of 5.3% and a miscue detection rate of 40.1%. These results are worse than current state of the art reading tutors perhaps indicating that dyslexic read speech is a challenge to handle....

  13. Impaired reading comprehension in schizophrenia: evidence for underlying phonological processing deficits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnott, Wendy; Sali, Lauren; Copland, David

    2011-05-15

    The present study examined reading ability in high functioning people with schizophrenia. To this end, 16 people with schizophrenia who were living in the community and 12 matched controls completed tests of passage reading (comprehension, accuracy, and rate), word recognition, and phonological processing (phonological awareness, phonological memory and rapid naming) and ratings of reading self-concept and practices. Performance of the participants with schizophrenia was impaired relative to control participants on reading comprehension and rapid naming and relative to the population norms on phonological awareness, and rapid naming. In addition, self-rating data revealed that participants with schizophrenia had poorer perceptions of their reading ability and engaged in reading activities less frequently than their control counterparts. Consistent with earlier research, significant correlations were found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension. These findings expand on previous research in the area to suggest that community-based individuals with schizophrenia experience problems with reading comprehension that may have a phonological basis. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Radio jets and gamma-ray emission in radio-silent narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lähteenmäki, A.; Järvelä, E.; Ramakrishnan, V.; Tornikoski, M.; Tammi, J.; Vera, R. J. C.; Chamani, W.

    2018-06-01

    We have detected six narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies at 37 GHz that were previously classified as radio silent and two that were classified as radio quiet. These detections reveal the presumption that NLS1 galaxies labelled radio quiet or radio silent and hosted by spiral galaxies are unable to launch jets to be incorrect. The detections are a plausible indicator of the presence of a powerful, most likely relativistic jet because this intensity of emission at 37 GHz cannot be explained by, for example, radiation from supernova remnants. Additionally, one of the detected NLS1 galaxies is a newly discovered source of gamma rays and three others are candidates for future detections. 37 GHz data are only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/614/L1

  15. Preliminary validation of FastaReada as a measure of reading fluency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zena eElhassan

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Fluent reading is characterized by speed and accuracy in the decoding and comprehension of connected text. Although a variety of measures are available for the assessment of reading skills most tests do not evaluate rate of text recognition as reflected in fluent reading. Here we evaluate FastaReada, a customized computer-generated task that was developed to address some of the limitations of currently available measures of reading skills. FastaReada provides a rapid assessment of reading fluency quantified as words read per minute for connected, meaningful text. To test the criterion validity of FastaReada, 124 mainstream school children with typical sensory, mental and motor development were assessed. Performance on FastaReada was correlated with the established Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA measures of text reading accuracy, rate and comprehension, and common single word measures of pseudoword (non-word reading, phonetic decoding, phonological awareness and mode of word decoding (i.e., visual or eidetic versus auditory or phonetic. The results demonstrated strong positive correlations between FastaReada performance and NARA reading rate (r = .75, accuracy (r = .83 and comprehension (r = .63 scores providing evidence for criterion-related validity. Additional evidence for criterion validity was demonstrated through strong positive correlations between FastaReada and both single word eidetic (r = .81 and phonetic decoding skills (r = .68. The results also demonstrated FastaReada to be a stronger predictor of eidetic decoding than the NARA rate measure, with FastaReada predicting 14.4% of the variance compared to 2.6% predicted by NARA rate. FastaReada was therefore deemed to be a valid tool for educators, clinicians, and research related assessment of reading accuracy and rate. As expected, analysis with hierarchical regressions also highlighted the closer relationship of fluent reading to rapid visual word recognition than to

  16. Blue hypertext is a good design decision: no perceptual disadvantage in reading and successful highlighting of relevant information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagl, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    Highlighted text in the Internet (i.e., hypertext) is predominantly blue and underlined. The perceptibility of these hypertext characteristics was heavily questioned by applied research and empirical tests resulted in inconclusive results. The ability to recognize blue text in foveal and parafoveal vision was identified as potentially constrained by the low number of foveally centered blue light sensitive retinal cells. The present study investigates if foveal and parafoveal perceptibility of blue hypertext is reduced in comparison to normal black text during reading. A silent-sentence reading study with simultaneous eye movement recordings and the invisible boundary paradigm, which allows the investigation of foveal and parafoveal perceptibility, separately, was realized (comparing fixation times after degraded vs. un-degraded parafoveal previews). Target words in sentences were presented in either black or blue and either underlined or normal. No effect of color and underlining, but a preview benefit could be detected for first pass reading measures. Fixation time measures that included re-reading, e.g., total viewing times, showed, in addition to a preview effect, a reduced fixation time for not highlighted (black not underlined) in contrast to highlighted target words (either blue or underlined or both). The present pattern reflects no detectable perceptual disadvantage of hyperlink stimuli but increased attraction of attention resources, after first pass reading, through highlighting. Blue or underlined text allows readers to easily perceive hypertext and at the same time readers re-visited highlighted words longer. On the basis of the present evidence, blue hypertext can be safely recommended to web designers for future use.

  17. Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT

    OpenAIRE

    Hansen, A.D.; Jauch, C.; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar; Iov, F.; Blaabjerg, F.

    2004-01-01

    The present report describes the dynamic wind turbine models implemented in the power system simulation tool DIgSILENT (Version 12.0). The developed models are a part of the results of a national research project, whose overall objective is to create amodel database in different simulation tools. This model database should be able to support the analysis of the interaction between the mechanical structure of the wind turbine and the electrical grid during different operational modes. The repo...

  18. Treatment of hazardous organic wastes using silent discharge plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosocha, L.A.; Anderson, G.K.; Bechtold, L.A.; Coogan, J.J.; Heck, H.G.; Kang, M.; McCulla, W.H.; Tennant, R.A.; Wantuck, P.J.

    1992-01-01

    During the past two decades, interest in applying non-equilibrium plasmas to the removal of hazardous chemicals from gaseous media has been growing, in particular from heightened concerns over the pollution of our environment and a growing body of environmental regulations. At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, we are currently engaged in a project to develop non-equilibrium plasma technology for hazardous waste treatment. Our present focus is on dielectric-barrier discharges, which are historically called silent electrical discharges. This type of plasma is also named a silent discharge plasma (SDP). We have chosen this method due to its potential for high energy efficiency, its scientific and technological maturity, and its scalability. The SDP process has been demonstrated to be reliable and economical for the industrial-scale synthesis of ozone, where municipal water treatment plants frequently require the on-site generation of thousands of kilograins per day (Eliasson ampersand Kogelschatz). The related methods of corona processing are presently the focus of work at other institutions, particularly for flue gas processing. Both SDP and corona processes are characterized by the production of large quantities of highly reactive free radicals, especially atomic oxygen O(3P) and the hydroxyl OH, in the gaseous medium and their subsequent reaction with contaminants. Our primary objective is to convert hazardous or toxic chemicals into non-hazardous compounds or into materials which are more amenable to treatment. In the ideal case, the hazardous wastes are destructively oxidized to simpler, non-hazardous compounds plus CO2 and H2O. Sometimes the reaction products are still potentially hazardous, but are easily treated by conventional methods to yield non-hazardous products

  19. Neuroimaging of language processes: fMRI of silent and overt lexical processing and the promise of multiple process imaging in single brain studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borowsky, R.; Owen, W.J.; Wile, T.L.; Friesen, C.K.; Martin, J.L.; Sarty, G.E.

    2005-01-01

    To implement and evaluate a multiple-process functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm designed to effectively and efficiently activate several language-related regions for use with neurosurgical patients. Both overt and covert response conditions were examined. The fMRI experiments compared the traditional silent word-generation condition versus an overt one as they engage frontal language regions (Experiment 1) and silent versus overt semantic association conditions as they engage multiple language processing regions (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 the overt condition yielded greater magnitude of activation, but not volume of activation, in the left inferior frontal and insular cortices than did the silent condition for most, but not all, participants. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the activation of multiple established language processing regions (ie, orthographic, phonological and semantic) can be achieved in a significant number of participants, particularly under overt semantic association conditions and that such activation varies in predictable ways. The traditional silent response condition cannot be considered as equivalent to the overt response condition during word generation or semantic association. The multiple-process imaging method introduced here was sensitive to processing robust orthographic, phonological, and semantic regions, particularly under the overt response condition. (author)

  20. Definition dependent properties of the cortical silent period in upper-extremity muscles, a methodological study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuijk, A.A. van; Bakker, C.D.; Hendriks, J.C.M.; Geurts, A.C.; Stegeman, D.F.; Pasman, J.W.

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND: To explore if stimulus-response (S-R) characteristics of the silent period (SP) after transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are affected by changing the SP definition and by changing data presentation in healthy individuals. This information would be clinically relevant to predict

  1. Definition dependent properties of the cortical silent period in upper-extremity muscles, a methodological study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Kuijk, A.A.; Bakker, C,; Hendriks, J.J.A.; Geurts, A.H.; Stegeman, D.F.; Pasman, J.W.

    2014-01-01

    Background: To explore if stimulus-response (S-R) characteristics of the silent period (SP) after transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are affected by changing the SP definition and by changing data presentation in healthy individuals. This information would be clinically relevant to predict

  2. Reducing the silent burden of impaired mental health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jané-Llopis, Eva; Anderson, Peter; Stewart-Brown, Sarah; Weare, Katherine; Wahlbeck, Kristian; McDaid, David; Cooper, Cary; Litchfield, Paul

    2011-08-01

    Mental and behavioral disorders account for about one third of the world's disability caused by all ill health among adults, with unipolar depressive disorders set to be the world's number one cause of illhealth and premature death in 2030, affecting high- and low-income countries. There is a range of evidence-based cost-effective interventions that can be implemented in parenting, at schools, at the workplace, and in older age that can promote health and well-being, reduce mental disorders, lead to improved productivity, and increase resilience to cope with many of the stressors in the world. These facts need to be better communicated to policymakers to ensure that the silent burden of impaired mental health is adequately heard and reduced.

  3. Stopping the Silent Killer: Hepatitis B Among Asian Americans

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2008-04-18

    This podcast discusses an underappreciated health threat to many Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States: chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus. Dr. John Ward, director of CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis, and Dr. Sam So, founder of the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, address the importance of testing, vaccination, and care to prevent serious health consequences from this "silent" disease.  Created: 4/18/2008 by National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH) and Office of Dispute Resolution and Equal Employment Opportunity, Office of the Director (OD).   Date Released: 5/1/2008.

  4. Whatever Happened to the Silent Scientific Revolution?--Research, Theory and Practice in Distance Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Alistair

    The point of departure for this article is the title of a book edited by David Fetterman, "Qualitative Approaches to Educational Evaluation--The Silent Scientific Revolution." This article addresses the question of how the shift to a qualitative, phenomenological approach has impinged on research and evaluation in distance education.…

  5. Clinical aspects of silent cerebral infarction; MRI findings and its distribution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ohnishi, Jiro (Kobe Univ. (Japan). School of Medicine); Kudo, Yutaka

    1991-06-01

    High-field MR scans have often showed patchy incidental findings especially in the elderly. We examined 91 patients, without episodes of cerebrovascular disorders previously, who had silent cerebral lesions noted by the 1.5 tesla superconductive system T2 weighted magnetic resonance imaging. They were divided into three subtypes by the localization of foci. The 23 subjects (25%) showed confined lesions to thalamus and/or internal capsule and/or basal ganglia (the basal ganglia type). The 39 subjects (43%) had lesions predominantly in cerebral cortex and/or subcortical white matter and/or cerebellum (the diffuse subcortical type). Finally, the 29 subjects (32%) had both features of abovementioned two groups (the mixed type). These subtypes were correlated with age, sex and some of the other risk factors, such as systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, serum total cholesterol and uric acid, for stroke. From the age extent and the correlation of subtypes to risk factors, the basal ganglia type was suspected to be based on the different origin from other two types. The authors proposed that the arteriosclerotic factor might play an important role in the incidence of the diffuse subcortical type and the mixed type silent cerebral infarctions and that the hemodynamic factor might play an important role in the incidence of the basal ganglia type. (J.P.N.).

  6. Female’s Silent Resistance against Hegemony in The Scarlet Letter, Bekisar Merah, and Belantik: A Comparative Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RB. Edi Pramono

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Social patriarchy is a gender-biased hegemonic value that is structured for the benefits of men but unfortunately disadvantages women. Lasiyah, the protagonist of Bekisar Merah and Belantik, and Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, experienced those hegemonic values that were oppressive, from their patriarchal societies i.e. Java and Puritans. By using the theories of both Hegemony and Comparative Literature, this discussion reveals the two protagonists’ similar silent resistance against the hegemonic values in that this brought them to become new persons with new personality and identity. They were similarly reborn. Both women had comparable factors driving them to conduct silent resistance: pride, dignity, and love. Woman, who is in general considered weak and powerless, is in fact strong and powerful.

  7. Relations among student attention behaviors, teacher practices, and beginning word reading skill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sáez, Leilani; Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Schatschneider, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    The role of student attention for predicting kindergarten word reading was investigated among 432 students. Using Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale behavior rating scores, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, which yielded three distinct factors that reflected selective attention. In this study, the authors focused on the role of one of these factors, which they labeled attention-memory, for predicting reading performance. Teacher ratings of attention-memory predicted word reading above and beyond the contribution of phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the relations between four teacher practices and attention ratings for predicting reading performance were examined. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors found significant interactions between student attention and teacher practices observed during literacy instruction. In general, as ratings of attention improved, better kindergarten word reading performance was associated with high levels of classroom behavior management. However, better word reading performance was not associated with high levels of teacher task orienting. A significant three-way interaction was also found among attention, individualized instruction, and teacher task redirections. The role of regulating kindergarten student attention to support beginning word reading skill development is discussed.

  8. Cervical Cancer as a silent killer: A rare case report with review of literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deeksha Pandey

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Advanced-stage cervical cancer almost always presents either with abnormal vaginal bleeding or with foul-smelling vaginal discharge. We present here a rare case, where a postmenopausal lady presented almost silently with stage IVA cervical cancer. Fortunately, timely referral, correct diagnosis, and multispecialty team work could save her life.

  9. Monstruos de la Universal: la etapa silente y los mitos del sonoro

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Fuentefría-Rodríguez

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available En coincidencia con el centenario en 2012 de los legendarios Estudios Universal, este trabajo propone un exhaustivo análisis crítico sobre la construcción de sus principales símbolos terroríficos, la mayoría inspirados en la literatura, que entre los años 1923 y 1941 conformaron la estructura mitogénica del denominado “monstruo clásico”. Tanto en la etapa silente, como con la irrupción del sonoro, las películas de terror de la Universal marcaron un paso imprescindible en la evolución de este género canónico, y a ellas se debe buena parte del ingente desarrollo posterior del mismo.In coincidence with 2012 legendary Universal Studio´s centenary, this paper proposes an exhaustive critical analysis on the construction of its principal terrifying symbols, the majority inspired by literature, which between 1923 and 1941 shaped the myth structure of the so-called "classic monster". In both stages, silent and sonorous movies, the terror of Universal Studios marked an indispensable step in the evolution of this canonical genre, and to them it is owed a good deal of its enormous later development.

  10. Optimisation of the Read-out Electronics of Muon Drift-Tube Chambers for Very High Background Rates at HL-LHC and Future Colliders

    CERN Document Server

    Nowak, Sebastian; Gadow, Philipp; Ecker, Katharina; Fink, David; Fras, Markus; Kortner, Oliver; Kroha, Hubert; Müller, Felix; Richter, Robert; Schmid, Clemens; Schmidt-Sommerfeld, Korbinian; Zhao, Yazhou

    2016-01-01

    In the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer, Monitored Drift Tube (MDT) chambers and sMDT chambers with half of the tube diameter of the MDTs are used for precision muon track reconstruction. The sMDT chambers are designed for operation at high counting rates due to neutron and gamma background irradiation expected for the HL-LHC and future hadron colliders. The existing MDT read-out electronics uses bipolar signal shaping which causes an undershoot of opposite polarity and same charge after a signal pulse. At high counting rates and short electronics dead time used for the sMDTs, signal pulses pile up on the undershoot of preceding background pulses leading to a reduction of the signal amplitude and a jitter in the drift time measurement and, therefore, to a degradation of drift tube efficiency and spatial resolution. In order to further increase the rate capability of sMDT tubes, baseline restoration can be used in the read-out electronics to suppress the pile-up effects. A discrete bipolar shaping circuit with baseline...

  11. Developing reading literacy by reading badge

    OpenAIRE

    Rejc, Blanka

    2017-01-01

    Reading is a fundamental activity of our society and is present in all areas of a person’s life. Authors who deal with reading define reading with different definitions, some of them I also presented in my master’s degree thesis. The ways of reading, typology of readers and knowledge of different reading models are only some of the important theoretical facts that serve as a basis for the research and defining reading. Reading motivation is an important motivational factor, which encourages a...

  12. Exploring the Relationship between Adolescent's Reading Skills, Reading Motivation and Reading Habits

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGeown, Sarah P.; Duncan, Lynne G.; Griffiths, Yvonne M.; Stothard, Sue E.

    2015-01-01

    The present study examines the extent to which adolescents' reading affect (reading motivation) and behaviour (reading habits) predict different components of reading (word reading, comprehension, summarisation and text reading speed) and also adds to the limited research examining group differences (gender, age, ability) in adolescents' reading…

  13. Teacher perceptions affect boys’ and girls’ reading motivation differently

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boerma, I.E.; Mol, S.E.; Jolles, J.

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher perceptions and children's reading motivation, with specific attention to gender differences. The reading self-concept, task value, and attitude of 160 fifth and sixth graders were measured. Teachers rated each student's reading

  14. Codon adaptation and synonymous substitution rate in diatom plastid genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Brian R; Sorhannus, Ulf; Fox, Martin

    2002-07-01

    Diatom plastid genes are examined with respect to codon adaptation and rates of silent substitution (Ks). It is shown that diatom genes follow the same pattern of codon usage as other plastid genes studied previously. Highly expressed diatom genes display codon adaptation, or a bias toward specific major codons, and these major codons are the same as those in red algae, green algae, and land plants. It is also found that there is a strong correlation between Ks and variation in codon adaptation across diatom genes, providing the first evidence for such a relationship in the algae. It is argued that this finding supports the notion that the correlation arises from selective constraints, not from variation in mutation rate among genes. Finally, the diatom genes are examined with respect to variation in Ks among different synonymous groups. Diatom genes with strong codon adaptation do not show the same variation in synonymous substitution rate among codon groups as the flowering plant psbA gene which, previous studies have shown, has strong codon adaptation but unusually high rates of silent change in certain synonymous groups. The lack of a similar finding in diatoms supports the suggestion that the feature is unique to the flowering plant psbA due to recent relaxations in selective pressure in that lineage.

  15. Microbial communication leading to the activation of silent fungal secondary metabolite gene clusters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tina eNetzker

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Microorganisms form diverse multispecies communities in various ecosystems. The high abundance of fungal and bacterial species in these consortia results in specific communication between the microorganisms. A key role in this communication is played by secondary metabolites (SMs, which are also called natural products. Recently, it was shown that interspecies ‘talk’ between microorganisms represents a physiological trigger to activate silent gene clusters leading to the formation of novel SMs by the involved species. This review focuses on mixed microbial cultivation, mainly between bacteria and fungi, with a special emphasis on the induced formation of fungal SMs in co-cultures. In addition, the role of chromatin remodeling in the induction is examined, and methodical perspectives for the analysis of natural products are presented. As an example for an intermicrobial interaction elucidated at the molecular level, we discuss the specific interaction between the filamentous fungi Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus with the soil bacterium Streptomyces rapamycinicus, which provides an excellent model system to enlighten molecular concepts behind regulatory mechanisms and will pave the way to a novel avenue of drug discovery through targeted activation of silent SM gene clusters through co-cultivations of microorganisms.

  16. Slip rate and tremor genesis in Cascadia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wech, Aaron G.; Bartlow, Noel M.

    2014-01-01

    At many plate boundaries, conditions in the transition zone between seismogenic and stable slip produce slow earthquakes. In the Cascadia subduction zone, these events are consistently observed as slow, aseismic slip on the plate interface accompanied by persistent tectonic tremor. However, not all slow slip at other plate boundaries coincides spatially and temporally with tremor, leaving the physics of tremor genesis poorly understood. Here we analyze seismic, geodetic, and strainmeter data in Cascadia to observe for the first time a large, tremor-generating slow earthquake change from tremor-genic to silent and back again. The tremor falls silent at reduced slip speeds when the migrating slip front pauses as it loads the stronger adjacent fault segment to failure. The finding suggests that rheology and slip-speed-regulated stressing rate control tremor genesis, and the same section of fault can slip both with and without detectable tremor, limiting tremor's use as a proxy for slip.

  17. Plasma remediation of trichloroethylene in silent discharge plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evans, D.; Rosocha, L.A.; Anderson, G.K.; Coogan, J.J.; Kushner, M.J.

    1993-01-01

    Plasma destruction of toxins, and volatile organic compounds in particular, from gas streams is receiving increased attention as an energy efficient means to remediate those compounds. In this regard, remediation of trichloroethylene (TCE) in silent discharge plasmas has been experimentally and theoretically investigated. We found that TCE can be removed from Ar/O 2 gas streams at atmospheric pressure with an energy efficiency of 15--20 ppm/(mJ/cm 3 ), or 2--3 kW h kg -1 . The majority of the Cl from TCE is converted to HCl, Cl 2 , and COCl 2 , which can be removed from the gas stream by a water bubbler. The destruction efficiency of TCE is smaller in humid mixtures compared to dry mixtures due to interception of reactive intermediates by OH radicals

  18. The Relationship between Retail Merchandising in the Content Area and Its Effect on Comprehension and Reading Rate as Measured by Retail Merchandising Reading Tests Given to Selected Secondary School Students in Metropolitan Toronto.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Jane

    A total of 99 students from a Toronto secondary vocational school participated in a study to determine whether students who studied retail merchandising differed significantly in comprehension and reading rate from students who did not study retail merchandising. An experimental group composed of 50 merchandising students and a control group of 49…

  19. Blue hypertext is a good design decision: no perceptual disadvantage in reading and successful highlighting of relevant information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin Gagl

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Background Highlighted text in the Internet (i.e., hypertext is predominantly blue and underlined. The perceptibility of these hypertext characteristics was heavily questioned by applied research and empirical tests resulted in inconclusive results. The ability to recognize blue text in foveal and parafoveal vision was identified as potentially constrained by the low number of foveally centered blue light sensitive retinal cells. The present study investigates if foveal and parafoveal perceptibility of blue hypertext is reduced in comparison to normal black text during reading. Methods A silent-sentence reading study with simultaneous eye movement recordings and the invisible boundary paradigm, which allows the investigation of foveal and parafoveal perceptibility, separately, was realized (comparing fixation times after degraded vs. un-degraded parafoveal previews. Target words in sentences were presented in either black or blue and either underlined or normal. Results No effect of color and underlining, but a preview benefit could be detected for first pass reading measures. Fixation time measures that included re-reading, e.g., total viewing times, showed, in addition to a preview effect, a reduced fixation time for not highlighted (black not underlined in contrast to highlighted target words (either blue or underlined or both. Discussion The present pattern reflects no detectable perceptual disadvantage of hyperlink stimuli but increased attraction of attention resources, after first pass reading, through highlighting. Blue or underlined text allows readers to easily perceive hypertext and at the same time readers re-visited highlighted words longer. On the basis of the present evidence, blue hypertext can be safely recommended to web designers for future use.

  20. Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace

    2015-01-01

    The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)-how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children ( N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development.

  1. Sonolytic and Silent Polymerization of Methacrlyic Acid Butyl Ester Catalyzed by a New Onium Salt with bis-Active Sites in a Biphasic System — A Comparative Investigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perumberkandgai A. Vivekanand

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Currently, ingenious new analytical and process experimental techniques which are environmentally benign techniques, viz., ultrasound irradiation, have become immensely popular in promoting various reactions. In this work, a novel soluble multi-site phase transfer catalyst (PTC viz., 1,4-bis-(propylmethyleneammounium chloridebenzene (BPMACB was synthesized and its catalytic efficiency was assessed by observing the kinetics of sonolytic polymerization of methacrylic acid butyl ester (MABE using potassium persulphate (PPS as an initiator. The ultrasound–multi-site phase transfer catalysis (US-MPTC-assisted polymerization reaction was compared with the silent (non-ultrasonic polymerization reaction. The effects of the catalyst and various reaction parameters on the catalytic performance were in detail investigated by following the kinetics of polymerization of MABE in an ethyl acetate-water biphasic system. From the detailed kinetic investigation we propose a plausible mechanism. Further the kinetic results demonstrate clearly that ultrasound-assisted phase-transfer catalysis significantly increased the reaction rate when compared to silent reactions. Notably, this environmentally benign and cost-effective process has great potential to be applied in various polymer industries.

  2. Dynamic wind turbine models in power system simulation tool DIgSILENT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansen, A.D.; Iov, F.; Soerensen, Poul.; Cutululis, N.; Jauch, C.; Blaabjerg, F.

    2007-08-15

    This report presents a collection of models and control strategies developed and implemented in the power system simulation tool PowerFactory DIgSILENT for different wind turbine concepts. It is the second edition of Risoe-R-1400(EN) and it gathers and describes a whole wind turbine model database built-op and developed during several national research projects, carried out at Risoe DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and Aalborg University, in the period 2001-2007. The overall objective of these projects was to create a wind turbine model database able to support the analysis of the interaction between the mechanical structure of the wind turbine and the electrical grid during different operational modes. The report provides thus a description of the wind turbines modelling, both at a component level and at a system level. The report contains both the description of DIgSILENT built-in models for the electrical components of a grid connected wind turbine (e.g. induction generators, power converters, transformers) and the models developed by the user, in the dynamic simulation language DSL of DIgSILENT, for the non-electrical components of the wind turbine (wind model, aerodynamic model, mechanical model). The initialisation issues on the wind turbine models into the power system simulation are also presented. The main attention in the report is drawn to the modelling at the system level of the following wind turbine concepts: (1) Fixed speed active stall wind turbine concept (2) Variable speed doubly-fed induction generator wind turbine concept (3) Variable speed multi-pole permanent magnet synchronous generator wind turbine concept These wind turbine concept models can be used and even extended for the study of different aspects, e.g. the assessment of power quality, control strategies, connection of the wind turbine at different types of grid and storage systems. Different control strategies have been developed and implemented for these wind turbine

  3. Does Extensive Reading Promote Reading Speed?

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Mu

    2014-01-01

    Research has shown a wide range of learning benefits accruing from extensive reading. Not only is there improvement in reading, but also in a wide range of language uses and areas of language knowledge. However, few research studies have examined reading speed. The existing literature on reading speed focused on students' reading speed without…

  4. Facilitating text reading in posterior cortical atrophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yong, Keir X X; Rajdev, Kishan; Shakespeare, Timothy J; Leff, Alexander P; Crutch, Sebastian J

    2015-07-28

    We report (1) the quantitative investigation of text reading in posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), and (2) the effects of 2 novel software-based reading aids that result in dramatic improvements in the reading ability of patients with PCA. Reading performance, eye movements, and fixations were assessed in patients with PCA and typical Alzheimer disease and in healthy controls (experiment 1). Two reading aids (single- and double-word) were evaluated based on the notion that reducing the spatial and oculomotor demands of text reading might support reading in PCA (experiment 2). Mean reading accuracy in patients with PCA was significantly worse (57%) compared with both patients with typical Alzheimer disease (98%) and healthy controls (99%); spatial aspects of passages were the primary determinants of text reading ability in PCA. Both aids led to considerable gains in reading accuracy (PCA mean reading accuracy: single-word reading aid = 96%; individual patient improvement range: 6%-270%) and self-rated measures of reading. Data suggest a greater efficiency of fixations and eye movements under the single-word reading aid in patients with PCA. These findings demonstrate how neurologic characterization of a neurodegenerative syndrome (PCA) and detailed cognitive analysis of an important everyday skill (reading) can combine to yield aids capable of supporting important everyday functional abilities. This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PCA, 2 software-based reading aids (single-word and double-word) improve reading accuracy. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

  5. Facilitating text reading in posterior cortical atrophy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajdev, Kishan; Shakespeare, Timothy J.; Leff, Alexander P.; Crutch, Sebastian J.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: We report (1) the quantitative investigation of text reading in posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), and (2) the effects of 2 novel software-based reading aids that result in dramatic improvements in the reading ability of patients with PCA. Methods: Reading performance, eye movements, and fixations were assessed in patients with PCA and typical Alzheimer disease and in healthy controls (experiment 1). Two reading aids (single- and double-word) were evaluated based on the notion that reducing the spatial and oculomotor demands of text reading might support reading in PCA (experiment 2). Results: Mean reading accuracy in patients with PCA was significantly worse (57%) compared with both patients with typical Alzheimer disease (98%) and healthy controls (99%); spatial aspects of passages were the primary determinants of text reading ability in PCA. Both aids led to considerable gains in reading accuracy (PCA mean reading accuracy: single-word reading aid = 96%; individual patient improvement range: 6%–270%) and self-rated measures of reading. Data suggest a greater efficiency of fixations and eye movements under the single-word reading aid in patients with PCA. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate how neurologic characterization of a neurodegenerative syndrome (PCA) and detailed cognitive analysis of an important everyday skill (reading) can combine to yield aids capable of supporting important everyday functional abilities. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PCA, 2 software-based reading aids (single-word and double-word) improve reading accuracy. PMID:26138948

  6. Cell membrane temperature rate sensitivity predicted from the Nernst equation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, F S

    1984-01-01

    A hyperpolarized current is predicted from the Nernst equation for conditions of positive temperature derivatives with respect to time. This ion current, coupled with changes in membrane channel conductivities, is expected to contribute to a transient potential shift across the cell membrane for silent cells and to a change in firing rate for pacemaker cells.

  7. Low fetal hemoglobin percentage is associated with silent brain lesions in adults with homozygous sickle cell disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvet, David; Tuilier, Titien; Mélé, Nicolas; Turc, Guillaume; Habibi, Anoosha; Abdallah, Nassim Ait; Majhadi, Loubna; Hemery, François; Edjlali, Myriam; Galacteros, Frédéric; Bartolucci, Pablo

    2017-12-12

    Silent white matter changes (WMCs) on brain imaging are common in individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) and are associated with cognitive deficits in children. We investigated the factors predictive of WMCs in adults with homozygous SCD and no history of neurological conditions. Patients were recruited from a cohort of adults with homozygous SCD followed up at an adult sickle cell referral center for which steady-state measurements of biological parameters and magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain were available. WMCs were rated by consensus, on a validated age-related WMC scale. The prevalence of WMCs was 49% (95% confidence interval [CI], 39%-60%) in the 83 patients without vasculopathy included. In univariable analysis, the patients who had WMCs were more likely to be older ( P = .003) and to have hypertension ( P = .02), a lower mean corpuscular volume ( P = .005), a lower corpuscular hemoglobin concentration ( P = .008), and a lower fetal hemoglobin percentage (%HbF) ( P = .003). In multivariable analysis, only a lower %HbF remained associated with the presence of WMCs (odds ratio [OR] per 1% increase in %HbF, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.72-0.97; P = .021). %HbF was also associated with WMC burden ( P for trend = .007). Multivariable ordinal logistic regression showed an inverse relationship between WMC burden (age-related WMC score divided into 4 strata) and HbF level (OR for 1% increase in %HbF, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.79-0.99; P = .039). Our study suggests that HbF may protect against silent WMCs, decreasing the likelihood of WMCs being present and their severity. It may therefore be beneficial to increase HbF levels in patients with WMCs.

  8. Construction, integration, and mind wandering in reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, Peter; Bortolussi, Marisa

    2013-03-01

    In two experiments, we investigated how text recall was related to moment-to-moment variations in mental state while reading, and how both recall and mental state were related to the interest value of the text. In both experiments, subjects read either an interesting text (a segment of Rice's Interview with the Vampire [A. Rice, 1997, Interview with the vampire, New York. NY: Ballantine Books] or a less interesting text (a segment of Thackery's The History of Pendennis [W. M. Thackery, 2009/1914, The history of Pendennis, Project Gutenberg, Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7265]). The texts were read sentence-by-sentence on a computer screen, and subjects were periodically interrupted to answer a probe question. In Experiment 1, the probe asked whether subjects were attending to the text; in Experiment 2, the probe asked whether subjects were engaged with the story world. After reading the text, subjects were asked to recall as much of the story as possible. Recall of the material just prior to the probe was examined as a function of the whether the ratings were high, medium, or low. As expected, both on-task ratings and engagement ratings were higher for Interview than for Pendennis, but there were a substantial number of medium ratings given to both stories. In Experiment 1, there was a clear effect of story on recall over and above the effect of on-task rating. However, in Experiment 2, recall was purely a function of engagement rating. The results were interpreted in terms of a model in which recall is largely determined by the situation model representation of the narrative and in which engagement ratings (but not on-task ratings) provide a relatively pure index of the allocation of resources to processing of the situation model.

  9. Extent of silent cerebral infarcts in adult sickle-cell disease patients on magnetic resonance imaging: is there a correlation with the clinical severity of disease?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekaterini Solomou

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to correlate the extent of silent cerebral infarcts (SCIs on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI with the clinical severity of sickle cell disease (SCD in adult patients. Twenty-four consecutive adult asymptomatic SCD patients (11 male and 13 female with a mean age of 38.4 years (range 20-59 were submitted to brain MRI on a 1 Tesla Gyroscan Intera, Philips MR scanner with a dedicated head coil. The protocol consisted of TSE T2-weighted and FLAIR images on the axial and coronal planes. MRI readings were undertaken by two radiologists and consensus readings. Patients were compound heterozygotes (HbS/β-thal. The extent of SCIs was classified from 0-2 with 0 designating no lesions. Clinical severity was graded as 0-2 by the hematologist, according to the frequency and severity of vaso-occlusive crises. There was no statistically significant correlation between the severity of clinical disease and the extent of SCIs on MR imaging. The extent of SCI lesions did not differ statistically between younger and older patients. Patients receiving hydroxyurea had no statistically significant difference in the extent of SCI lesions. The extent of SCIs in heterozygous (HbS/β-thal SCD patients is not age related and may be quite severe even in younger (<38.4 years patients. However the extent of SCIs is not correlated with the severity of clinical disease.

  10. Activation of the Silent Secondary Metabolite Production by Introducing Neomycin-Resistance in a Marine-Derived Penicillium purpurogenum G59

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chang-Jing Wu

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction of neomycin-resistance into a marine-derived, wild-type Penicillium purpurogenum G59 resulted in activation of silent biosynthetic pathways for the secondary metabolite production. Upon treatment of G59 spores with neomycin and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, a total of 56 mutants were obtained by single colony isolation. The acquired resistance of mutants to neomycin was testified by the resistance test. In contrast to the G59 strain, the EtOAc extracts of 28 mutants inhibited the human cancer K562 cells, indicating that the 28 mutants have acquired the capability to produce bioactive metabolites. HPLC-photodiode array detector (PDAD-UV and HPLC-electron spray ionization (ESI-MS analyses further indicated that diverse secondary metabolites have been newly produced in the bioactive mutant extracts. Followed isolation and characterization demonstrated that five bioactive secondary metabolites, curvularin (1, citrinin (2, penicitrinone A (3, erythro-23-O-methylneocyclocitrinol (4 and 22E-7α-methoxy-5α, 6α-epoxyergosta-8(14,22-dien-3β-ol (5, were newly produced by a mutant, 4-30, compared to the G59 strain. All 1–5 were also not yet found in the secondary metabolites of other wild type P. purpurogenum strains. Compounds 1–5 inhibited human cancer K562, HL-60, HeLa and BGC-823 cells to varying extents. Both present bioassays and chemical investigations demonstrated that the introduction of neomycin-resistance into the marine-derived fungal G59 strain could activate silent secondary metabolite production. The present work not only extended the previous DMSO-mediated method for introducing drug-resistance in fungi both in DMSO concentrations and antibiotics, but also additionally exemplified effectiveness of this method for activating silent fungal secondary metabolites. This method could be applied to other fungal isolates to elicit their metabolic potentials to investigate secondary metabolites from silent biosynthetic pathways.

  11. Matching Interventions to Reading Needs: A Case for Differentiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jill S.; Conradi, Kristin; Amendum, Steven J.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of providing reading interventions that are differentiated and aligned with an individual student's most foundational reading skill need. The authors present profiles of different readers and suggest three principal areas for support: decoding words, reading at an appropriate rate, and…

  12. The association between saliva control, silent saliva penetration, aspiration, and videofluoroscopic findings in Parkinson's disease patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajaei, Ali; Ashtari, Fereshteh; Azargoon, Seyed Abolfazl; Chitsaz, Ahmad; Nilforoush, Mohammad Hussein; Taheri, Masoud; Sadeghi, Saba

    2015-01-01

    Background: Dysphagia is a common disorder among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). It occurs in up to 80% of all (PD) patients during the early stages of the disease and up to 95% in the advanced stages; but professionals may not hear from the patients about dysphagia symptoms until these symptoms reach an advanced stage and lead to medical complications. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three PD patients (mean age 66.09 ± 9.4 years; 24 men, nine women) participated in this study at our Neurology Institute, between April 20, 2013, and October 26, 2013. They were asked two questions; one about saliva control and the other about silent saliva penetration and aspiration. Next, they underwent the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS). Results: The Pearson Correlation coefficient between the Penetration–Aspiration Scale (PAS) scores and question 1 scores was 0.48 (P < 0.05, =0.25), and there was a significant correlation between the PAS scores and question 2 scores, and also question 1 scores + question 2 scores (r = 0.589, P < 0.05, =0 and r = 0589, P < 0.05, =0). Conclusions: This study showed a significant correlation between the questions about saliva control, silent saliva penetration, and aspiration, and laryngeal penetration and aspiration during VFSS. Therefore, by using these two questions, the potential silent laryngeal penetration and aspiration during meals could be detected before it led to aspiration pneumonia. Taking the benefit of these questions, as a part of the swallowing assessment of PD patients, is recommended. PMID:26261810

  13. INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING THROUGH READING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holly Warzecha, M.A. TESOL

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the following paper is to take a closer look at the benefits of incidental learning through reading, with a specific focus on vocabulary acquisition. The teaching of vocabulary has traditionally been an explicit process where the target vocabulary is taken out of context and taught separately. However, this kind of explicit teaching and learning may only take into account a form-meaning connection. Therefore, this paper explores research on incidental learning and specifically looks at what it takes to acquire new vocabulary incidentally through reading while considering the coverage rates of texts, how many words must be known already from the text, how many repetitions it takes to learn a word, types of texts that promote learning, and the effects of pairing students‘ reading with learner tasks. After reviewing many studies, it can be concluded that more reading is better. More specifically, extensive reading of chosen novels at an appropriate level and interest to the students showed important gains in vocabulary. In addition, readings that were supplemented with additional activities that focused on both form and meaning showed an even higher increase in word retention.

  14. Psychosis and Silent Celiac Disease in a Down Syndrome Adolescent: A Case Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amparo Morant

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Celiac disease is an autoimmune systemic disorder. It presents gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal manifestations as well as associated conditions. We report a 16-year-old Down syndrome girl who presented psychosis symptomatology, and she was diagnosed as having silent celiac disease. Olanzapine treatment and gluten-free diet were satisfactory. It is necessary to consider celiac disease in Down syndrome patients with psychiatric symptoms, mainly psychotic symptomatology.

  15. Effects of Silent Reading and Vocal Reading upon Memory for Prose

    OpenAIRE

    Mori, Toshiaki

    1980-01-01

    文章を黙読した場合と音読した場合とでは,文章の記憶及び読解の成績にどのような違いが生じるかという問題を,大学生を被験者として検討した。その結果,音読することは,文章を逐語的に記憶する場合には有効であるが,その効果は一時的であることがわかった。これに対し,黙読することは,文章を逐語的に記憶するというよりも,文章の内容を体制化して記憶する場合に有効であり,その効果は音読の場合よりも永続的であることがわかった。 一方,黙読するか音読するかということによって,読解の成績には顕著な差はみられなかった。このことは,黙読するか音読するかという事が読解と無関係であるというより,読解テストのやり方自体に方法上の改善をほどこす必要があるということを示唆するものと考えられる。...

  16. An information propagation model considering incomplete reading behavior in microblog

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Qiang; Huang, Jiajia; Zhao, Xiande

    2015-02-01

    Microblog is one of the most popular communication channels on the Internet, and has already become the third largest source of news and public opinions in China. Although researchers have studied the information propagation in microblog using the epidemic models, previous studies have not considered the incomplete reading behavior among microblog users. Therefore, the model cannot fit the real situations well. In this paper, we proposed an improved model entitled Microblog-Susceptible-Infected-Removed (Mb-SIR) for information propagation by explicitly considering the user's incomplete reading behavior. We also tested the effectiveness of the model using real data from Sina Microblog. We demonstrate that the new proposed model is more accurate in describing the information propagation in microblog. In addition, we also investigate the effects of the critical model parameters, e.g., reading rate, spreading rate, and removed rate through numerical simulations. The simulation results show that, compared with other parameters, reading rate plays the most influential role in the information propagation performance in microblog.

  17. Transformation of a Silent Adrencorticotrophic Pituitary Tumor Into Central Nervous System Melanoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brandon A. Miller MD, PhD

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Silent adrenocorticotrophic pituitary adenomas are nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas that express adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH but do not cause the clinical or laboratory features of hypercortisolemia. Primary central nervous system (CNS melanoma is well documented, but rarely originates in the sellar region or pituitary gland. Here we report transformation of an aggressive silent adrenocorticotrophic pituitary adenoma that transformed into CNS melanoma and review other presentations of pituitary melanoma. A 37-year-old woman initially presented with apoplexy and an invasive nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma for which she underwent transphenoidal surgery. The patient underwent 3 subsequent surgeries as the tumor continued to progress. Pathology from the first 3 operations showed pituitary adenoma or carcinoma. Pathology from the final surgery showed melanoma and the magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of the tumor had changed to become consistent with CNS melanoma. Dermatologic and ophthalmologic examinations did not identify cutaneous or ocular melanoma. The patient’s disease progressed despite aggressive surgical, medical and radiologic treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating transformation of a primary pituitary tumor into melanoma. The mechanism of tumor transformation is unclear, but it is possible that a mutation in the original ACTH-producing tumor lead to increased cleavage of pro-opiomelanocortin or ACTH into α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, which in turn stimulated the expression of microopthalmia transcription factor, leading to melanocytic phenotype transformation.

  18. Major-element geochemistry of the Silent Canyon--Black Mountain peralkaline volcanic centers, northwestern Nevada Test Site: applications to an assessment of renewed volcanism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crowe, B.M.; Sargent, K.A.

    1979-01-01

    The Silent Canyon and Black Mountain volcanic centers are located in the northern part of the Nevada Test Site. The Silent Canyon volcanic center is a buried cauldron complex of Miocene age (13 to 15 m.y.). Black Mountain volcanic center is an elliptical-shaped cauldron complex of late Miocene age. The lavas and tuffs of the two centers comprise a subalkaline-peralkaline association. Rock types range from quartz normative subalkaline trachyte and rhyolite to peralkaline commendite. The Gold Flat Member of the Thirsty Canyon Tuff (Black Mountain) is a pantellerite. The major-element geochemistry of the Black Mountain--Silent Canyon volcanic centers differ in the total range and distribution of SiO 2 , contents, the degree of peralkalinity (molecular Na 2 O + K 2 O > Al 2 O 3 ) and in the values of total iron and alumina through the range of rock types. These differences indicate that the suites were unrelated and evolved from differing magma bodies. The Black Mountain volcanic cycle represents a renewed phase of volcanism following cessation of the Timber Mountain--Silent Canyon volcanic cycles. Consequently, there is a small but numerically incalculable probability of recurrence of Black Mountain-type volcanism within the Nevada Test Site region. This represents a potential risk with respect to deep geologic storage of high-level radioactive waste at the Nevada Test Site

  19. Epistaxis as the First Manifestation of Silent Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Case Report with Relevant Literature Review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Seung Min; Kim, You Me; Kim, Bong Man

    2016-01-01

    The paranasal sinuses are known to be a rare location for metastasis. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most frequent primary tumor to metastasize to the sinonasal region, followed by lung and breast cancer. In particular, clear cell type RCC, which represents approximately 85% of RCCs, is characterized by early metastasis, and it sometimes spreads to unusual sites (1, 2). Metastatic tumors in the paranasal sinuses are distributed in the maxillary, sphenoid, ethmoid, and frontal sinuses, in order of decreasing frequency. Symptoms are usually nonspecific, but epistaxis is the most common sign, due to the hypervascularity of the primary tumor. The prognosis is uncertain, but the 5-year survival rate fluctuates between 15% and 30%. The purpose of this case report is to document a rare case of silent RCC that first presented as epistaxis due to nasal cavity and ethmoid sinus metastasis

  20. Implementation of IEC Generic Model of Type 1 Wind Turbine Generator in DIgSILENT PowerFactory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhao, Haoran; Wu, Qiuwei; Margaris, Ioannis

    2013-01-01

    The implementation method for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) generic models of Type 1 wind turbine generator (WTG) in DIgSILENT PowerFactory is presented. The following items are described, i.e. model structure, model blocks and how to implement these blocks in the PowerFactory...

  1. Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace

    2015-01-01

    The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)—how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text readi...

  2. Chlamydia pneumoniae hides inside apoptotic neutrophils to silently infect and propagate in macrophages.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Rupp

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Intracellular pathogens have developed elaborate strategies for silent infection of preferred host cells. Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common pathogen in acute infections of the respiratory tract (e.g. pneumonia and associated with chronic lung sequelae in adults and children. Within the lung, alveolar macrophages and polymorph nuclear neutrophils (PMN are the first line of defense against bacteria, but also preferred host phagocytes of chlamydiae. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We could show that C. pneumoniae easily infect and hide inside neutrophil granulocytes until these cells become apoptotic and are subsequently taken up by macrophages. C. pneumoniae infection of macrophages via apoptotic PMN results in enhanced replicative activity of chlamydiae when compared to direct infection of macrophages, which results in persistence of the pathogen. Inhibition of the apoptotic recognition of C. pneumoniae infected PMN using PS- masking Annexin A5 significantly lowered the transmission of chlamydial infection to macrophages. Transfer of apoptotic C. pneumoniae infected PMN to macrophages resulted in an increased TGF-ss production, whereas direct infection of macrophages with chlamydiae was characterized by an enhanced TNF-alpha response. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Taken together, our data suggest that C. pneumoniae uses neutrophil granulocytes to be silently taken up by long-lived macrophages, which allows for efficient propagation and immune protection within the human host.

  3. Sounds from seeing silent motion: Who hears them, and what looks loudest?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fassnidge, Christopher J; Freeman, Elliot D

    2018-03-09

    Some people hear what they see: car indicator lights, flashing neon shop signs, and people's movements as they walk may all trigger an auditory sensation, which we call the visual-evoked auditory response (vEAR or 'visual ear'). We have conducted the first large-scale online survey (N > 4000) of this little-known phenomenon. We analysed the prevalence of vEAR, what induces it, and what other traits are associated with it. We assessed prevalence by asking whether respondents had previously experienced vEAR. Participants then rated silent videos for vividness of evoked auditory sensations, and answered additional trait questions. Prevalence appeared higher relative to other typical synaesthesias. Prior awareness and video ratings were associated with greater frequency of other synaesthesias, including flashes evoked by sounds, and musical imagery. Higher-rated videos often depicted meaningful events that predicted sounds (e.g., collisions). However, even videos containing abstract flickering or moving patterns could also elicit higher ratings, despite having no predictable association with sounds. Such videos had higher levels of raw 'motion energy' (ME), which we quantified using a simple computational model of motion processing in early visual cortex. Critically, only respondents reporting prior awareness of vEAR tended to show a positive correlation between video ratings and ME. This specific sensitivity to ME suggests that in vEAR, signals from visual motion processing may affect audition relatively directly without requiring higher-level interpretative processes. Our other findings challenge the popular assumption that individuals with synaesthesia are rare and have ideosyncratic patterns of brain hyper-connectivity. Instead, our findings of apparently high prevalence and broad associations with other synaesthesias and traits are jointly consistent with a common dependence on normal variations in physiological mechanisms of disinhibition or excitability of

  4. Assistive technology as reading interventions for children with reading impairments with a one-year follow-up.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindeblad, Emma; Nilsson, Staffan; Gustafson, Stefan; Svensson, Idor

    2017-10-01

    This pilot study investigated the possible transfer effect on reading ability in children with reading difficulties after a systematic intervention to train and compensate for reading deficiencies by using applications in smartphones and tablets. The effects of using assistive technology (AT) one year after the interventions were completely studied. School related motivation, independent learning and family relations were also considered. 35 pupils aged 10-12 years participated. They were assessed five times with reading tests. The participants, their parents and teachers were surveyed with questionnaires regarding their experience of using AT. The data from the assessments were analyzed with paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed using content analysis. The paper shows that using AT can create transfer effects on reading ability one year after the interventions were finished. This means that reading impaired children may develop at the same rate as non-impaired readers. Also, increased school motivation and an increase in independent learning and family effects have been shown. This paper provides implications in how to facilitate reading impaired pupils' learning process and realizes the need to challenge the concept of reading to change to fit modern means of gaining information. Implications for rehabilitation Children with reading impairment could benefit from assistive technology in regards of their reading development process and increase their chances of not falling behind peers. Assistive technology as applications in smartphones and tablets may aid children with reading impairment to have an equal platform for learning in school as their peers without reading difficulties. Assistive technology could facilitate the information gaining process and subsequently increase motivation to learn and increase interest in reading activities. Assistive technology had wider effects on its users: stigmatizing

  5. Rtt107/Esc4 binds silent chromatin and DNA repair proteins using different BRCT motifs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jockusch Rebecca A

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background By screening a plasmid library for proteins that could cause silencing when targeted to the HMR locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we previously reported the identification of Rtt107/Esc4 based on its ability to establish silent chromatin. In this study we aimed to determine the mechanism of Rtt107/Esc4 targeted silencing and also learn more about its biological functions. Results Targeted silencing by Rtt107/Esc4 was dependent on the SIR genes, which encode obligatory structural and enzymatic components of yeast silent chromatin. Based on its sequence, Rtt107/Esc4 was predicted to contain six BRCT motifs. This motif, originally identified in the human breast tumor suppressor gene BRCA1, is a protein interaction domain. The targeted silencing activity of Rtt107/Esc4 resided within the C-terminal two BRCT motifs, and this region of the protein bound to Sir3 in two-hybrid tests. Deletion of RTT107/ESC4 caused sensitivity to the DNA damaging agent MMS as well as to hydroxyurea. A two-hybrid screen showed that the N-terminal BRCT motifs of Rtt107/Esc4 bound to Slx4, a protein previously shown to be involved in DNA repair and required for viability in a strain lacking the DNA helicase Sgs1. Like SLX genes, RTT107ESC4 interacted genetically with SGS1; esc4Δ sgs1Δ mutants were viable, but exhibited a slow-growth phenotype and also a synergistic DNA repair defect. Conclusion Rtt107/Esc4 binds to the silencing protein Sir3 and the DNA repair protein Slx4 via different BRCT motifs, thus providing a bridge linking silent chromatin to DNA repair enzymes.

  6. The production effect in long-list recall: In no particular order?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, Angela M; Bodner, Glen E; Taikh, Alexander

    2016-06-01

    The production effect reflects a memory advantage for words read aloud versus silently. We investigated how production influences free recall of a single long list of words. In each of 4 experiments, a production effect occurred in a mixed-list group but not across pure-list groups. When compared to the pure-list groups, the mixed-list effects typically reflected a cost to silent words rather than a benefit to aloud words. This cost persisted when participants had to perform a generation or imagery task for the silent items, ruling out a lazy reading explanation. This recall pattern challenges both distinctiveness and strength accounts, but is consistent with an item-order account. By this account, the aloud words in a mixed list disrupt the encoding of item-order information for the silent words, thus impairing silent word recall. However, item-order measures and a forced-choice order test did not provide much evidence that recall was guided by retrieval of item-order information. We discuss our pattern of results in light of another recent study of the effects of production on long-list recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  7. Developmental relations between reading comprehension and reading strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.; Droop, W.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Jong, P.F. de

    2017-01-01

    We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary, and working memory were administered. A structural equation model was constructed to estimate the unique relations between reading strategies and reading comprehension, while controlling for reading...

  8. Alkaline electrolyzer and V2G system DIgSILENT models for demand response analysis in future distribution networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Diaz de Cerio Mendaza, Iker; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Chen, Zhe

    2013-01-01

    Grid instabilities originated by unsteady generation, characteristic consequence of some renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power, claims for new power balance solutions in largely penetrated systems. Denmark's solid investment in these energy sources has awaked a need of rethinking...... about the future control and operation of the power system. A widespread idea to face these challenges is to have a flexible demand easily adjustable to the system variations. Electrothermal loads, electric vehicles and hydrogen generation are among the most mentioned technologies capable to respond......, under certain strategies, to these variations. This paper presents two DIgSILENT PowerFactory models: an alkaline electrolyzer and a vehicle to the grid system. The models were performed using DIgSILENT Simulation Language, aiming to be used for long-term distribution systems simulations. Two voltage...

  9. Public health response to the silent reintroduction of wild poliovirus to Israel, 2013-2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moran-Gilad, J; Kaliner, E; Gdalevich, M; Grotto, I

    2016-12-01

    During 2013/14, Israel witnessed the silent reintroduction and sustained transmission of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) detected through routine environmental surveillance performed on sewage samples. The public health response to silent poliovirus transmission in a population with high inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) coverage poses an emerging challenge towards the 'End Game' of global poliovirus eradication. This paper reviews the risk assessment, risk management and risk communication aspects of this poliovirus incident. Special emphasis is placed on the use of scientific data generated in the risk assessment phase to inform the public health response. Reintroducing a live vaccine in supplemental immunization activities in response to transmission of WPV or vaccine-derived poliovirus should be considered close to the 'End Game' of polio eradication, especially if targeting the population at risk is feasible. Such circumstances require a comprehensive contingency plan that will support the generation of important public health evidence at the risk assessment stage, thereby allowing to tailor the risk management approaches and underpin appropriate risk communication. Copyright © 2016 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Silent Majority, Violent Majority: The Counter-Revolution in 70s Cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Andrew Novick

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available «There is one question, Inspector Callahan: Why do they call you ‘Dirty Harry’?» Harry, it is explained, «…Hates everybody: Limeys, Micks, Hebes, Fat Degos, Niggers, Honkies, Chinks…especially Spics». Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry (1971, famously labeled «fascist» by prominent film critic Pauline Kael, nonetheless represented something new and unique—the “Silent Majority’s” entry into liberal New Hollywood, a veritable counter-reformation to the new social movements having sprung up in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Far from the traditional American Right, however, and distinctly un-Fascist (in as much as the term means more than a simple epithet, these films acted to unite traditional European philosophy and revolutionary thought with organic conservative American tendencies, resulting in hybrid films which challenged the new social movements, while working within the medium of liberal New American Cinema. The article will address three themes from the era: violence and race in the city, revenge against “liberated women”, and fear and loathing of homosexuality. In each instance, using primary evidence from films and critical reviews from the Seventies and the present era, in addition to American and European theorists, the article will show how the counter-revolution in Seventies cinema failed to expunge the “revolutionary spirit” of the era. Rather, the Silent Majority’s visions of visual violence and reactionary values became part and parcel of the new liberated culture of the “Me Decade,” forever bounding the conservative celluloid revolt to the new cinematic culture.

  11. Teaching Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, Richard R.

    2013-01-01

    "Teaching Reading" uncovers the interactive processes that happen when people learn to read and translates them into a comprehensive easy-to-follow guide on how to teach reading. Richard Day's revelations on the nature of reading, reading strategies, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and reading objectives make fascinating…

  12. Slow Reading: Reading along "Lectio" Lines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badley, K. Jo-Ann; Badley, Ken

    2011-01-01

    The medieval monastic movement preserved and developed reading practices--lectio--from ancient Greek pedagogy as a slow, mindful approach to reading for formation. This ancient way of reading, now better known as lectio divina, challenges the fast, pragmatic reading so characteristic of our time. We propose that the present moment may be ripe for…

  13. Reading and reading instruction for children from low-income and non-English-speaking households.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesaux, Nonie K

    2012-01-01

    Although most young children seem to master reading skills in the early grades of elementary school, many struggle with texts as they move through middle school and high school. Why do children who seem to be proficient readers in third grade have trouble comprehending texts in later grades? To answer this question, Nonie Lesaux describes what is known about reading development and instruction, homing in on research conducted with children from low-income and non-English-speaking homes. Using key insights from this research base, she offers two explanations. The first is that reading is a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires continued development if students are to keep pace with the increasing demands of school texts and tasks. The second lies in the role of reading assessment and instruction in U.S. schools. Lesaux draws a distinction between the "skills-based competencies" that readers need to sound out and recognize words and the "knowledge-based competencies" that include the conceptual and vocabulary knowledge necessary to comprehend a text's meaning. Although U.S. schools have made considerable progress in teaching skills-based reading competencies that are the focus of the early grades, most have made much less progress in teaching the knowledge-based competencies students need to support reading comprehension in middle and high school. These knowledge-based competencies are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading outcomes, particularly among children growing up in low-income and non-English-speaking households. Augmenting literacy rates, Lesaux explains, will require considerable shifts in the way reading is assessed and taught in elementary and secondary schools. First, schools must conduct comprehensive reading assessments that discern learners' (potential) sources of reading difficulties--in both skills-based and knowledge-based competencies. Second, educators must implement instructional approaches that offer promise for

  14. Binocular neurons in parastriate cortex: interocular 'matching' of receptive field properties, eye dominance and strength of silent suppression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phillip A Romo

    Full Text Available Spike-responses of single binocular neurons were recorded from a distinct part of primary visual cortex, the parastriate cortex (cytoarchitectonic area 18 of anaesthetized and immobilized domestic cats. Functional identification of neurons was based on the ratios of phase-variant (F1 component to the mean firing rate (F0 of their spike-responses to optimized (orientation, direction, spatial and temporal frequencies and size sine-wave-luminance-modulated drifting grating patches presented separately via each eye. In over 95% of neurons, the interocular differences in the phase-sensitivities (differences in F1/F0 spike-response ratios were small (≤ 0.3 and in over 80% of neurons, the interocular differences in preferred orientations were ≤ 10°. The interocular correlations of the direction selectivity indices and optimal spatial frequencies, like those of the phase sensitivies and optimal orientations, were also strong (coefficients of correlation r ≥ 0.7005. By contrast, the interocular correlations of the optimal temporal frequencies, the diameters of summation areas of the excitatory responses and suppression indices were weak (coefficients of correlation r ≤ 0.4585. In cells with high eye dominance indices (HEDI cells, the mean magnitudes of suppressions evoked by stimulation of silent, extra-classical receptive fields via the non-dominant eyes, were significantly greater than those when the stimuli were presented via the dominant eyes. We argue that the well documented 'eye-origin specific' segregation of the lateral geniculate inputs underpinning distinct eye dominance columns in primary visual cortices of mammals with frontally positioned eyes (distinct eye dominance columns, combined with significant interocular differences in the strength of silent suppressive fields, putatively contribute to binocular stereoscopic vision.

  15. Silent ischemia in patients after uncomplicated myocardial infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samarzija, M.; Tezak, S.

    1994-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and importance of silent ischemia in patients (pts) after the acute myocardial infarction (A MI) as well as to establish diagnostic and prognostic value of exercise stress test (EST), Holter (H) monitoring and thallium-201 (Tl) scintigraphy. All the three tests were performed 2-4 months following the AMI. The criterion for diagnosing myocardial ischemia on EST and H is 1 mm or more of horizontal or down-sloping ST depression. Additional criteria for Holter imply the ischemic episode should last one minute and be separated from other episodes by at least one minute. Planar thallium images were performed 5-10 minute after the stress test; the delayed images were obtained after 3-6 hours. Visual and quantitative methods were employed in the analysis of TI-scintigraphy. Scintigraphy was considered positive if exercise- induced perfusion defects showed redistribution. The study included 74 asymptomatic patients after the AMI. The patients were divided into two groups by results of quantitative Tl-scintigraphy: Group I - 44 pts with silent ischemia, Group II - 30 pts without ischemia. In Group I, out of 44 pts, 9 had a positive exercise stress, 4 showed a painless ST depression on Holter and 7 had both tests positive, whereas 24 pts had only scintigraphy positive. In Group II one patient had positive EST and H. Sensitivity and specificity were determined by results of coronary arteriography performed on 33 pts: EST (Se=40%, Sp=80%), H (Se=219, Sp=100%) and scintigraphy (Se=93%, Sp =80%). During the follow-up period lasting at least 12 months, in Group I 3 pts died, 1 developed a new myocardial infarction and 15 pts had painful ischemic occurrences. In Group II only 3 pts developed symptoms of angina pectoris. Tl-scintigraphy was the only non-invasive test showing significant correlation with the follow-up outcomes. The diagnostic and prognostic superiority of Tl-scintigraphy justifies its value as the initial

  16. Reflections on clinical expertise and silent know-how in voice therapy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iwarsson, Jenny

    2014-01-01

    The concept of ‘clinical expertise’ is described as a part of evidence-based practice (EBP) together with ‘external scientific evidence’ and ‘patient values and perspectives’. However, clinical expertise in the management of voice disorders has not been described or discussed in much detail....... The expertise seems to consist partly of silent know-how that, from the outside, may seem improperly related to the personality of the speech-language pathologist or exclusively dependent on the number of years in the field. In this paper, it is suggested that clinical expertise in voice therapy consists...

  17. Twenty-First Century Instructional Classroom Practices and Reading Motivation: Probing the Effectiveness of Interventional Reading Programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taoufik Boulhrir

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Twenty-first century education has undoubtedly witnessed changes of the definition of literacy to cope with the economic, social, and intellectual trends. Technological advances, which include skills of communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration have become key in education, especially when dealing with literacy and reading motivation. As motivation hinges around two major theoretical approaches, intrinsic and extrinsic, numerous studies argue for the first to be more sustainable in enhancing reading motivation. Accordingly, many research-based interventional programs have emerged since the late nineties with increasing popularity to offer answers to the dwindling rates in reading among youth. This article discusses traits of 21st century education in light of trends and challenges as it probes the effectiveness of some interventional programs that are meant, and argued for, to enhance literacy skills and reading motivation.

  18. Exploring Animal-Assisted Therapy as a Reading Intervention Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaymen, Maria S.

    2005-01-01

    This study is an examination of animal-assisted therapy in an attempt to explore the ways it may serve as reading intervention program for struggling readers. Due to the low rate of literacy in the U.S., children are often put into reading intervention programs where they are required to read to an adult; potentially creating anxiety that may act…

  19. The association between saliva control, silent saliva penetration, aspiration, and videofluoroscopic findings in Parkinson′s disease patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Rajaei

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Dysphagia is a common disorder among patients with Parkinson′s disease (PD. It occurs in up to 80% of all (PD patients during the early stages of the disease and up to 95% in the advanced stages; but professionals may not hear from the patients about dysphagia symptoms until these symptoms reach an advanced stage and lead to medical complications. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three PD patients (mean age 66.09 ± 9.4 years; 24 men, nine women participated in this study at our Neurology Institute, between April 20, 2013, and October 26, 2013. They were asked two questions; one about saliva control and the other about silent saliva penetration and aspiration. Next, they underwent the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS. Results: The Pearson Correlation coefficient between the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS scores and question 1 scores was 0.48 (P < 0.05, =0.25, and there was a significant correlation between the PAS scores and question 2 scores, and also question 1 scores + question 2 scores (r = 0.589, P < 0.05, =0 and r = 0589, P < 0.05, =0. Conclusions: This study showed a significant correlation between the questions about saliva control, silent saliva penetration, and aspiration, and laryngeal penetration and aspiration during VFSS. Therefore, by using these two questions, the potential silent laryngeal penetration and aspiration during meals could be detected before it led to aspiration pneumonia. Taking the benefit of these questions, as a part of the swallowing assessment of PD patients, is recommended.

  20. Double versus single reading of mammograms in a breast cancer screening programme: a cost-consequence analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Posso, Margarita C; Puig, Teresa; Quintana, Ma Jesus; Solà-Roca, Judit; Bonfill, Xavier

    2016-09-01

    To assess the costs and health-related outcomes of double versus single reading of digital mammograms in a breast cancer screening programme. Based on data from 57,157 digital screening mammograms from women aged 50-69 years, we compared costs, false-positive results, positive predictive value and cancer detection rate using four reading strategies: double reading with and without consensus and arbitration, and single reading with first reader only and second reader only. Four highly trained radiologists read the mammograms. Double reading with consensus and arbitration was 15 % (Euro 334,341) more expensive than single reading with first reader only. False-positive results were more frequent at double reading with consensus and arbitration than at single reading with first reader only (4.5 % and 4.2 %, respectively; p cancer detection rate were similar for both reading strategies (4.6 and 4.2 per 1000 screens; p = 0.283). Our results suggest that changing to single reading of mammograms could produce savings in breast cancer screening. Single reading could reduce the frequency of false-positive results without changing the cancer detection rate. These results are not conclusive and cannot be generalized to other contexts with less trained radiologists. • Double reading of digital mammograms is more expensive than single reading. • Compared to single reading, double reading yields a higher proportion of false-positive results. • The cancer detection rate was similar for double and single readings. • Single reading may be a cost-effective strategy in breast cancer screening programmes.

  1. The Relationship between Computer Games and Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Tammy Dotson

    2010-01-01

    Illiteracy rates are increasing. The negative social and economic effects caused by weak reading skills include political unrest, social and health service inequality, poverty, and employment challenges. This quantitative study explored the proposition that the use of computer software games would increase reading achievement in second grade…

  2. Choice of reference sequence and assembler for alignment of Listeria monocytogenes short-read sequence data greatly influences rates of error in SNP analyses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arthur W Pightling

    Full Text Available The wide availability of whole-genome sequencing (WGS and an abundance of open-source software have made detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs in bacterial genomes an increasingly accessible and effective tool for comparative analyses. Thus, ensuring that real nucleotide differences between genomes (i.e., true SNPs are detected at high rates and that the influences of errors (such as false positive SNPs, ambiguously called sites, and gaps are mitigated is of utmost importance. The choices researchers make regarding the generation and analysis of WGS data can greatly influence the accuracy of short-read sequence alignments and, therefore, the efficacy of such experiments. We studied the effects of some of these choices, including: i depth of sequencing coverage, ii choice of reference-guided short-read sequence assembler, iii choice of reference genome, and iv whether to perform read-quality filtering and trimming, on our ability to detect true SNPs and on the frequencies of errors. We performed benchmarking experiments, during which we assembled simulated and real Listeria monocytogenes strain 08-5578 short-read sequence datasets of varying quality with four commonly used assemblers (BWA, MOSAIK, Novoalign, and SMALT, using reference genomes of varying genetic distances, and with or without read pre-processing (i.e., quality filtering and trimming. We found that assemblies of at least 50-fold coverage provided the most accurate results. In addition, MOSAIK yielded the fewest errors when reads were aligned to a nearly identical reference genome, while using SMALT to align reads against a reference sequence that is ∼0.82% distant from 08-5578 at the nucleotide level resulted in the detection of the greatest numbers of true SNPs and the fewest errors. Finally, we show that whether read pre-processing improves SNP detection depends upon the choice of reference sequence and assembler. In total, this study demonstrates that researchers

  3. The silent mass extinction of insect herbivores in biodiversity hotspots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fonseca, Carlos Roberto

    2009-12-01

    Habitat loss is silently leading numerous insects to extinction. Conservation efforts, however, have not been designed specifically to protect these organisms, despite their ecological and evolutionary significance. On the basis of species-host area equations, parameterized with data from the literature and interviews with botanical experts, I estimated the number of specialized plant-feeding insects (i.e., monophages) that live in 34 biodiversity hotspots and the number committed to extinction because of habitat loss. I estimated that 795,971-1,602,423 monophagous insect species live in biodiversity hotspots on 150,371 endemic plant species, which is 5.3-10.6 monophages per plant species. I calculated that 213,830-547,500 monophagous species are committed to extinction in biodiversity hotspots because of reduction of the geographic range size of their endemic hosts. I provided rankings of biodiversity hotspots on the basis of estimated richness of monophagous insects and on estimated number of extinctions of monophagous species. Extinction rates were predicted to be higher in biodiversity hotspots located along strong environmental gradients and on archipelagos, where high spatial turnover of monophagous species along the geographic distribution of their endemic plants is likely. The results strongly support the overall strategy of selecting priority conservation areas worldwide primarily on the basis of richness of endemic plants. To face the global decline of insect herbivores, one must expand the coverage of the network of protected areas and improve the richness of native plants on private lands.

  4. Mass media effect on vaccines uptake during silent polio outbreak.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sagy, Iftach; Novack, Victor; Gdalevich, Michael; Greenberg, Dan

    2018-03-14

    During 2013, isolation of a wild type 1 poliovirus from routine sewage sample in Israel, led to a national OPV campaign. During this period, there was a constant cover of the outbreak by the mass media. To investigate the association of media exposure and OPV and non-OPV vaccines uptake during the 2013 silent polio outbreak in Israel. We received data on daily immunization rates during the outbreak period from the Ministry of Health (MoH). We conducted a multivariable time trend analysis to assess the association between daily media exposure and vaccines uptake. Analysis was stratified by ethnicity and socio-economic status (SES). During the MoH supplemental immunization activity, 138,799 OPV vaccines were given. There was a significant association between media exposure and OPV uptake, most prominent in a lag of 3-5 days from the exposure among Jews (R.R 1.79C.I 95% 1.32-2.41) and high SES subgroups (R.R 1.71C.I 95% 1.27-2.30). These subgroups also showed increased non-OPV uptake in a lag of 3-5 days from the media exposure, in all vaccines except for MMR. Lower SES and non-Jewish subgroups did not demonstrate the same association. Our findings expand the understanding of public behaviour during outbreaks. The public response shows high variability within specific subgroups. These findings highlight the importance of tailored communication strategies for each subgroup. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. The Preference of Keeping the Intermediary /y/(ی in Prepositional Construction and Its Attachment to the Silent» h«.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Irani

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract   One of the problems of Persian writing is the question of writing and including the noun or adjective "Prepositional" construction sign in words the written form of which end in a silent » h « which is in fact a short vowel equivalent to /e/ (kasra ـِـ .The difference between the two ways of writing the intermediary consonant /y/( ی at the end of the word with a last silent » h « , completely as « ی » or with the sign « ء» on the silent » h « is rooted in the controversy between the traditional and modern approaches of writing.   The present study is about to study into the following subjects: an analysis and criticism of both the above approaches, a survey of the history of the intermediary /y/( ی , recognizing its phonetic significance and its role in making and adding new syllables, and finally a conclusion about the more convenient way to write it. It is possible that the outcome of the present study will provide us with a unique form of writing of the case in different texts like books, articles, newspapers, journals and electronic texts.

  6. [Silent myocardial ischemia in patients with transient ischemic attacks].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sánchez Valiente, S; Mostacero, E; del Río, A; Morales, F

    1994-10-01

    Given evidence that ischemic heart disease is the most frequent cause of death in patients with cerebrovascular disease, we used ergometrics to screen 80 patients with TIA for silent myocardial ischemia (SMI) at the neurological unit of Hospital Clínico Universitario in Zaragoza, Spain. The patients were compared with a control group of 80 with no signs of heart disease. Neither the patients nor the controls had ever shown clinical signs of coronary ischemia and their baseline electrocardiograms were normal. Stress test results were positive in 25 (31%) of the TIA patients, and in 4 (5%) (p Hiperlipidemia (75% testing positive versus 43% negative, p < 0.01) and diabetes (31% testing positive versus 13% negative, p < 0.01) were the risk factors statistically related with a positive stress test.

  7. Impact of cognitive function and dysarthria on spoken language and perceived speech severity in multiple sclerosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feenaughty, Lynda

    Purpose: The current study sought to investigate the separate effects of dysarthria and cognitive status on global speech timing, speech hesitation, and linguistic complexity characteristics and how these speech behaviors impose on listener impressions for three connected speech tasks presumed to differ in cognitive-linguistic demand for four carefully defined speaker groups; 1) MS with cognitive deficits (MSCI), 2) MS with clinically diagnosed dysarthria and intact cognition (MSDYS), 3) MS without dysarthria or cognitive deficits (MS), and 4) healthy talkers (CON). The relationship between neuropsychological test scores and speech-language production and perceptual variables for speakers with cognitive deficits was also explored. Methods: 48 speakers, including 36 individuals reporting a neurological diagnosis of MS and 12 healthy talkers participated. The three MS groups and control group each contained 12 speakers (8 women and 4 men). Cognitive function was quantified using standard clinical tests of memory, information processing speed, and executive function. A standard z-score of ≤ -1.50 indicated deficits in a given cognitive domain. Three certified speech-language pathologists determined the clinical diagnosis of dysarthria for speakers with MS. Experimental speech tasks of interest included audio-recordings of an oral reading of the Grandfather passage and two spontaneous speech samples in the form of Familiar and Unfamiliar descriptive discourse. Various measures of spoken language were of interest. Suprasegmental acoustic measures included speech and articulatory rate. Linguistic speech hesitation measures included pause frequency (i.e., silent and filled pauses), mean silent pause duration, grammatical appropriateness of pauses, and interjection frequency. For the two discourse samples, three standard measures of language complexity were obtained including subordination index, inter-sentence cohesion adequacy, and lexical diversity. Ten listeners

  8. The Explicit Instruction of Reading Strategies: Directed Reading Thinking Activity vs. Guided Reading Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Mehdi Yazdani

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Investigating the efficiencies and deficiencies of reading strategies is one of the noticeable issues in the related theory and research in reading comprehension instruction. This study was to examine the impact of Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA and Guided Reading (GR on reading comprehension. Sixty three Iranian students of grade one in Shahed high school in the city of Bojnourd took part in the study. They were assigned in three groups, one control and two experimental groups. The instruction lasted for ten weeks. This study utilized a pretest posttest control group in quantitative quasi- experimental design. The same reading comprehension test was administered as pre-test and post-test. The results were twofold: First, the instruction of learning strategies could foster reading comprehension skill. Second, while the explicit instruction of both strategies could improve the students' reading comprehension skill, Directed Reading Thinking Activity had a more significant positive effect than Guided Reading.

  9. Replacing dark energy by silent virialisation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roukema, Boudewijn F.

    2018-02-01

    Context. Standard cosmological N-body simulations have background scale factor evolution that is decoupled from non-linear structure formation. Prior to gravitational collapse, kinematical backreaction (𝒬𝒟) justifies this approach in a Newtonian context. Aims: However, the final stages of a gravitational collapse event are sudden; a globally imposed smooth expansion rate forces at least one expanding region to suddenly and instantaneously decelerate in compensation for the virialisation event. This is relativistically unrealistic. A more conservative hypothesis is to allow non-collapsed domains to continue their volume evolution according to the 𝒬𝒟 Zel'dovich approximation (QZA). We aim to study the inferred average expansion under this "silent" virialisation hypothesis. Methods: We set standard (MPGRAFIC) EdS 3-torus (T3) cosmological N-body initial conditions. Using RAMSES, we partitioned the volume into domains and called the DTFE library to estimate the per-domain initial values of the three invariants of the extrinsic curvature tensor that determine the QZA. We integrated the Raychaudhuri equation in each domain using the INHOMOG library, and adopted the stable clustering hypothesis to represent virialisation (VQZA). We spatially averaged to obtain the effective global scale factor. We adopted an early-epoch-normalised EdS reference-model Hubble constant H1EdS = 37.7 km s-1 /Mpc and an effective Hubble constant Heff,0 = 67.7 km s-1 /Mpc. Results: From 2000 simulations at resolution 2563, we find that reaching a unity effective scale factor at 13.8 Gyr (16% above EdS), occurs for an averaging scale of L13.813 = 2.5-0.1+0.1 Mpc/heff. Relativistically interpreted, this corresponds to strong average negative curvature evolution, with the mean (median) curvature functional Ωℛ𝒟 growing from zero to about 1.5-2 by the present. Over 100 realisations, the virialisation fraction and super-EdS expansion correlate strongly at

  10. An Examination of the Relationship between Computation, Problem Solving, and Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cormier, Damien C.; Yeo, Seungsoo; Christ, Theodore J.; Offrey, Laura D.; Pratt, Katherine

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship of mathematics calculation rate (curriculum-based measurement of mathematics; CBM-M), reading rate (curriculum-based measurement of reading; CBM-R), and mathematics application and problem solving skills (mathematics screener) among students at four levels of proficiency on a statewide…

  11. Letter-By-Letter Reading: Natural Recovery and Response to Treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pélagie M. Beeson

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The present investigation provides a longitudinal study of an individual (RB with acquired alexia following left posterior cerebral artery stroke. At initial testing, RB exhibited acquired alexia characterized by letter-by-letter (LBL reading, mild anomic aphasia, and acquired agraphia. Repeated measures of reading accuracy and rate were collected for single words and text over the course of one year, along with probes of naming and spelling abilities. Improvements associated with natural recovery (i.e., without treatment were documented up to the fourth month post onset, when text reading appeared to be relatively stable. Multiple oral reading (MOR treatment was initiated at 22 weeks post-stroke, and additional improvements in reading rate and accuracy for text were documented that were greater than those expected on the basis of spontaneous recovery alone. Over the course of one year, reading reaction times for single words improved, and the word-length effect that is the hallmark of LBL reading diminished. RB's response to treatment supports the therapeutic value of MOR treatment to in LBL readers. His residual impairment of reading and spelling one-year post stroke raised the question as to whether further progress was impeded by degraded orthographic knowledge.

  12. Word skipping: effects of word length, predictability, spelling and reading skill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slattery, Timothy J; Yates, Mark

    2017-08-31

    Readers eyes often skip over words as they read. Skipping rates are largely determined by word length; short words are skipped more than long words. However, the predictability of a word in context also impacts skipping rates. Rayner, Slattery, Drieghe and Liversedge (2011) reported an effect of predictability on word skipping for even long words (10-13 characters) that extend beyond the word identification span. Recent research suggests that better readers and spellers have an enhanced perceptual span (Veldre & Andrews, 2014). We explored whether reading and spelling skill interact with word length and predictability to impact word skipping rates in a large sample (N=92) of average and poor adult readers. Participants read the items from Rayner et al. (2011) while their eye movements were recorded. Spelling skill (zSpell) was assessed using the dictation and recognition tasks developed by Sally Andrews and colleagues. Reading skill (zRead) was assessed from reading speed (words per minute) and accuracy of three 120 word passages each with 10 comprehension questions. We fit linear mixed models to the target gaze duration data and generalized linear mixed models to the target word skipping data. Target word gaze durations were significantly predicted by zRead while, the skipping likelihoods were significantly predicted by zSpell. Additionally, for gaze durations, zRead significantly interacted with word predictability as better readers relied less on context to support word processing. These effects are discussed in relation to the lexical quality hypothesis and eye movement models of reading.

  13. Incidence of postangiographic silent brain infarction detected by diffusion-weighted MR imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mori, Harushi; Hayashi, Naoto; Aoki, Shigeki

    2002-01-01

    We surveyed to assess for the incidence of clinically silent brain infarction after cerebral catheter angiography. Diffusion-weighted images were performed shortly after 33 cerebral catheter angiographies. We found totally 11 abnormally high intensity spots in 5 of 33 patients on diffusion-weighted images and, therefore, the incidence was calculated as 15.2%. This incidence is higher than has been estimated based on the incidence of neurological deficits (about 0.5%) after cerebral angiography. Diffusion-weighted MR imaging is suitable to monitor the safety of angiographic procedures and material. (author)

  14. Identifying high-functioning dyslexics: is self-report of early reading problems enough?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deacon, S Hélène; Cook, Kathryn; Parrila, Rauno

    2012-07-01

    We used a questionnaire to identify university students with self-reported difficulties in reading acquisition during elementary school (self-report; n=31). The performance of the self-report group on standardized measures of word and non-word reading and fluency, passage comprehension and reading rate, and phonological awareness was compared to that of two other groups of university students: one with a recent diagnosis (diagnosed; n=20) and one with no self-reported reading acquisition problems (comparison group; n=33). The comparison group outperformed both groups with a history of reading difficulties (self-report and diagnosed) on almost all measures. The self-report and diagnosed groups performed similarly on most tasks, with the exception of untimed reading comprehension (better performance for diagnosed) and reading rate (better performance for self-report). The two recruitment methods likely sample from the same underlying population but identify individuals with different adaptive strategies.

  15. Developmental Relations Between Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muijselaar, M.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G,.; Droop, M.; Verhoeven, L.; de Jong, P.F.

    2017-01-01

    We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary,

  16. Silent Films and Strange Stories: Theory of Mind, Gender, and Social Experiences in Middle Childhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Rory T.; Hughes, Claire

    2013-01-01

    In this study of two hundred and thirty 8- to 13-year-olds, a new "Silent Films" task is introduced, designed to address the dearth of research on theory of mind in older children by providing a film-based analogue of F. G. E. Happe's (1994) Strange Stories task. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items from both tasks loaded…

  17. Forecasting Reading Anxiety for Promoting English-Language Reading Performance Based on Reading Annotation Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chih-Ming; Wang, Jung-Ying; Chen, Yong-Ting; Wu, Jhih-Hao

    2016-01-01

    To reduce effectively the reading anxiety of learners while reading English articles, a C4.5 decision tree, a widely used data mining technique, was used to develop a personalized reading anxiety prediction model (PRAPM) based on individual learners' reading annotation behavior in a collaborative digital reading annotation system (CDRAS). In…

  18. The silent information regulator 1 (Sirt1) is a positive regulator of the Notch pathway in Drosophila

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Horváth, Matěj; Mihajlović, Zorana; Slaninová, Věra; Perez-Gomez, Raquel; Moshkin, Y.; Krejčí, Alena

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 473, č. 22 (2016), s. 4129-4143 ISSN 0264-6021 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-08583S Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Drosophila * silent information regulator 1 * Notch pathway Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.797, year: 2016

  19. Direct effects of smoking on the heart: silent ischemic disturbances of coronary flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deanfield, J.E.; Shea, M.J.; Wilson, R.A.; Horlock, P.; de Landsheere, C.M.; Selwyn, A.P.

    1986-01-01

    Cigarette smoking is strongly associated with ischemic heart disease and acute coronary events. The effect of smoking a single cigarette on regional myocardial perfusion was studied in 13 chronic smokers with typical stable angina pectoris using positron emission tomography and rubidium-82 ( 82 Rb). Findings were compared with the effects of physical exercise. After exercise, 8 patients (61%) had angina, ST depression and abnormal regional myocardial perfusion. Uptake of 82 Rb increased from 49 +/- 8 to 60 +/- 7 in remote myocardium, but decreased from 46 +/- 3 to 37 +/- 5 in an ischemic area. The remaining 5 patients (39%) had homogeneous increases in 82 Rb uptake without angina or ST depression. After smoking, 6 of the 8 patients with positive exercise test responses had a decrease in 82 Rb uptake, from 47 +/- 3 to 35 +/- 6 in the same segment of myocardium affected during exercise. However, in contrast to exercise, the events during smoking were largely silent. The absolute decreases in regional 82 Rb uptake after smoking occurred at significantly lower levels of myocardial oxygen demand than after exercise. This suggests that an impairment of coronary blood supply is responsible. Thus, in smokers with coronary artery disease, each cigarette can cause profound silent disturbances of regional myocardial perfusion that are likely to occur frequently during daily life. Such repeated insults may represent an important mechanism linking smoking with coronary events

  20. Silent myocardial ischemia in patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis: associated factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arenillas, Juan F; Candell-Riera, Jaume; Romero-Farina, Guillermo; Molina, Carlos A; Chacón, Pilar; Aguadé-Bruix, Santiago; Montaner, Joan; de León, Gustavo; Castell-Conesa, Joan; Alvarez-Sabín, José

    2005-06-01

    Optimization of coronary risk evaluation in stroke patients has been encouraged. The relationship between symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis and occult coronary artery disease (CAD) has not been evaluated sufficiently. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia in patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis and to identify factors associated with its presence. From 186 first-ever transient ischemic attack or ischemic stroke patients with intracranial stenoses, 65 fulfilled selection criteria, including angiographic confirmation of a symptomatic atherosclerotic stenosis and absence of known CAD. All patients underwent a maximal-stress myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], C-reactive protein, and homocysteine (Hcy) levels were determined before SPECT. Stress-rest SPECT detected reversible myocardial perfusion defects in 34 (52%) patients. Vascular risk factors associated with a pathologic SPECT were hypercholesterolemia (P=0.045), presence of >2 risk factors (P=0.004) and high Lp(a) (P=0.023) and Hcy levels (P=0.018). Ninety percent of patients with high Lp(a) and Hcy levels had a positive SPECT. Existence of a stenosed intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA; odds ratio [OR], 7.22, 2.07 to 25.23; P=0.002) and location of the symptomatic stenosis in vertebrobasilar arteries (OR, 4.89, 1.19 to 20.12; P=0.027) were independently associated with silent myocardial ischemia after adjustment by age, sex, and risk factors. More than 50% of the patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis and not overt CAD show myocardial perfusion defects on stress-rest SPECT. Stenosed intracranial ICA, symptomatic vertebrobasilar stenosis and presence of high Lp(a) and Hcy levels may characterize the patients at a higher risk for occult CAD.

  1. Prognostic significance of silent myocardial ischemia on a thallium stress test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heller, L.I.; Tresgallo, M.; Sciacca, R.R.; Blood, D.K.; Seldin, D.W.; Johnson, L.L.

    1990-01-01

    The clinical significance of silent ischemia is not fully known. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence or absence of angina during a thallium stress test positive for ischemia was independently predictive of an adverse outcome. Two hundred thirty-four consecutive patients with ischemia on a thallium stress test were identified. Ischemia was defined as the presence of defect(s) on the immediate postexercise scans not in the distribution of prior infarctions that redistributed on 4-hour scans. During the test 129 patients had angina, defined as characteristic neck, jaw, arm, back or chest discomfort, while the remaining 105 patients had no angina. Follow-up ranged from 2 to 8.2 years (mean 5.2 +/- 2.1) and was successfully obtained in 156 patients. Eighty-two of the 156 patients had angina (group A) and 74 had silent ischemia (group S). Group A patients were significantly older (62 +/- 8 vs 59 +/- 8 years, p less than 0.05). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in terms of sex, history of prior infarction or presence of left main/3-vessel disease. A larger percentage of patients in group A were receiving beta blockers (60 vs 41%, p less than 0.05) and nitrates (52 vs 36%, 0.05 less than p less than 0.10). There was a large number of cardiac events (myocardial infarction, revascularization and death) in both groups (37 of 82 [45%] in group A; 28 of 72 [38%] in group S) but no statistically significant difference between the groups. Similarly, life-table analysis revealed no difference in mortality between the 2 groups

  2. An exploratory study on the driving method of speech synthesis based on the human eye reading imaging data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Pei-pei; Liu, Feng

    2016-10-01

    With the development of information technology and artificial intelligence, speech synthesis plays a significant role in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction Techniques. However, the main problem of current speech synthesis techniques is lacking of naturalness and expressiveness so that it is not yet close to the standard of natural language. Another problem is that the human-computer interaction based on the speech synthesis is too monotonous to realize mechanism of user subjective drive. This thesis introduces the historical development of speech synthesis and summarizes the general process of this technique. It is pointed out that prosody generation module is an important part in the process of speech synthesis. On the basis of further research, using eye activity rules when reading to control and drive prosody generation was introduced as a new human-computer interaction method to enrich the synthetic form. In this article, the present situation of speech synthesis technology is reviewed in detail. Based on the premise of eye gaze data extraction, using eye movement signal in real-time driving, a speech synthesis method which can express the real speech rhythm of the speaker is proposed. That is, when reader is watching corpora with its eyes in silent reading, capture the reading information such as the eye gaze duration per prosodic unit, and establish a hierarchical prosodic pattern of duration model to determine the duration parameters of synthesized speech. At last, after the analysis, the feasibility of the above method is verified.

  3. Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds on fourth grader's depth of content area science vocabulary knowledge and comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanna, Tania Tamara

    Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds as a supplement to basal science textbooks on three vocabulary measures, definitions, examples, and characteristics, and one multiple-choice comprehension measure were assessed for 127 fourth graders over three time periods: pretest, posttest, and a 2-week delayed posttest. Two of three fourth-grade elementary science teachers implemented a series of 12 content-enhanced guided interactive scripted lessons. Two of these teachers implemented two treatments each. The first condition employed basal science textbooks as the text for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds while the second treatment employed basal science textbooks in conjunction with nonfiction text sets as the texts for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds. The third teacher, guided by traditional lesson plans, provided students with silent independent reading instruction using basal science textbooks. Multivariate analyses of variance and analyses of variance tests showed that mean scores for both treatment groups significantly improved on definitions and characteristics measures at posttest and either stabilized or slightly declined at delayed posttest. The treatment-plus group lost considerably on the examples posttest measure. The treatment group improved mean scores on the examples posttest measure, outperforming the treatment-plus group and the control group. Alternately, the control group significantly improved on the delayed posttest examples measure. Additionally, the two groups implementing guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds performed better than the independent reading group on multiple-choice comprehension measures at posttest and sustained those gains 2 weeks later on delayed posttests. Findings maintain the incremental nature of vocabulary acquisition and development research and emphasize the roles of listening and speaking as critical features for integrating vocabulary into long

  4. Negotiating Colonial Korean Cinema in the Japanese Empire: From the Silent Era to the Talkies, 1923-1939

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chonghwa Chung

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This article examines what I call a “system of cooperation” (K. hyŏp’ŏp, J. kyōgyō, 協業 in the colonial Korean film industry from 1923, when silent films appeared, to the late 1930s, when colonial cinema was restructured within an imperial wartime system. In other words, this article examines the interworking of colonial Korean and imperial Japanese cinema from Yun Hae-dong’s “colonial modern” perspective in order to go beyond the long established lens on colonial Korean film and film historiography that merely focused on the contributions of colonial Korean filmmakers. Here the author rather focuses on the cooperation or collaboration between Japan and Korea: Japanese directors and cinematographers working in Korea, Korean filmmakers with experience in the Japanese apprenticeship system, and filmmakers working together and independently during the silent film era. During the transition from the silent to the early talkie eras, second-generation filmmakers, especially those who trained in film studios in Japan, were significant. They dreamed of the corporatization of the colonial Korean film industry and took the lead in coproductions between Japanese film companies and their colonial Korean counterparts. Korean filmmakers were not unilaterally suppressed by imperial Japan, nor did they independently operate within the Korean film industry during the colonial period. The Japanese in colonial Korea did not take the lead in forming the colonial Korean film scene, either. The core formation of colonial Korean / Korean film was a process of Korean and Japanese filmmakers in competition and negotiation with one another within a complex film sphere launched with Japanese capital and technology.

  5. "So oft to the movies they've been": British fan writing and female audiences in the silent cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa Rose Stead

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to address the ways in which working-class and lower-middle-class British women used silent-era fan magazines as a space for articulating their role within the development of a female film culture. The article focuses on letter pages that formed a key site for female contribution to British fan magazines across the silent era. In contributing to these pages, women found a space to debate and discuss the appeal and significance of particular female representations within film culture. Using detailed archival research tracing the content of a specific magazine, Picturegoer, across a 15-year period (1913–28, the article will show the dominance of particular types of female representation in both fan and "official" magazine discourses, analyzing the ways in which British women used these images to work through national tensions regarding modern femininity and traditional ideas of female propriety and restraint.

  6. Lip-reading enhancement for law enforcement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theobald, Barry J.; Harvey, Richard; Cox, Stephen J.; Lewis, Colin; Owen, Gari P.

    2006-09-01

    Accurate lip-reading techniques would be of enormous benefit for agencies involved in counter-terrorism and other law-enforcement areas. Unfortunately, there are very few skilled lip-readers, and it is apparently a difficult skill to transmit, so the area is under-resourced. In this paper we investigate the possibility of making the lip-reading task more amenable to a wider range of operators by enhancing lip movements in video sequences using active appearance models. These are generative, parametric models commonly used to track faces in images and video sequences. The parametric nature of the model allows a face in an image to be encoded in terms of a few tens of parameters, while the generative nature allows faces to be re-synthesised using the parameters. The aim of this study is to determine if exaggerating lip-motions in video sequences by amplifying the parameters of the model improves lip-reading ability. We also present results of lip-reading tests undertaken by experienced (but non-expert) adult subjects who claim to use lip-reading in their speech recognition process. The results, which are comparisons of word error-rates on unprocessed and processed video, are mixed. We find that there appears to be the potential to improve the word error rate but, for the method to improve the intelligibility there is need for more sophisticated tracking and visual modelling. Our technique can also act as an expression or visual gesture amplifier and so has applications to animation and the presentation of information via avatars or synthetic humans.

  7. Harmonic Domain Modelling of Transformer Core Nonlinearities Using the DIgSILENT PowerFactory Software

    OpenAIRE

    Bak, Claus Leth; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Wiechowski, Wojciech

    2008-01-01

    This paper demonstrates the results of implementation and verification of an already existing algorithm that allows for calculating saturation characteristics of singlephase power transformers. The algorithm was described for the first time in 1993. Now this algorithm has been implemented using the DIgSILENT Programming Language (DPL) as an external script in the harmonic domain calculations of a power system analysis tool PowerFactory [10]. The algorithm is verified by harmonic measurements ...

  8. IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH IINTERACTIVE READ-ALOUD TECHNIQUE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edi Santoso

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: The present study, entitled Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension through Interactive Read-Aloud, attempts to unlock problems found in teaching and reading comprehension through interactive read-aloud in a Senior High School of Sport (SMAN Olah Raga Lampung, in Metro. The findings revealed that students’ reading comprehension improved through interactive read-aloud. The improvement can be seen from the increase of test results, meaning construction, and motivation. The process of reading activities showed that the teacher’s gesture and body language, 20 questions, explain and guess activities were proven to help the students construct meaning from the given texts. In addition, interactive read-aloud is effective to boost students’ motivation to comprehend the texts.   Key words: Reading comprehension, interactive read-aloud.

  9. Reading faster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Nation

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the visual nature of the reading process as it relates to reading speed. It points out that there is a physical limit on normal reading speed and beyond this limit the reading process will be different from normal reading where almost every word is attended to. The article describes a range of activities for developing reading fluency, and suggests how the development of fluency can become part of a reading programme.

  10. Myocardial perfusion imaging for detection of silent myocardial ischemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beller, G.A.

    1988-01-01

    Despite the widespread use of the exercise stress test in diagnosing asymptomatic myocardial ischemia, exercise radionuclide imaging remains useful for detecting silent ischemia in numerous patient populations, including those who are totally asymptomatic, those who have chronic stable angina, those who have recovered from an episode of unstable angina or an uncomplicated myocardial infarction, and those who have undergone angioplasty or received thrombolytic therapy. Studies show that thallium scintigraphy is more sensitive than exercise electrocardiography in detecting ischemia, i.e., in part, because perfusion defects occur more frequently than ST depression and before angina in the ischemic cascade. Thallium-201 scintigraphy can be performed to differentiate a true- from a false-positive exercise electrocardiographic test in patients with exercise-induced ST depression and no angina. The development of technetium-labeled isonitriles may improve the accuracy of myocardial perfusion imaging. 11 references

  11. Measuring theory of mind across middle childhood: Reliability and validity of the Silent Films and Strange Stories tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Rory T; Hughes, Claire

    2016-09-01

    Recent years have seen a growth of research on the development of children's ability to reason about others' mental states (or "theory of mind") beyond the narrow confines of the preschool period. The overall aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of a task battery composed of items from Happé's Strange Stories task and Devine and Hughes' Silent Film task. A sample of 460 ethnically and socially diverse children (211 boys) between 7 and 13years of age completed the task battery at two time points separated by 1month. The Strange Stories and Silent Film tasks were strongly correlated even when verbal ability and narrative comprehension were taken into account, and all items loaded onto a single theory-of-mind latent factor. The theory-of-mind latent factor provided reliable estimates of performance across a wide range of theory-of-mind ability and showed no evidence of differential item functioning across gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. The theory-of-mind latent factor also exhibited strong 1-month test-retest reliability, and this stability did not vary as a function of child characteristics. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for the validity and reliability of the Strange Stories and Silent Film task battery as a measure of individual differences in theory of mind suitable for use across middle childhood. We consider the methodological and conceptual implications of these findings for research on theory of mind beyond the preschool years. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. MCP detector read out with a bare quad Timepix at kilohertz frame rates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vallerga, J; Tremsin, A; McPhate, J; Siegmund, O; Raffanti, R

    2011-01-01

    The existing Berkeley neutron sensitive MCP/Timepix hybrid detector has been very successful at demonstrating energy resolved spatial imaging with a single Timepix ASIC read out at a ∼ 30 Hz frame rate where each neutron's position and time (energy) is determined (X,Y,E). By increasing the detector format using a quad arrangement of Timepix readouts and increasing the frame rate to 1 kHz, we can increase our total event throughput by a factor of 120, thereby taking full advantage of the high fluxes of modern pulsed neutron sources (10 6 n cm -2 s -1 ). The key to this conversion is a new design for the ASIC readout, called the Berkeley Quad Timepix detector, consisting of 3 major subsystems. The first is a quad (2 x 2) bare Timepix ASIC board mounted directly behind the neutron sensitive MCPs in a hermetic vacuum enclosure with a sapphire window. The data from the Timepix ASICs flow to the second subsystem called the Interface board whose field programmable gate array (FPGA) rearranges and converts the digital bit stream to LVDS logic levels before sending downstream to the third subsystem, the Roach board. The Roach board is also FPGA based, and takes the data from all the ASICs and analyses the frames to extract information on the input events to pass on to the host PC. This paper describes in detail the hardware and firmware designs to accomplish this task.

  13. Reliability of the exercise ECG in detecting silent ischemia in patients with prior myocardial infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamagishi, Takashi; Matsuda, Yasuo; Satoh, Akira

    1991-01-01

    To assess the reliability of the exercise ECG in detecting silent ischemia, ECG results were compared with those of stress-redistribution thallium-201 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in 116 patients with prior myocardial infarction and in 20 normal subjects used as a control. The left ventricle (LV) was divided into 20 segmental images, which were scored blindly on a 5-point scale. The redistribution score was defined as thallium defect score of exercise subtracted by that of redistribution image and was used as a measure of amount of ischemic but viable myocardium. The upper limit of normal redistribution score (=4.32) was defined as mean+2 standard deviations derived from 20 normal subjects. Of 116 patients, 47 had the redistribution score above the normal range. Twenty-five (53%) of the 47 patients showed positive ECG response. Fourteen (20%) of the 69 patients, who had the normal redistribution score, showed positive ECG response. Thus, the ECG response had a sensitivity of 53% and a specificity of 80% in detecting transient ischemia. Furthermore, the 116 patients were subdivided into 4 groups according to the presence or absence of chest pain and ECG change during exercise. Fourteen patients showed both chest pain and ECG change and all these patients had the redistribution score above the normal range. Twenty-five patients showed ECG change without chest pain and 11 (44%) of the 25 patients had the abnormal redistribution. Three (43%) of 7 patients who showed chest pain without ECG change had the abnormal redistribution score. Of 70 patients who had neither chest pain nor ECG change, 19 (27%) had the redistribution score above the normal range. Thus, limitations exist in detecting silent ischemia by ECG in patients with a prior myocardial infarction, because the ECG response to the exercise test may have a low degree of sensitivity and a high degree of false positive and false negative results in detecting silent ischemia. (author)

  14. Silent somatotroph tumour revisited from a study of 80 patients with and without acromegaly and a review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chinezu, Laura; Vasiljevic, Alexandre; Trouillas, Jacqueline; Lapoirie, Marion; Jouanneau, Emmanuel; Raverot, Gérald

    2017-02-01

    Silent somatotroph tumours are growth hormone (GH) immunoreactive (IR) pituitary tumours without clinical and biological signs of acromegaly. Their better characterisation is required to improve the diagnosis. Twenty-one silent somatotroph tumours were compared to 59 somatotroph tumours with acromegaly. Tumours in each group were classified into GH and plurihormonal (GH/prolactin (PRL)/±thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)) and into densely granulated (DG) and sparsely granulated (SG) types. The two groups were then compared with regards to proliferation (Ki-67, p53 indexes and mitotic count), differentiation (expression of somatostatin receptors SSTR 2A -SSTR 5 and transcription factor Pit-1) and secretory activity (% of GH- and PRL-IR cells). The silent somatotroph tumours represented 2% of all tested pituitary tumours combined. They were more frequent in women than in men (P = 0.002), more frequently plurihormonal and SG (P acromegaly. They all expressed SSTR 2A , SSTR 5 and Pit-1. The plurihormonal (GH/PRL/±TSH) tumours were mostly observed in women (sex ratio: 3/1) and in patients who were generally younger than those with acromegaly (P acromegaly. A low secretory activity of these tumours might explain the normal plasma values for GH and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and the absence of clinical signs of acromegaly. © 2017 European Society of Endocrinology.

  15. Promoting preschool reading

    OpenAIRE

    Istenič, Vesna

    2013-01-01

    The thesis titled Promoting preschool reading consists of a theoretiral and an empirical part. In the theoretical part I wrote about reading, the importance of reading, types of reading, about reading motivation, promoting reading motivation, internal and external motivation, influence of reading motivation on the child's reading activity, reading and familial literacy, the role of adults in promotion reading literacy, reading to a child and promoting reading in pre-school years, where I ...

  16. The promotion of reading: a critical analysis of research articles

    OpenAIRE

    Gemma Lluch; Sandra Sánchez-García

    2017-01-01

    Reading is an increasingly worrisome issue. Low rates of reading, reading comprehension results of students, and the challenge of the new digital context have provoked an important debate around reading and how to promote it. This paper analyzes the research published from 2000 to 2015 in international journals indexed in Scopus and WoS, and highlights the need to look at this matter from an interdisciplinary and empirical perspective. The final aim is to establish the basis for appropriate a...

  17. Parents' reading-related knowledge and children's reading acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladd, Megan; Martin-Chang, Sandra; Levesque, Kyle

    2011-12-01

    Teacher reading-related knowledge (phonological awareness and phonics knowledge) predicts student reading, however little is known about the reading-related knowledge of parents. Participants comprised 70 dyads (children from kindergarten and grade 1 and their parents). Parents were administered a questionnaire tapping into reading-related knowledge, print exposure, storybook reading, and general cultural knowledge. Children were tested on measures of letter-word knowledge, sound awareness, receptive vocabulary, oral expression, and mathematical skill. Parent reading-related knowledge showed significant positive links with child letter-word knowledge and sound awareness, but showed no correlations with child measures of mathematical skill or vocabulary. Furthermore, parent reading-related knowledge was not associated with parents' own print exposure or cultural knowledge, indicating that knowledge about English word structure may be separate from other cognitive skills. Implications are discussed in terms of improving parent reading-related knowledge to promote child literacy.

  18. Nystagmus Does Not Limit Reading Ability in Albinism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dysli, Muriel; Abegg, Mathias

    2016-01-01

    Purpose Subjects with albinism usually suffer from nystagmus and reduced visual acuity, which may impair reading performance. The contribution of nystagmus to decreased reading ability is not known. Low vision and nystagmus may have an additive effect. We aimed to address this question by motion compensation of the nystagmus in affected subjects and by simulating nystagmus in healthy controls. Methods Reading speed and eye movements were assessed in 9 subjects with nystagmus associated with albinism and in 12 healthy controls. We compared the reading ability with steady word presentation and with words presented on a gaze contingent display where words move in parallel to the nystagmus and thus correct for the nystagmus. As the control, healthy subjects were asked to read words and texts in steady reading conditions as well as text passages that moved in a pattern similar to nystagmus. Results Correcting nystagmus with a gaze contingent display neither improved nor reduced the reading speed for single words. Subjects with nystagmus and healthy participants achieved comparable reading speed when reading steady texts. However, movement of text in healthy controls caused a significantly reduced reading speed and more regressive saccades. Conclusions Our results argue against nystagmus as the rate limiting factor for reading speed when words were presented in high enough magnification and support the notion that other sensory visual impairments associated with albinism (for example reduced visual acuity) might be the primary causes for reading impairment. PMID:27391149

  19. Nystagmus Does Not Limit Reading Ability in Albinism.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muriel Dysli

    Full Text Available Subjects with albinism usually suffer from nystagmus and reduced visual acuity, which may impair reading performance. The contribution of nystagmus to decreased reading ability is not known. Low vision and nystagmus may have an additive effect. We aimed to address this question by motion compensation of the nystagmus in affected subjects and by simulating nystagmus in healthy controls.Reading speed and eye movements were assessed in 9 subjects with nystagmus associated with albinism and in 12 healthy controls. We compared the reading ability with steady word presentation and with words presented on a gaze contingent display where words move in parallel to the nystagmus and thus correct for the nystagmus. As the control, healthy subjects were asked to read words and texts in steady reading conditions as well as text passages that moved in a pattern similar to nystagmus.Correcting nystagmus with a gaze contingent display neither improved nor reduced the reading speed for single words. Subjects with nystagmus and healthy participants achieved comparable reading speed when reading steady texts. However, movement of text in healthy controls caused a significantly reduced reading speed and more regressive saccades.Our results argue against nystagmus as the rate limiting factor for reading speed when words were presented in high enough magnification and support the notion that other sensory visual impairments associated with albinism (for example reduced visual acuity might be the primary causes for reading impairment.

  20. How Silent is the Right to Silence?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Biber

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available A long-held and fundamental principle of our criminal justice system is that people accused of crimes have a right to silence, arising from the presumption of innocence. Rules of evidence try to protect this ‘right’ during trial, by ensuring that juries understand that adverse inferences cannot be drawn from the silence of the accused. Silence, in court, can mean nothing, and we are not to speculate about what might motivate an accused person to remain silent, or what they might have said had they spoken. However, an examination of the jurisprudence in this area shows that the law is often not dealing with actual silence; sometimes when the law refers to the ‘right to silence’, it seems to mean a ‘refusal to hear’. In other instances, there is actual silence, and yet the law refuses to subject that silence to any critical interpretation, insisting that we cannot infer anything from it. While we have learned, from theatre, music, linguistics, religion and psychology, to develop sophisticated means for interpreting silence, the law demands that we set aside these interpretive tools, hearing silence that isn’t there, and inferring nothing about something.

  1. Why should I read? - A cross-cultural investigation into adolescents' reading socialisation and reading attitude

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broeder, Peter; Stokmans, Mia

    2013-06-01

    While reading behaviour of adolescents is a frequent object of research, most studies in this field are restricted to a single country. This study investigates reading as a leisure-time activity across social groups from three regions differing in reading tradition as well as in the facilities available for reading. The authors analyse the reading behaviour of a total of 2,173 adolescents in the Netherlands, in Beijing (China), and in Cape Town (South Africa). Taking Icek Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour as a starting point, the authors adjusted it to model the three most important determinants of reading behaviour, namely (1) reading attitude; (2) subjective norms (implicit and explicit social pressure to read); and (3) perceived behavioural control, which includes reading proficiency and appropriateness of the available books (book supply). While they found the adjusted model to fit the Dutch and Beijing situation quite well, it appeared to be inappropriate for the Cape Town situation. Despite considerable cultural and situational differences between the Netherlands and Beijing, the results show a similar pattern for these two environments. The most important determinants turn out to be: the hedonic reading attitude, the implicit norm of family and friends, the attractiveness of the available choice of books, and the perceived reading proficiency.

  2. Using Text-to-Speech Reading Support for an Adult with Mild Aphasia and Cognitive Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Judy; Hux, Karen; Snell, Jeffry

    2013-01-01

    This single case study served to examine text-to-speech (TTS) effects on reading rate and comprehension in an individual with mild aphasia and cognitive impairment. Findings showed faster reading, given TTS presented at a normal speaking rate, but no significant comprehension changes. TTS may support reading in people with aphasia when time…

  3. Effect of different illumination sources on reading and visual performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Male Shiva Ram

    2018-01-01

    Conclusion: This study demonstrates the influence of illumination on reading rate; there were no significant differences between males and females under different illuminations, however, males preferred CFL and females preferred FLUO for faster reading and visual comfort. Interestingly, neither preferred LED or TUNG. Although energy-efficient, visual performance under LED is poor; it is uncomfortable for prolonged reading and causes early symptoms of fatigue.

  4. The promotion of reading: a critical analysis of research articles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gemma Lluch

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Reading is an increasingly worrisome issue. Low rates of reading, reading comprehension results of students, and the challenge of the new digital context have provoked an important debate around reading and how to promote it. This paper analyzes the research published from 2000 to 2015 in international journals indexed in Scopus and WoS, and highlights the need to look at this matter from an interdisciplinary and empirical perspective. The final aim is to establish the basis for appropriate action in order to consolidate stable reading habits, especially among children and youth. The analysis concludes that much of what is currently on offer for promoting reading is basically an attempt to make books and reading appear attractive to young readers, although research on the results of such initiatives is still scarce.

  5. Testing the Acceleration Hypothesis: Fluency Outcomes Utilizing Still- versus Accelerated-Text in Sixth-Grade Students with Reading Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paige, David D.

    2011-01-01

    The acceleration hypothesis views reading rate simultaneously as both an independent and dependent variable that can be manipulated to encourage increases in reading indicators (Breznitz, 2006). Within this conceptualization, reading rate represents all the component sub-processes required for proficient reading and presents the opportunity for a…

  6. Correlating lesion size and location to deficits after ischemic stroke: the influence of accounting for altered peri-necrotic tissue and incidental silent infarcts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Black Sandra E

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Investigators frequently quantify and evaluate the location and size of stroke lesions to help uncover cerebral anatomical correlates of deficits observed after first-ever stroke. However, it is common to discover silent infarcts such as lacunes in patients identified clinically as 'first-ever' stroke, and it is unclear if including these incidental findings may impact lesion-based investigations of brain-behaviour relationships. There is also debate concerning how to best define the boundaries of necrotic stroke lesions that blend in an ill-defined way into surrounding tissue, as it is unclear whether including this altered peri-necrotic tissue region may influence studies of brain-behaviour relationships. Therefore, for patients with clinically overt stroke, we examined whether including altered peri-necrotic tissue and incidental silent strokes influenced either lesion volume correlations with a measure of sensorimotor impairment or the anatomical localization of this impairment established using subtraction lesion analysis. Methods Chronic stroke lesions of 41 patients were manually traced from digital T1-MRI to sequentially include the: necrotic lesion core, altered peri-necrotic tissue, silent lesions in the same hemisphere as the index lesion, and silent lesions in the opposite hemisphere. Lesion volumes for each region were examined for correlation with motor impairment scores, and subtraction analysis was used to highlight anatomical lesion loci associated with this deficit. Results For subtraction lesion analysis, including peri-necrotic tissue resulted in a larger region of more frequent damage being seen in the basal ganglia. For correlational analysis, only the volume of the lesion core was significantly associated with motor impairment scores (r = -0.35, p = 0.025. In a sub-analysis of patients with small subcortical index lesions, adding silent lesions in the opposite hemisphere to the volume of the index

  7. Silent ischemia in patients after the acute myocardial infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samarzija, M.

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and importance of silent ischemia in patients (pts) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as well as to establish diagnostic and prognostic values of exercise stress test (EST), Holter (H) monitoring and thallium-201 (Tl) scintigraphy. All the tests were performed 2-4 months following the AMI. The criterion for diagnostic myocardial ischemia on EST and H is 1 mm or more of horizontal or down-sloping ST depression. Additional criteria for Holter imply that the ischemic episode should last one minute and be separated from other episodes by at least one minute. Planar thallium images were performed 5-10 minutes after the stress test; the delayed images were obtained after 3-6 hours. Visual and quantitative methods were employed in the analysis of Tl-scintigraphy. Scintigraphy was considered positive if exercise-induced perfusion defects showed redistribution. The study included 74 asymptomatic patients after the AMI. The patients were divided into two groups by results of quantitative Tl-scintigraphy: Group I - 44 pts with silent ischemia, Group II - 30 pts without ischemia. In Group I, out of 44 pts, 9 had a positive exercise stress test, 4 showed a painless ST depression on Holter and 7 had both tests positive, whereas 24 pts had only scintigraphy positive. In Group II one patient had positive EST and H. Sensitivity and specificity were determined by results of coronary arteriography performed on 33 pts: EST (Se=40%, Sp=80%), H (Se=21%, Sp=100%) and scintigraphy (Se=93%, Sp=80%). During the follow-up period lasting at least 12 months, in Group I 3 pts died, 1 developed a new myocardial infarction and 15 pts had painful ischemic occurrences. In Group II only 3 pts developed symptoms of angina pectoris. Tl-scintigraphy was the only non-invasive test showing significant correlation with the follow-up outcomes. The diagnostic and prognostic superiority of Tl-scintigraphy justifies its value as an initial

  8. The Danish version of the Radner Reading Chart

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munch, Inger Christine; Jørgensen, Astrid Helene Ravn; Radner, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    , variance and number of errors per short text. Results The students read the short texts faster than the blue-collar workers (184 ± 21.4 words per minute (wpm) versus 163 ± 26.3 wpm, p ...Purpose To develop 28 short texts to be used as sentence optotypes in a Danish version of the Radner Reading Chart for the measurement of reading acuity and speed. Method Forty-six short texts of comparable lexical and grammatical difficulty were constructed. The short texts were tested together...... with two longer reference texts in 100 persons with visual acuity 6/6, of which 50 were university students (age: 24.7 ± 3.1 years, 36% males) and 50 were blue-collar workers (37.2 ± 13.4 years, 54% males). Study parameters were mean reading speed and error rate per participant, and mean reading time...

  9. Comparison of reading speed with 3 different log-scaled reading charts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buari, Noor Halilah; Chen, Ai-Hong; Musa, Nuraini

    2014-01-01

    A reading chart that resembles real reading conditions is important to evaluate the quality of life in terms of reading performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the reading speed of UiTM Malay related words (UiTM-Mrw) reading chart with MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart. Fifty subjects with normal sight were randomly recruited through randomized sampling in this study (mean age=22.98±1.65 years). Subjects were asked to read three different near charts aloud and as quickly as possible at random sequence. The charts were the UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart, MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart, respectively. The time taken to read each chart was recorded and any errors while reading were noted. Reading performance was quantified in terms of reading speed as words per minute (wpm). The mean reading speed for UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart, MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart was 200±30wpm, 196±28wpm and 194±31wpm, respectively. Comparison of reading speed between UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart and MNread Acuity Chart showed no significant difference (t=-0.73, p=0.72). The same happened with the reading speed between UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart (t=-0.97, p=0.55). Bland and Altman plot showed good agreement between reading speed of UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart with MNread Acuity Chart with the Colenbrander Reading Chart. UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart in Malay language is highly comparable with standardized charts and can be used for evaluating reading speed. Copyright © 2013 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  10. Production does not improve memory for face-name associations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hourihan, Kathleen L; Smith, Alexis R S

    2016-06-01

    Strategies for learning face-name associations are generally difficult and time-consuming. However, research has shown that saying a word aloud improves our memory for that word relative to words from the same set that were read silently. Such production effects have been shown for words, pictures, text material, and even word pairs. Can production improve memory for face-name associations? In Experiment 1, participants studied face-name pairs by reading half of the names aloud and half of the names silently, and were tested with cued recall. In Experiment 2, names were repeated aloud (or silently) for the full trial duration. Neither experiment showed a production effect in cued recall. Bayesian analyses showed positive support for the null effect. One possibility is that participants spontaneously implemented more elaborate encoding strategies that overrode any influence of production. However, a more likely explanation for the null production effect is that only half of each stimulus pair was produced-the name, but not the face. Consistent with this explanation, in Experiment 3 a production effect was not observed in cued recall of word-word pairs in which only the target words were read aloud or silently. Averaged across all 3 experiments, aloud targets were more likely to be recalled than silent targets (though not associated with the correct cue). The production effect in associative memory appears to require both members of a pair to be produced. Surprisingly, production shows little promise as a strategy for improving memory for the names of people we have just met. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. The effect of consanguineous marriage on reading disability in the Arab community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu-Rabia, Salim; Maroun, Lateefeh

    2005-02-01

    The present study examined the effect of consanguineous marriage in the Arab community on reading disabilities of offspring. It examined whether the rate of reading disabilities was higher among offspring of first-cousin parents than offspring of unrelated parents; and whether reading-disabled children of first-cousin parents were more disabled in phonological awareness and phonological decoding than reading-disabled children of unrelated parents and normally reading younger children. These questions were investigated among 814 pupils of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, using word recognition and reading comprehension tests. Two experimental groups were chosen from this population. These were a reading-disabled group of 22 pupils who were children of first-cousin marriages and 21 pupils who were children of unrelated parents. A control group was also selected, consisting of 21 younger normally reading pupils at the same reading level. All the groups were tested on non-words, real words, phonological, orthographic and working memory measures. The results indicated that the rate of reading disabilities among children of first-cousin parents was higher than that of with children of second-cousin parents, distantly related parents, or unrelated parents. Further, no differences were found in phonological awareness and decoding between the two reading-disabled groups. Moreover, the results indicate a significant advantage of the younger normal readers over the reading-disabled children in the measures of phonological awareness, decoding, and orthographical knowledge that requires spelling. However, in reading common words and choosing words in context, the performance of the reading-disabled groups and the normally reading group were similar. It has been suggested that further research is needed to evaluate the role of intelligence, nevertheless our results provide new evidence for a genetic basis to reading disabilities.

  12. Application of DIgSILENT POWERFACTORY software for modeling of industrial network relay protection system

    OpenAIRE

    Sučević Nikola; Milošević Dejan

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents modeling of industrial network relay protection system using DIgSILENT PowerFactory software. The basis for the model of protection system is a model of a single substation in an industrial network. The paper presents the procedure for modeling of protective devices of 6 kV asynchronous motors, 6/0,4 kV/kV transformers as well as protection in the bus coupler and busbar protection. Protective relay system response for the simulated disturbances is shown in the paper.

  13. Assessment of the Apple iPad as a low-vision reading aid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrice, E; Johnson, A P; Marinier, J-A; Wittich, W

    2017-06-01

    PurposeLow-vision clients frequently report having problems with reading. Using magnification, reading performance (as measured by reading speed) can be improved by up to 200%. Current magnification aids can be expensive or bulky; therefore, we explored if the Apple iPad offers comparable performance in improving reading speeds, in comparison with a closed-circuit television (CCTV) video magnifier, or other magnification devices.MethodsWe recruited 100 participants between the ages of 24-97 years, with low vision who were literate and cognitively capable, of whom 57 had age-related macular degeneration. To assess reading, participants read standardized iReST texts and were tested for comprehension. We compared reading speed on the Apple iPad (10 inch) with that of the CCTV, home magnification devices, and baseline measures.ResultsAll assistive devices improved reading rates in comparison to baseline (P1), however, there was no difference in improvement across devices (P>0.05, Hedge's gread, on average, 30 words per minute faster than first time iPad users, whereas CCTV experience did not influence reading speed.ConclusionsIn our sample, the Apple iPad was as effective as currently used technologies for improving reading rates. Moreover, exposure to, and experience with the Apple iPad might increase reading speed with that device. A larger sample size, however, is needed to do subgroup analysis on who would optimally benefit from each type of magnification device.

  14. Many Neighbors are not Silent. fMRI Evidence for Global Lexical Activity in Visual Word Recognition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario eBraun

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Many neurocognitive studies investigated the neural correlates of visual word recognition, some of which manipulated the orthographic neighborhood density of words and nonwords believed to influence the activation of orthographically similar representations in a hypothetical mental lexicon. Previous neuroimaging research failed to find evidence for such global lexical activity associated with neighborhood density. Rather, effects were interpreted to reflect semantic or domain general processing. The present fMRI study revealed effects of lexicality, orthographic neighborhood density and a lexicality by orthographic neighborhood density interaction in a silent reading task. For the first time we found greater activity for words and nonwords with a high number of neighbors. We propose that this activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex reflects activation of orthographically similar codes in verbal working memory thus providing evidence for global lexical activity as the basis of the neighborhood density effect. The interaction of lexicality by neighborhood density in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex showed lower activity in response to words with a high number compared to nonwords with a high number of neighbors. In the light of these results the facilitatory effect for words and inhibitory effect for nonwords with many neighbors observed in previous studies can be understood as being due to the operation of a fast-guess mechanism for words and a temporal deadline mechanism for nonwords as predicted by models of visual word recognition. Furthermore, we propose that the lexicality effect with higher activity for words compared to nonwords in inferior parietal and middle temporal cortex reflects the operation of an identification mechanism and based on local lexico-semantic activity.

  15. A silent allele in the locus D5S818 contained within the PowerPlex®21 PCR Amplification Kit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ling; Tai, Yunchun; Qiu, Pingming; Du, Weian; Liu, Chao

    2015-11-01

    Three paternity tests cases were found with a single locus mismatch at the locus D5S818 with PowerPlex®21 PCR Amplification Kit (Promega). Forward and reverse primers were redesigned to type the samples again and to evaluate if there were alleles dropped out. The results showed the existence of a silent allele 12 in all the three families, due to a point mutation that changed cytosine to adenine at 90 nucleotides upstream from the 5' end of the AGAT repeat sequences in all the six individuals. A single locus mismatch due to a silent allele may occur in any locus using any kit. Therefore, we recommend using multiple kits to confirm the results in paternity testing cases with mismatches, especially when there is a single locus mismatch with homozygote involved. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Silent changes of tuberculosis in Iran (2005-2015: A joinpoint regression analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abolfazl Marvi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction and Aim: Tuberculosis (TB poses a severe risk to public health through the world but excessively distresses low-income nations. The aim of this study is to analyze silent changes of TB in Iran (2005–2015: A joinpoint regression analysis. Materials and Methods: This is a trend study conducted on all patients (n = 70 that register in control disease center of Joibar (one of coastal cities and tourism destination in Northern Iran which was recognized as an independent town since 1998 during 2005–2015. The characteristics of patients imported to the SPSS 19 and variation in incidence rate of different forms of pulmonary TB (PTB (PTB+ or PTB– and extra-PTB (EPTB/year was analyzed. Variation in incidence rate of TB for male and female groups and different age groups (0–14, 15–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, and above 65 years was analyzed, variation in trend of this diseases for different groups was compared in intended years, and also, variation in incidence rate of TB was analyzed by Joinpoint Regression Software. Results: The total number of TB was 70 cases during 2005–2015. The mean age of patients was 42.31 ± 21.26 years and median age was 40 years. About 71.4% of patients were PTB (55.7% for with PTB+ and 15.7% with PTB– and rest of them (28.4% were EPTB. In regard to classification of cases, 97.1% of them were new cases, 1.45% of them were relapsed cases, and 1.45% of them imported cases. In addition, history of hospitalization due to TB was observed in 44.3%. Conclusion: Despite recent developments of governmental health-care system in Iran and proper access to it and considering this fact that identification of TB cases with passive surveillance is possible. Hence, developing certain programs for sensitization of the covered population is essential.

  17. Monocular oral reading after treatment of dense congenital unilateral cataract

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birch, Eileen E.; Cheng, Christina; Christina, V; Stager, David R.

    2010-01-01

    Background Good long-term visual acuity outcomes for children with dense congenital unilateral cataracts have been reported following early surgery and good compliance with postoperative amblyopia therapy. However, treated eyes rarely achieve normal visual acuity and there has been no formal evaluation of the utility of the treated eye for reading. Methods Eighteen children previously treated for dense congenital unilateral cataract were tested monocularly with the Gray Oral Reading Test, 4th edition (GORT-4) at 7 to 13 years of age using two passages for each eye, one at grade level and one at +1 above grade level. In addition, right eyes of 55 normal children age 7 to 13 served as a control group. The GORT-4 assesses reading rate, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Results Visual acuity of treated eyes ranged from 0.1 to 2.0 logMAR and of fellow eyes from −0.1 to 0.2 logMAR. Treated eyes scored significantly lower than fellow and normal control eyes on all scales at grade level and at +1 above grade level. Monocular reading rate, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension were correlated with visual acuity of treated eyes (rs = −0.575 to −0.875, p < 0.005). Treated eyes with 0.1-0.3 logMAR visual acuity did not differ from fellow or normal control eyes in rate, accuracy, fluency, or comprehension when reading at grade level or at +1 above grade level. Fellow eyes did not differ from normal controls on any reading scale. Conclusions Excellent visual acuity outcomes following treatment of dense congenital unilateral cataracts are associated with normal reading ability of the treated eye in school-age children. PMID:20603057

  18. Regional cerebral blood flow and periventricular hyperintensity in silent cerebral infarction. Comparison with multi-infarct dementia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koshi, Yasuhiko; Kitamura, Shin; Nagazumi, Atushi; Tsuganesawa, Toshikazu; Terashi, Akiro

    1996-01-01

    In order to investigate relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and the white matter lesions on MRI in silent cerebral infarction, we quantitatively measured rCBF by 123 I-IMP autoradiography method (IMP ARG method) and single photon emission tomography (SPECT) in 36 patients with silent cerebral infarction (SCI group), 22 patients with multi-infarct dementia (MID group), and 16 control subjects without periventricular hyperintensity (PVH) and lacunar infarction on MRI (CL group). Regions of interest (ROIs) on rCBF images were set in the frontal (F), temporal (T), parietal (P), occipital (O) cortex, and the cerebral white matter (W). The severity of PVH on MRI T 2 -weighted image was divided into four grades (grade 0-3). Though the frequency of hypertension was significantly higher in SCI group and MID group compared with CL group, no significant difference was seen in the mean age among these three groups. rCBF in the white matter and cerebral cortices except the occipital cortex in SCI group was significantly low compared with CL group (rCBF SCI /rCBF CL : W 0.87, F 0.87, T 0.87, P 0.88, O 0.92). rCBF in the white matter and cerebral cortices, especially in the white matter and frontal cortex, in MID group was significantly low compared with SCI group (rCBF MID /rCBF CL : W 0.69, F 0.71, T 0.74, P 0.75, O 0.81). The mean grade of PVH in MID group was significantly higher than that in SCI group (SCI 1.1 vs MID 2.5). The severity of PVH was significantly correlated with each rCBF in the white matter and cerebral cortices, especially in the white matter and frontal cortex. Our findings suggest that the quantitative measurement of rCBF by IMP ARG method is useful for the follow-up study in the patients with silent cerebral infarction as well as the evaluation of the severity of PVH on MRI. (author)

  19. Cardiovascular risk evaluation and prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia in subjects with asymptomatic carotid artery disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ciccone M

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Marco Matteo Ciccone1, Artor Niccoli-Asabella2, Pietro Scicchitano1, Michele Gesualdo1, Antonio Notaristefano2, Domenico Chieppa1, Santa Carbonara1, Gabriella Ricci1, Marco Sassara1, Corinna Altini2, Giovanni Quistelli1, Mario Erminio Lepera1, Stefano Favale1, Giuseppe Rubini21Cardiovascular Diseases Section, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation (DETO, 2Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Internal Medicine and of Public Medicine, University of Bari, Bari, ItalyIntroduction: Silent ischemia is an asymptomatic form of myocardial ischemia, not associated with angina or anginal equivalent symptoms, which can be demonstrated by changes in ECG, left ventricular function, myocardial perfusion, and metabolism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia in a group of patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis.Methods: A total of 37 patients with asymptomatic carotid plaques, without chest pain or dyspnea, was investigated. These patients were studied for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking, and family history of cardiac disease, and underwent technetium-99 m sestamibi myocardial stress-rest scintigraphy and echo-color Doppler examination of carotid arteries.Results: A statistically significant relationship (P = 0.023 was shown between positive responders and negative responders to scintigraphy test when both were tested for degree of stenosis. This relationship is surprising in view of the small number of patients in our sample. Individuals who had a positive scintigraphy test had a mean stenosis degree of 35% ± 7% compared with a mean of 44% ± 13% for those with a negative test. Specificity of our detection was 81%, with positive and negative predictive values of 60% and 63%, respectively.Conclusion: The present study confirms that carotid atherosclerosis is associated with coronary atherosclerosis and highlights the importance of screening for ischemic heart disease in

  20. Linking Cognition and Literacy in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnahan, Christina R.; Williamson, Pamela S.; Christman, Jennifer

    2011-01-01

    Literacy skills, especially silent reading comprehension, serve as the foundation for learning, independence, and quality of life for all individuals. It is well documented that students on the autism spectrum have difficulties with reading comprehension even though they demonstrate adequate decoding skills. Unfortunately, communication…

  1. Numerical study on over reading coefficient in wet steam flow measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bai Xuesong; Yuan Dewen; Yan Xiao; Peng Xingjian

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigated the flow process of wet steam in Venturi under interested conditions with CFD simulation software. The effect of pressure, mass flow rate, throat radius on over reading factor was analyzed. This paper aims to improve the wet steam over reading model and the prediction accuracy in wet steam. The results prove that the mass flow has a small effect on over reading coefficient, while the effect that throat radius has on over reading coefficient increases as the pressure rises. (authors)

  2. Reading Comprehension Difficulties in Chinese-English Bilingual Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine; Shu, Hua; Ho, Connie Suk-Han

    2018-02-01

    The co-occurrence of reading comprehension difficulties for first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English and associated longitudinal cognitive-linguistic correlates in each language were investigated. Sixteen poor comprehenders in English and 16 poor comprehenders in Chinese, 18 poor readers in both, and 18 children with normal performance in both were identified at age 10. The prevalence rate for being poor in both was 52.94%, suggesting that approximately half of children who are at risk for Chinese reading comprehension difficulty are also at risk for English reading comprehension difficulty. Chinese word reading, phonological, and morphological awareness were longitudinal correlates of poor comprehension in Chinese. English word reading and vocabulary were longitudinal correlates of poor comprehension in English. Chinese phonological awareness was an additional correlate of poor comprehension in English. Moreover, poor comprehenders in both Chinese and English showed slower rapid automatized naming scores than the other groups. Findings highlight some factors that might be critical for reading comprehension in L1 Chinese and L2 English; fluency is likely to be a critical part of reading comprehension across languages. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  3. The impact of different background noises on the Production Effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mama, Yaniv; Fostick, Leah; Icht, Michal

    2018-04-01

    The presence of background noise has been previously shown to disrupt cognitive performance, especially memory. The amount of interference is derived from the acoustic characteristics of the noise; energetic vs. informational, steady-state vs. fluctuating. However, the literature is inconsistent concerning the effects of different types of noise on long-term memory free recall. In the present study, we tested the impact of different noises on recall of items that were learned under two conditions - silent or aloud reading, a Production Effect (PE) paradigm. As the PE represents enhanced memory for words read aloud relative to words read silently during study, we focused on the effect of noise on this robust memory phenomenon. The results showed that (a) steady-state energetic noise did not affect memory, with a recall advantage for aloud words (PE), comparable to a no-noise condition, (b) fluctuating-energetic noise and fluctuating-informational (eight-talkers babble) noise eliminated the PE, with similar recall for aloud and silent items. These results are discussed in light of their theoretical implications, stressing the role of attention in the PE. Ecological implications regarding studying in noisy environments are suggested. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Enhancing academic reading skills through extensive reading ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Abstract. The current study explores the feasibility of an extensive reading programme in the context of a low-income country (Mozambique), as well as the influence of extensive reading on academic reading. The programme took over 4 months and was conducted among 30 students majoring in Journalism at the Eduardo ...

  5. Processos logográficos, alfabéticos e lexicais na leitura silenciosa por surdos e ouvintes Silent reading by deaf and hearing readers: logographic, alphabetical and lexical processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Capovilla

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available O estudo empregou o Teste de Competência de Leitura de Palavras (TCLP para analisar estratégias ideovisuais, perilexicais e lexicais de leitura por 805 escolares surdos de 6-45 anos, da 1ª série do ensino fundamental à 1ª série do médio. Identificou aumento sistemático na competência de leitura de 1ª a 5ª séries, além de aumentos assistemáticos até a 1ª série do ensino médio, e comparou padrões de erros nos subtestes. Resultados revelaram dissociações duplas entre leitores surdos e ouvintes quanto ao padrão de erros nos subtestes: enquanto ouvintes se deixam enganar mais pela semelhança fonológica, surdos se deixam enganar mais pela visual. Enquanto ouvintes privilegiam a forma ortográfica em detrimento da correção semântica, surdos fazem o oposto. Devido à dificuldade de surdos em fazer conferência perilexical, sua leitura mostrou-se dependente de mecanismos visuais diretos de reconhecimento e acesso ao significado. O TCLP revelou-se instrumento válido para avaliar a leitura de surdos.The study used Word Reading Competence Test to analyze ideovisual, perilexical and lexical reading strategies by 805 6-45 year-old deaf students from 1st to 9th grade (1st grade elementary school to 1st grade high school. It identified a systematic increase in reading competence from 1st to 5th grade, and non-systematic increases until 9th grade. Results revealed double dissociation between deaf and hearing readers regarding error patterns across subtests: Hearing readers tended to be fooled more by phonological similarity than by visual similarity, whereas the opposite was found with deaf readers. Also, the hearing readers relied more on orthographic form than on semantic adequacy, whereas deaf readers did the opposite. Therefore, deaf reading was shown to depend essentially upon visual direct word recognition and semantic access mechanisms due to poor efficacy of perilexical checking mechanisms. Word Reading Competence Test was

  6. Slower saccadic reading in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jehangir, Naz; Yu, Caroline Yizhu; Song, Jeehey; Shariati, Mohammad Ali; Binder, Steven; Beyer, Jill; Santini, Veronica; Poston, Kathleen; Liao, Yaping Joyce

    2018-01-01

    Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic and other neurons, leading to motor and non-motor deficits. Abnormal eye movements in PD, including fixations, saccades, and convergence, are well described. However, saccadic reading, which requires serial and alternating saccades and fixations, is not well studied, despite its obvious impact on the quality of life. In this study, we assessed saccadic reading using variations of the King-Devick (KD) test, a rapid single digit number naming test, as a way to assess the ability to make serial left-to-right ocular motor movements necessary for reading. We recruited 42 treated PD patients and 80 age-matched controls and compared their reading times with a variety of measures, including age, duration of disease, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25), and Montreal Cognitive assessment (MoCA) test. The subjects performed 4 trials of reading 120 single digit numbers aloud as fast as possible without making errors. In each trial, they read 3 pages (KD1, KD2, and KD3), and each page contained 40 numbers per page in 8 lines with 5 numbers/line. We found that PD patients read about 20% slower than controls on all tests (KD1, 2, and 3 tests) (p < 0.02), and both groups read irregularly spaced numbers slower than regularly spaced numbers. Having lines between numbers to guide reading (KD1 tests) did not impact reading time in both PD and controls, but increased visual crowding as a result of decreased spacing between numbers (KD3 tests) was associated with significantly slower reading times in both PD and control groups. Our study revealed that saccadic reading is slower in PD, but controls and PD patients are both impacted by visuospatial planning challenges posed by increased visual crowding and irregularity of number spacing. Reading time did not correlate with UPDRS or MoCA scores in PD patients but

  7. “The One Who Chases You Away Does Not Tell You Go”: Silent Refusals and Complex Power Relations in Research Consent Processes in Coastal Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamuya, Dorcas M.; Theobald, Sally J.; Marsh, Vicki; Parker, Michael; Geissler, Wenzel P.; Molyneux, Sassy C.

    2015-01-01

    Consent processes have attracted significant research attention over the last decade, including in the global south. Although relevant studies suggest consent is a complex negotiated process involving multiple actors, most guidelines assume consent is a one-off encounter with a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision. In this paper we explore the concept of ‘silent refusals’, a situation where it is not clear whether potential participants want to join studies or those in studies want to withdraw from research, as they were not actively saying no. We draw on participant observation, in-depth interviews and group discussions conducted with a range of stakeholders in two large community based studies conducted by the KEMRI Wellcome Trust programme in coastal Kenya. We identified three broad inter-related rationales for silent refusals: 1) a strategy to avoid conflicts and safeguard relations within households, - for young women in particular—to appear to conform to the wishes of elders; 2) an approach to maintain friendly, appreciative and reciprocal relationships with fieldworkers, and the broader research programme; and 3) an effort to retain study benefits, either for individuals, whole households or wider communities. That refusals and underlying rationales were silent posed multiple dilemmas for fieldworkers, who are increasingly recognised to play a key interface role between researchers and communities in many settings. Silent refusals reflect and reinforce complex power relations embedded in decisions about research participation, with important implications for consent processes and broader research ethics practice. Fieldworkers need support to reflect upon and respond to the ethically charged environment they work in. PMID:25978465

  8. Reporting instructions significantly impact false positive rates when reading chest radiographs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robinson, John W.; Brennan, Patrick C.; Mello-Thoms, Claudia; Lewis, Sarah J. [The University of Sydney, Medical Image Optimisation and Perception Group, Discipline of Medical Radiation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Lidcombe, NSW (Australia)

    2016-10-15

    To determine the impact of specific reporting tasks on the performance of radiologists when reading chest radiographs. Ten experienced radiologists read a set of 40 postero-anterior (PA) chest radiographs: 21 nodule free and 19 with a proven solitary nodule. There were two reporting conditions: an unframed task (UFT) to report any abnormality and a framed task (FT) reporting only lung nodule/s. Jackknife free-response operating characteristic (JAFROC) figure of merit (FOM), specificity, location sensitivity and number of true positive (TP), false positive (FP), true negative (TN) and false negative (FN) decisions were used for analysis. JAFROC FOM for tasks showed a significant reduction in performance for framed tasks (P = 0.006) and an associated decrease in specificity (P = 0.011) but no alteration to the location sensitivity score. There was a significant increase in number of FP decisions made during framed versus unframed tasks for nodule-containing (P = 0.005) and nodule-free (P = 0.011) chest radiographs. No significant differences in TP were recorded. Radiologists report more FP decisions when given specific reporting instructions to search for nodules on chest radiographs. The relevance of clinical history supplied to radiologists is called into question and may induce a negative effect. (orig.)

  9. Reporting instructions significantly impact false positive rates when reading chest radiographs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, John W.; Brennan, Patrick C.; Mello-Thoms, Claudia; Lewis, Sarah J.

    2016-01-01

    To determine the impact of specific reporting tasks on the performance of radiologists when reading chest radiographs. Ten experienced radiologists read a set of 40 postero-anterior (PA) chest radiographs: 21 nodule free and 19 with a proven solitary nodule. There were two reporting conditions: an unframed task (UFT) to report any abnormality and a framed task (FT) reporting only lung nodule/s. Jackknife free-response operating characteristic (JAFROC) figure of merit (FOM), specificity, location sensitivity and number of true positive (TP), false positive (FP), true negative (TN) and false negative (FN) decisions were used for analysis. JAFROC FOM for tasks showed a significant reduction in performance for framed tasks (P = 0.006) and an associated decrease in specificity (P = 0.011) but no alteration to the location sensitivity score. There was a significant increase in number of FP decisions made during framed versus unframed tasks for nodule-containing (P = 0.005) and nodule-free (P = 0.011) chest radiographs. No significant differences in TP were recorded. Radiologists report more FP decisions when given specific reporting instructions to search for nodules on chest radiographs. The relevance of clinical history supplied to radiologists is called into question and may induce a negative effect. (orig.)

  10. Reading: Time

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Annemarie Wennekers; Frank Huysmans; Jos de Haan

    2018-01-01

    Original title: Lees:Tijd The amount of time that Dutch people spend reading has been declining steadily since the 1950s. This decline in reading time contrasts starkly with the positive personal and social benefits that can be derived from reading, according to lots of research. The Reading:

  11. Application of DIgSILENT POWERFACTORY software for modeling of industrial network relay protection system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sučević Nikola

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents modeling of industrial network relay protection system using DIgSILENT PowerFactory software. The basis for the model of protection system is a model of a single substation in an industrial network. The paper presents the procedure for modeling of protective devices of 6 kV asynchronous motors, 6/0,4 kV/kV transformers as well as protection in the bus coupler and busbar protection. Protective relay system response for the simulated disturbances is shown in the paper.

  12. Static Aeroelastic Deformation Effects in Preliminary Wind-tunnel Tests of Silent Supersonic Technology Demonstrator

    OpenAIRE

    Makino, Yoshikazu; Ohira, Keisuke; Makimoto, Takuya; Mitomo, Toshiteru; 牧野, 好和; 大平, 啓介; 牧本, 卓也; 三友, 俊輝

    2011-01-01

    Effects of static aeroelastic deformation of a wind-tunnel test model on the aerodynamic characteristics are discussed in wind-tunnel tests in the preliminary design phase of the silent supersonic technology demonstrator (S3TD). The static aeroelastic deformation of the main wing is estimated for JAXA 2m x 2m transonic wind-tunnel and 1m x 1m supersonic wind-tunnel by a finite element method (FEM) structural analysis in which its structural model is tuned with the model deformation calibratio...

  13. SILENT MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA AND CARDIAC RHYTHM DISTURBANCES IN WOMEN WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. S. Novikova

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Objective: to assess the rate of silent myocardial ischemia (SMI and the pattern of cardiac rhythm disturbances in women with rheumatoidarthritis (RA, their association with traditional risk factors (TRF for cardiovascular diseases (CVD, with subclinical structural and functionalchanges in the heart and vessels, with the activity and severity of rheumatoid inflammation.Subjects and methods. Two hundred and ninety-one female patients aged less than 60 years with a valid diagnosis of RA and no clinicalsigns were examined. A control group consisted of 125 women without rheumatic diseases. In addition to the clinical manifestations, activity,and severity of RA, the authors assessed major TRFs for CVD, performed Holter ECG monitoring, common carotid artery duplex scanning, transthoracic echocardiographic study, and determined the levels of serum inflammatory markers.Results. The women with RA differ from the control group in the higher incidence of SMI, supraventricular arrhythmias (SVA and highgradepremature ventricular contractions (PVC. The patients with RA and SMI are characterized in terms of age-adjustment by higher disease activity (DAS28, systemic manifestations, cumulative larger-dose glucocorticoids (GC and a higher percentage of patients receiving disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs as compared with those with RA and no SMI with adjustment for age. High disease activity(DAS28, level of inflammatory markers, IgM rheumatoid arthritis seropositivity, and GC therapy are SVA-associated factors in women with RA; larger left ventricular end-diastolic dimension and serositis are factors associated with high-grade PVC.Conclusion. The RA women without clinical manifestations of CVD are recorded to have high rates of SMI, SVA, and high-grade PVC, which is primarily due to the activity and severity of rheumatoid inflammation.

  14. Dialogic Reading Aloud to Promote Extensive Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, George M.

    2016-01-01

    How can teachers motivate students to read extensively in a second language? One strategy is for teachers to read aloud to students to promote the joys of reading generally, to build students' language skills and to introduce students to specific authors, book series, genres, websites, etc. This article begins by discussing why teachers might want…

  15. Promises of silent salesman to the FMCG industry: an investigation using linear discriminant analysis approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shekhar Suraj Kushe

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Packaging which is often called as the ‘silent salesman’ is an important component of marketing. Today the importance of packaging has risen to such an extent that product packaging is rightly called as the fifth ‘P’ of marketing mix. FMCG are products which are utilized by large number of people. The present study examined the discriminating power of five selected FMCG packaging variables namely ‘picture’, ‘colour’, ‘size’, ‘shape’ and ‘material’ amidst those who purchased FMCG based on these packaging variables and for those who purchased FMCG not based on these packaging variables. Descriptive research was carried out in the study. Respondents (students were asked to rate four packaging variable on a five point Likert’s scale. Discriminant analysis showed that only two variables namely ‘Colour’ (.706 and ‘Shape’ (–.527 were good predictors. Variables ‘Picture’, ‘size’ and ‘material’ were considered as poor predictors as far as the student communities were considered. The cross validated classification showed that out of the 240 samples drawn, 91.8% of the cases were correctly classified.

  16. Reading Comprehension: A Computerized Intervention with Primary-age Poor Readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horne, Joanna Kathryn

    2017-05-01

    The current study investigates the effectiveness of a computerized reading comprehension programme on the reading accuracy, reading comprehension and reading rate of primary-age poor readers. There is little published literature relating to computerized reading interventions in UK primary schools, and no previous studies have investigated the Comprehension Booster programme. Thirty-eight children (26 boys and 12 girls; aged 6:7 to 11:0) from two schools in East Yorkshire, UK, took part. Half of the participants (the intervention group) undertook the Comprehension Booster programme for a 6-week period, whilst the other half (the control group) continued with their usual teaching. Significant effects of the intervention were found, with increases in reading accuracy and reading comprehension for the intervention group. It is concluded that computerized reading programmes can be effective in improving reading skills, and these are particularly useful for pupils with reading difficulties in disadvantaged areas, where resources are limited and family support in reading is lower. However, such programmes are not a replacement for good teaching, and regular monitoring of children with reading difficulties is required. Further research is necessary to compare the programme used here to other conventional and computerized intervention programmes, using a larger sample. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. FMLRC: Hybrid long read error correction using an FM-index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jeremy R; Holt, James; McMillan, Leonard; Jones, Corbin D

    2018-02-09

    Long read sequencing is changing the landscape of genomic research, especially de novo assembly. Despite the high error rate inherent to long read technologies, increased read lengths dramatically improve the continuity and accuracy of genome assemblies. However, the cost and throughput of these technologies limits their application to complex genomes. One solution is to decrease the cost and time to assemble novel genomes by leveraging "hybrid" assemblies that use long reads for scaffolding and short reads for accuracy. We describe a novel method leveraging a multi-string Burrows-Wheeler Transform with auxiliary FM-index to correct errors in long read sequences using a set of complementary short reads. We demonstrate that our method efficiently produces significantly more high quality corrected sequence than existing hybrid error-correction methods. We also show that our method produces more contiguous assemblies, in many cases, than existing state-of-the-art hybrid and long-read only de novo assembly methods. Our method accurately corrects long read sequence data using complementary short reads. We demonstrate higher total throughput of corrected long reads and a corresponding increase in contiguity of the resulting de novo assemblies. Improved throughput and computational efficiency than existing methods will help better economically utilize emerging long read sequencing technologies.

  18. An investigation of Chinese university EFL learner’s foreign language reading anxiety, reading strategy use and reading comprehension performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongshe Lu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study explored the interrelations between foreign language (FL reading anxiety, FL reading strategy use and their interactive effect on FL reading comprehension performance at the tertiary level in China. Analyses of the survey data collected from 1702 university students yielded the following results: (a Both Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS and Foreign Language Reading Strategy Use Scale (FLRSUS had important subcomponents, (b more than half of the students generally did not feel anxious when reading English, and were confident in and satisfied with their English reading proficiency. Meanwhile, (c more than half of them moderately used different types of reading strategies such as planning, checking and confirming, predicting and assessing, when reading English, (d compared with their female peers, male students felt significantly more anxious when facing reading activities, less satisfied with their English reading proficiency, and used specific analyzing and planning strategies significantly less often during a reading activity, (e FLRAS was significantly inversely related to FLRSUS, and both were significantly correlated with the students’ FL reading comprehension performance, and (f FLRAS (overall FL reading anxiety, FLRAS1 (general anxiety about FL reading, and FLRSUS2 (predicting strategies were good predictors of FL reading comprehension performance. Based on the findings, some implications are discussed.

  19. Cumulus-specific genes are transcriptionally silent following somatic cell nuclear transfer in a mouse model*

    OpenAIRE

    Tong, Guo-qing; Heng, Boon-chin; Ng, Soon-chye

    2007-01-01

    This study investigated whether four cumulus-specific genes: follicular stimulating hormone receptor (FSHr), hyaluronan synthase 2 (Has2), prostaglandin synthase 2 (Ptgs2) and steroidogenic acute regulator protein (Star), were correctly reprogrammed to be transcriptionally silent following somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in a murine model. Cumulus cells of C57×CBA F1 female mouse were injected into enucleated oocytes, followed by activation in 10 µmol/L strontium chloride for 5 h and sub...

  20. Miraculous Readings: Using Fantasy Novels about Reading to Reflect on Reading the Bible

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalton, Russell W.

    2009-01-01

    This article reflects on the vivid images of reading presented in several popular fantasy novels, including "The Spiderwick Chronicles," "The Great Good Thing," and "The Neverending Story." It suggests that these images can be used to help children, youth, and adults reflect on the nature of reading and the potential power of reading sacred texts.…

  1. Reading Every Single Day: A Journey to Authentic Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Alida K.; Williams, Joan A.

    2015-01-01

    This article details one teacher's implementation of reading workshop in her second grade classroom. She provided a framework for authentic reading using the five components of reading workshop: time, choice, response, community, and structure. She found that reading workshop is a highly effective practice for not only increasing students'…

  2. Reading Comics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilley, Carol L.

    2008-01-01

    Many adults, even librarians who willingly add comics to their collections, often dismiss the importance of comics. Compared to reading "real" books, reading comics appears to be a simple task and compared to reading no books, reading comics might be preferable. After all, comics do have words, but the plentiful pictures seem to carry most of the…

  3. Reading Processes of University Students with Dyslexia - An Examination of the Relationship between Oral Reading and Reading Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedersen, Henriette Folkmann; Fusaroli, Riccardo; Lauridsen, Lene Louise; Parrila, Rauno

    2016-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of oral reading and how it relates to reading comprehension in students with dyslexia. A group of Danish university students with dyslexia (n = 16) and a comparison group of students with no history of reading problems (n = 16) were assessed on their oral reading performance when reading a complex text. Along with reading speed, we measured not only the number and quality of reading errors but also the extent and semantic nature of the self-corrections during reading. The reading comprehension was measured through aided text retellings. The results showed that, as a group, the dyslexics performed poorer on most measures, but there were notable within-group differences in the reading behaviours and little association between how well university students with dyslexia read aloud and comprehended the text. These findings suggest that many dyslexics in higher education tend to focus their attention on one subcomponent of the reading process, for example, decoding or comprehension, because engaging in both simultaneously may be too demanding for them. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Reading fluency: implications for the assessment of children with reading disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meisinger, Elizabeth B; Bloom, Juliana S; Hynd, George W

    2010-06-01

    The current investigation explored the diagnostic utility of reading fluency measures in the identification of children with reading disabilities. Participants were 50 children referred to a university-based clinic because of suspected reading problems and/or a prior diagnosis of dyslexia, where children completed a battery of standardized intellectual, reading achievement, and processing measures. Within this clinical sample, a group of children were identified that exhibited specific deficits in their reading fluency skills with concurrent deficits in rapid naming speed and reading comprehension. This group of children would not have been identified as having a reading disability according to assessment of single word reading skills alone, suggesting that it is essential to assess reading fluency in addition to word reading because failure to do so may result in the under-identification of children with reading disabilities.

  5. "Read the Text, as if!"The Reading Retention Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Divoll, Kent; Browning, Sandra

    2013-01-01

    Students do not always read what is expected in college courses (Berry, Cook, Hill, & Stevens, 2010; Phillips & Phillips, 2007; Sikorski et al., 2002) or they read to cram for an exam or quiz (Clump, Bauer, & Bradley, 2004). The Reading Retention Strategy (RRS) is designed to motivate students to read and assist students in…

  6. Do reading additions improve reading in pre-presbyopes with low vision?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alabdulkader, Balsam; Leat, Susan

    2012-09-01

    This study compared three different methods of determining a reading addition and the possible improvement on reading performance in children and young adults with low vision. Twenty-eight participants with low vision, aged 8 to 32 years, took part in the study. Reading additions were determined with (a) a modified Nott dynamic retinoscopy, (b) a subjective method, and (c) an age-based formula. Reading performance was assessed with MNREAD-style reading charts at 12.5 cm, with and without each reading addition in random order. Outcome measures were reading speed, critical print size, MNREAD threshold, and the area under the reading speed curve. For the whole group, there was no significant improvement in reading performance with any of the additions. When participants with normal accommodation at 12.5 cm were excluded, the area under the reading speed curve was significantly greater with all reading additions compared with no addition (p = 0.031, 0.028, and 0.028, respectively). Also, the reading acuity threshold was significantly better with all reading additions compared with no addition (p = 0.014, 0.030, and 0.036, respectively). Distance and near visual acuity, age, and contrast sensitivity did not predict improvement with a reading addition. All, but one, of the participants who showed a significant improvement in reading with an addition had reduced accommodation. A reading addition may improve reading performance for young people with low vision and should be considered as part of a low vision assessment, particularly when accommodation is reduced.

  7. High frequency of silent brain infarcts associated with cognitive deficits in an economically disadvantaged population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Squarzoni, Paula; Tamashiro-Duran, Jaqueline H; Duran, Fabio L S; Leite, Claudia C; Wajngarten, Mauricio; Scazufca, Marcia; Menezes, Paulo R; Lotufo, Paulo A; Alves, Tania C T F; Busatto, Geraldo F

    2017-08-01

    Using magnetic resonance imaging, we aimed to assess the presence of silent brain vascular lesions in a sample of apparently healthy elderly individuals who were recruited from an economically disadvantaged urban region (São Paulo, Brazil). We also wished to investigate whether the findings were associated with worse cognitive performance. A sample of 250 elderly subjects (66-75 years) without dementia or neuropsychiatric disorders were recruited from predefined census sectors of an economically disadvantaged area of Sao Paulo and received structural magnetic resonance imaging scans and cognitive testing. A high proportion of individuals had very low levels of education (4 years or less, n=185; 21 with no formal education). The prevalence of at least one silent vascular-related cortical or subcortical lesion was 22.8% (95% confidence interval, 17.7-28.5), and the basal ganglia was the most frequently affected site (63.14% of cases). The subgroup with brain infarcts presented significantly lower levels of education than the subgroup with no brain lesions as well as significantly worse current performance in cognitive test domains, including memory and attention (pcognitive deficits, and in the absence of magnetic resonance imaging data, this cognitive impairment may be considered simply related to ageing. Emphatic attention should be paid to potentially deleterious effects of vascular brain lesions in poorly educated elderly individuals from economically disadvantaged environments.

  8. Maternal Reading Self-Efficacy Associated with Perceived Barriers to Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joyce Lin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Although early reading practices impact a host of child literacy, language, and school outcomes, many parents do not read to their young children. One possible explanation for this lack of early literacy practices is mothers’ feelings about their ability to successfully read to their children. A series of multiple regressions were used to explore whether new mothers’ reading self-efficacy predicted their perceived barriers to reading to their 18-month-old children. Findings suggest that self-efficacy buffers against mother-centered (e.g., too tired, child-centered (e.g., toddler fussy, and structural (e.g., environmental distractions barriers to reading. Given the importance of early literacy and that not all mothers read to their toddlers, increasing reading self-efficacy may offer a way to reduce perceived barriers to early literacy practices.

  9. Reducing calorie sales from supermarkets - 'silent' reformulation of retailer-brand food products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jensen, Jørgen Dejgård; Sommer, Iben

    2017-08-23

    Food product reformulation is seen as one among several tools to promote healthier eating. Reformulating the recipe for a processed food, e.g. reducing the fat, sugar or salt content of the foods, or increasing the content of whole-grains, can help the consumers to pursue a healthier life style. In this study, we evaluate the effects on calorie sales of a 'silent' reformulation strategy, where a retail chain's private-label brands are reformulated to a lower energy density without making specific claims on the product. Using an ecological study design, we analyse 52 weeks' sales data - enriched with data on products' energy density - from a Danish retail chain. Sales of eight product categories were studied. Within each of these categories, specific products had been reformulated during the 52 weeks data period. Using econometric methods, we decompose the changes in calorie turnover and sales value into direct and indirect effects of product reformulation. For all considered products, the direct effect of product reformulation was a reduction in the sale of calories from the respective product categories - between 0.5 and 8.2%. In several cases, the reformulation led to indirect substitution effects that were counterproductive with regard to reducing calorie turnover. However, except in two insignificant cases, these indirect substitution effects were dominated by the direct effect of the reformulation, leading to net reductions in calorie sales between -3.1 and 7.5%. For all considered product reformulations, the reformulation had either positive, zero or very moderate negative effects on the sales value of the product category to which the reformulated product belonged. Based on these findings, 'silent' reformulation of retailer's private brands towards lower energy density seems to contribute to lowering the calorie intake in the population (although to a moderate extent) with moderate losses in retailer's sales revenues.

  10. Reading Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners While Reading Academic Texts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vida Yousefian

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The major aim of this study was to explore the nature and frequency of the reading strategies used by the EFL learners while reading academic texts. Normally, students tend to read all the information provided in reading materials. This study explores whether learners use reading strategies to assist them in reading comprehension. There was a sample of 45 English language (EFL learners from Islamic Azad University, Falavarjan Branch. The instrument utilized in this study was a survey questionnaire with 30 items including 13 global reading strategies, 8 problem solving strategies and 9 support reading strategies. The survey was going to signify how much EFL learners use each of these strategies while reading academic texts. The findings indicated that the participants used global reading strategies more (44.5% than problem solving strategies (29.0% and support reading strategies (26.5%. The results of the present study will let the instructors improve the reading strategies which are not used by EFL learners frequently. It also helps learners to promote the ability of using reading strategies and utilize the strategies in an appropriate and effective way.

  11. Impact of Insulin Resistance on Silent and Ongoing Myocardial Damage in Normal Subjects: The Takahata Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taro Narumi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Insulin resistance (IR is part of the metabolic syndrome (Mets that develops after lifestyle changes and obesity. Although the association between Mets and myocardial injury is well known, the effect of IR on myocardial damage remains unclear. Methods and Results. We studied 2200 normal subjects who participated in a community-based health check in the town of Takahata in northern Japan. The presence of IR was assessed by homeostasis model assessment ratio, and the serum level of heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP was measured as a maker of silent and ongoing myocardial damage. H-FABP levels were significantly higher in subjects with IR and Mets than in those without metabolic disorder regardless of gender. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that the presence of IR was independently associated with latent myocardial damage (odds ratio: 1.574, 95% confidence interval 1.1–2.3 similar to the presence of Mets. Conclusions. In a screening of healthy subjects, IR and Mets were similarly related to higher H-FABP levels, suggesting that there may be an asymptomatic population in the early stages of metabolic disorder that is exposed to myocardial damage and might be susceptible to silent heart failure.

  12. Quantum reading capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pirandola, Stefano; Braunstein, Samuel L; Lupo, Cosmo; Mancini, Stefano; Giovannetti, Vittorio

    2011-01-01

    The readout of a classical memory can be modelled as a problem of quantum channel discrimination, where a decoder retrieves information by distinguishing the different quantum channels encoded in each cell of the memory (Pirandola 2011 Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 090504). In the case of optical memories, such as CDs and DVDs, this discrimination involves lossy bosonic channels and can be remarkably boosted by the use of nonclassical light (quantum reading). Here we generalize these concepts by extending the model of memory from single-cell to multi-cell encoding. In general, information is stored in a block of cells by using a channel-codeword, i.e. a sequence of channels chosen according to a classical code. Correspondingly, the readout of data is realized by a process of ‘parallel’ channel discrimination, where the entire block of cells is probed simultaneously and decoded via an optimal collective measurement. In the limit of a large block we define the quantum reading capacity of the memory, quantifying the maximum number of readable bits per cell. This notion of capacity is nontrivial when we suitably constrain the physical resources of the decoder. For optical memories (encoding bosonic channels), such a constraint is energetic and corresponds to fixing the mean total number of photons per cell. In this case, we are able to prove a separation between the quantum reading capacity and the maximum information rate achievable by classical transmitters, i.e. arbitrary classical mixtures of coherent states. In fact, we can easily construct nonclassical transmitters that are able to outperform any classical transmitter, thus showing that the advantages of quantum reading persist in the optimal multi-cell scenario. (paper)

  13. Davies, Florence (1995. Introducing Reading. Davies, Florence (1995. Introducing Reading.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Maria Gomes Ferreira

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Arising at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in fostering critical thinking, Introducing Reading offers a clear introduction and thorough account of contemporary developments in the field of reading. While overtly focusing on the special demands of social and human aspects of the reading practice, the issues raised have crucial resonance in the sphere of critical reading. Explicitly addressed to teachers of mother tongue and foreign language contexts, the book claims to elaborate on aspects of reading which have received meager attention to date: individual readers engaged in different real-world reading tasks, the social contexts where such readers engage and interact with texts, and the nature and variety of texts, here regarded as “participants” in the interaction between reader and writer. To this extent, the book successfully reaches the ambitious aim of “socializing and humanizing reading and the teaching of reading” (p. xi. Arising at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in fostering critical thinking, Introducing Reading offers a clear introduction and thorough account of contemporary developments in the field of reading. While overtly focusing on the special demands of social and human aspects of the reading practice, the issues raised have crucial resonance in the sphere of critical reading. Explicitly addressed to teachers of mother tongue and foreign language contexts, the book claims to elaborate on aspects of reading which have received meager attention to date: individual readers engaged in different real-world reading tasks, the social contexts where such readers engage and interact with texts, and the nature and variety of texts, here regarded as “participants” in the interaction between reader and writer. To this extent, the book successfully reaches the ambitious aim of “socializing and humanizing reading and the teaching of reading” (p. xi.

  14. Disarmament.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miesnik, Alice J.

    1994-01-01

    Discusses the effects one teacher experienced when her students asked for silent time in the classroom to read ahead in the assigned adolescent novel. Suggests that a key goal of literature instruction should be getting students to read with interest and engagement, without the interference of the instructor. (HB)

  15. Book Clubs in Developmental Reading: Building Reading Comprehension, Fostering Reading Enjoyment, and Engaging Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maldonado, Michele

    2012-01-01

    The use of book clubs in college developmental reading classes is an effective way to encourage reluctant readers to build and strengthen reading skills, foster reading enjoyment, and engage students. In addition, book clubs build a sense of community within the classroom as the students converse and share their interpretations of the reading…

  16. Using Anticipatory Reading Guides to Improve Elementary Students’ Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evan Ortlieb

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available One of the greatest challenges of an elementary school teacher is equipping students with comprehension strategies that transfer to all content areas. With stable levels of reading achievement over the last two decades in the United States, it is necessary that further research be conducted on methods of increasing students’ comprehension proficiencies. This experimental research study explores the use of an anticipatory reading guide with third grade struggling readers across multiple subject areas. Findings indicate that the experimental treatment group outperformed the control group by a statistically significant rate on both reading and content area measures, indicating that when struggling readers practice and use strategies to explicitly think what will be asked of them after reading the passage they perform at higher levels.

  17. Motivational reading on education, meaningful reading realisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Qafa

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study I will present some ideas on today’s educational practice for motivation, the realization of the meaningful reading. There is a special place for the methodical ranking of the reading process, starting in school. Main requests of this reading, consist of the deep meaning of the subject, exploration of the idea, and other elements of the subject, implementation of the technique’s rules of the expressive reading, such as breathing, voice, diction, intonation, spelling, stoppages, logical emphasizes, emotional expressions, temper, timber, gesticulations, and mimic. There is also highlighted the fact that the used method comes from the pupils’ results and depends on the capability and level of the teacher, from the programming’s scale, the tools that are put into disposition, the age and the level of the pupils, and from the environment that the teacher creates during courses. At the end there are some practical guidelines for the realization of the expressive reading in the literature subject.

  18. Substitution rates in the X- and Y-linked genes of the plants, Silene latifolia and S. dioica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filatov, Dmitry A; Charlesworth, Deborah

    2002-06-01

    Theory predicts that selection should be less effective in the nonrecombining genes of Y-chromosomes, relative to the situation for genes on the other chromosomes, and this should lead to the accumulation of deleterious nonsynonymous substitutions. In addition, synonymous substitution rates may differ between X- and Y-linked genes because of the male-driven evolution effect and also because of actual differences in per-replication mutation rates between the sex chromosomes. Here, we report the first study of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitution rates on plant sex chromosomes. We sequenced two pairs of sex-linked genes, SlX1-SlY1 and SlX4-SlY4, from dioecious Silene latifolia and S. dioica, and their non-sex-linked homologues from nondioecious S. vulgaris and Lychnis flos-jovis, respectively. The rate of nonsynonymous substitutions in the SlY4 gene is significantly higher than that in the SlX4 gene. Silent substitution rates are also significantly higher in both Y-linked genes, compared with their X-linked homologues. The higher nonsynonymous substitution rate in the SlY4 gene is therefore likely to be caused by a mutation rate difference between the sex chromosomes. The difference in silent substitution rates between the SlX4 and SlY4 genes is too great to be explained solely by a higher per-generation mutation rate in males than females. It is thus probably caused by a difference in per-replication mutation rates between the sex chromosomes. This suggests that the local mutation rate can change in a relatively short evolutionary time.

  19. Word Reading Efficiency, Text Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension among Chinese Learners of English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Xiangying; Sawaki, Yasuyo; Sabatini, John

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the relationship among word reading efficiency, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension for adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Data from 185 adult Chinese EFL learners preparing to take the Test-of-English-as-a-Foreign-Language[TM] (TOEFL[R]) were analyzed in this study. The participants completed a…

  20. Case Report: Anteromedial temporosphenoidal encephalocele with a clinically silent lateral bony defect in the greater wing of the sphenoid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pandey, Anoop Kumar

    2009-01-01

    Anteromedial temporosphenoidal encephalocele is the least common type of temporal encephalocele. It commonly presents with spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea in adults. This article presents the CT cisternography and MRI findings of one such case, which also had an associated clinically silent defect in the greater wing of the sphenoid on the same side

  1. A 40 GByte/s read-out system for GEM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowden, M.; Carrel, J.; Dorenbosch, J.; Kapoor, V.

    1994-04-01

    The preliminary design of the read-out system for the GEM (Gammas, Electrons, Muons) detector at the Superconducting Super Collider is presented. The system reads all digitized data from the detector data sources at a Level 1 trigger rate of up to 100 kHz. A total read-out bandwidth of 40 GBytes/s is available. Data are stored in buffers that are accessible for further event filtering by an on-line, processor farm. Data are transported to the farm only as they are needed by the higher-level trigger algorithms, leading to a reduced bandwidth requirement in the Data Acquisition System

  2. A cost-effectiveness analysis of screening for silent atrial fibrillation after ischaemic stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levin, Lars-Åke; Husberg, Magnus; Sobocinski, Piotr Doliwa; Kull, Viveka Frykman; Friberg, Leif; Rosenqvist, Mårten; Davidson, Thomas

    2015-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of two screening methods for detection of silent AF, intermittent electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings using a handheld recording device, at regular time intervals for 30 days, and short-term 24 h continuous Holter ECG, in comparison with a no-screening alternative in 75-year-old patients with a recent ischaemic stroke. The long-term (20-year) costs and effects of all alternatives were estimated with a decision analytic model combining the result of a clinical study and epidemiological data from Sweden. The structure of a cost-effectiveness analysis was used in this study. The short-term decision tree model analysed the screening procedure until the onset of anticoagulant treatment. The second part of the decision model followed a Markov design, simulating the patients' health states for 20 years. Continuous 24 h ECG recording was inferior to intermittent ECG in terms of cost-effectiveness, due to both lower sensitivity and higher costs. The base-case analysis compared intermittent ECG screening with no screening of patients with recent stroke. The implementation of the screening programme on 1000 patients resulted over a 20-year period in 11 avoided strokes and the gain of 29 life-years, or 23 quality-adjusted life years, and cost savings of €55 400. Screening of silent AF by intermittent ECG recordings in patients with a recent ischaemic stroke is a cost-effective use of health care resources saving costs and lives and improving the quality of life. Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2014. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Examining Readability Estimates' Predictions of Students' Oral Reading Rate: Spache, Lexile, and Forcast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardoin, Scott P.; Williams, Jessica C.; Christ, Theodore J.; Klubnik, Cynthia; Wellborn, Claire

    2010-01-01

    Beyond reliability and validity, measures used to model student growth must consist of multiple probes that are equivalent in level of difficulty to establish consistent measurement conditions across time. Although existing evidence supports the reliability of curriculum-based measurement in reading (CBMR), few studies have empirically evaluated…

  4. Single reading with computer-aided detection performed by selected radiologists in a breast cancer screening program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bargalló, Xavier, E-mail: xbarga@clinic.cat [Department of Radiology (CDIC), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona (Spain); Santamaría, Gorane; Amo, Montse del; Arguis, Pedro [Department of Radiology (CDIC), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona (Spain); Ríos, José [Biostatistics and Data Management Core Facility, IDIBAPS, (Hospital Clinic) C/ Mallorca, 183. Floor -1. Office #60. 08036 Barcelona (Spain); Grau, Jaume [Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Unit, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona (Spain); Burrel, Marta; Cores, Enrique; Velasco, Martín [Department of Radiology (CDIC), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona (Spain)

    2014-11-15

    Highlights: • 1-The cancer detection rate of the screening program improved using a single reading protocol by experienced radiologists assisted by CAD. • 2-The cancer detection rate improved at the cost of increasing recall rate. • 3-CAD, used by breast radiologists, did not help to detect more cancers. - Abstract: Objectives: To assess the impact of shifting from a standard double reading plus arbitration protocol to a single reading by experienced radiologists assisted by computer-aided detection (CAD) in a breast cancer screening program. Methods: This was a prospective study approved by the ethics committee. Data from 21,321 consecutive screening mammograms in incident rounds (2010–2012) were read following a single reading plus CAD protocol and compared with data from 47,462 consecutive screening mammograms in incident rounds (2004–2010) that were interpreted following a double reading plus arbitration protocol. For the single reading, radiologists were selected on the basis of the appraisement of their previous performance. Results: Period 2010–2012 vs. period 2004–2010: Cancer detection rate (CDR): 6.1‰ (95% confidence interval: 5.1–7.2) vs. 5.25‰; Recall rate (RR): 7.02% (95% confidence interval: 6.7–7.4) vs. 7.24% (selected readers before arbitration) and vs. 3.94 (all readers after arbitration); Predictive positive value of recall: 8.69% vs. 13.32%. Average size of invasive cancers: 14.6 ± 9.5 mm vs. 14.3 ± 9.5 mm. Stage: 0 (22.3/26.1%); I (59.2/50.8%); II (19.2/17.1%); III (3.1/3.3%); IV (0/1.9%). Specialized breast radiologists performed better than general radiologists. Conclusions: The cancer detection rate of the screening program improved using a single reading protocol by experienced radiologists assisted by CAD, at the cost of a moderate increase of the recall rate mainly related to the lack of arbitration.

  5. Segmentation in reading and film comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zacks, Jeffrey M; Speer, Nicole K; Reynolds, Jeremy R

    2009-05-01

    When reading a story or watching a film, comprehenders construct a series of representations in order to understand the events depicted. Discourse comprehension theories and a recent theory of perceptual event segmentation both suggest that comprehenders monitor situational features such as characters' goals, to update these representations at natural boundaries in activity. However, the converging predictions of these theories had previously not been tested directly. Two studies provided evidence that changes in situational features such as characters, their locations, their interactions with objects, and their goals are related to the segmentation of events in both narrative texts and films. A 3rd study indicated that clauses with event boundaries are read more slowly than are other clauses and that changes in situational features partially mediate this relation. A final study suggested that the predictability of incoming information influences reading rate and possibly event segmentation. Taken together, these results suggest that processing situational changes during comprehension is an important determinant of how one segments ongoing activity into events and that this segmentation is related to the control of processing during reading. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  6. Developing New Reading Assessments to Promote Beginning Reading in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koh, Kim H.; Paris, Scott G.

    2011-01-01

    Effective reading instruction and intervention are rooted in effective assessments of children's developing skills in reading. The article aims to describe the development of new reading assessments to help promote beginning reading in Singapore primary schools. We begin with an introduction to the educational landscape and policies before…

  7. Silent thyroiditis

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... to the touch Rapid heart rate Shaking hands (tremor) Tests that may be done include: Radioactive iodine uptake Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 TSH Treatment Treatment is based on symptoms. Medicines called beta-blockers may be used to relieve rapid heart rate ...

  8. Reading Speed as a Constraint of Accuracy of Self-Perception of Reading Skill

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Heekyung; Linderholm, Tracy

    2015-01-01

    We hypothesised that college students take reading speed into consideration when evaluating their own reading skill, even if reading speed does not reliably predict actual reading skill. To test this hypothesis, we measured self-perception of reading skill, self-perception of reading speed, actual reading skill and actual reading speed to…

  9. Slower saccadic reading in Parkinson’s disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jehangir, Naz; Yu, Caroline Yizhu; Song, Jeehey; Shariati, Mohammad Ali; Binder, Steven; Beyer, Jill; Santini, Veronica; Poston, Kathleen

    2018-01-01

    Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic and other neurons, leading to motor and non-motor deficits. Abnormal eye movements in PD, including fixations, saccades, and convergence, are well described. However, saccadic reading, which requires serial and alternating saccades and fixations, is not well studied, despite its obvious impact on the quality of life. In this study, we assessed saccadic reading using variations of the King-Devick (KD) test, a rapid single digit number naming test, as a way to assess the ability to make serial left-to-right ocular motor movements necessary for reading. We recruited 42 treated PD patients and 80 age-matched controls and compared their reading times with a variety of measures, including age, duration of disease, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25), and Montreal Cognitive assessment (MoCA) test. The subjects performed 4 trials of reading 120 single digit numbers aloud as fast as possible without making errors. In each trial, they read 3 pages (KD1, KD2, and KD3), and each page contained 40 numbers per page in 8 lines with 5 numbers/line. We found that PD patients read about 20% slower than controls on all tests (KD1, 2, and 3 tests) (p read irregularly spaced numbers slower than regularly spaced numbers. Having lines between numbers to guide reading (KD1 tests) did not impact reading time in both PD and controls, but increased visual crowding as a result of decreased spacing between numbers (KD3 tests) was associated with significantly slower reading times in both PD and control groups. Our study revealed that saccadic reading is slower in PD, but controls and PD patients are both impacted by visuospatial planning challenges posed by increased visual crowding and irregularity of number spacing. Reading time did not correlate with UPDRS or MoCA scores in PD patients but significantly

  10. "Luck's always to blame": silent wounds of a penetrating gunshot trauma sustained 20 years ago.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomos, Ioannis; Manali, Effrosyni D; Argentos, Stylianos; Raptakis, Thomas; Papiris, Spyros A

    2015-01-01

    Gunshot tracheal injuries represent life-threatening events and usually necessitate emergent surgical intervention. We report a case of an exceptional finding of a patient with retained ballistic fragments in the soft tissues of the thorax, proximal to the right subclavian artery and the trachea, carrying silently his wounds for two decades without any medical or surgical intervention. The bullet pellet on the upper part of the trachea seen accidentally in the chest computed tomography, was also found during bronchoscopy. In short "luck's always to blame".

  11. Exploring Students' Reading Profiles to Guide a Reading Intervention Programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boakye, Naomi A. N. Y.

    2017-01-01

    There have been a number of studies on reading interventions to improve students' reading proficiency, yet the majority of these interventions are undertaken with the assumption that students' reading challenges are obvious and generic in nature. The interventions do not take into consideration the diversity in students' reading backgrounds and…

  12. Patterns of Reading Performance in Acute Stroke: A Descriptive Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lauren L. Cloutman

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the main sources of information regarding the underlying processes involved in both normal and impaired reading has been the study of reading deficits that occur as a result of brain damage. However, patterns of reading deficits found acutely after brain injury have been little explored. The observed patterns of performance in chronic stroke patients might reflect reorganization of the cognitive processes underlying reading or development of compensatory strategies that are not normally used to read. Method: 112 acute left hemisphere stroke patients were administered a task of oral reading of words and pseudowords within 1–2 days of hospital admission; performance was examined for error rate and type, and compared to that on tasks involving visual lexical decision, visual/auditory comprehension, and naming. Results: Several distinct patterns of performance were identified. Although similarities were found between the patterns of reading performance observed acutely and the classical acquired dyslexias generally identified more chronically, some notable differences were observed. Of interest was the finding that no patient produced any pure semantic errors in reading, despite finding such errors in comprehension and naming.

  13. Home Environmental and Behavioral Risk Indices for Reading Achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Jeanette; Ennis, Chelsea R; Hart, Sara A; Mikolajewski, Amy J; Schatschneider, Christopher

    2017-07-01

    The goal of this study was to identify home environmental and temperament/behavior variables that best predict standardized reading comprehension scores among school-aged children. Data from 269 children aged 9-16 ( M = 12.08; SD = 1.62) were used in discriminant function analyses to create the Home and Behavior indices. Family income was controlled in each index. The final Home and Behavior models each classified around 75% of cases correctly (reading comprehension at grade level vs. not). Each index was then used to predict other outcomes related to reading. Results showed that Home and/or Behavior accounted for 4-7% of the variance in reading fluency and spelling and 20-35% of the variance in parent-rated problems in math, social anxiety, and other dimensions. These metrics show promise as environmental and temperament/behavior risk scores that could be used to predict and potentially screen for further assessment of reading related problems.

  14. Connected text reading and differences in text reading fluency in adult readers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Wallot

    Full Text Available The process of connected text reading has received very little attention in contemporary cognitive psychology. This lack of attention is in parts due to a research tradition that emphasizes the role of basic lexical constituents, which can be studied in isolated words or sentences. However, this lack of attention is in parts also due to the lack of statistical analysis techniques, which accommodate interdependent time series. In this study, we investigate text reading performance with traditional and nonlinear analysis techniques and show how outcomes from multiple analyses can used to create a more detailed picture of the process of text reading. Specifically, we investigate reading performance of groups of literate adult readers that differ in reading fluency during a self-paced text reading task. Our results indicate that classical metrics of reading (such as word frequency do not capture text reading very well, and that classical measures of reading fluency (such as average reading time distinguish relatively poorly between participant groups. Nonlinear analyses of distribution tails and reading time fluctuations provide more fine-grained information about the reading process and reading fluency.

  15. The role of speech prosody and text reading prosody in children's reading comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veenendaal, Nathalie J; Groen, Margriet A; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2014-12-01

    Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody - which is independent from reading skills - in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could provide more insight into the general role of prosody in reading comprehension. The current study investigates how much variance in reading comprehension scores is explained by speech prosody and text reading prosody, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. A battery of reading and language assessments was performed by 106 Dutch fourth-grade primary school children. Speech prosody was assessed using a storytelling task and text reading prosody by oral text reading performance. Decoding skills, vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension were assessed using standardized tests. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that text reading prosody explained 6% of variance and that speech prosody explained 8% of variance in reading comprehension scores, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. Phrasing was the significant factor in both speech and text reading. When added in consecutive order, phrasing in speech added 5% variance to phrasing in reading. In contrast, phrasing in reading added only 3% variance to phrasing in speech. The variance that speech prosody explained in reading comprehension scores should not be neglected. Speech prosody seems to facilitate the construction of meaning in written language. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  16. Idea Sharing: The Use of Read-Share-Act to Promote Extensive Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charumanee, Nisakorn

    2014-01-01

    Nisakorn Charumanee believes that a reading teacher has an active role in cultivating reading culture or reading habit and in activating students to "want" to read. One way to do this is to integrate extensive reading into the classroom (Day and Bamford, 1998; Bamford and Day, 2004) where extensive reading can be enhanced if the teacher…

  17. I RAN Fast and I Remembered What I Read: The Relationship between Reading, Rapid Automatic Naming, and Auditory and Visual Short-Term Memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheila G. Crewther

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Although rapid automatic naming (RAN speed and short-term auditory memory are widely recognised as good predictors of reading ability in most age groups, the predictive value of short-term memory for visually presented digits for reading and RAN in young typically developing learner readers (mean age 91.5 months has seldom been investigated. We found that visual digit span is a better predictor of reading ability than auditory digit span in learner readers. A significant correlation has also been found between RAN speed and visual, but not auditory digit span. These results suggests that RAN speed may be a good predictor of a child's future reading ability and eventual fluency because like visual digit span, it is a measure of rate of access to memory for the visual icons and their semantic name and meaning. The results also suggest that auditory memory is not an important factor in young children learning to read.

  18. Deafening silence? Time to reconsider whether organisations are silent or deaf when things go wrong.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Aled; Kelly, Daniel

    2014-09-01

    Several public inquiries into healthcare failings in the UK have noted that employees of failing organizations attempt to raise concerns about shortcomings in care, often over a prolonged period of time, only for those concerns to be ignored. However, healthcare literature has largely focused on how organizations and their employees are silent in the face of such failings, positioning employees as daring not to speak in response to serious workplace problems or issues. We argue that only focussing on organizational silence is a critical mistake which misrepresents actual events and overly-simplifies the complexities of workplace culture. The disregard shown by academics, practitioners and policy makers to employee voice strategies, which do not amount to whistle-blowing, but equally cannot either be defined as "silence", results in signals being ignored that can be effective in preventing and ending wrongdoing by others. In addition to understanding silence we suggest therefore that better understanding of why organizations are deaf to, or disregard, employee concerns are needed. We propose that a virtuous cycle is possible, whereby the introduction of systems that result in better listening and valuing of employee concerns reinforces a culture of speaking up and, in turn, organizational learning. Similarly, organizations that disregard employees concerns are destined not to learn, ultimately falling silent and failing. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  19. The Assessment of Reading Comprehension Difficulties for Reading Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woolley, Gary

    2008-01-01

    There are many environmental and personal factors that contribute to reading success. Reading comprehension is a complex interaction of language, sensory perception, memory, and motivational aspects. However, most existing assessment tools have not adequately reflected the complex nature of reading comprehension. Good assessment requires a…

  20. Case Report: Anteromedial temporosphenoidal encephalocele with a clinically silent lateral bony defect in the greater wing of the sphenoid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pandey Anoop

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Anteromedial temporosphenoidal encephalocele is the least common type of temporal encephalocele. It commonly presents with spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea in adults. This article presents the CT cisternography and MRI findings of one such case, which also had an associated clinically silent defect in the greater wing of the sphenoid on the same side.

  1. Variability in State-Based Recommendations for Management of Alpha Thalassemia Trait and Silent Carrier Detected on the Newborn Screen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fogel, Benjamin N; Nguyen, Hong Loan T; Smink, Gayle; Sekhar, Deepa L

    2018-04-01

    We conducted an inventory of state-based recommendations for follow-up of alpha thalassemia silent carrier and trait identified on newborn screen. We found wide variability in the nature and timing of these recommendations. We recommend a standardized recommendation to guide pediatricians in evidenced-based care for this population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. The Role of Speech Prosody and Text Reading Prosody in Children's Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veenendaal, Nathalie J.; Groen, Margriet A.; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2014-01-01

    Background: Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody--which is independent from reading skills--in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could…

  3. To read or not to read

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mol, Suzanne Elizabeth

    2010-01-01

    There is a widely held belief that reading (story)books makes us smarter and helps promote success in life. Does scientific evidence support this notion? The three meta-analyses in this thesis comprise 146 studies between 1988 and 2010 (N=10,308 participants) that addressed the role of book reading

  4. An Exploratory Study Examining the Influence of the Number of Reading Methods Courses on Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Perceptions of Ability to Teach Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Sarah

    2016-01-01

    Teacher education programmes (TEPs) are left with limited research on how the coursework they provide influences the perceptions teachers have about their ability to teach young children how to read--especially over the long term. The purpose of this study was to compare how teacher candidates rate their ability to teach reading at the conclusion…

  5. Teachers’ beliefs about reading and use of reading strategies

    OpenAIRE

    VASILIKA RRAKU

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this article is to place the focus on teachers’ beliefs about reading and reading strategies to the purpose of emphasizing the im portance of reading strategies in the reading process. The method of study is analytic analysis of teachers’ beliefs obtained through ques tionnaires delivered to 18 English language teachers of elementary, secondary and high level education in the region of Saranda in lbania. The results of the study pointed to a great concordance between teach ers’ bel...

  6. Silent Spring, the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's book.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pimentel, David

    2012-09-27

    David Pimentel is a professor of ecology and agricultural sciences at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-0901. His Ph.D. is from Cornell University and had postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago, MIT, and fellowship at Oxford University (England). He was awarded a distinguished honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts. His research spans the fields of energy, population ecology, biological pest control, pesticides, sustainable agriculture, land and water conservation, livestock, and environmental policy. Pimentel has published more than 700 scientific papers and 37 books and has served on many national and government committees including the National Academy of Sciences; President's Science Advisory Council; U.S Department of Agriculture; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress; and the U.S. State Department. He is currently Editorial Advisor for BMC Ecology. In this article, he reflects on 50 years since the publication of Rachel Carson's influential book, Silent Spring.

  7. Double-read of skeletal surveys in suspected non-accidental trauma: what we learned

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karmazyn, Boaz; Wanner, Matthew R.; Marine, Megan B. [Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Miller, Elise M.; Jennings, S.G. [Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Lay, Sara E. [Indiana University School of Medicine, Methodist Hospital, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Massey, James M. [The Children' s Hospital at TriStar Centennial, Department of Imaging, Nashville, TN (United States); Ouyang, Fangqian [Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Hibbard, Roberta A. [Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Child Protection Programs, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN (United States)

    2017-05-15

    Missing a fracture in a child on skeletal surveys for suspected non-accidental trauma can have devastating results. Double-read has the potential to improve fracture detection. However the yield of double-read is unknown. To determine the advantage of double-read versus single-read of radiographic skeletal surveys for suspected non-accidental trauma. The study was performed in two phases. In the first phase (April 2013 to September 2013), double-read was performed for all skeletal surveys obtained during weekday working hours. Because we had no new double-read findings in studies initially read as negative, we conducted a second phase (January 2014 to March 2014). In the second phase we limited double-reads to skeletal surveys found positive on the first read. At the end of this period, we retrospectively performed double-read for all initially negative skeletal surveys. We excluded follow-up skeletal surveys. The difference in discrepancy (new fracture or false diagnosis of a fracture) ratio between negative and positive skeletal surveys was evaluated using the Fisher exact test, and change in discrepancy ratio between the first and second study phases was evaluated using the stratified Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test. Overall in the two phases, 178 skeletal surveys were performed in 178 children (67 girls) with mean age of 9 months (range 3 days to 3.7 years). Double-read found 16 discrepancies in 8/178 (4.5%) skeletal surveys. Seven of these studies showed additional fractures (n=15). In one study, an initial read of a skull fracture was read as a variant on the second read. There was a significant (P=0.01) difference between rate of disagreement in negative skeletal surveys (1/104, 1.0%) and positive skeletal surveys (7/74, 9.5%). No significant change in disagreement rate was demonstrated between the two phases of the study (P=0.59). Double-read of skeletal survey for suspected non-accidental trauma found false-negative fractures in a few cases and rarely found

  8. Double-read of skeletal surveys in suspected non-accidental trauma: what we learned

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karmazyn, Boaz; Wanner, Matthew R.; Marine, Megan B.; Miller, Elise M.; Jennings, S.G.; Lay, Sara E.; Massey, James M.; Ouyang, Fangqian; Hibbard, Roberta A.

    2017-01-01

    Missing a fracture in a child on skeletal surveys for suspected non-accidental trauma can have devastating results. Double-read has the potential to improve fracture detection. However the yield of double-read is unknown. To determine the advantage of double-read versus single-read of radiographic skeletal surveys for suspected non-accidental trauma. The study was performed in two phases. In the first phase (April 2013 to September 2013), double-read was performed for all skeletal surveys obtained during weekday working hours. Because we had no new double-read findings in studies initially read as negative, we conducted a second phase (January 2014 to March 2014). In the second phase we limited double-reads to skeletal surveys found positive on the first read. At the end of this period, we retrospectively performed double-read for all initially negative skeletal surveys. We excluded follow-up skeletal surveys. The difference in discrepancy (new fracture or false diagnosis of a fracture) ratio between negative and positive skeletal surveys was evaluated using the Fisher exact test, and change in discrepancy ratio between the first and second study phases was evaluated using the stratified Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test. Overall in the two phases, 178 skeletal surveys were performed in 178 children (67 girls) with mean age of 9 months (range 3 days to 3.7 years). Double-read found 16 discrepancies in 8/178 (4.5%) skeletal surveys. Seven of these studies showed additional fractures (n=15). In one study, an initial read of a skull fracture was read as a variant on the second read. There was a significant (P=0.01) difference between rate of disagreement in negative skeletal surveys (1/104, 1.0%) and positive skeletal surveys (7/74, 9.5%). No significant change in disagreement rate was demonstrated between the two phases of the study (P=0.59). Double-read of skeletal survey for suspected non-accidental trauma found false-negative fractures in a few cases and rarely found

  9. The Association of ADHD Symptoms and Reading Acquisition during Elementary School Years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehm, Jan-Henning; Kerner auch Koerner, Julia; Gawrilow, Caterina; Hasselhorn, Marcus; Schmiedek, Florian

    2016-01-01

    The present longitudinal study aimed to investigate the influence of ADHD symptoms on reading development in elementary schoolchildren. To this end, repeated assessments of ADHD symptoms (teacher ratings of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) and reading achievement (standardized tests of decoding speed and text comprehension) were…

  10. Multicultural Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veltze, Linda

    2004-01-01

    Multicultural reading advocates believe in the power of literature to transform and to change people's lives. They take seriously the arguments that racism and prejudice can be lessened through multicultural reading, and also that children from undervalued societal groups who read books that depict people like themselves in a positive light will…

  11. Reading and listening comprehension and their relation to inattention and hyperactivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cain, Kate; Bignell, Simon

    2014-03-01

    Children with diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently have reading problems. To date, it is not clear whether poor reading is associated with both inattention and hyperactivity and also whether poor reading comprehension is the result of poor word reading skills or more general language comprehension weaknesses. We report two studies to examine how reading and listening comprehension skills are related to inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Separate groups of 7- to 11-year-olds participated in each study. In both studies, we used teacher ratings of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity to identify three groups at risk of ADHD: poor attention, high hyperactivity, poor attention and high hyperactivity, and also same-age controls. In Study 1, we explored how inattention and hyperactivity predicted reading after controlling for non-verbal IQ and vocabulary. In Study 2, we compared listening and reading comprehension in these groups. Poor attention was related to poor reading comprehension, although the relation was partially mediated by word reading skill (Study 1). Groups with high hyperactivity had weak listening comprehension relative to reading comprehension (Study 2). These results indicate that the reading comprehension problems of children with attention difficulties are related to poor word reading and that listening comprehension is particularly vulnerable in children at risk of ADHD. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

  12. SchemaOnRead: A Package for Schema-on-Read in R

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    North, Michael J.

    2016-08-01

    Schema-on-read is an agile approach to data storage and retrieval that defers investments in data organization until production queries need to be run by working with data directly in native form. Schema-on-read functions have been implemented in a wide range of analytical systems, most notably Hadoop. SchemaOnRead is a CRAN package that uses R’s flexible data representations to provide transparent and convenient support for the schema-on-read paradigm in R. The schema-on- read tools within the package include a single function call that recursively reads folders with text, comma separated value, raster image, R data, HDF5, NetCDF, spreadsheet, Weka, Epi Info, Pajek network, R network, HTML, SPSS, Systat, and Stata files. The provided tools can be used as-is or easily adapted to implement customized schema-on-read tool chains in R. This paper’s contribution is that it introduces and describes SchemaOnRead, the first R package specifically focused on providing explicit schema-on-read support in R.

  13. Examining Associations between Reading Motivation and Inference Generation beyond Reading Comprehension Skill

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clinton, Virginia

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between reading motivation and inference generation while reading. Undergraduate participants (N = 69) read two science articles while thinking aloud, completed a standardized reading comprehension assessment, and self reported their habitual reading motivation. Findings indicate that…

  14. Reading Amount as a Mediator of the Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation on Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaffner, Ellen; Schiefele, Ulrich; Ulferts, Hannah

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the role of reading amount as a mediator of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on higher order reading comprehension (comprised of paragraph-and passage-level comprehension) in a sample of 159 fifth-grade elementary students. A positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading amount…

  15. The relationship between different measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension in second-grade students who evidence different oral reading fluency difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wise, Justin C; Sevcik, Rose A; Morris, Robin D; Lovett, Maureen W; Wolf, Maryanne; Kuhn, Melanie; Meisinger, Beth; Schwanenflugel, Paula

    2010-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine whether different measures of oral reading fluency relate differentially to reading comprehension performance in two samples of second-grade students: (a) students who evidenced difficulties with nonsense-word oral reading fluency, real-word oral reading fluency, and oral reading fluency of connected text (ORFD), and (b) students who evidenced difficulties only with oral reading fluency of connected text (CTD). Participants (ORFD, n = 146 and CTD, n = 949) were second-grade students who were recruited for participation in different reading intervention studies. Data analyzed were from measures of nonsense-word oral reading fluency, real-word oral reading fluency, oral reading fluency of connected text, and reading comprehension that were collected at the pre-intervention time point. Correlational and path analyses indicated that real-word oral reading fluency was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension performance in both samples and across average and poor reading comprehension abilities. Results of this study indicate that real-word oral reading fluency was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension and suggest that real-word oral reading fluency may be an efficient method for identifying potential reading comprehension difficulties.

  16. Optimal screening mammography reading volumes; evidence from real life in the East Midlands region of the NHS Breast Screening Programme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cornford, E.; Reed, J.; Murphy, A.; Bennett, R.; Evans, A.

    2011-01-01

    Aim: To assess real-life reader performance as a function of both volume of mammograms read and reading experience in a multicentre cohort. Materials and methods: Thirty-seven film readers from the East Midlands Breast Screening Programme had 3 years of consecutive screen reading results available for comparison. Markers of screening performance as the first film reader [cancer detection rates, small cancer detection rates, recall rates, positive predictive value of recall (PPV), and missed cancers] were compared with both volume of films read and years of film reading experience. For reading volume, readers were categorized according to film reading volume over the 3 year period: <15,000 (i.e., on average less than the recommended 5000/year); 15-<20,000; 20-<25,000; and ≥25,000. For years of experience, readers were categorized into the following groups: <5 years, 5-<10 years, 10-<15 years, and 15-<20 years. Results: There was no evidence to suggest a relationship between years of film reading experience and film-reading performance. For reading volume, there was a significant difference in the distribution of cancer-detection rate between the four groups (p = 0.01); however, there was no difference in small cancer-detection rates, missed cancers or PPV. The median cancer detection rate in the high-volume group (≥25,000 mammograms/3 years) was significantly lower than the other groups combined (6.9 per 1000 women screened versus 7.9 per 1000 women screened). The lowest median recall rate was also in the high-volume group, whilst those readers not meeting the NHSBSP minimum requirement had the highest median recall rate; however, there was borderline evidence to suggest a difference in the distribution of recall rates between the four groups. Conclusion: The data from the East Midlands do not provide any evidence for reducing the threshold volume of 5000 cases /year. However, there appears to be an upper limit above which reader performance deteriorates in

  17. Reading motivation, reading amount, and text comprehension in deaf and hearing adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parault, Susan J; Williams, Heather M

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the variables of reading motivation, reading amount, and text comprehension in deaf and hearing adults. Research has shown that less than 50% of deaf students leave high school reading at or above a fourth-grade level (Allen, 1994). Our question is, how does this affect the levels of reading motivation and amount of reading in which deaf adults engage? Assessments of 30 hearing and 24 deaf adults showed that deaf participants reported significantly higher levels of reading motivation despite having been found to read at less than a sixth-grade level. No significant difference in the amount of reading between hearing and deaf adults was found. Amount of reading for personal reasons was found to be the best predictor of text comprehension in the deaf participants, and intrinsic motivation was found to be the best predictor of amount of reading in the deaf participants.

  18. An investigation of Chinese university EFL learner’s foreign language reading anxiety, reading strategy use and reading comprehension performance

    OpenAIRE

    Zhongshe Lu; Meihua Liu

    2015-01-01

    The present study explored the interrelations between foreign language (FL) reading anxiety, FL reading strategy use and their interactive effect on FL reading comprehension performance at the tertiary level in China. Analyses of the survey data collected from 1702 university students yielded the following results: (a) Both Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) and Foreign Language Reading Strategy Use Scale (FLRSUS) had important subcomponents, (b) more than half of the stu...

  19. Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Fan; Perfetti, Charles A

    2016-01-01

    Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

  20. Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fan Cao

    Full Text Available Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

  1. Reading Approach Use Effectiveness And EFL Reading Comprehension In University Muhammadiyah Of Parepare

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baharuddin

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated Indonesian EFL learners approach of two reading approaches cognitive and metacognitive their perceived contact on effectiveness and the association between reading approach and effectiveness on their English reading comprehension. Fifty-Three English-major freshmen from University Muhammadiyah of Parepare participated in these lessons. Two principal questions were addressed 1 what is the most frequent use of reading approach reported by individual students 2 Is there any significant association between reading approach and effectiveness on their English reading comprehension To examine the effects of approach instruction on students reading performance a qualitative interview technique and quantitative research methods including a paired-sample t-test and Person Product Moment Correlation were used to estimate the relationship between reading approach use and effectiveness on students reading accomplishment. Significance showed that the most frequent use of reading approach was found to be metacognitive approach followed by the cognitive approach. In addition there was a significant positive connection between reading approach and effectiveness on their English reading comprehension. Reading approach on the other hand was unrelated to reading achievement. Results of interview findings were analyzed to explore in-depth in sequence about the condition of approach used. The implications of these findings for implementing effective reading strategy instruction are discussed.

  2. Pupil's motivation in the 3. grades for required reading and The Reading Badge

    OpenAIRE

    Logar, Renata

    2013-01-01

    Reading is extremely important for pupils and their development. The pupil with reading habits riches his vocabulary and gaining knowledge. On the other hand the pupil through reading entry into the world of imagination and stories. Major role in motivating students to read have parents and teachers. In this graduation thesis I was interested in how third grade teachers motivate their pupils to read. In doing so, I was focused mainly to reading for required reading and The Reading Badge. ...

  3. COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIC READING IMPLEMENTATION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Desy Olivia Riani

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This collaborative action research is aimed to find out whether or not the implementation of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR improves students' reading comprehension and also to identify students' attitude towards the implementation of CSR. CSR is reading strategy that employs four strategies namely Preview, Click and Clunk, Get the Gist and Wrap Up during students’ cooperative learning. A class of eleventh grade students of a public senior high school in Majalengka, West Java, Indonesia is participated as the participant of the study. The required data were collected through the use of questionnaire, observation checklist, and reading test. The data from the questionnaire indicated that 82% students had positive attitude toward the implementation of CSR. They feel that CSR improves their motivation in learning English and CSR brings more fun to the process of learning. Moreover, it was found from observation data that the students were actively participated during CSR implementation and they were motivated when comprehending a text by means CSR strategy. Finally, the study proved that CSR improved students’ reading comprehension. Students’ mean score of reading test in the beginning of the study was 67, meanwhile, after applying CSR as reading strategy, their mean scores improved to 88.

  4. Iowa City Reads! The Reading Event Worth Shouting About.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donham van Deusen, Jean; Langhorne, Mary Jo

    1997-01-01

    Describes the Community Reading Month (CRM) initiative in Iowa City, Iowa; its goals are to promote the value of reading and to build a sense of community. Topics include the development of CRM, increased reading scores of Iowa City's elementary school students, activities for people of all ages, and planning and evaluation. (AEF)

  5. Reading Self-Efficacy Predicts Word Reading But Not Comprehension in Both Girls and Boys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Julia M; Fox, Amy C

    2016-01-01

    The relationship between cognitive skills and reading has been well-established. However, the role of motivational factors such as self-efficacy in reading progress is less clear. In particular, it is not clear how self-efficacy relates to word level reading versus comprehension, and whether this differs in boys and girls. This study examines the relationship between self-efficacy, word reading and reading comprehension across the range of reading abilities after controlling for reading-related cognitive factors. One hundred and seventy nine children (86 males and 93 females) between 8 and 11 years old completed a self-report measure of reading self-efficacy together with measures of reading comprehension and word reading, working memory, auditory short-term memory, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Boys and girls showed similar levels of attainment and reading self-efficacy. Reading self-efficacy was associated with word reading, but not with reading comprehension in either boys or girls. It is argued that this may reflect important differences between reading self-efficacy and more general measures of reading motivation and engagement. Reading self-efficacy is an element of reading motivation that is closely associated with a child's perceived attainments in reading and is less susceptible to the gender differences seen in broader measures.

  6. Reading Self-Efficacy Predicts Word Reading But Not Comprehension in Both Girls and Boys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Julia M.; Fox, Amy C.

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between cognitive skills and reading has been well-established. However, the role of motivational factors such as self-efficacy in reading progress is less clear. In particular, it is not clear how self-efficacy relates to word level reading versus comprehension, and whether this differs in boys and girls. This study examines the relationship between self-efficacy, word reading and reading comprehension across the range of reading abilities after controlling for reading-related cognitive factors. One hundred and seventy nine children (86 males and 93 females) between 8 and 11 years old completed a self-report measure of reading self-efficacy together with measures of reading comprehension and word reading, working memory, auditory short-term memory, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Boys and girls showed similar levels of attainment and reading self-efficacy. Reading self-efficacy was associated with word reading, but not with reading comprehension in either boys or girls. It is argued that this may reflect important differences between reading self-efficacy and more general measures of reading motivation and engagement. Reading self-efficacy is an element of reading motivation that is closely associated with a child’s perceived attainments in reading and is less susceptible to the gender differences seen in broader measures. PMID:28144223

  7. The Seven Step Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaffer, Connie

    2017-01-01

    Many well-intended instructors use Socratic or leveled questioning to facilitate the discussion of an assigned reading. While this engages a few students, most can opt to remain silent. The seven step strategy described in this article provides an alternative to classroom silence and engages all students. Students discuss a single reading as they…

  8. Metacognitive Reading Strategies, Motivation, and Reading Comprehension Performance of Saudi EFL Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meniado, Joel C.

    2016-01-01

    Metacognitive reading strategies and reading motivation play a significant role in enhancing reading comprehension. In an attempt to prove the foregoing claim in a context where there is no strong culture for reading, this study tries to find out if there is indeed a relationship between and among metacognitive reading strategies, reading…

  9. Physiological patterns during practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique compared with patterns while reading Sanskrit and a modern language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Travis, F; Olson, T; Egenes, T; Gupta, H K

    2001-07-01

    This study tested the prediction that reading Vedic Sanskrit texts, without knowledge of their meaning, produces a distinct physiological state. We measured EEG, breath rate, heart rate, and skin conductance during: (1) 15-min Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice; (2) 15-min reading verses of the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit; and (3) 15-min reading the same verses translated in German, Spanish, or French. The two reading conditions were randomly counterbalanced, and subjects filled out experience forms between each block to reduce carryover effects. Skin conductance levels significantly decreased during both reading Sanskrit and TM practice, and increased slightly during reading a modern language. Alpha power and coherence were significantly higher when reading Sanskrit and during TM practice, compared to reading modern languages. Similar physiological patterns when reading Sanskrit and during practice of the TM technique suggests that the state gained during TM practice may be integrated with active mental processes by reading Sanskrit.

  10. The "Silent Dog" Method: Analyzing the Impact of Self-Generated Rules when Teaching Different Computer Chains to Boys with Autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arntzen, Erik; Halstadtro, Lill-Beathe; Halstadtro, Monica

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to extend the literature on verbal self-regulation by using the "silent dog" method to evaluate the role of verbal regulation over nonverbal behavior in 2 individuals with autism. Participants were required to talk-aloud while performing functional computer tasks.Then the effects of distracters with increasing demands…

  11. The Relationship between Strategic Reading Instruction, Student Learning of L2-Based Reading Strategies and L2 Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akkakoson, Songyut

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship between strategic reading instruction, the process of learning second language-based reading strategies and English reading achievement for Thai university students of science and technology. In a course in reading general English texts for 16?weeks, 82 students were taught using a strategies-based approach…

  12. Effects of Spectral Overlays on Reading Performance of Brazilian Elementary School Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Ana Carla Oliveira; Momensohn-Santos, Teresa Maria; Vilhena, Douglas de Araújo

    2018-03-20

    To investigate the effects of spectral overlays on reading performance of Brazilian elementary school children. Sixty-eight children (aged 9-12 years) enrolled in the 5th and 6th grade were included in the study. The Rate of Reading Test (RRT - Brazilian Portuguese version) was used to evaluate reading speed and the Irlen Reading Perceptual Scale was used to allocate the sample according to reading difficulty/discomfort symptoms and to define the optimal spectral overlays. A total of 13% of the children presented an improvement of at least 15% in reading speed with the use of spectral overlays. Pupils with severe reading difficulties tended to have more improvement in RRT with spectral overlays. Children with severe reading discomfort obtained the highest gains in RRT, with an average of 9.6% improvement with intervention, compared to a decrease of -8.2% in the control group. Participants with severe discomfort had an odds ratio of 3.36 to improve reading speed with intervention compared to the control group. The use of spectral overlays can improve reading performance, particularly in those children with severe visual discomfort. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  13. The Effect of Modified Collaborative Strategic Reading on EFL Learners' Reading Anxiety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shabnam Abbasnezhad

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of reading instructional approach called MCSR- Modified Collaborative Strategic Reading on reducing intermediate EFL learner's reading anxiety. Based on a pretest-posttest design, MCSR was implemented with 64 EFL learners at intermediate level. They received EFL reading instruction according to MCSR over two and a half months. A questionnaire called English as a Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Inventory EFLRAI was group-administered atthepretest and the posttest. Quantitative results indicated that participating students demonstrated significant gains in reducing reading anxiety. This study highlighted our understanding by considering the effectiveness of MCSR program and also it elaborated the effects of using strategies like MCSR in overcoming the big problem of reading anxiety among EFL learners as non-native students. And teachers changed the focus of attention from using traditional methods for teaching the essential skill of reading to modern programs like MCSR in order to remove their students' anxiety and stress in reading.

  14. The Effect of Baby Books on Mothers’ Reading Beliefs and Reading Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auger, Anamarie; Reich, Stephanie M.; Penner, Emily K.

    2014-01-01

    The impact of a baby book intervention on promoting positive reading beliefs and increasing reading frequency for low-income, new mothers (n = 167) was examined. The Baby Books Project randomly assigned low-income, first-time mothers to one of three study conditions, receiving educational books, non-educational books, or no books, during pregnancy and over the first year of parenthood. Home-based data collection occurred through pregnancy until 18 months post-partum. Mothers who received free baby books had higher beliefs about the importance of reading, the value of having resources to support reading, and the importance of verbal participation during reading. The results showed that providing any type of baby books to mothers positively influenced maternal reading beliefs, but did not increase infant-mother reading practices. Maternal reading beliefs across all three groups were significantly associated with self-reported reading frequency when children were at least 12 months of age. PMID:25264394

  15. Effect of age and gender on children’s reading performance: The possible neural underpinnings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filippos Vlachos

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed to assess the effect of age and gender on second-grade children’s reading performance. Two hundred and eighty-seven children aged 7.1–8.2 years were divided into two age subgroups (the younger, 85–91 months and the older, 92–98 months and were examined in reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension tasks. Results showed a significant effect of age in reading performance, with the older children having better scores than younger ones for reading fluency, reading comprehension, and the total reading performance. Gender was not found to play an important role in reading performance. The findings are discussed on the ground of functional brain development and the different rates of cerebral maturation.

  16. Characterisation of the VMM3 Front-end read-out ASIC

    CERN Document Server

    Bartels, Lara Maria

    2018-01-01

    This research project was conducted in the RD51 collaboration at CERN, which is involved in the development of micropattern gaseous detector technologies and read-out systems. One example in the broad range of possible applications of such gaseous detectors is the NMX macromolecular diffractometer instrument planned for the European spallation source (ESS) which is currently under construction in Lund, Sweden. For the NMX instrument neutron detectors with high rate capabilities, high stability and excellent spatial resolution are required. A group working in the RD51 collaboration at CERN within the BrightnESS project aims to fulfil those requirements using gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors with Gadolinium foils as neutron converters [PFE]. In order to match the high rate capability of the detectors, new front-end read-out systems need to be tested and implemented. This project aims to understand and test the capabilities of the VMM3 as the front-end read-out ASIC for GEM detectors.

  17. Pre-reading activities in EFL/ESL reading textbooks and Turkish preparatory school teachers' attitudes toward pre-reading activities

    OpenAIRE

    Jecksembieyva, Nurgaisha

    1993-01-01

    Ankara : Faculty of Humanities and Letters and the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University, 1993. Thesis (Master's) -- -Bilkent University, 1993. Includes bibliographical references leaves 35-40. The main focus of this study was to investigate pre-reading activities in EFL/ESL reading textbooks and to determine teachers' attitudes toward pre-reading activities. Fifteen reading textbooks for EFL/ESL students for different proficiency levels (beginning, interm...

  18. Development of a Case-based Reading Curriculum and Its Effect on Resident Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messman, Anne M; Walker, Ian

    2018-01-01

    Textbook reading plays a foundational role in a resident's knowledge base. Many residency programs place residents on identical reading schedules, regardless of the clinical work or rotation the resident is doing. We sought to develop a reading curriculum that takes into account the clinical work a resident is doing so their reading curriculum corresponds with their clinical work. Preliminary data suggests an increased amount of resident reading and an increased interest in reading as a result of this change to their reading curriculum.

  19. "Silent" Sleep Apnea in Dentofacial Deformities and Prevalence of Daytime Sleepiness After Orthognathic and Intranasal Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Posnick, Jeffrey C; Adachie, Anayo; Singh, Neeru; Choi, Elbert

    2018-04-01

    The purposes of this study were to determine the occurrence of undiagnosed "silent" obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in dentofacial deformity (DFD) patients at initial surgical presentation and to report on the level of daytime sleepiness in DFD patients with OSA and chronic obstructive nasal breathing (CONB) after undergoing bimaxillary, chin, and intranasal surgery. A retrospective cohort study of patients with a bimaxillary DFD and CONB was implemented. Patients were divided into those with no OSA (group I) and those with OSA (group II). Group II was further subdivided into patients referred with polysomnogram (PSG)-confirmed OSA (group IIa) and those with a diagnosis of OSA only after surgical consultation, airway evaluation, and a positive PSG (group IIb). Group II patients were analyzed at a minimum of 1 year after surgery (range, 1 to 10 years) for daytime sleepiness with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Patients with postoperative excessive daytime sleepiness were assessed for risk factors and continued need for OSA treatment. Patients in group II were studied to determine which DFD patterns were most associated with OSA. We compared the prevalence of OSA between our study population and the general population. Two hundred sixty-two patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 23% (60 of 262) had PSG-confirmed OSA (group II). This rate was much higher than that found in the general population. Of the patients, 7% (19 of 262) were known to have OSA at initial surgical consultation (group IIa). An additional 16% (41 of 262) were later confirmed by PSG to have OSA (group IIb). Patients with primary mandibular deficiency and short face DFDs were most likely to have OSA (P surgery. A significant association was found between group II patients with postoperative excessive daytime sleepiness ("sleepy" or "very sleepy") and a preoperative body mass index category of overweight (P = .026). Our study found silent OSA to be frequent in the DFD population. The

  20. A Dual-Route Perspective on Eye Movements of Dyslexic Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawelka, Stefan; Gagl, Benjamin; Wimmer, Heinz

    2010-01-01

    This study assessed eye movement abnormalities of adolescent dyslexic readers and interpreted the findings by linking the dual-route model of single word reading with the E-Z Reader model of eye movement control during silent sentence reading. A dysfunction of the lexical route was assumed to account for a reduced number of words which received…

  1. IQ and Reading Comprehension in Translation Quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Askari

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Having a deeper understanding of determining factors in the quality of translation is in the interest of almost all scholars of translation studies. Students’ intelligence is being measured constantly in order to determine their aptitude for entering into different programs. However, in translation studies, the variable of intelligence quotient (IQ has been curiously ignored among researchers. This study aimed to explore the strength of both IQ and reading comprehension in predicting translation quality among Iranian translation students.  A sample of forty-six translation students from Alborz University of Qazvin participated in this study. Data were collected using three tests including Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices, Colina’s (2008 componential translation quality rating scheme and the reading comprehension test of IELTS. The results show IQ test scores and reading comprehension significantly predict translation quality assessment. Surprisingly, the most significant finding is that IQ score is by far a better predictor of translation quality than reading comprehension. Overall, it is concluded that translation quality assessment is more of a deeper cognitive function than solely language process, which could lead to more research on cognitive aspects of translation.

  2. Brain network of semantic integration in sentence reading: insights from independent component analysis and graph theoretical analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Zheng; Doñamayor, Nuria; Münte, Thomas F

    2014-02-01

    A set of cortical and sub-cortical brain structures has been linked with sentence-level semantic processes. However, it remains unclear how these brain regions are organized to support the semantic integration of a word into sentential context. To look into this issue, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that required participants to silently read sentences with semantically congruent or incongruent endings and analyzed the network properties of the brain with two approaches, independent component analysis (ICA) and graph theoretical analysis (GTA). The GTA suggested that the whole-brain network is topologically stable across conditions. The ICA revealed a network comprising the supplementary motor area (SMA), left inferior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left caudate nucleus, and left angular gyrus, which was modulated by the incongruity of sentence ending. Furthermore, the GTA specified that the connections between the left SMA and left caudate nucleus as well as that between the left caudate nucleus and right thalamus were stronger in response to incongruent vs. congruent endings. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Development of a Case-based Reading Curriculum and Its Effect on Resident Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne M. Messman

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Textbook reading plays a foundational role in a resident’s knowledge base. Many residency programs place residents on identical reading schedules, regardless of the clinical work or rotation the resident is doing. We sought to develop a reading curriculum that takes into account the clinical work a resident is doing so their reading curriculum corresponds with their clinical work. Preliminary data suggests an increased amount of resident reading and an increased interest in reading as a result of this change to their reading curriculum.

  4. Reading Comprehension Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Unal Ulker

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The academic success of the university students greatly depends on the mastery of an academic reading skill. However, students as well as teachers, take the learning of this skill for granted, as they tend to presuppose that reading skill is acquired as a part of their secondary education. As a result, most first-year students employ non university strategies to read academic texts, which leads to a surface approach to reading and prevents students from a better understanding of the material. This paper will discuss the strategies that involve students in taking a deep approach to reading academic texts.

  5. Risperidone increases the cortical silent period in drug-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ustohal, Libor; Mayerova, Michaela; Hublova, Veronika; Prikrylova Kucerova, Hana; Ceskova, Eva; Kasparek, Tomas

    2017-04-01

    Schizophrenia is accompanied by impaired cortical inhibition, as measured by several markers including the cortical silent period (CSP). It is thought that CSP measures gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors B (GABA B ) mediated inhibitory activity. But the mutual roles of schizophrenia as a disease and the drugs used for the treatment of psychosis on GABA mediated neurotransmission are not clear. We recruited 13 drug-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to assess CSP prior to initiating risperidone monotherapy and again four weeks later. At the same time, we rated the severity of psychopathology using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). We obtained data from 12 patients who showed a significant increase in CSP, from 134.20±41.81 ms to 162.95±61.98 ms ( p=0.041; Cohen's d=0.544). After the treatment, the PANSS total score was significantly lower, as were the individual subscores ( pschizophrenia demonstrated an association between risperidone monotherapy and an increase in GABA B mediated inhibitory neurotransmission.

  6. Early reading intervention by means of a multicomponent reading game

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ven, M.A.M. van de; Leeuw, L.C. de; Weerdenburg, M.W.C. van; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the effects of an intervention with a multicomponent reading game on the development of reading skills in 60 Dutch primary school children with special educational needs. The game contains evidence-based reading exercises and is based on principles of applied gaming. Using a

  7. Reading-Related Causal Attributions for Success and Failure: Dynamic Links With Reading Skill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frijters, Jan C; Tsujimoto, Kimberley C; Boada, Richard; Gottwald, Stephanie; Hill, Dina; Jacobson, Lisa A; Lovett, Maureen W; Mahone, E Mark; Willcutt, Erik G; Wolf, Maryanne; Bosson-Heenan, Joan; Gruen, Jeffrey R

    2018-01-01

    The present study investigated the relation among reading skills and attributions, naming speed, and phonological awareness across a wide range of reading skill. Participants were 1,105 school-age children and youths from two understudied populations: African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Individual assessments of children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years were conducted for reading outcomes, cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading, and attributions for success and failure in reading situations. Quantile regressions were formulated to estimate these relations across the full skill span of each outcome. Reading-related attributions predicted contextual word recognition, sight word and decoding fluency, and comprehension skills. Attributions to ability in success situations were positively related to each outcome across the full span. On three reading outcomes, this relation strengthened at higher skill levels. Attributions to effort in success situations were consistently and negatively related to all reading outcomes. The results provide evidence that the strength of the relation between reading and attributions varies according to reading skill levels, with the strongest evidence for ability-based attributions in situations of reading success.

  8. A Canine Audience: The Effect of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Reading Progress among Students Identified with Learning Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griess, Julie Omodio

    2010-01-01

    This study explored the use of animal-assisted therapy with students identified with a learning disability and limited reading success. Initially, reading progress was defined as the participants' comprehension rate obtained from an oral Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) passage. The nature of the Informal Reading Inventory requires the…

  9. The Incidence and the Risk Factors of Silent Embolic Cerebral Infarction After Coronary Angiography and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deveci, Onur Sinan; Celik, Aziz Inan; Ikikardes, Firat; Ozmen, Caglar; Caglıyan, Caglar Emre; Deniz, Ali; Bicakci, Kenan; Bicakci, Sebnem; Evlice, Ahmet; Demir, Turgay; Kanadasi, Mehmet; Demir, Mesut; Demirtas, Mustafa

    2016-05-01

    Silent embolic cerebral infarction (SECI) is a major complication of coronary angiography (CAG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent CAG with or without PCI were recruited. Cerebral diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was performed for SECI within 24 hours. Clinical and angiographic characteristics were compared between patients with and without SECI. Silent embolic cerebral infarction occurred in 12 (12%) of the 101 patients. Age, total cholesterol, SYNTAX score (SS), and coronary artery bypass history were greater in the SECI(+) group (65 ± 10 vs 58 ± 11 years,P= .037; 223 ± 85 vs 173 ± 80 mg/dL,P= .048; 30.1 ± 2 vs 15 ± 3,PSECI was more common in the PCI group (8/24 vs 4/77,P= .01). On subanalysis, the SS was significantly higher in the SECI(+) patients in both the CAG and the PCI groups (29.3 ± 1.9 vs 15 ± 3,PSECI after CAG and PCI increases with the complexity of CAD (represented by the SS). The SS is a predictor of the risk of SECI, a complication that should be considered more often after CAG. © The Author(s) 2015.

  10. Experiments and Pilot Study Evaluating the Performance of Reading Miscue Detector and Automated Reading Tutor for Filipino: A Children's Speech Technology for Improving Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald M. Pascual

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The latest advances in speech processing technology have allowed the development of automated reading tutors (ART for improving children's literacy. An ART is a computer-assisted learning system based on oral reading fluency (ORF instruction and automated speech recognition (ASR technology. However, the design of an ART system is language-specif ic, and thus, requires developing a system specif ically for the Filipino language. In a previous work, the authors have presented the development of the children's Filipino speech corpus (CFSC for the purpose of designing an ART in Filipino. In this paper, the authors present the evaluation of the ART in Filipino which integrates a reference verification (RV- and word duration analysis-based reading miscue detector (RMD, a user interface, and a feedback and instruction set. The authors also present the performance evaluation of the RMD in offline tests, and the effectiveness of the ART as shown by the results of the intervention program, a month-long pilot study that involved the use of the ART by a small group of students. Offline test results show that the RMD's performance (i.e., FA rate ≈ 3% and MDerr rate ≈ 5% is at par with those from state-of-the-art RMDs reported in the literature. The results of the ART intervention experiment showed that the students, on the average, have improved in their words correct per minute (WCPM rate by 4.66 times, in their ORF-16 scores by 6.0 times, and in their reading comprehension exam scores by 4.4 times, after using the ART.

  11. Early language mediates the relations between preschool inattention and school-age reading achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, Sarah; Thornton, Veronica; Marks, David J; Rajendran, Khushmand; Halperin, Jeffrey M

    2016-05-01

    Early inattention is associated with later reading problems in children, but the mechanism by which this occurs is unclear. We investigated whether the negative relation between preschoolers' ADHD symptoms and 8-year-old reading achievement is directly related to the severity of inattention or is mediated by early language skills. Children (n = 150; 76% boys) were evaluated at 3 time points: preschool (T1), mean (SD) age = 4.24 (.49) years; 1 year later (T2), mean (SD) age = 5.28 (.50) years; and during school age (T3), mean (SD) age = 8.61 (.31) years. At T1, parents' Kiddie-SADS responses were dimensionalized to reflect ADHD severity. Children completed the Language domain of the NEPSY (i.e., A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment) at T1 and again at T2. At T3, children completed the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Second Edition Word Reading, Pseudoword Decoding, Reading Comprehension, and Spelling subtests, and their teachers completed ratings of Reading and Written Expression performance in school. The mediating effect of T2 Language on the relation between preschool Inattention and age 8 Reading was examined using the nonparametric bootstrapping procedure, while controlling for T1 Language. Language ability at T2 mediated the path from preschool inattention (but not hyperactivity/impulsivity) to 8-year-old reading achievement (both test scores and ratings) after controlling for preschoolers' language ability. Early attentional deficits may negatively impact school-age reading outcomes by compromising the development of language skills, which in turn imperils later reading achievement. Screening children with attentional problems for language impairment, as well as implementing early intervention for both attentional and language problems may be critical to promote reading achievement during school years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. TOEFL and IELTS as Measures of Academic Reading Ability: An Exploratory Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buell, James G.

    This paper discusses research conducted in the spring of 1991 that measured the relationship of reading subtest scores to teacher ratings of students' reading abilities. Sixty-eight advanced-level students in an intensive English program took an institutional version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and a specimen reading…

  13. The Importance of Metacognitive Reading Strategy Awareness in Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmadi, Mohammad Reza; Ismail, Hairul Nizam; Abdullah, Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan

    2013-01-01

    Metacognitive reading strategy awareness plays a significant role in reading comprehension and educational process. In spite of its importance, metacognitive strategy has long been the ignored skill in English language teaching, research, learning, and assessment. This lack of good metacognitive reading strategy skill is exacerbated by the central…

  14. African American English-speaking students: an examination of the relationship between dialect shifting and reading outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig, Holly K; Zhang, Lingling; Hensel, Stephanie L; Quinn, Erin J

    2009-08-01

    In this study, the authors evaluated the contribution made by dialect shifting to reading achievement test scores of African American English (AAE)-speaking students when controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), general oral language abilities, and writing skills. Participants were 165 typically developing African American 1st through 5th graders. Half were male and half were female, one third were from low-SES homes, and two-thirds were from middle-SES homes. Dialect shifting away from AAE toward Standard American English (SAE) was determined by comparing AAE production rates during oral and written narratives. Structural equation modeling evaluated the relative contributions of AAE rates, SES, and general oral language and writing skills on standardized reading achievement scores. AAE production rates were inversely related to reading achievement scores and decreased significantly between the oral and written narratives. Lower rates in writing predicted a substantial amount of the variance in reading scores, showing a significant direct effect and a significant indirect effect mediated by measures of oral language comprehension. The findings support a dialect shifting-reading achievement hypothesis, which proposes that AAE-speaking students who learn to use SAE in literacy tasks will outperform their peers who do not make this linguistic adaptation.

  15. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Reading Ability Show Connection to Socio-Economic Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luciano, Michelle; Hagenaars, Saskia P; Cox, Simon R; Hill, William David; Davies, Gail; Harris, Sarah E; Deary, Ian J; Evans, David M; Martin, Nicholas G; Wright, Margaret J; Bates, Timothy C

    2017-09-01

    Impairments in reading and in language have negative consequences on life outcomes, but it is not known to what extent genetic effects influence this association. We constructed polygenic scores for difficulties with language and learning to read from genome-wide data in ~6,600 children, adolescents and young adults, and tested their association with health, socioeconomic outcomes and brain structure measures collected in adults (maximal N = 111,749). Polygenic risk of reading difficulties was associated with reduced income, educational attainment, self-rated health and verbal-numerical reasoning (p intelligence) and 0.70 (educational attainment) with reading ability. Mendelian randomization approaches will be important to dissociate any causal and moderating effects of reading and related traits on social outcomes.

  16. How do children read words? A focus on reading processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Boer, M.

    2014-01-01

    Being able to read is very important in our literate society. Many studies, therefore, have examined children’s reading skills to improve our understanding of reading development. In general, there have been two types of studies. On the one hand, there is a line of research that focuses on the

  17. Toward developing a standardized Arabic continuous text reading chart.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alabdulkader, Balsam; Leat, Susan Jennifer

    Near visual acuity is an essential measurement during an oculo-visual assessment. Short duration continuous text reading charts measure reading acuity and other aspects of reading performance. There is no standardized version of such chart in Arabic. The aim of this study is to create sentences of equal readability to use in the development of a standardized Arabic continuous text reading chart. Initially, 109 Arabic pairs of sentences were created for use in constructing a chart with similar layout to the Colenbrander chart. They were created to have the same grade level of difficulty and physical length. Fifty-three adults and sixteen children were recruited to validate the sentences. Reading speed in correct words per minute (CWPM) and standard length words per minute (SLWPM) was measured and errors were counted. Criteria based on reading speed and errors made in each sentence pair were used to exclude sentence pairs with more outlying characteristics, and to select the final group of sentence pairs. Forty-five sentence pairs were selected according to the elimination criteria. For adults, the average reading speed for the final sentences was 166 CWPM and 187 SLWPM and the average number of errors per sentence pair was 0.21. Childrens' average reading speed for the final group of sentences was 61 CWPM and 72 SLWPM. Their average error rate was 1.71. The reliability analysis showed that the final 45 sentence pairs are highly comparable. They will be used in constructing an Arabic short duration continuous text reading chart. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  18. The Role of Reading Fluency in Children's Text Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Álvarez-Cañizo, Marta; Suárez-Coalla, Paz; Cuetos, Fernando

    2015-01-01

    Understanding a written text requires some higher cognitive abilities that not all children have. Some children have these abilities, since they understand oral texts; however, they have difficulties with written texts, probably due to problems in reading fluency. The aim of this study was to determine which aspects of reading fluency are related to reading comprehension. Four expositive texts, two written and two read by the evaluator, were presented to a sample of 103 primary school children (third and sixth grade). Each text was followed by four comprehension questions. From this sample we selected two groups of participants in each grade, 10 with good results in comprehension of oral and written texts, and 10 with good results in oral and poor in written comprehension. These 40 subjects were asked to read aloud a new text while they were recorded. Using Praat software some prosodic parameters were measured, such as pausing and reading rate (number and duration of the pauses and utterances), pitch and intensity changes and duration in declarative, exclamatory, and interrogative sentences and also errors and duration in words by frequency and stress. We compared the results of both groups with ANOVAs. The results showed that children with less reading comprehension made more inappropriate pauses and also intersentential pauses before comma than the other group and made more mistakes in content words; significant differences were also found in the final declination of pitch in declarative sentences and in the F0 range in interrogative ones. These results confirm that reading comprehension problems in children are related to a lack in the development of a good reading fluency.

  19. Evidence for simultaneous syntactic processing of multiple words during reading.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joshua Snell

    Full Text Available A hotly debated issue in reading research concerns the extent to which readers process parafoveal words, and how parafoveal information might influence foveal word recognition. We investigated syntactic word processing both in sentence reading and in reading isolated foveal words when these were flanked by parafoveal words. In Experiment 1 we found a syntactic parafoveal preview benefit in sentence reading, meaning that fixation durations on target words were decreased when there was a syntactically congruent preview word at the target location (n during the fixation on the pre-target (n-1. In Experiment 2 we used a flanker paradigm in which participants had to classify foveal target words as either noun or verb, when those targets were flanked by syntactically congruent or incongruent words (stimulus on-time 170 ms. Lower response times and error rates in the congruent condition suggested that higher-order (syntactic information can be integrated across foveal and parafoveal words. Although higher-order parafoveal-on-foveal effects have been elusive in sentence reading, results from our flanker paradigm show that the reading system can extract higher-order information from multiple words in a single glance. We propose a model of reading to account for the present findings.

  20. Rearing a reading habit

    OpenAIRE

    Sridhar, M. S.

    2009-01-01

    Discusses the importance and ways of inculcating reading habit in children at the right age, describes the five reading phases in children along with interest and the material to satiate the need, explains how four deterministic factors affect the reading habit of children, enlists motivations that are behind the reading process with tips to improve reading habit of children.