Alternative Questions Research Articles

Could L1 intonation patterns be applied in teaching Mandarin tones to atonal learners of Chinese? – An acoustic phonetic study

Abstract This study focuses on the acoustic comparison of Mandarin Chinese lexical tones and Hungarian monosyllabic intonation patterns. The aim of this experiment was to explore whether atonal L1 intonation patterns are applicable in teaching tones in L2 Mandarin Chinese, and also to investigate to what extent atonal and tonal monosyllabic contours differ. Mandarin Chinese rising Tone 2 is compared to two corresponding Hungarian rising contours: i) monosyllabic interrogative contour and ii) the rising phase of the f 0 pattern in alternative questions. Mandarin Chinese falling Tone 4 is likewise compared to Hungarian i) declarative and ii) imperative f 0 curves. We compared Mandarin Chinese and Hungarian native speakers’ production regarding five acoustic features. Results show that Mandarin Chinese Tone 2 is articulated with longer duration, and a more concave f 0 curve compared to Hungarian rising intonation patterns. Mandarin Chinese Tone 4, on the other hand, was found to differ from the Hungarian imperative contour only in terms of the f 0 curve shape, since Tone 4 featured a more domed curve. Hungarian declaratives are characterized by a more concave f 0 pattern, realized in a lower f 0 range compared to Tone 4. The results of this study may contribute to the proper application of atonal intonation patterns in L2 teaching of Mandarin Chinese through the differences and similarities between atonal and tonal monosyllabic f 0 patterns.

Counting everyone: evidence for inclusive measures of disability in federal surveys.

The US Census Bureau has used the American Community Survey six-question set (ACS-6) to identify disabled people since 2008. In late 2023, the Census Bureau proposed changes to these questions that would have reduced disability prevalence estimates by 42%. Because these estimates inform funding and programs that support the health and independence of people with disabilities, many disability researchers and advocates feared this change in data collection would lead to reductions in funding and services. While the Census has paused-but not ruled out-the proposed changes, it is critical that alternate, more inclusive disability questions be identified and tested. We used data from the 2023/2024 National Survey on Health and Disability to explore alternative questions to identify disabled people in national surveys. A single broad question about conditions identified 11.2% more people with disabilities, and missed significantly fewer people with psychiatric disabilities compared to the current ACS-6 questions. A combination of a broad question and the existing ACS-6 questions may be necessary to more accurately and inclusively identify people with disabilities.

Open and closed-ended problem solving in humans and AI: The influence of question asking complexity

Question-asking, an underexplored aspect of creativity, is integral to creative problem-solving and information-seeking. Previous research reveals that lower creativity correlates with asking simpler, closed questions, while higher creativity correlates with complex, open-ended inquiries. The present study explores the relation between question asking complexity and problem-solving tasks involving open- and close-ended thinking and how these abilities generalize and compare to AI. In Study 1, participants (N = 89) completed the alternative questions task (AQT), a close-ended riddles task (Stumpers), and the alternate uses task (AUT), a creativity measure. Our results show AQT question complexity wasn't correlated with stumpers performance, although it correlated with AUT originality (r = .3). In Study 2, participants (N = 100) completed the AQT, AUT, and open-ended creative problem-solving (CPS) task. CPS responses were evaluated for originality and quality. A positive correlation was observed between CPS quality and AQT complexity (r = .29) and originality (r = .34). In study 3, AI agents (N = 100) completed the AQT, AUT, stumpers, and CPS tasks. Like humans, AI's AQT originality and complexity were related with open, but not closed problem-solving. AI questions were also significantly more creative and complex, it solved more stumpers and gave higher quality CPS solutions. Surprisingly, human and AI CPS originality didn't differ. We find significant links between question complexity and open—but not closed-ended—problem-solving in humans, which generalize to AI. Our results highlight the significance of complex and creative question-asking in everyday life and as an integral part of our problem-solving toolkit.

Аdaptation of foreign students in the framework of the implementation of the third mission of the university

Introduction. The research topic is conditioned by the need to develop innovative adaptation measures for international university students, which are an important channel for transferring information about the country to the world community. Decoding the national values of the recipient country corresponds to the intention of the third mission of the university, understood as its contribution to the development of the regional, national and global community. The purpose of the study is to analyze the satisfaction of foreign students with the conditions of the new educational environment of the university and to develop a comprehensive program for their adaptation. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in Novosibirsk State Technical University using the survey method by filling out a questionnaire by respondents and a formalized interview. Closed alternative questions were used in the questionnaire. International students from near and far abroad participated in the survey. The data was processed and visualized using the method of bar and pie charts. The results of the study. The data of the conducted survey of foreign students allow us to conclude about the generally successful adaptation environment of the university. However, some indicators have revealed the need to improve the adaptation process, mainly in its socio-cultural aspect. The answers to the question "How easily did you join the educational process of NSTU?" revealed the fact that about 52% of foreign students felt discomfort after arriving to study in Russia, especially this should be attributed to citizens of non-CIS countries. When answering the question "Have you encountered difficulties in establishing contacts with Russian students and the local population due to differences in values, traditions and customs?" 44% of respondents acknowledged the existence of problems. Thirty-nine percent of respondents considered the main barrier to effective communication to be a lack of understanding of the motives of Russians' actions. New formats of adaptation measures are required that decode the system of cultural values of the recipient country for foreign students and involve them in the scientific, cultural and economic life of the region. Thirty-two percent of respondents spoke about their lack. Conclusions. The factors of successful adaptation of students at the university are identified, new formats of socio-cultural activities are proposed that can demonstrate national norms and traditions, such as an adaptive VR course, virtual travel, sightseeing routes around the city and the university area, adaptation quests. Types of adaptation activities are included in a comprehensive program designed to convey both the values of the university, its location region, and the values of the recipient country.

Translation Analysis of Interrogative Sentences in “The Terminal” Movie Subtitle

This study is qualitative descriptive research. The purpose of this research is to know kind of interrogative sentences and translation techniques impact to the translation quality in The Terminal movie subtitle. The source of data is the film transcript of The Terminal movie and its subtitle in Indonesian, and the information collected from rater. The technique of data collection was watching the movie, reading the script, and marking the interrogative sentences. In analyzing data, the researcher used the qualitative data analysis which covers domain analysis, taxonomic analysis, and componential analysis. Had been found 114 data, yes-no question (57,97%), wh-question (41,19%), and alternative question (0,87%), 2) the translation technique could be found in The Terminal movie, such as established equivalent (72,08%), variation (15,83%), pure borrowing (3,12%), modulation (2,91%), implicit (1,87%), paraphrase (1,25%), explicit (1,04%), reduction (0,83%), transposition (0,62%), generalization (0,20%), and substitution (0,20%). The impact of the application of those translation techniques, toward the translation quality is the overall quality score 2,98 with the average score of accuracy 2,97, acceptability 2,99, and readability 2,99. Keywords: Translation, Interrogative Sentences, Qualitative Descriptive, The Terminal

Deriving the evidence asymmetry in positive polar questions

This paper explores a famous puzzle about English positive polar questions introduced by Buring and Gunlogson 2000: while in many contexts they seem to indicate nothing whatsoever about what the speaker takes for granted or thinks likely, in contexts that provide evidence against the content proposition of the question, they are infelicitous. This pattern, which I term the "evidence asymmetry", has been particularly troubling for standard accounts of polar questions that treat the positive and negative answers on par with each other. However, given that polar questions are felicitous in neutral contexts, it doesn't have an easy solution: polar questions in general don't seem to place constraints on evidence or context. I propose that polar questions have a fairly weak presupposition requiring just the content alternative to be possible (but say nothing about its negation), and (building on Trinh 2014) that this together with Maximize Presupposition-based reasoning about competitor questions (specifically"or not" alternative questions) can derive the evidence asymmetry. This account does not require the covert evidential marker of Trinh 2014, and essentially proposes that the evidence asymmetry follows from norms for English polar questions.

Reconstructing individual-level exposures in cohort analyses of environmental risks: an example with the UK Biobank.

Recent developments in linkage procedures and exposure modelling offer great prospects for cohort analyses on the health risks of environmental factors. However, assigning individual-level exposures to large population-based cohorts poses methodological and practical problems. In this contribution, we illustrate a linkage framework to reconstruct environmental exposures for individual-level epidemiological analyses, discussing methodological and practical issues such as residential mobility and privacy concerns. The framework outlined here requires the availability of individual residential histories with related time periods, as well as high-resolution spatio-temporal maps of environmental exposures. The linkage process is carried out in three steps: (1) spatial alignment of the exposure maps and residential locations to extract address-specific exposure series; (2) reconstruction of individual-level exposure histories accounting for residential changes during the follow-up; (3) flexible definition of exposure summaries consistent with alternative research questions and epidemiological designs. The procedure is exemplified by the linkage and processing of daily averages of air pollution for the UK Biobank cohort using gridded spatio-temporal maps across Great Britain. This results in the extraction of exposure summaries suitable for epidemiological analyses of both short and long-term risk associations and, in general, for the investigation of temporal dependencies. The linkage framework presented here is generally applicable to multiple environmental stressors and can be extended beyond the reconstruction of residential exposures. IMPACT: This contribution describes a linkage framework to assign individual-level environmental exposures to population-based cohorts using high-resolution spatio-temporal exposure. The framework can be used to address current limitations of exposure assessment for the analysis of health risks associated with environmental stressors. The linkage of detailed exposure information at the individual level offers the opportunity to define flexible exposure summaries tailored to specific study designs and research questions. The application of the framework is exemplified by the linkage of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposures to the UK Biobank cohort.

Career and life planning in the context of the postgraduate medical training - current challenges and opportunities.

The possibility of balancing career and family is meanwhile a central concern for most physicians when choosing a job. The aim of this study was to identify current barriers and opportunities for physician education and career planning. This cross-sectional study was conducted as an online survey between 11/2021 and 02/2022 and targeted physicians at all career levels in Germany who were members of a clinical professional association. Alternative and consent questions were used to assess experiences/attitudes toward various aspects of life and career planning, as well as alternative work and parental leave models, depending on gender, specialty, and hierarchical level. The majority of the 2060 participants were female (69%) and had children (66%). Many childless residents reported that they felt they had to choose between children and a career. The majority of female residents, specialists and attending physicians (Ø 55.5%) stated that they had experienced career losses as a result of taking parental leave, while most men did not share this experience (Ø 53.7%). 92% of all participants agreed with the statement that men and women have different career opportunities. Job-sharing models were considered feasible at all levels of the hierarchy by an average of 55.6% of all medical executives. Parenthood and the use of parental leave and part-time work appear to have a significant impact on the career paths of those surveyed. Although the majority of directors of medical training programs are open to job-sharing models, further measures are needed in order to equalize career opportunities for men and women.

Multi-professional screening instrument for risk of broncho-aspiration in a hospital environment for the elderly population: validity evidence based on response processes.

The objective of this study was to validate the Multiprofessional Screening Instrument for Broncho-aspiration Risk in Hospital Environment, which is aimed at the elderly population, based on response processes. Judges applied the instrument to different patients and randomly selected. After the application, the judges were interviewed so that it was possible to verify their impression regarding the relevance of the items about their interpretation of the written content, as well as grammatical and semantic issues. Suggestions for adding alternative questions and answers were considered, as well as proposals for adapting the questions that made up the instrument. Non-verbal reactions, such as facial expressions that suggested doubts or hesitations, by the judges concerning the instrument were also analyzed. The agreement of the judges concerning each item of the device was calculated by the Content Validity Index (CVI) and by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and their results showed a high level of agreement. Through the suggestions of the judges, a new version of the Multi-professional Screening Instrument for the Risk of Broncho-aspiration in a Hospital Environment in the Elderly was elaborated. The results obtained showed that the validity of the Multi-professional Instrument for Screening the Risk of Broncho-aspiration in the Hospital Environment with the elderly population, based on the response processes, was achieved and makes it a promising device to assist professionals in hospital care for the elderly.

Instrumento multiprofissional de rastreio para risco de broncoaspiração em ambiente hospitalar à população idosa: evidências de validade baseada nos processos de resposta

ABSTRACT Purpose The objective of this study was to validate the Multiprofessional Screening Instrument for Broncho-aspiration Risk in Hospital Environment, which is aimed at the elderly population, based on response processes. Methods Judges applied the instrument to different patients and randomly selected. After the application, the judges were interviewed so that it was possible to verify their impression regarding the relevance of the items about their interpretation of the written content, as well as grammatical and semantic issues. Suggestions for adding alternative questions and answers were considered, as well as proposals for adapting the questions that made up the instrument. Non-verbal reactions, such as facial expressions that suggested doubts or hesitations, by the judges concerning the instrument were also analyzed. Results The agreement of the judges concerning each item of the device was calculated by the Content Validity Index (CVI) and by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and their results showed a high level of agreement. Through the suggestions of the judges, a new version of the Multi-professional Screening Instrument for the Risk of Broncho-aspiration in a Hospital Environment in the Elderly was elaborated. Conclusion The results obtained showed that the validity of the Multi-professional Instrument for Screening the Risk of Broncho-aspiration in the Hospital Environment with the elderly population, based on the response processes, was achieved and makes it a promising device to assist professionals in hospital care for the elderly.

Semantic Features and Pragmatic Functions of Alternative Question in Mandarin Chinese

Through the analysis of the definition and syntactic form of alternative question in Mandarin Chinese, the semantic features and relationships of its internal elements are abstracted. In its typical syntactic structure “(是) A还是 (or) B”, there are two types of options A and B, namely real options A and B which belong to the same category, and virtual ones created by the speaker in context. Based on this, the alternative question is classified. Its usage characteristics and usage scenarios are summarized by analyzing the example sentences of both conventional and unconventional new emerging usage in BBC corpus. At last, its five pragmatic functions are concluded, namely providing options, expressing speculation, expressing strong emotions, emphasizing and creating demand.

ANALISIS DISTRAKTOR INSTRUMEN UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER MATA PELAJARAN MATEMATIKA KELAS VII MTS SE-KECAMATAN KEDIRI DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN PROGRAM ITEMAN

One of the educational evaluation tools is a test with the aim of measuring the success of the learning activity process. When compiling tests/questions, they must be prepared in accordance with the rules for compiling them so that they will provide maximum information regarding the results of learning activities to obtain good tests both after and before use. Mathematics teachers at the KKM (Madrasah Working Group) have never carried out an analysis of the distractors for the final exam questions for the 2022/2023 academic year that they have prepared and used, so the quality of the questions is not yet known. The problem is how the quality of the questions is seen from the distractors in the multiple choice questions. Thus, this research aims to determine the distractors in the questions based on students' answers to 30 multiple choice questions with 4 alternative answers, namely (A, B, C and D) which were tested in class VII MTs at the KKM level in Kediri sub-district for the 2022 school year. /2023 with data and documentation of 369 students. This research is descriptive research, with quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results of the analysis with the Iteman program showed that there were 20 questions whose alternatives worked, namely questions 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27 , 29, 30. The other alternative answer questions are classified as revised, namely 2, 5, 7, 11, 15, 16, 21, 25, 26, 28. So it can be concluded that the distractors of the 30 multiple choice questions are based on student answer documentation data as many as 369 students, it can be seen that 10 or 43% of the answer choices have not functioned well. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the questions qualitatively on the distractors to get good distractors/distractors.

Problems Encountered in Translating Alternative Questions From Arabic into English

This paper is an attempt to tackle problems and difficulties faced by the university students of English when translating alternative questions from Arabic into English in their written performance. A questionnaire of 10 sentences taken from Modern standard Arabic is designed and distributed to a sample of 40 students. The participants have been asked to translate Arabic alternative questions into English. It is hypothesized that the learners of English are not fully aware when translating alternative questions from Arabic to English. The study aims at examining the students’ awareness of alternative questions and trying to focus on the problems that students face when they want to express the alternative questions in both English and Arabic in order to be understood and helpful for learners, translators and other

A Generalized Ordered Logit Model to Accommodate Multiple Rating Scales

Rating scales are ubiquitous in the social sciences, yet may present practical difficulties when response formats change over time or vary across surveys. To allow researchers to pool rating data across alternative question formats, the article provides a generalization of the ordered logit model that accommodates multiple scale formats in the measurement of a single rating construct. The resulting multiscale ordered logit model shares the interpretation as well as the proportional odds (or parallel lines) assumption with the standard ordered logit model. A further extension to relax the proportional odds assumption in the multiscale context is proposed, and the substitution of the logit with other convenient link functions is equally straightforward. The utility of the model is illustrated from an empirical analysis of the determinants of respondents’ confidence in democratic institutions that combines data from the European Social Survey, the General Social Survey, and the European and World Values Survey series.

Evaluating and improving real-world evidence with Targeted Learning

BackgroundThe Targeted Learning roadmap provides a systematic guide for generating and evaluating real-world evidence (RWE). From a regulatory perspective, RWE arises from diverse sources such as randomized controlled trials that make use of real-world data, observational studies, and other study designs. This paper illustrates a principled approach to assessing the validity and interpretability of RWE.MethodsWe applied the roadmap to a published observational study of the dose–response association between ritodrine hydrochloride and pulmonary edema among women pregnant with twins in Japan. The goal was to identify barriers to causal effect estimation beyond unmeasured confounding reported by the study's authors, and to explore potential options for overcoming the barriers that robustify results.ResultsFollowing the roadmap raised issues that led us to formulate alternative causal questions that produced more reliable, interpretable RWE. The process revealed a lack of information in the available data to identify a causal dose–response curve. However, under explicit assumptions the effect of treatment with any amount of ritodrine versus none, albeit a less ambitious parameter, can be estimated from data.ConclusionsBefore RWE can be used in support of clinical and regulatory decision-making, its quality and reliability must be systematically evaluated. The TL roadmap prescribes how to carry out a thorough, transparent, and realistic assessment of RWE. We recommend this approach be a routine part of any decision-making process.

Disjunctive Questions in Biblical Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis

A disjunctive question presents an alternative to a previously-expressed state of affairs. Biblical Hebrew has four constructions for forming disjunctive questions. After an initial hă-question, the second can be introduced with hă, ʾim, wəʾim, or ʾô. While Hebrew reference grammars simply acknowledge the variation, this paper systematically addresses these constructions and distinguishes them on syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic grounds. The key results are a finer distinction between conjunction and disjunction and a recognition of how ellipsis discriminates between polar and alternative questions.

An Overview of Contrastive Analysis of Intonation and Structural-Semantic Characteristics of Disjunctive (Tag Questions) and Alternative Questions in English and Armenian

Key words: communication, interrogative sentences, intonation pattern, question-word, literary speech, colloquial speech, limited choice, comparative analysis In all languages intonation serves for the external colouring of speech because it is mainly by means of intonation we realize the character of the utterance, i. e, whether the utterance is a question or a declarative sentence (narrative). Moreover, by means of intonation we can express joy, surprise, displeasure or even irritation and anger. During the process of foreign speech-perception (even in case of good knowledge of language), finer shades of meaning uttered with unfamiliar intonation means are lost on the listener. The significance of complete oral speech-meaning presupposes the combination of corresponding proper grammar and lexical structures. Two aspects should be distinguished in intonation. The first aspect can be called communicative, as through intonation we express complete and non-complete statements, find out whether the uttered statements contain questions or responses and so forth. The second aspect can be called emotional, as intonation contains certain emotional colouring which expresses the emotional state of the speaker, sometimes the speaker’s intention ( not always fully perceived by him) to influence the imagination and the feelings of the listener. The present research article provides overview of comparative analysis of intonation and structural-semantic characteristics of Disjunctive and Alternative questions in English and Armenian. The contrastive analysis of the intonation and structural-semantic characteristics of the above mentioned questions in English and Armenian, first of all, presupposes the corresponding choice of communicative types of speech which on their turn determine the choice of the similar speaking (speech) situations. As a result of the analysis of the intonation and structural-semantic characteristics of Disjunctive and Alternative questions in English and Armenian, certain basic similarities and divergences are revealed in contrasted languages.

Understanding the Effects of Smart-Speaker-Based Surveys on Panelist Experience in Immersive Consumer Testing.

Utilizing immersive technologies to reintroduce the environmental context (i.e., visual, auditory, and olfactory cues) in sensory testing has been one area of research for improving panelist engagement. The current study sought to understand whether pairing smart-speaker questionnaires in immersive spaces could positively affect the panelist experience through enhanced ecological validity. To this end, subjects performed an immersive consumer test in which responses were collected using a traditional computer-based survey, a smart-speaker approach incorporating a direct translation of the computer questionnaire into a verbal survey requiring numeric responses, and an optimized smart-speaker survey with alternative question formatting requiring spoken word-based responses. After testing, participants answered the Engagement Questionnaire (EQ) to assess participant engagement during the test, and the System Usability Scale (SUS) survey to understand the ease, and potential adoption, of using the various survey technologies in the study. Results indicated that the traditional computer-based survey was the most engaging (p < 0.001) and usable (p < 0.001), with no differences found between the two smart-speaker surveys (p = 0.803 and p = 0.577, respectively). This suggests that the proposed optimizations for the smart-speaker surveys were not robust enough to influence engagement and usability, and further research is needed to enhance their conversational capabilities.

Abstract 75: Swahili Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Cancer Stigma Scale (CASS) for Use in the Non-Patient Population in Tanzania

Abstract Purpose: The Cataldo Cancer Stigma Scale (CASS) was developed to measure patient experienced stigma, and further modified for use in non-patient communities. The aim of this study was to adapt a Swahili language version of the CASS for use in the Tanzanian non-patient community, to identify the current level of stigma towards children with cancerand create a measure to monitor changes in perceptions following future community based interventions. Methods: An expert group of medical providers, community advisors and social scientists reviewed the 26 original statements in the CASS survey to determine relevancy in the Tanzanian context or Swahili language. A team of six native Swahili speakers was used to translate, back translate, reconcile, and adjudicate differences during the translation process. The final forward translation had in independent review by three bilingual translation experts to select the most appropriate translation for each item. The translated items were further refined using concurrent cognitive interviewing. Each round of interviews included five non-patient community members in the Mwanza region of Tanzania, and continued until &amp;gt;80% concordance reached. Results: Three rounds of revisions were completed with 15 respondents in total. A total of 62% of questions (22/36) were fully comprehended after the initial evaluation. Additional reviews included grammar and specific Swahili word selection changes to clarify the item’s meaning. After three rounds of interviews, all questions obtained at least 80% comprehension with no further revisions required. The final survey included 23 core questions and 10 alternate questions to target community beliefs identified during qualitative interviews. These included personal responsibility items evaluating the perception that cancer is caused by witchcraft and that cancer in children is a form of ancestral punishment. Conclusions: A Swahili adapted CASS for use in the non-patient community had good comprehension among rural and urban members of the Mwanza community. The survey will require additional quantitative validation to determine both the structural validity and reliability of the constructs. This adapted tool will allow for a meaningful intervention response evaluation that can be used in cancer stigma research throughout East Africa. Citation Format: Kristin Schroeder, Kashinje Mayolwa, Suhana Posani, Norbert Mtenga, Hong Pham, Zakia Meck, Hillary Sued, Francis Karia, Erica Sanga. Swahili Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Cancer Stigma Scale (CASS) for Use in the Non-Patient Population in Tanzania [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Closing the Research-to-Implementation Gap; 2023 Apr 4-6. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 75.

Doing Ethnographic Research in the Fiji Islands: Research Method and Research Ethics Issues

The aim of this article is to consider research method and research ethics issues in the unique location of the Fiji Islands. After arguing that Eurocentric, Anglo-American ethics clearance processes, embedded into Global North Universities, are culturally inappropriate, in the Fiji setting, I go on to imagine alternative ethics clearance questions that pick up on and reflect adequately Fiji’s social and economic context. I discuss and explore why traversing relationships, relationships that traverse time and space through giving, receiving, obligation, reimbursement, and forgiveness, often emerge in the Fiji context, and how they can be a local, social equilibrium that benefits both parties. My own research on Fiji soccer history is used to provide illustrations and anecdotes throughout the article.