High Familiarity Research Articles

Open Versus Endoscopic Osteotomy of Posterosuperior Calcaneal Tuberosity for Haglund Syndrome: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background:Although endoscopic calcaneoplasty and retrocalcaneal debridement have been extensively applied to treat Haglund syndrome, evidence of the value of the endoscopic procedure remains to be fully established.Purpose/Hypothesis:The purpose of this study was to compare the postoperative outcomes and the amount of osteotomy between open and endoscopic surgery for the treatment of Haglund syndrome. It was hypothesized that endoscopic calcaneoplasty would lead to higher patient satisfaction and lower complication rates compared with open surgical techniques.Study Design:Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.Methods:The following postoperative outcomes were compared between the open surgery group (n = 20) and the endoscopic surgery group (n = 27): visual analog scale for pain, American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale, Foot Function Index, Tegner score, Ankle Activity Score, and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey; postoperative complications; and duration of surgery. To determine the extent of resection, the authors compared the calcaneal height ratio, calcaneal resection ratio, calcaneal resection angle, pitch line, and Haglund deformity height between groups. The learning curve for endoscopic calcaneoplasty was also calculated.Results:There were no significant differences between the open and endoscopic groups on any outcome score. Two patients in the open group reported temporary paresthesia around the incisional site, indicating sural nerve injuries; no complication was reported in the endoscopy group. None of the parameters for extent of resection were statistically significant between the groups. The duration of surgery was 44.90 ± 10.52 and 65.39 ± 11.12 minutes in the open and endoscopy groups, respectively (P = .001). Regarding the learning curve for endoscopic calcaneoplasty (6 surgeons; 27 follow-up patients; 9 patients lost to follow-up), the duration of surgery reached a steady point of 55.68 ± 4.19 minutes after the fourth operation.Conclusion:The results of this study indicated that the endoscopy procedure was as effective as the open procedure. The endoscopic procedure required significantly more time than the open procedure, and the duration of the endoscopic procedure was shortened only after the fourth operation, suggesting that it requires high technical skills and familiarity with the anatomic relationships.

Towards a typology of prisoners’ awareness of and familiarity with prison inspection and monitoring bodies

Inspection and monitoring bodies have an important role in the protection of prisoners’ rights. Although these bodies are seen as widely beneficial, there is limited research examining their operations in practice. This study addresses this gap in the existing literature by identifying unique profiles of prisoners based on their familiarity with prison oversight bodies. In addition, the relationship between profiles and key factors (personal characteristics, sentence-related variables and those related to life in prison) was examined using multinomial regression. Participants were 508 males randomly selected from three prisons in Ireland. Data were collected between November 2018 and February 2019, using self-administered surveys. Latent class analysis revealed four subgroups of prisoners characterized by distinct patterns of awareness and contact with prison oversight bodies: (1) Low familiarity (44.1 percent); (2) High awareness with low contact (26.4 percent); (3) High familiarity with the Visiting Committees but low with other oversight bodies (14.2 percent); and (4) High familiarity (15.4 percent). Notably, the largest group was the low familiarity group, and few prisoners belonged to the high familiarity group. Nationality, sentence length, confidence in staff and complaint usage were linked to class membership. The results of this study point to the importance of increasing awareness of inspection and monitoring bodies among prisoners in general, and among certain groups in particular.

Measurement of expressive vocabulary in multilingual children using the dual-Focus approach method for test development

ABSTRACT Vocabulary tests administered on multilingual populations should take into account the unique linguistic and cultural makeup of the population by adopting test development methods that allow responses in several languages. Our aims were to develop a picture-naming test for multilingual Lebanese school-age children (L1: Lebanese, L2: French and/or English) using the dual-focus approach for test development in order to obtain test items in several languages simultaneously and examine sources of variability in performance across gender, age, and type of schooling. The test compiled pictures with high cultural familiarity, high name agreement, an age of acquisition between 3 and 9 years, and varying frequency of use based on the ratings of 8 indigenous Lebanese experts on the test content. The test was administered to 74 multilingual Lebanese children aged 3 to 9 years. Results showed that older age, studying at a private school and being female contributed to better test performance, although gender was not a significant variable when inserted in a regression model. Psychometric properties of the test revealed excellent levels of internal reliability, good item parameters and sources of validity. This study delineates a method of test construction that accommodates to multilingual individuals in a resource-limited setting.

Language Familiarity and Proficiency Leads to Differential Cortical Processing During Translation Between Distantly Related Languages.

In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca, but learning it as a second language (L2) remains still difficult to speakers of other languages. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese. In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 and English as L2. These studies, which focused on language translation with close or moderate linguistic distance (LD), have suggested that the Broca area (BA 44/45) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 46) may play an important role on translation. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. The advanced group elicited greater activation on the left prefrontal cortex around the Broca’s area while translating words with low familiarity, but no activation was observed while translating words with high familiarity. On the other hand, the elementary group evoked greater activation on the left temporal area including the superior temporal gyrus (STG) irrespective of the word familiarity. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. These difference on the brain activation patterns between the advanced and elementary group may reflect the difference on the cognitive loads depending on the levels of automatization in one’s language processing.

Automated analysis of lexical features in frontotemporal degeneration

We implemented an automated analysis of lexical aspects of semi-structured speech produced by healthy elderly controls (n = 37) and three patient groups with frontotemporal degeneration (FTD): behavioral variant FTD (n = 74), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA, n = 42), and nonfluent/agrammatic PPA (naPPA, n = 22). Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the three patient groups and controls would differ in the counts of part-of-speech (POS) categories and several lexical measures. With a natural language processing program, we automatically tagged POS categories of all words produced during a picture description task. We further counted the number of wh-words, and we rated nouns for abstractness, ambiguity, frequency, familiarity, and age of acquisition. We also computed the cross-entropy estimation, where low cross-entropy indicates high predictability, and lexical diversity for each description. We validated a subset of the POS data that were automatically tagged with the Google Universal POS scheme using gold-standard POS data tagged by a linguist, and we found that the POS categories from our automated methods were more than 90% accurate. For svPPA patients, we found fewer unique nouns than in naPPA and more pronouns and wh-words than in the other groups. We also found high abstractness, ambiguity, frequency, and familiarity for nouns and the lowest cross-entropy estimation among all groups. These measures were associated with cortical thinning in the left temporal lobe. In naPPA patients, we found increased speech errors and partial words compared to controls, and these impairments were associated with cortical thinning in the left middle frontal gyrus. bvFTD patients' adjective production was decreased compared to controls and was correlated with their apathy scores. Their adjective production was associated with cortical thinning in the dorsolateral frontal and orbitofrontal gyri. Our results demonstrate distinct language profiles in subgroups of FTD patients and validate our automated method of analyzing FTD patients' speech.

Development of Digitized Mandarin Paediatric Speech Perception Test Materials for Malaysian Children

Digitized Mandarin paediatric speech perception tests are limited in Malaysia for measuring outcomes among children fitted with amplification devices. Mandarin speech perception tests from other countries may not be suitable to be used in Malaysia due to regional vocabulary differences. This study aimed to develop digitized test materials to test Mandarin-speaking preschool children in Malaysia. This is a two-phased cross-sectional study where Mandarin words (n=113) were gathered with test item pictures developed and tested on 40 Mandarin-speaking children (aged 2;0 to 5;11 years old) with normal hearing in Study I. A total of 80 of 113 words with high familiarity among children were selected in Study I. In Study II, digital recordings of the words was conducted, followed by acoustic analysis, and sound quality evaluation. In total, 94 out of the 480 recorded word tokens were excluded in acoustic analysis. The remaining 386 tokens received good quality rating by three professionals. Validation of the recorded word tokens and pictures to select the final test items involved 20 Mandarin-speaking young adults in Study II. A total of 160 tokens were selected as final items and all pictures corresponding to these test items were validated as suitable representation of the test items. In conclusion, digitally recorded stimuli and pictures have been developed for a Mandarin speech perception test appropriate for Mandarin-speaking pre-school children in Malaysia. Ongoing research includes collecting normative data for the test and future research involves evaluating the test application in local audiology clinics.

Familiarity of Iranian M.A. Translation Students with ICT Tools

Familiarity with information and communication technology (ICT) is of great importance to the translation students because it allows the students to make use of a wide range of ICT tools. The present study investigated the degree of students’ familiarity with ICT tools employed to support ICT related activities included in the translator’s workstation. To do this, a questionnaire encompassing 24 questions was designed on the basis of translation activities proposed by Fulford and Granell-Zafar (2005), including information search and retrieval, communications, and marketing and work procurement. The results indicated the high familiarity of the M.A. translation students with general-purpose software application, namely online dictionaries and internet search engines, and the lower than the average familiarity of them with specific-purpose software, such as FTP and MUDs. Furthermore, chi-square test (X²) was run to see whether there is a significant relationship between each type of ICT tools and the participants. The results illustrated that the relationships between the M.A. translation students and some ICT applications, including internet search engines, web browsers, online dictionaries and encyclopedia, IRC, and MUDs, were significant; whereas, it was not significant between the other types of ICT software and students. This includes online translation marketplaces, internet forums, email, instant messaging, video chat, discussion mailing lists, talkers, and FTP.

The Roles of Familiarity and Context in Processing Chinese Xiehouyu: An ERP Study

This study conducts an ERP experiment to explore the online processing mechanism of Chinese xiehouyu, a subcategory of Chinese idiomatic expressions with a metaphorical two-part allegorical saying, regarded as a non-literal language construct. Using a 2 × 2 design, (high familiarity (HF)/low familiarity (LF)) × (literally-biasing context (LC)/metaphorically-biasing context (MC)), the researchers have obtained the following findings: (1) familiarity plays an important role in Chinese xiehouyu processing, i.e. the metaphorical meaning of a HF Chinese xiehouyu can be directly activated while that of a LF one has to be derived from its literal meaning first; (2) contextual information also weighs in the process, i.e. the metaphorical meaning of a Chinese xiehouyu can be promoted in MC condition but suppressed in LC condition; (3) the interactive effect of familiarity and contextual information can be explained by the career of metaphor hypothesis; and (4) the Standard Pragmatic Model (SPM) of non-literal languages can explain the processing of LF xiehouyu, and the Direct Access Model (DAM) may to some extent account for the mechanism of HF one but fails to explain the case of LF one, while the Graded Salience Hypothesis (GSH) can provide an acceptable explanation for the processing mechanism of Chinese xiehouyus of varied familiarity.

Internal Medicine Trainee Understanding and Reaction to Out of Pocket Costs.

Background:Out-of-pocket costs are a serious barrier to care and drive suboptimal medical therapy. Understanding of these costs can lead to care oriented around the limits they generate. Despite this, there is minimal attention paid to these costs in post-graduate education.Objective:To define a potential knowledge gap regarding costs experienced by patients by surveying Internal Medicine residents at our large academic institution.Methods:We surveyed Internal Medicine residents in spring 2019 about knowledge and practices surrounding patient out-of-pocket costs. Participants answered questions considering their most recent inpatient panel and their clinic patient panel. Familiarity was ranked on a 5-point Likert scale, and for the purposes of presentation, was divided into “Poor” and “Moderate or Better.” Non-parametric analysis was used to test differences between outpatients and inpatients and by year of training.Results:Of 159 residents, 109 (67%) responded. Familiarity with patient insurance status was moderate or better in 85%. Reported understanding of costs associated with medications, testing, and clinic visits was less common. Respondents had higher familiarity with out-of-pocket costs for clinic patients compared with inpatients. Knowledge of cost of care was not an often-considered factor in decision making. There was no significant difference in response by year of training.Conclusion:Patient out-of-pocket costs are an important dimension of patient care which Internal Medicine Trainees at our institution do not confidently understand or utilize. Improvements in education around this topic may enable more patient-centered care.

The Effects of Technology Affinity, Prior Customer Journey Experience, and Brand Familiarity on the Acceptance of Smart Service Innovations

In our study, a model of smart service innovation (SSI) acceptance is delineated. We assume that the effects of the customer journey experience (CJE) and technology affinity (TA) on adoption intention (IN) are mediated by consumers’ attitudes (AT) towards the adoption of SSIs. Furthermore, contingent on the level of brand familiarity (BF), this study hypothesizes a moderated mediation with regard to the ‘CJE = AT = IN’ relationship. The empirical findings are largely in line with the model hypotheses: First, technology affinity affects adoption intention indirectly via attitude towards SSIs. Second, CJE has a significant direct and indirect effect on adoption intention in the cases of average and high brand familiarity. For low brand familiarity, CJE neither has a significant direct effect nor a significant indirect effect on SSI acceptance. Based on the empirical findings, the present paper discusses implications for service management and service research, study limitations and avenues for future research.

Discovery Engine for Finding Hidden Connections in Prose Comprehension from References

Reading is one of the essential practices of modern human learning. Comprehending prose text simply from the available text is particularly challenging as in general the comprehension of prose requires the use of external knowledge or references. Although the processes of reading comprehension have been widely studied in the field of psychology, no algorithm level models for comprehension have yet to be developed. This paper has proposed a comprehension engine consisting of knowledge induction which connects the knowledge space by augmenting associations within it. The connections are achieved through the automatic incremental reading of external references and the capturing of high familiarity knowledge associations between prose concepts. The Ontology Engine is used to find lexical knowledge associations amongst concept pairs, with the objective being to obtain a knowledge space graph with a single giant component to establish a base model for prose comprehension. The comprehension engine is evaluated through experiments with various selected prose texts. Akin to human readers, it could mine reference texts from modern knowledge corpuses such as Wikipedia and WordNet. The results demonstrate the potential efficiency of using the comprehension engine that enhances the quality of reading comprehension in addition to reducing reading time. This comprehension engine is considered the first algorithm level model for comprehension compared with existing works.

How to Optimize an Academic Team When the Outlier Member is Leaving?

An academic team is a highly cohesive collaboration group of scholars, which has been recognized as an effective way to improve scientific output in terms of both quality and quantity. However, the high staff turnover brings about a series of problems that may have negative influences on team performance. To address this challenge, we first detect the tendency of the member who may potentially leave. Here, the outlierness is defined with respect to familiarity, which is quantified by using collaboration intensity. It is assumed that if a team member has a higher familiarity with scholars outside the team, then this member might probably leave the team. To minimize the influence caused by the leaving of such an outlier member, we propose an optimization solution to find a proper candidate who can replace the outlier member. Based on random walk with graph kernel, our solution involves familiarity matching, skill matching, as well as structure matching. The proposed approach proves to be effective and outperforms existing methods when applied to computer science academic teams.

Online Learning Using Google Classroom: Undergraduate Medical Students and Paediatric Residents Perspectives in the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Schools in Nigeria were shut down and lectures stopped altogether. The capacity of the Nigerian educational environment to carry out these online interactions may be stretched thin with many foreseeable challenges.
 Objectives: To identify the current familiarity and use of online classroom platforms by medical students and Paediatric residents, and to identify the barriers to its use for medical education.
 Methods: A descriptive comparative study design using a semi-structured online questionnaire Google survey of 128 medical students and residents in training in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital assessing demographics, availability of tools for online learning and application.
 Results: Both groups had high familiarity, but low use, of Google classroom, and preferred mobile devices to laptops. There was high familiarity 90.6%, but low use 42.2%, of Google classroom and the ease of using Google classroom for interphasing or interacting between learners and facilitators was affected by Internet availability, Pearson correlation, 0.185, p = 0.037, but not electric power availability, Pearson correlation, 0.135, p = 0.133.
 Conclusions: There is an overall high awareness of a range of the Google classroom LMS platform by both medical students and residents. However, constant electric energy supply, availability of internet and competence in preparing multimedia presentations and uploading these for assessment may enhance the use of online learning platforms in Nigeria for undergraduate and post graduate medical education.

Raising awareness of clinical trials in dementia: A national survey testing concept designs tailored to African American caregivers and individuals at risk

AbstractBackgroundLow enrollment of African Americans into clinical trials for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) is partly a result of too few researchers offering trial opportunities and inadequate information that is culturally relevant. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) sought to develop a culturally acceptable/effective toolkit of AD/ADRD clinical trial (CT) outreach materials for community health professionals to use with African American audiences. This abstract presents the results of a national online survey testing several AD/ADRD concept designs with adults/caregivers to guide the toolkit’s development.MethodAn online national panel survey was conducted with African American adults who: 1) had a family history of AD/ADRD (n=206); 2) had no family history of AD/ADRD (n=204); and, 3) were caregivers of persons with AD/ADRD (n=206). Respondents reported their AD/ADRD and CT knowledge/attitudes/intentions; they reviewed four concept designs and indicated preferences/likelihood of each concept to impact five variables (visit website, interest in trials, attention, believability, salience). Concepts featured messages that tested well in focus groups.ResultCaregivers and those at‐risk self‐reported higher familiarity with AD/ADRD signs/symptoms than those with no family history; all groups self‐reported limited understanding of CTs. Two concepts ranked highest among all participants: emphasizing helping future generations and noting that AD/ADRD affects races differently. Most caregivers (61‐87%) and at‐risk participants (46‐89%) gave favorable scores for all impact variables across all concepts, indicating they found most concepts motivating and acceptable. Those with no family history provided lower impact scores (39‐78%). After viewing all concepts: all groups significantly increased (p<.05) their “interest in participating in clinical trials”; and, the at‐risk and no‐history groups were significantly more likely to disagree with “there is nothing I can do to reduce my risk of [AD]”.ConclusionThis research identifies effective AD/ADRD ad concepts that are culturally tailored and acceptable to African Americans nationally, and addresses a known obstacle to recruitment. The combination of the messages/images successfully increased interest in CTs as an option to address AD/ADRD. Using these findings, NIA developed and offers an outreach toolkit to assist community health professionals who do not otherwise have resources to develop their own materials.

How Do Group Size and Group Familiarity Influence Tourist Satisfaction? The Mediating Role of Perceived Value

This study investigates how group size and group familiarity interactively impact tourists’ perceived value and overall satisfaction with a group travel experience. The study also assesses the mediating role of perceived value in affecting the relationships between tourist satisfaction and both group size and group familiarity. The results revealed that tourists in small (vs. large) groups would have a higher level of perceived value and overall satisfaction toward a group travel experience. However, high group familiarity attenuates the effect of group size on tourists’ perceived value and satisfaction. Perceived value fully mediated the effect of group size on tourist satisfaction, as well as the interaction effect between group size and group familiarity on tourist satisfaction. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications of this study were also discussed.

Investors’ Preference Towards Mutual Fund: An Analytical Evidence From Kathmandu Valley

This paper analysis investors’ preference towards mutual fund. The study was conducted inside the Kathmandu valley. In terms of familiarity with the various financial securities currently available in the Nepalese capital market, investors have high familiarity with fixed deposits, medium familiarity with shares and low familiarity with bonds and debentures and money market instruments. Incase of the preference for the structure of the mutual fund, more than two-third of the total respondent were in favor of Close Ended Mutual Funds. Potential investors of mutual funds prefer family members followed by self-analysis as a medium for getting understanding to create the awareness of mutual funds; TV Advertisement and Print Newspaper are effective, as these sources are preferred by the potential investors. This study concludes that mutual funds could be an admirable institution for bridging the gap between the individual savers and the established business in Nepal. Investors are showing more interest in mutual fund these days.

Blood Culturing Practices at an Academic Medical Center

Background: Blood cultures are part of the evaluation of hospital patients with fever. Patients with central lines in place, frequently have blood samples for culture drawn through lines. We sought to assess blood culturing practices at our institution. Methods: Retrospective review of BCs performed in hospitalized patients over a 12-month period (August 2018–July 2019) at an academic, tertiary-care center with 1,297 licensed beds and >62,000 admissions a year. A specialized phlebotomy team is involved in all peripherally drawn blood samples; however, the patient’s nurse obtains a blood sample through a central line. Results: Overall, 35,121 blood cultures were performed for an incidence rate of 106 BC per 1,000 patient days or 566 blood cultures per 1,000 admissions. Most blood samples (67%) were collected via peripheral venipuncture. We detected significant variation in culturing rates and the proportion of blood samples obtained through central lines among collecting units (Table 1). Overall, the blood culture contamination rate was 1.6%. Blood samples obtained through a central line had a higher contamination rate (2.2%) compared to samples obtained through peripheral venipuncture (1.3%; P < .0001). Blood culture rates were highest in intensive care units (ICUs) compared with other types of patient care units (Table 1). The blood culture positivity rate was significantly lower in ICUs (8.8%) compared with hematology-oncology (10%; HR, 0.88; CI, 0.80–0.96; P = .006), general medicine (10%; HR, 0.88; CI, 0.80–0.97; P = .013), and pediatrics (12%; HR, 0.74; CI, 0.59–0.92; P = .008). The ICUs had the lowest rate of BC contamination at 1.3%. Conclusions: Blood samples obtained through central lines for culture are more likely to be contaminated than peripherally drawn blood samples. Despite a relatively high rate of line-drawn blood samples for culture, ICUs had the lowest BC contamination rate, possibly reflecting high familiarity of ICU nurses with line draws. Blood samples collected through lines were most frequently performed in pediatrics and hematology-oncology, and these units had correspondingly higher rates of contamination. This information will be used to inform institutional guidelines on blood culturing and to identify ways to minimize blood culture contamination, which often results in additional testing and/or unnecessary antimicrobial use.Funding: NoneDisclosures: Consulting fee- Merck (Priya Sampathkumar)

Utility of a scale to assess Australian children’s perceptions of their swimming competence and factors associated with child and parent perception

AbstractIssue AddressedDrowning is a global public health issue. Aims were to assess: (a) face validity of the “Pictorial Scale of Perceived Water Competence (PSPWC),” (b) the association between child and parent perception of child swimming competence and (c) factors associated with perception of child swimming competence.MethodsChild‐parent dyads and swim instructors were recruited for a mixed method study. Children aged 4‐8 years (n = 51) reported on: familiarity, progressions and their own swim competence in 17 swimming situations. Parents (n = 51) reported on child competence and swimming experience. Swim instructors (n = 15) were interviewed. Spearman's rank correlation was used to assess whether child and parent swim perception were associated. The Mann‐Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed‐rank test or Kruskal‐Wallis test were used to assess which factors were associated with child and/or parent report.ResultsChildren reported high familiarity of scenarios and could sequence items. Swim instructors concluded the PSPWC depicted swim skills accurately. There was no association between child and parent perception of children's swimming ability. Swimming level was positively associated with child perception but not parent proxy report. Swimming lesson experience, child sex, country of birth and disadvantage were not associated with child perception or parent proxy report. Older children perceived higher swimming competence but parent report was not associated with child age.ConclusionsChildren have a better understanding of their swim competence than their parents do, suggesting parent education is needed.So what?The PSPWC could be used by teachers (both swimming and classroom) to inform parents how their child estimates their swim competence. If use of this tool was incorporated into education practice this could assist in creating awareness, which can be the start of advocacy towards the creation of policy to assist in the provision of accessible swim education for all Australian children.

Reproducibility of a new classification of the anterior clinoid process of the sphenoid bone.

Background: Pneumatization of the anterior clinoid process (ACP) affects paraclinoid region surgery, this anatomical variation occurs in 6.6–27.7% of individuals, making its preoperative recognition essential given the need for correction based on the anatomy of the pneumatized process. This study was conducted to evaluate the reproducibility of an optic strut-based ACP pneumatization classification by presenting radiological examinations to a group of surgeons.Methods: Thirty cranial computer tomography (CT) scans performed from 2013 to 2014 were selected for analysis by neurosurgery residents and neurosurgeons. The evaluators received Google Forms with questionnaires on each scan, DICOM files to be manipulated in the Horos software for multiplanar reconstruction, and a collection of slides demonstrating the steps for classifying each type of ACP pneumatization. Interobserver agreement was calculated by the Fleiss kappa test.Results: Thirty CT scans were analyzed by 37 evaluators, of whom 20 were neurosurgery residents and 17 were neurosurgeons. The overall reproducibility of the ACP pneumatization classification showed a Fleiss kappa index of 0.49 (95% confidence interval: 0.49–0.50). The interobserver agreement indices for the residents and neurosurgeons were 0.52 (0.51–0.53) and 0.49 (0.48–0.50), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.00001).Conclusion: The optic strut-based classification of ACP pneumatization showed acceptable concordance. Minor differences were observed in the agreement between the residents and neurosurgeons. These differences could be explained by the residents’ presumably higher familiarity with multiplanar reconstruction software.

The effect of input characteristics and individual differences on L2 comprehension of authentic and modified listening tasks

Within the task-based language teaching approach, the effect of input characteristics has been more centered on written than on aural texts. Moreover, the interplay of input characteristics and individual differences (IDs) has been insufficiently investigated. The current study sets out to address these gaps by comparing L2 learners’ comprehension of authentic and modified versions of two lectures and how IDs mediate the role of input condition in listening comprehension in an EAP context. The input was manipulated in terms of lexical sophistication and cohesion measures following previous research and informed by Natural Language Processing tools (e.g., Coh-Metrix, TAALES). Language aptitude, listening anxiety, task difficulty, task engagement, topic familiarity, and input condition (i.e., authentic and modified) were used as explanatory variables of listening comprehension as measured by 30 multiple-choice questions. The results of the Linear Mixed Effects Model suggested that the modified condition was significantly easier when IDs were controlled for, and engagement level and topic familiarity mediated the students’ performance in the authentic and modified conditions. While high engagement and high topic familiarity were necessary for successful performance in the authentic condition, the opposite was true in the modified condition.