Reading Efficiency Research Articles

The Impact of Font Design Based on Cognitive Psychology on Reading Experience

From the perspective of cognitive psychology, this paper examines and analyses how Font design affects the reading experience through four dimensions: visual perception, attention allocation, cognitive load and emotional response. It explores the effects of font attributes such as readability, glyph characteristics and word spacing on reading speed, comprehension and memory retention. It also proposes principles of font design based on cognitive psychology, aiming to provide guidance for designers and content creators to enhance users' reading efficiency and satisfaction.

The impact of augmented reality glasses on human visual efficiency and digital eye fatigue

Objective: To investigate the differences in reading efficiency and visual fatigue between the use of augmented reality (AR) glasses and laptops. Methods: A prospective self-controlled study was conducted. Healthy students from Capital Medical University who frequently engaged in long-term near work and used laptops and other digital display devices were recruited as subjects at Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University between November 1 and November 15, 2023. LogMAR visual acuity, visual functions (accommodation, convergence, and fusion), and visual fatigue scores (Likert visual fatigue scale) of the participants were assessed. The order of using the laptop and AR glasses for each participant was determined by a coin toss. Reading efficiency (reading speed and error rate multiplied by the detection rate of incorrect numbers) with different devices for 10 minutes at the same time on different dates and visual fatigue scores after watching a 20-minute video were measured. Statistical analyses were performed using paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Results: A total of 20 eligible subjects were included, comprising 7 males and 13 females, with a mean age of (25.45±2.27) years. There was no significant change in binocular visual acuity before and after using AR glasses and laptops (both P>0.05). The reading speed and reading efficiency of using AR glasses [(34.03±9.25) and (29.19±7.62) digits/min, respectively] were significantly lower than those of using laptops [(39.43±10.36) and (35.67±9.87) digits/min, respectively] (t=4.36, P<0.001), while the difference in error detection rate was not statistically significant (t=1.29, P=0.213). There was no statistically significant difference in visual fatigue scores before watching videos with the two devices (Z=-0.71, P=0.480). However, the visual fatigue score after watching videos with AR glasses [(20.55±5.04) points] was significantly higher than that with laptops [16.50 (13.00, 19.75) points] (Z=-2.85, P=0.004). The visual fatigue scores after watching videos with both devices were significantly higher than before (P<0.05), with a more significant increase observed with AR glasses [(6.05±3.50) points] (Z=-3.41, P<0.001). Conclusion: Compared with using laptops, the reading speed and efficiency were lower, and the visual fatigue was more pronounced with the use of AR glasses at the current technical level. Further optimization and improvement of AR glasses are warranted.

Deep learning denoising reconstruction enables faster T2-weighted FLAIR sequence acquisition with satisfactory image quality.

Deep learning reconstruction (DLR) technologies are the latest methods attempting to solve the enduring problem of reducing MRI acquisition times without compromising image quality. The clinical utility of this reconstruction technique is yet to be fully established. This study aims to assess whether a commercially available DLR technique applied to 2D T2-weighted FLAIR brain images allows a reduction in scan time, without compromising image quality and thus diagnostic accuracy. 47 participants (24 male, mean age 55.9 ± 18.7 SD years, range 20-89 years) underwent routine, clinically indicated brain MRI studies in March 2022, that included a standard-of-care (SOC) T2-weighted FLAIR sequence, and an accelerated acquisition that was reconstructed using the DLR denoising product. Overall image quality, lesion conspicuity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and artefacts for each sequence, and preferred sequence on direct comparison, were subjectively assessed by two readers. There was a strong preference for SOC FLAIR sequence for overall image quality (P = 0.01) and head-to-head comparison (P < 0.001). No difference was observed for lesion conspicuity (P = 0.49), perceived SNR (P = 1.0), and perceived CNR (P = 0.84). There was no difference in motion (P = 0.57) nor Gibbs ringing (P = 0.86) artefacts. Phase ghosting (P = 0.038) and pseudolesions were significantly more frequent (P < 0.001) on DLR images. DLR algorithm allowed faster FLAIR acquisition times with comparable image quality and lesion conspicuity. However, an increased incidence and severity of phase ghosting artefact and presence of pseudolesions using this technique may result in a reduction in reading speed, efficiency, and diagnostic confidence.

Decision tree based prediction system for word difficulty classification

In the era of information technology in education, personalised learning is becoming increasingly important, especially in the English learning process. An important aspect of facilitating personalised learning in English reading is the use of a reliable objective word difficulty classification system to quickly capture and understand reading difficulties and core concepts. The aim of this study was to use decision tree modelling to predict the general proficiency of the public in words with different attributes. In addition, a K-Means clustering algorithm was used to categorise words into five classes based on their level of difficulty. By adopting this approach, the prediction of word difficulty becomes both fast and objective, and by testing the accuracy of the model, it was found that our model achieved an accuracy of 0.95. Accurate classification of word difficulty will play an important role in facilitating personalised learning in English reading and improve the efficiency of English reading.

The Use of Schema Theory in the Teaching of Reading Comprehension

Reading is one of the important links in English teaching, and it is the fundamental way for students to accept texts, acquire knowledge and exchange ideas. Schema theory refers to the use of different schemas such as form, content and language in reading teaching to help students activate the original schemas and create new ones, so as to realize the transition from passive acceptance and perception of text information to independent reorganization of text information, improve reading efficiency and further enhance students’ comprehensive ability of reading comprehension. This paper will use the schema theory, combined with the characteristics of reading teaching in junior school English teaching, to study the application of the schema theory in the middle school English reading teaching, in order to cultivate students' interest in English reading and improve their English reading ability.

Action video games normalise the phonemic awareness in pre-readers at risk for developmental dyslexia

Action video-games (AVGs) could improve reading efficiency, enhancing not only visual attention but also phonological processing. Here we tested the AVG effects upon three consolidated language-based predictors of reading development in a sample of 79 pre-readers at-risk and 41 non-at-risk for developmental dyslexia. At-risk children were impaired in either phonemic awareness (i.e., phoneme discrimination task), phonological working memory (i.e., pseudoword repetition task) or rapid automatized naming (i.e., RAN of colours task). At-risk children were assigned to different groups by using an unequal allocation randomization: (1) AVG (n = 43), (2) Serious Non-Action Video Game (n = 11), (3) treatment-as-usual (i.e., speech therapy, n = 11), and (4) waiting list (n = 14). Pre- and post-training comparisons show that only phonemic awareness has a significantly higher improvement in the AVG group compared to the waiting list, the non-AVG, and the treatment-as-usual groups, as well as the combined active groups (n = 22). This cross-modal plastic change: (i) leads to a recovery in phonemic awareness when compared to the not-at-risk pre-readers; (ii) is present in more than 80% of AVG at-risk pre-readers, and; (iii) is maintained at a 6-months follow-up. The present findings indicate that this specific multisensory attentional training positively affects how phonemic awareness develops in pre-readers at risk for developmental dyslexia, paving the way for innovative prevention programs.

Predicting Early Cochlear Implant Performance: Can Cognitive Testing Help?

There is significant variability in speech recognition outcomes in adults who receive cochlear implants (CIs). Little is known regarding cognitive influences on very early CI performance, during which significant neural plasticity occurs. Prospective study of 15 postlingually deafened adult CI candidates tested preoperatively with a battery of cognitive assessments. The mini-mental state exam (MMSE), forward digit span, Stroop measure of inhibition-concentration, and test of word reading efficiency were utilized to assess cognition. consonant-nucleus-consonant words, AZBio sentences in quiet, and AZBio sentences in noise (+10 dB SNR) were utilized to assess speech recognition at 1- and 3-months of CI use. Performance in all speech measures at 1-month was moderately correlated with preoperative MMSE, but these correlations were not strongly correlated after correcting for multiple comparisons. There were large correlations of forward digit span with 1-month AzBio quiet (P ≤ 0.001, rho = 0.762) and AzBio noise (P ≤ 0.001, rho = 0.860), both of which were strong after correction. At 3 months, forward digit span was strongly predictive of AzBio noise (P ≤ 0.001, rho = 0.786), which was strongly correlated after correction. Changes in speech recognition scores were not correlated with preoperative cognitive test scores. Working memory capacity significantly predicted early CI sentence recognition performance in our small cohort, while other cognitive functions assessed did not. These results differ from prior studies predicting longer-term outcomes. Findings and further studies may lead to better preoperative counseling and help identify patients who require closer evaluation to ensure optimal CI performance.

Natural Gas Consumption Monitoring Based on k-NN Algorithm and Consumption Prediction Framework Based on Backpropagation Neural Network

With increasing consumption of primary energy and deterioration of the global environment, clean energy sources with large reserves, such as natural gas, have gradually gained a higher proportion of the global energy consumption structure. Monitoring and predicting consumption data play a crucial role in reducing energy waste and improving energy supply efficiency. However, owing to factors such as high monitoring device costs, safety risks associated with device installation, and low efficiency of manual meter reading, monitoring natural gas consumption data at the household level is challenging. Moreover, there is a lack of methods for predicting natural gas consumption at the household level in residential areas, which hinders the provision of accurate services to households and gas companies. Therefore, this study proposes a gas consumption monitoring method based on the K-nearest neighbours (KNN) algorithm. Using households in a residential area in Xi’an as research subjects, the feasibility of this monitoring method was validated, achieving a model recognition accuracy of 100%, indicating the applicability of the KNN algorithm for monitoring natural gas consumption data. In addition, this study proposes a framework for a natural gas consumption prediction system based on a backpropagation (BP) neural network.

Research on Parallel Reading and Drawing Techniques for Chemical Mechanical Polishing Simulation Data Based on Multi-Thread

In advanced integrated circuit manufacturing, the quality of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a key factor affecting chip performance and yield. Designers need to use CMP simulation tools to locate and analyze the defects in the layout after the CMP process. However, the advancement of process nodes and the increase in data volume presents a great challenge to the speed of graphical display of CMP simulation data. To solve this issue, we propose a solution that uses multi-threading technology to optimize both data reading and drawing. In the process of data reading, we employ OpenMP and memory mapping (Mmap) technology to achieve parallel reading of file segmentation and propose a fast-string conversion algorithm based on the properties of simulation data. In the process of data drawing, we propose an adaptive downsampling method for data graphical display that combines multi-threading and double buffering technology to enable the parallel drawing of layouts. The effectiveness of this method is verified by testing CMP simulation data of various scales. Compared to traditional methods, this approach improves reading efficiency by over 8 times and drawing efficiency by more than 10 times. Furthermore, it enhances the smoothness of interaction with the CMP simulation tool.

Review of the scientific monograph of Dr. engineer Bogdan Ćwik entitled Efficiency of reading warning signals in security monitoring systems, WAT Publishing House 2023.

The reviewed monograph is the author's original idea regarding the subject matter. No monographic position in this approach has been found, either on the Polish or international market. It is a valuable supplement to the titles in the field of security research appearing on the publishing market.The thematic area covered includes early warning systems and personal security. It may also constitute a contribution to in-depth scientific considerations in the area of information impacts. Some fragments of the analyzed monograph may allow us to explore the mechanisms of information wars or propaganda mechanisms. This topic can be useful in many areas, the most recent of which is the experience from the war between Russia and Ukraine, where an important element of this conflict is information warfare, the basic factor of which is the distortion of transmitted information. And the clearest example of what organized information influence can cause is the Russian society and the high percentage of Russian residents supporting this war. The problems discussed in this monograph may also affect immunity in reading information and signals provided in various means of social space. Such an area is social media and the phenomena of various forms of information aggression in these media.

Research on Reading Strategies and Teaching of Foreign Literary Works

The reading of foreign literature plays an important role in higher education, but many students encounter difficulties in the process of reading and need effective reading strategies. Combining literature review with empirical research, this paper discusses the reading strategies of foreign literary works, including pre-reading strategies, during-reading strategies and post-reading strategies, and puts forward corresponding practical suggestions. The research shows that effective reading strategies can improve the quality and efficiency of reading, enhance students' interest and ability in reading, and improve their foreign language level and humanistic quality.

Study on the Automatic Information Processing Strategy in L2 Reading

Reading is currently a prominent topic in L2 acquisition research, serving as an indicator of L2 learners’ overall language proficiency. However, there are still many challenges in reading for L2 learners. For example, there still exist some linguistic and non-linguistic problems, such as insufficient language ability, lack of cultural background knowledge, low reading efficiency, and poor reading habits. Effectively improving the information processing skills of L2 learners in reading posts a major challenge for researchers. This paper explores the effective strategies for L2 learners to obtain the ability of automatic reading information processing through the scale survey. It is found in the study that:1) L2 learners believe that they can reach the level of automatic reading processing through the automatic information processing strategy; 2) The automatic information processing strategy can be applied in L2 reading to effectively improve the level of L2 automatic processing. Various strategies, such as improving language proficiency, increasing cultural background knowledge, utilizing metacognitive strategies, and employing socio-emotional strategies, both linguistic and non-linguistic, have been identified to effectively improve the automatic information processing ability of L2 learners. This study has important theoretical and practical value for improving the reading ability of L2 learners.

Cognitive Styles and Instructional Strategies in Improving Reading Skills of Primary School Pupils in Abia State

The importance of the knowledge of reading to all individuals in order to live effective and active life in the society in which they find themselves is not in doubt. Reading is one of the compulsory disciplines in Nigeria’s education system. Unfortunately, many times, students complain about how to cope with the vast number of reading assignments. This is because they have not learned how to read efficiently. Although it is not only students who are worried about their slow reading pace, little wonder Nnamani (2005) states that the graduate workers or executives should be concerned about improving their reading efficiency because the average Nigerian’s reading speed of about 250 words per minute (250 wpm) is not fast enough to cope with the voluminous reading materials associated with high-flying jobs. Reading efficiently means reading with an average speed of about 600 wpm and a comprehension level of 70%, depending on the complexity of the materials and purpose for reading. Reading is a literacy skill and a fundamental life skill that is necessary for every person. It can be described as a systematic way whereby readers find readable materials by the writer in written form. Therefore, reading means responding to the writer in an understandable way to predict the meaning of the text. According to Nwokocha (2016), reading can be defined as a comprehensive exercise involving the writer, the reader, and the ability to comprehend the written information. Based on the knowledge explosion, the 21st century is faced with the challenge of how to cope with the number of print and computer-assisted media produced annually. Texts are printed to be read. There is also advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which must also be read. This print and electronic media will not be highly utilized without reading ability.

Smart Contract Generation through NLP and Blockchain for Legal Documents

The rise in legislation and the need for task automation systems has resulted in an amplified requirement for software development. This is aimed at improving the accuracy and efficiency of reading and interpreting laws in legal activities, allowing for enhanced precision and swiftness. Currently, there is a need for analysts to interpret written legislation and then encode it into computer programs, which often leads to errors. As cryptocurrencies gain popularity, there is growing interest in utilizing Blockchain technology in the legal field. Specifically, smart contracts can be used to integrate business rules into laws and automate blockchain management. However, the process of writing fast and high-quality code can be improved by leveraging artificial intelligence based techniques such as natural language processing (NLP) to help practitioners. Despite reviewing the current state-of-the-art, there is a lack of existing work that combines smart contracts and NLP in the context of legislation analysis. This study work generates intelligent code from legislation analysis, utilizing NLP and Blockchain for this purpose. In this research work a pilot prototype for smart contract generation is developed and initial code samples are presented. This work demonstrates a promising results with 96% accuracy in Name Entity Recognition (NER) and also highlights the importance of smart contract generation through NLP.

Outcome Measures of In-Office Optometric Visual Rehabilitation Intervention on Oculomotor Function, Visual Processing Skills, and Reading Efficiency Scores in Children with Formally Identified Academic Difficulties

Oculomotor dysfunction (OMD) and visual information processing (VIP) deficits are often seen in children with reading difficulties. Prior published evidence has shown statistically significant correlations between several metrics, in particular vergence facility and reading efficiency at baseline within an office-based vision therapy (OBVT) setting supported by home vision therapy (HVT). However, data on the effects of OBVT on OMD, VIP deficits, and reading performance is currently lacking. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether vision therapy improves VIP deficits in children diagnosed specifically with a dyseidetic based reading problem with confirmed concurrent oculomotor dysfunction.

AsmMix: an efficient haplotype-resolved hybrid de novo genome assembling pipeline.

Accurate haplotyping facilitates distinguishing allele-specific expression, identifying cis-regulatory elements, and characterizing genomic variations, which enables more precise investigations into the relationship between genotype and phenotype. Recent advances in third-generation single-molecule long read and synthetic co-barcoded read sequencing techniques have harnessed long-range information to simplify the assembly graph and improve assembly genomic sequence. However, it remains methodologically challenging to reconstruct the complete haplotypes due to high sequencing error rates of long reads and limited capturing efficiency of co-barcoded reads. We here present a pipeline, AsmMix, for generating both contiguous and accurate diploid genomes. It first assembles co-barcoded reads to generate accurate haplotype-resolved assemblies that may contain many gaps, while the long-read assembly is contiguous but susceptible to errors. Then two assembly sets are integrated into haplotype-resolved assemblies with reduced misassembles. Through extensive evaluation on multiple synthetic datasets, AsmMix consistently demonstrates high precision and recall rates for haplotyping across diverse sequencing platforms, coverage depths, read lengths, and read accuracies, significantly outperforming other existing tools in the field. Furthermore, we validate the effectiveness of our pipeline using a human whole genome dataset (HG002), and produce highly contiguous, accurate, and haplotype-resolved assemblies. These assemblies are evaluated using the GIAB benchmarks, confirming the accuracy of variant calling. Our results demonstrate that AsmMix offers a straightforward yet highly efficient approach that effectively leverages both long reads and co-barcoded reads for haplotype-resolved assembly.

Medidas de qualidade lexical na avaliação da proficiência de leitura em alunos universitários brasileiros

ABSTRACT Purpose: to assess the reading ability of university students using tasks to measure Lexical Quality (LQ) and evaluate the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on both the reading performance and the components of Lexical Quality (LQ). Methods: 44 students from two federal universities took online linguistic tests, 19 from the Federal University of the Great ABC Region (UFABC) and 25 from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Brazil. Two-ranked Mann-Whitney (Wilcoxon rank-sum test) and Pearson’s Correlation tests at p&lt;0,05 were applied to analyze the data. Results: high and medium correlations were obtained among the different components of LQ, such as vocabulary and spelling recognition. In addition, significant differences were found between the performances of the two universities' students and their distinct socioeconomic levels. Conclusion: shorter reading times were correlated to higher accuracy in the Test of Word Reading Efficiency for Adults. The number of correct answers in the homonym test was correlated to the higher accuracy of the Test of Word Reading Efficiency for Adults, and both were correlated to the reaction time measures of these tests. The influence of socioeconomic status on reading performance and Lexical Quality components tasks was also found.

Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Interventions to Reinforce the Reading Skills of the Technical Students

Abstract - All readers have their own strategies while reading. They do face difficulties in using the appropriate strategy because they blend all the strategies to obtain or achieve specific criteria to achieve the desired comprehension, and in the end, they land up in significant confusion and inefficient reading. This paper aims to identify the vital reading strategies used mainly by the technical students while reading a text and further to classify the reading strategies under the designated criteria that are necessary to be practiced developing the reading efficiency among the technical students. Instead, if they try to find out the specific strategy to follow up for gaining the desired criterion, that will indeed help them better read any text. This paper is validated and illustrated mathematically using Multi-Criteria Decision- Making representation in assessing the data collected from students at different engineering colleges, including some central technical institutions. This paper provides technical students with an idea of using a specific and appropriate strategy which helps them in the application of precis strategy while facing challenges in different aspects while reading. Key words - Reading skills, Strategies, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Vocabulary stock, Eye-fixation, Reread, Performance score.

Development and Evaluation of Refreshable Braille Display and Active Touch-Reading System for Digital Reading of the Visually Impaired.

The traditional way of reading through Braille books is constraining the reading experience of blind or visually impaired (BVI) in the digital age. In order to improve the reading convenience of BVI, this paper proposes a low-cost and refreshable Braille display device, and solves the problems of high energy consumption and low latching force existing in existing devices. Further, the Braille display device was combined with the 3D Systems Touch device to develop an active Braille touch-reading system for digital reading of BVI with the help of the CHAI3D virtual environment. Firstly, according to the actual needs of BVI to touch and read the Braille dots, this paper utilizes the beam structure to provide a full latching function for the raised Braille dot without energy consumption. Through theoretical derivation and finite element analysis, the performance of the Braille dot actuator is optimized to provide sufficient feedback force and latching force for finger's touch-reading. Then, this paper designs a virtual Braille interactive environment based on the CHAI3D, and combines the sense of touch with audio to effectively improve the recognition accuracy and reading efficiency of BVI for Braille through the multi-modal presentation of Braille information. The performance test results of the device show that the average lifting force of the Braille dot actuator is 101.67 mN, the latching force is over 5 N, and the average refresh frequency is 17.1 Hz, which meets the touch-reading needs of BVI. User experiments show that the average accuracy rate of BVI subjects in identifying digitized Braille is 95.5%, and subjects have a high subjective evaluation of the system.

Effects of indoor lighting environments on paper reading efficiency and brain fatigue: an experimental study

Introduction: This study investigated the influence of indoor lighting environments on paper reading efficiency and brain fatigue to explore lighting parameters that benefit users during various reading durations.Methods: The study was conducted in the Smart Lighting Lab, where 12 participants were tested under different illuminance levels and correlated color temperatures (CCT) for three distinct reading durations. Reading efficiency during the task tests and objective measures of brain activity by monitoring participants’ electroencephalograms (EEGs) were used as key factors to assess participants’ fatigue levels.Results: By analyzing the subjective and objective results, we found that paper reading efficiency was significantly affected by changes in the lighting environment. Also, based on the results of this study, we propose lighting recommendations for paper reading tasks of different durations. For a 15 min reading task, the lighting condition of 500 lux-6,500 K were the most efficient for reading; for a 30 min reading task, 500 lux-4,000 K lighting environments were found to be the most effective; and 750 lux-6,500 K was the best lighting environment for a 60 min reading duration.Discussion: These suggestions can serve as a reference for designing indoor lighting environment. In addition, they provide guidance to researchers and reviewers conducting similar studies.