Stages Of Acquisition Research Articles

Interference Effects on Procedural Memory

Three experiments were conducted assessing interference effects acting on procedural task learning and performance using the Tower of Hanoi puzzle as the target procedural task. Experiment 1 found that participants in the no retroactive interference (RI) group completed the Tower of Hanoi task faster than the RI groups, with no differences between the type of the tactile interference. These results indicate that RI may hinder procedural task performance, but does not differentiate between consolidation and retrieval. Experiment 2 addressed RI placement by manipulating the delay prior to the interference task. Subsequent analyses suggested that interfering with only consolidation or recall does not produce interference effects, but qualitative feedback regarding emotion raised further questions about the effects of affect induction. Experiment 3 attempted to address the influence of a proactive and retroactive affect induction technique, but was unsuccessful in producing a dichotomous happy versus neutral effect. However, it was noted that alertness changed across the task acquisition stage, and the change in alertness may account for enhanced procedural memory acquisition. Overall, the series of experiments conducted provides conceptual replication of some previous research while contradicting other findings. This research not only extends our current understanding but also highlights the need to replicate research and continue to explore factors that may influence the practice or acquisition of novel procedural tasks.

A cross-sectional survey measuring social norms, personal norms and altruistic values across responsible computer consumption life cycles

Purpose This study makes a unique contribution to the knowledge by investigating the mediating role of the social and personal norms across the acquisition, use and disposal stages of the responsible computer consumption lifecycle. Originality As the pioneer study conducted in Asian countries that provides integrative and holistic comparison on the mediating effect of personal and social norms with regards to responsible computer acquisition, use and disposal. Additionally, this study makes a theoretical contribution to the responsible computer value-behaviour relationships in an emerging market context. Methodology A large sample of 1000 questionnaires collected from 8 developed cities in Malaysia with the highest level of computer literacy, making this study capable of being generalized to the Malaysian population. Findings Social norms mediate the relationship between altruistic values and social norms at the acquisition and disposal stages. Personal norms mediate the relationship between altruistic and social norms at the acquisition and disposal stages.

Simplification principles and child language development in Armenian

At certain stages of their general cognitive development and language acquisition, children apparently employ their innately growing (cognitive) knowledge and skills to meet the challenges they face in L1 acquisition. Among other things, children use different sets of simplification strategies, such as cropping words, replacing or displacing syllables or syllabic constituents, omitting suffixes, and using simpler syntax. We catalog processes like fortition, reduplication, and the various stages of acquisition. This paper presents some language development data in Armenian children. Empirically, our study is one of the few (if only) known studies on the language acquisition of Armenian. The data provides valuable theoretical insight into the strategies that children pursue in communication, as well as in cognitive processing of speech.

Current Practices in LC-MS Untargeted Metabolomics: A Scoping Review on the Use of Pooled Quality Control Samples.

Untargeted metabolomics is an analytical approach with numerous applications serving as an effective metabolic phenotyping platform to characterize small molecules within a biological system. Data quality can be challenging to evaluate and demonstrate in metabolomics experiments. This has driven the use of pooled quality control (QC) samples for monitoring and, if necessary, correcting for analytical variance introduced during sample preparation and data acquisition stages. Described herein is a scoping literature review detailing the use of pooled QC samples in published untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based metabolomics studies. A literature query was performed, the list of papers was filtered, and suitable articles were randomly sampled. In total, 109 papers were each reviewed by at least five reviewers, answering predefined questions surrounding the use of pooled quality control samples. The results of the review indicate that use of pooled QC samples has been relatively widely adopted by the metabolomics community and that it is used at a similar frequency across biological taxa and sample types in both small- and large-scale studies. However, while many studies generated and analyzed pooled QC samples, relatively few reported the use of pooled QC samples to improve data quality. This demonstrates a clear opportunity for the field to more frequently utilize pooled QC samples for quality reporting, feature filtering, analytical drift correction, and metabolite annotation. Additionally, our survey approach enabled us to assess the ambiguity in the reporting of the methods used to describe the generation and use of pooled QC samples. This analysis indicates that many details of the QC framework are missing or unclear, limiting the reader's ability to determine which QC steps have been taken. Collectively, these results capture the current state of pooled QC sample usage and highlight existing strengths and deficiencies as they are applied in untargeted LC-MS metabolomics.

Obsolescence effects in second language phonological networks.

Phonological networks are representations of word forms and their phonological relationships with other words in a given language lexicon. A principle underlying the growth (or evolution) of those networks is preferential attachment, or the "rich-gets-richer" mechanisms, according to which words with many phonological neighbors (or links) are the main beneficiaries of future growth opportunities. Due to their limited number of words, language lexica constitute node-constrained networks where growth cannot keep increasing in a linear way; hence, preferential attachment is likely mitigated by certain factors. The present study investigated obsolescence effects (i.e., a word's finite timespan of being active in terms of growth) in an evolving phonological network of English as a second language. It was found that phonological neighborhoods are constructed by one large initial lexical spurt, followed by sublinear growth spurts that eventually lead to very limited growth in later lexical spurts during network evolution. First-language-given neighborhood densities are rarely reached even by the most advanced language learners. An analysis of the strength of phonological relationships between phonological word forms revealed a tendency to incorporate phonetically more distant phonological neighbors at earlier acquisition stages. Overall, the findings suggest an obsolescence effect in growth that favors younger words. Implications for the second-language lexicon include leveraged learning mechanisms and learning bouts focused on a smaller range of phonological segments, and involve questions concerning lexical processing in aging networks.

Acquisition of Spanish Temporal Adverbials by Multilingual Estonian Learners

Abstract This article focuses on the temporal structures used by multilingual Estonian students when expressing the hour in Spanish. Learning linguistic structures related to time is crucial in the early stages of foreign language acquisition. However, these structures can be complex and vary across languages, as they are highly idiosyncratic in terms of vocabulary and syntax. This study concentrates on the difficulties Estonian students face with Spanish time adverbials, specifically prepositions and articles. The paper aims to answer several research questions related to the repertoire of temporal expressions in the students' interlanguage, the difficulty posed by typological differences between their native language and Spanish, the influence of English, and the impact of English proficiency on Spanish production. The analysis of a corpus of interlanguage texts from Estonian students is conducted to identify idiosyncratic structures and patterns, distinguishing them from standard structures. The findings reveal that the use of articles improves with higher proficiency levels, while the use of prepositions remains challenging. Furthermore, the study explores the influence of English and Estonian on the students' Spanish production and highlights the importance of crosslinguistic reflection and attention to functional words for enhanced accuracy and fluency. The article concludes by emphasizing the significance of language proficiency levels and crosslinguistic influence in third language acquisition and suggesting areas for further research.

Real-time gesture-based control of UAVs using multimodal fusion of FMCW radar and vision

Gesture-based control has gained prominence as an intuitive and natural means of interaction with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This paper presents a real-time gesture-based control system for UAVs that leverages the multimodal fusion of Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar and vision sensors, aiming to enhance user experience through precise and responsive UAV control via hand gestures. The research focuses on developing an effective fusion framework that combines the complementary advantages of FMCW radar and vision sensors. FMCW radar provides robust range and velocity measurements, while vision sensors capture fine-grained visual information. By integrating data from these modalities, the system achieves a comprehensive understanding of hand gestures, resulting in improved gesture recognition accuracy and robustness. The proposed system comprises three main stages: data acquisition, gesture recognition, and multimodal fusion. In the data acquisition stage, synchronized data streams from FMCW radar and vision sensors are captured. Then, machine learning algorithms are employed in the gesture recognition stage to classify and interpret hand gestures. Finally, the multimodal fusion stage aligns and fuses the data, creating a unified representation that captures the spatial and temporal aspects of hand gestures, enabling real-time control commands for the UAV. Experimental results demonstrate the system‘s effectiveness in accurately recognizing and responding to hand gestures. The multimodal fusion of FMCW radar and vision sensors enables a robust and versatile gesture-based control interface.

EMG signal transmission system under RF schemes

With the rise in pathological conditions during the post-pandemic era, particularly concerning the management of biomedical signals, a significant surge has been observed. This research endeavors to develop a self-adaptive algorithm for the discretization and data encapsulation of electromyographic (EMG) signals. The synthetic signal used for analysis is acquired from the PhysioNet database, specifically focusing on the implementation of the tibialis anterior muscle. A transmission chain is established utilizing the AD9361 transceiver, while a power amplifier is employed for base radio applications, operating at a carrier frequency of 2.45 GHz. The spectral validation of this system reveals that the 16-QAM modulation, which is subjected to testing, yields an accuracy of -15.5 dB NMSE. As a further work, an EMG signal acquisition stage is proposed, based on a high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) card, alongside the exploration of higher order n-QAM schemes to enhance accuracy in the receiver stage.

Enriching Spanish-Speaking English Learners’ Experiences in the English Music Classroom

According to the National Education Association, one out of every four children in the U.S. public education system will be an English Learner (EL) by 2025, with at least half of these students likely being Spanish-speaking EL students. As school populations become more ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse, current and future music teachers must increase awareness of the barriers that the growing population of Spanish-speaking EL students may encounter. In this article, the author describes the language acquisition stages that Spanish-speaking EL students typically go through, providing insights into possible strategies for addressing their language barriers and socio-emotional needs, as well as fostering a culturally responsive and sustainable environment in the music classroom. In doing so, the author describes several concrete methods that music educators could use to engage with and learn more about the rich Spanish-speaking communities. Thus, becoming more responsive to the current demographic changes and challenges.

Replacing Traditional Plastics with Biodegradable Plastics: Impact on Carbon Emissions

In recent years, a great deal of attention has been focused on the environmental impact of plastics, including the carbon emissions related to plastics, which has promoted the application of biodegradable plastics. Countries worldwide have shown high interest in replacing traditional plastics with biodegradable plastics. However, no systematic comparison has been conducted on the carbon emissions of biodegradable versus traditional plastic products. This study evaluates the carbon emissions of traditional and biodegradable plastic products (BPPs) over four stages and briefly discusses environmental and economic perspectives. Four scenarios—namely, the traditional method, chemical recycling, industrial composting, and anaerobic digestion—are considered for the disposal of waste BPPs (WBPPs). The analysis takes China as a case study. The results show that the carbon emissions of 1000 traditional plastic products (plastic bags, lunch boxes, cups, etc.) were 52.09–150.36 carbon emissions equivalent of per kilogram (kg CO2eq), with the stage of plastic production contributing 50.71%–50.77%. In comparison, 1000 similar BPPs topped out at 21.06–56.86 kg CO2eq, approximately 13.53%–62.19% lower than traditional plastic products. The difference was mainly at the stages of plastic production and waste disposal, and the BPPs showed significant carbon reduction potential at the raw material acquisition stage. Waste disposal plays an important role in environmental impact, and composting and anaerobic digestion are considered to be preferable disposal methods for WBPPs. However, the high cost of biodegradable plastics is a challenge for their widespread use. This study has important reference significance for the sustainable development of the biodegradable plastics industry.

Zabawki „mówiące” w rozwoju mowy dziecka do trzeciego roku życia

Speech development is a special period in the life of every human being, when we acquire the ability to communicate non-verbally and verbally, e.g. as a result of language immersion. However, the development of speech is impacted by many factors that can be both negative and positive. The article presents the results of the author’s own research, whose aim was to determine the potential threats to the proper speech development of a child up to 3 years of age, resulting from the use of “talking” toys in line with the manufacturers’ recommendations. During the analysis of recordings presented by “talking” toys, special attention was paid to their articulation and linguistic correctness, prosody and the meaning of spoken words. The article includes a description of the various stages of speech acquisition up to the age of three and a review of terminological and legal issues regarding toys.

Carbon Footprint of Wool at Cradle to Farm-Gate Stage in Victoria, Australia

The raw material acquisition stage of wool involves raising sheep and a large amount of input and output, resulting in substantial greenhouse gas emissions. To date, the research literature on wool carbon footprint is limited, and there is a lack of research on Victoria. These studies did not consider the influence of changes in weight and productive lifespan. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by calculating the wool carbon footprint in Victoria and improving the calculation method. In this article, 20,000 sheep in Victoria were investigated. The average weights of the sheep were obtained by curve fitting and calculating. Two scenarios with 5-year and 6-year productive lifespans were used to calculate the carbon footprint of merino wool by the mass allocation method, economic allocation method, and protein mass allocation method. Results revealed that the carbon footprint of wool for the 5-year and 6-year productive lifespans were 14.158–49.040 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e)/kg wool and 16.743–52.882 kg CO2-e/kg wool. Rumination and excretion accounted for the largest proportion, followed by phosphate fertilizer, electricity, and potash fertilizer. The longer the productive lifespan and the heavier the sheep, the greater the greenhouse gas emissions from rumination and excretion, leading to a larger carbon footprint for wool. For the same productive lifespan, the economic allocation method produced the highest carbon footprint for wool compared to the mass allocation method, which produced the lowest carbon footprint. This study provides a reference for the subsequent carbon footprint accounting of wool from cradle to farm-gate and helps the wool industry save energy and reduce emissions.

Arrangements and Stages of Implementation of Land Acquisition for Development for Public Interests

From a formal legal perspective, the term land expropriation is recognized for the first time since Presidential Decree (Keppres) No.55 of 1993 on the acquisition of land for public interest development. This follows from Home Secretary's Order No. 15 of 1975 on the Procedural Regulations for the Liberation of Land (PMDN) which used the term "Land Liberation". With the entry into force of Law No. 2 of 2012, the term "land acquisition" is used. Several presidential decrees (Perpres) were issued to implement the Land Acquisition Act. Therefore, in order to understand in depth about the issue of land acquisition, it is necessary to explain how the arrangements and stages of land acquisition for the implementation of development in the public interest are necessary.

Мотивационная роль ESG-фактора при сделках экономической концентрации

The article is devoted to the consideration of the influence of the ESG factor (environment, social, governance) on M&A transactions (merger and acquisitions). The article substantiates the trend of economic transformations, reflecting the fact that environmental, social and corporate responsibility are becoming one of the most important areas of company development. Climate and environmental risks pose a threat to the financial stability of the business, its corporate image and social consumer loyalty. The article examines the degree of business involvement in the ESG agenda and provides a qualitative assessment of companies’ resource needs to achieve sustainable development goals. Using the opportunities provided by the green agenda, the company strengthens its ESG positions. The purpose of the study is to consider the role of the ESG factor in mergers and acquisitions. Based on the available research on the importance of mergers and acquisitions being an effective tool for business restructuring, the authors emphasize that the ESG factor is likely to be included in the overall motivational contour of concentration transactions. At the junction of two global strategic processes – the process of economic concentration and the process of sustainable development of companies in the field of ESG, the importance of studying the ESG factor, which has a motivating influence on mergers and acquisitions, is considered. The authors draw attention to the fact that the role and place of the little-studied ESG factor in the process of mergers and acquisitions, as well as the influence of the ESG agenda in the process of business concentration will increase at all stages of mergers and acquisitions. It is noted about the advantages of buying companies specializing in green technologies, which allows you to restructure the need for investment in the creation of modern and environmentally friendly technologies. The concept of sustainability is based on the efficiency of using limited resources, which is why the results of the study are of interest to companies focused on rapid growth using M&A transactions.

Does your regional variety help you acquire an additional language?

Abstract This study investigates Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Italian speakers from two dialectal areas–North and South Italy–learning Spanish. Southern Italo-Romance varieties exhibit a DOM system through a-marking, like Spanish, whereas the Northern varieties, like Standard Italian, only allow DOM with pronouns. Given the structural differences and similarities among these typologically close languages, we ask whether a stigmatized oral regional variety has the potential to transfer in the acquisition of additional languages. Participants (n = 103) completed an acceptability judgment task (AJT) and an oral production task testing DOM in [±animate, ±definite] DP contexts. The results revealed differences modulated by proficiency in the written AJT that moderately favored the Northern learners and in the oral production task that favored the Southern learners. These findings suggest that low-prestige varieties may not have the full potential to transfer at early stages of acquisition due to their inhibition in formal contexts, but that they can emerge in less formal tasks. We argue that current theoretical models that prioritize linguistic proximity as the primary source of transfer at initial stages of L3 acquisition are unable to capture revealing patterns from understudied sociolinguistic contexts that bring new light to the study of multilingualism.

Comparison of Methods for Calculating Indirect Upstream Carbon Emissions from Information and Communication Technology Manufacturing

The use of Information Communication technology (ICT) is rapidly increasing in an age of digitalization. Measurement of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from ICT is crucial for reducing them. Most ICT organizations focus on Scope 1 and 2 emissions as they have greater control over them, commonly ignoring Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 Category 1 (S3C1) emissions occur throughout the raw material acquisition and manufacturing stages of an ICT product's life cycle accounting for a large portion of the sector's overall CO2e emissions and energy consumption. By not reporting Scope 3 emissions, companies lose the ability to reduce their overall CO2e corporate emissions. Although Category 1 and 11 under Scope 3 account for 85% of ICT's worldwide CO2e emissions, the methodologies for calculating S3C1 emissions in ICT are understudied. This study focuses on these emissions in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals 9, 12, and 13. Product life cycle assessment (PLCA) and Spend-based methods have been used to analyze S3C1 emissions in the ICT sector with two case examples of laptop computers and smartphones. The Excel Management Life Cycle Assessment (EMLCA) tool has been used for the S3C1 emissions estimation. PLCA and Spend-based methods are compared on their ability to calculate CO2e emissions. It is concluded that the Spend-based is faster than PLCA for predicting ICT emissions with modest uncertainty for smartphone and laptop components. Furthermore, this work explores the advantages and downsides of both methods.

Advances in Understanding Stuttering as a Disorder of Language Encoding

We review accumulating evidence that implicates the language encoding and production system in children and adults who stutter. Stuttering is unique in its onset during the most dynamic stages of language acquisition, after apparently successful mastery of early language skills. We review older theories of stuttering that have given way to an understanding of stuttering's underlying bases in cortical and subcortical networks. Behavioral data suggest strong influences of language encoding demand on the frequency and location of stuttered events; psycholinguistic findings suggest atypical language processing in the absence of overt speech. We discuss the probable neuroanatomical and neurophysiological bases of these findings, with implications for therapeutic intervention.

Crosslinguistic influence in L3 acquisition

AbstractThis study investigates the role of lexical vs structural similarity in L3 acquisition. We designed a mini-artificial language learning task where the novel L3 was lexically based on Norwegian but included a property that was present in Russian and Greek yet absent in Norwegian (grammatical case). The participants were Norwegian-Russian and Norwegian-Greek bilinguals as well as a group of Norwegian L1 speakers. All participants also knew some English. The morphological expression of the L3 target property was more like Russian than Greek in that case was marked on the noun itself, not on articles. The results of our study indicate that previous experience with a language that is structurally like the L3 (Russian) is facilitative, even when the L3 lexically resembles a language that lacks this grammatical property (Norwegian). Our results suggest overt that the morphological expression of the target property also plays a role: previous experience with Greek that marks the target contrast on determiners did not seem to be facilitative at early stages of acquisition. Overall, our results are in line with models of L3/Ln acquisition which assume that both previously acquired languages influence the development of the L3 and that structural, morphological and lexical similarity play a role.

Inter-Trial Rest Interval Affects Learning Throwing Skills among Adolescents

Newly acquired motor skills can be critically driven by different rest periods during practice. Specifically, in the initial stages of motor skill acquisition, the interval between individual trials plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective motor performance, such as in the case of throwing. The objective of this research was to determine the optimal inter-trial rest period promoting efficient motor performance, focusing on two specific motor task actions. In a randomized counterbalanced cross-over research design 169 high-school students aged 14 were studied (M = 150; F = 19). In one block, participants performed 10 basketball free throws with a short rest interval (< 5 s) and 10 other throws with a long rest interval (∼50–60 s). In a second block, they threw a regular size tennis ball into a 1-m diameter circle on the floor at 6.75 m, again throwing 10 times with a short inter-trial rest interval and 10 times with a long inter-trial rest interval. The order of the rest intervals within each block was randomized and counterbalanced. With a repeated measures two-way analysis of variance, greater accuracy seemed to be associated with short intra-set rest intervals as there were significant main effects of both conditions (F1,167 = 368.0, p < 0.001, η2 p = 0.271) and resting time (F1,167 = 18.6, p < 0.001, η2 p = 0.192) and no significant interaction “condition by time”. Fast practice was efficient independently of the complexity of the throwing task, suggesting robust support for schema theory.

Feasibility of High-Fidelity Simulator Models for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery in a Resource-Limited Setting: Experience From East Africa.

Spine surgery is a rapidly evolving specialty with a continuous need to learn new skills. In resource-limited settings such as Africa, the need for training is greater. The use of simulation-based training is important in different stages of skill acquisition, especially for high-stake procedures such as spine surgery. Among the available methods of simulation, the use of synthetic models has gained popularity among trainers. Twenty participants of a neurosurgery training course, most of whom (65%) were neurosurgery residents and fellows, were recruited. They had hands-on training sessions using a high-fidelity lumbar degenerative spine simulation model and hands-on theater experience. After this, they completed a survey to compare their experience and assess the effectiveness of the lumbar spine model in stimulating real patient and surgery experiences. The participants were from four African countries, and the majority were neurosurgery residents. There were varying levels of experience among the participants in minimally invasive spine surgery, with the majority either having no experience or having only observed the procedure. All the participants said that the high-fidelity lumbar spine model effectively simulated real minimally invasive spine setup and real bone haptics and was effective in learning new techniques. Most of the participants agreed that the model effectively simulated real dura and nerve roots (95%), real muscle (90%), real bleeding from bones and muscles (95%), and real cerbrospinal fluid in the subarachnoid space. Among them, 95% agreed that the model is effective in lumbar minimally invasive spine training in resource-limited settings. With the development of new and better surgical techniques, the use of high-fidelity models provides a good opportunity for learning and training, especially in resource-poor settings where there is a paucity of training facilities and personnel.