Stages Of Acquisition Research Articles

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.

The babble of articulatory learning networks

Articulatory learning models utilize traditional neural network approaches to model speech. However,they differ in their inclusion of an intermediary step in which the model is trained to produce sound utilizing a physical model of the human vocal tract. This style of training is theoretically able to represent the impact of the physical nature of the human vocal tract on language in a way that is more directly translatable to the physical world. This project seeks to create an articulatory learning model which is trained to recognize and repeat input sounds utilizing the University of Wisconsin’s X-Ray Microbeam Database. We attempt this utilizing an inverse model which seeks to predict the vocal tract configuration of a given speech signal, and a forward model which predicts the acoustic form produced by vocal tract configurations. Further, we analyze the performance of the model across various training lengths to investigate the comparison to child language learning that is commonly made when implementing models of this type. Should this analysis of articulatory learners be valid, we look to find commonalities in the phonetic patterning of articulatory learning neural networks and those observed in the phonetic acquisition stages of child language development.

Search with two stages of information acquisition: A structural econometric model of online purchases

This paper presents a methodology for estimating a sequential model of online consumer search. The literature on such structural econometric models typically assumes that, for each alternative, there is only one stage of optimal information acquisition. For many e-commerce websites, however, there are two stages: obtaining information from (1) the search results page and (2) clicking on an alternative. We develop a methodology for estimating a model with two stages, in which the consumer makes optimal decisions in each stage. The search problem is viewed as a variant of a multi-armed bandit problem. We estimate this model using a dataset of clicks and purchases on the website expedia.com. In contrast to models with one stage of optimal information acquisition, our model can be used to analyse not only the clicking and purchasing behaviour of consumers but also the extent to which they browse alternatives on the search results page.

Nauczyciele języków obcych: Iluzje – fakty – badania

The article aims to analyze meanings underlying the popular concepts of a good teacher, efficient teacher, novice, expert and experienced non-expert from a diachronic perspective. Criteria used across developmental stages of second language acquisition/ foreign language teaching in the process of teacher accreditation are examined, as well as social contexts influencing teacher evaluation. Reasons for teachers’ dissatisfaction with European school systems are presented, as well as coping strategies employed by frustrated teachers. New challenges springing from economic, social and cultural student diversity are also discussed. Implications are sought for pre- and in-service teacher education.

Strategy in Business Planning for Acquisitions and Alliances

This study investigates how companies view acquisitions and alliances in the context of both their internal and external factors when developing strategies for their own business development choices. By referring to a large volume of relevant literature and incorporat-ing case studies of AT&amp;T and Time Warner and Enterprise and Pioneer, this paper identi-fies the role of acquisitions and alliances in business development. It is widely known that while both acquisitions and alliances can be used to avoid barriers to entry into a new in-dustry to the greatest extent potential for a company, mismanagement is still likely to cause conflicts affecting both the company and the acquired party. Thus, the results have shown that the company would be more successful with making an alliance with the other party at the right time and proceeding to the acquisition stage after obtaining to know each other slowly than if the company directly made the acquisition plans.

Evaluation of Telemedicine systems for ECG analysis: Advances in the design of RF schemes

The monitoring and transmission of biomedical signals, particularly ECG is essential in the post-pandemic era. In this research, an RF transmission with a carrier frequency of 2.45 GHz for ECG is used. A testbed for variable n-QAM schemes is developed with a low noise amplifier characterized in its linear region based on its P1dB, to guarantee a low level of induced non-linearities. The system includes an acquisition stage using the Olimex module and electrodes with an Ag/AgCl type sensor, and an algorithm is developed for detecting peaks in heart signals, heart rate and calculation of sample-based heart rate. The transceiver has total control of the transmitted tones, and a signal demodulation process is carried out in the receiver, one of the main challenges in Telemedicine is to ensure the fidelity of a signal, an EVMRMS of 8.36 is obtained for fifteen OFDM symbol frames. The developed system as a Telemedicine proposal provides versatility for signal acquisition, digitalization, data storage and a multivariable n-QAM scheme, which makes it viable for Telemedicine and classification processes.

Effect of self-modeling and self-controlled feedback on the performance of professional swimmers and waterpolo players

Self-modeling (SM) and self-control (SC) feedback can be presented as two solutions for learning improvement. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of SM and SC feedback on 100-m freestyle performance of professional swimmers and waterpolo players. 25 elite male swimmers and waterpolo players, were randomly assigned to four groups: swimmer group with SM, swimmer group with SM and SC feedback, waterpolo players group with SM, and waterpolo players group with SM and SC feedback. 100-m freestyle times and performance were recorded. SM and SC feedback for the participants were utilized at the acquisition stage. The device used included a Lenovo B570 laptop and an Exilim ZR200 canon camcorder. SM and SC feedback presented to the swimmers and waterpolo players led to improved speed and results, and the effect of presenting SM with SC feedback to swimmers had better results. In conclusion, the present study indicates that SC modeling of watching video is a suitable method for professional swimmers. Water polo trainers can also use SM and SC feedback to enhance their players' swimming technique.

Auditory attention influences trajectories of symbol–speech sound learning in children with and without dyslexia

The acquisition of letter–speech sound correspondences is a fundamental process underlying reading development, one that could be influenced by several linguistic and domain-general cognitive factors. In the current study, we mimicked the first steps of this process by examining behavioral trajectories of audiovisual associative learning in 110 7- to 12-year-old children with and without dyslexia. Children were asked to learn the associations between eight novel symbols and native speech sounds in a brief training and subsequently read words and pseudowords written in the artificial orthography. We then investigated the influence of auditory attention as one of the putative domain-general factors influencing associative learning. To this aim, we assessed children with experimental measures of auditory sustained selective attention and interference control. Our results showed shallower learning trajectories in children with dyslexia, especially during the later phases of the training blocks. Despite this, children with dyslexia performed similarly to typical readers on the post-training reading tests using the artificial orthography. Better auditory sustained selective attention and interference control skills predicted greater response accuracy during training. Sustained selective attention was also associated with the ability to apply these novel correspondences in the reading tests. Although this result has the limitations of a correlational design, it denotes that poor attentional skills may constitute a risk during the early stages of reading acquisition, when children start to learn letter–speech sound associations. Importantly, our findings underscore the importance of examining dynamics of learning in reading acquisition as well as individual differences in more domain-general attentional factors.

Development of an Adaptive Acquisition and Transmission System for Digital Processing of ECG Signals under Variable n-QAM Schemes

In the post-pandemic era, it is critical to monitor and transmit biomedical signals, specifically ECG. This study aims to develop a platform that enables signal acquisition, adaptation, and transmission using different n-QAM modulation schemes. The system comprises an acquisition stage implemented in the 2.5 GHz band employing the Olimex module and electrodes equipped with an Ag/AgCl type sensor. To effectively manage appropriate bandwidths during implementation of the various n-QAM modulation schemes, an adaptive algorithm was developed and applied to the system. The power amplifier was operated in the linear region to enhance the crest factor and achieve an ACPR close to 30 dBc, demonstrating an appropriate demodulation of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, it is feasible to shift to modulation schemes above 64-QAM in order to detect high frequencies and perform a subsequent Fourier analysis. As a telemedicine proposal, the developed system offers flexibility in signal acquisition, data storage, and digitalization, in addition to a multivariable n-QAM scheme; the hardware implementation ensures n-QAM scheme compatibility. For the purpose of contributing to telemedicine via RF transmission, the system was executed on an AD9361 transceiver, which removes the requirement for a traditional signal vector generator and enables optimal control of the tones to be transmitted.