Talk Time Research Articles

An extension of the Beurling-Chen-Hadwin-Shen theorem for noncommutative Hardy spaces associated with finite von Neumann algebras

In 2015, Yanni Chen, Don Hadwin and Junhao Shen proved a noncommutative version of Beurling’s theorem for a continuous unitarily invariant norm α on a tracial von Neumann algebra (M, τ) such that α is one dominating with respect to τ . The role of H∞ is played by a maximal subdiagonal algebra A. In the talk, we first will show that if α is a continuous normalized unitarily invariant norm on (M, τ), then there exists a faithful normal tracial state ρ on M and a constant c > 0 such that α is a c times one norm-dominating norm on (M,ρ). Moreover, ρ(x) = τ(xg), where x ∈M , g is positive in L1(Z, τ), where Z is the center of M . Here c and ρ are not unique. However, if there is a c and ρ so that the Fuglede-Kadison determinant of g is positive, then Beurling-Chen-Hadwin-Shen theorem holds for L(α)(M, τ). The key ingredients in the proof of our result include a factorization theorem and a density theorem for for L(α)(M,ρ). Talk time: 2016-07-19 03:00 PM— 2016-07-19 03:20 PM Talk location: Cupples I Room 207

TEACHER TALKING TIME VS. STUDENT TALKING TIME: MOVING FROM TEACHER-CENTERED CLASSROOM TO LEARNER-CENTERED CLASSROOM

Teacher talking time refers to the amount of class time the teacher spends speaking to the class, either as part of a lecture or in discussions. Particularly in ESL classes, more time needs to be given to students so they can speak more—foreign language learners improve more rapidly when they are able to practice what they’ve learned more often.Some EFL/ESL researchers say that students should speak for 70% of the lesson. Teachers should speak for 30% of the time. Of course, some lessons may require longer explanations on the part of the teacher. Or other lessons may only require a minimal amount of explanation, and 90% or more may be devoted to conversational activities. But this 70/30 figure works well as a goal in most classroom situations.
 The aim of the paper is to show whether this percentage is true and achievable and whether this percentage is applicable for both literature and linguistic content. The results will be achieved through a research conducted with the teachers of English in both elementary and high schools in Bitola, who will answer a series of questions regarding how much they talk in class and how much time they dedicate to Q&A sessions.

INTERACTION ANALYSIS OVER SPEECH FOR CALL CENTRE

Customer Service Center is the second most important consideration just after the actual product. Also, customer service is one of the biggest contributors to the cost component for any firm. We aim to apply well-known data mining techniques to the problem of predicting the quality of interactions like those done in call centers and the problem of predicting the quality of service. The analysis of call center conversations will provide useful insights for enhancing Call Center Analytics to a level that will enable new metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) beyond the standard approach. These metrics rely on understanding the dynamics of conversations by highlighting the way participants discuss topics. The main focus will be to reduce the average handling time, is a call center metric for the average duration of one transaction, typically measured from the customer’s initiation of the call and including any hold time, talk time and related tasks that follow the transaction. Get real-time solution. The main operations will be speaker diarization, speech to text, agent analysis, emotion recognition and other measures to help with the analysis. We will use RAVDESS (Ryerson Audio-Visual Database of Emotional Speech and Song) for emotion analysis, consisting of vocal emotional expressions in sentences spoken in a range of basic emotional states (happy, sad, anger, fear, disgust, surprise and calm). Emotion recognition is done by extracting features from the audio from its Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and passing it through a convolutional neural network. All of this will happen in real time as the call is taking place.

The Usefulness of Cell Phones for Crop Farmers in Selected Regions of Bangladesh

This research endeavours the usefulness of cell phones for crop farmers in selected region of Bangladesh. For adequate findings and to achieve its purpose, structured interview schedule was adopted to collect data from 281 randomly selected farmers and it was revealed that a little over 60% of them found cell phones very useful, while only 5.3% respondents found the cell phone as less useful. Based on average talk time hours spend in the last six months, top three sources of agricultural information were friends and relatives, distributors and middlemen, and farmers in advanced categories. The results of the ordered logit model showed that their usefulness was significantly determined by age, farm size, per month call charges, and experience in using cell phones. Higher call rates, lack of awareness and paucity of mobile-based information sources were major bottlenecks in using cell phones for agricultural information. The recommendations suggested therein lead to connecting farmers with reliable and rich information sources, use of MMS and SMS, voice call activities, providing subsidized SIM cards, and ultimately undertake widespread campaigns for training of aged farmers to persuade their interest towards the use of cell phones and mobile-based information sources.

Mechano-acoustic sensing of physiological processes and body motions via a soft wireless device placed at the suprasternal notch.

Skin-mounted soft electronics incorporating high-bandwidth triaxial accelerometers can provide broad classes of physiologically relevant information, such as mechanoacoustic signatures of underlying body processes (such as those captured by a stethoscope) and precision kinematics of core body motions. Here, we describe a wireless device designed to be conformally placed on the suprasternal notch for the continuous measurement of mechanoacoustic signals, from subtle vibrations of the skin at accelerations of ~10−3 m·s−2 to large motions of the entire body at ~10 m·s−2, and at frequencies up to ~800 Hz. Because th measurements are a complex superposition of signals that arise from locomotion, body orientation, swallowing, respiration, cardiac activity, vocal-fold vibrations and other sources, we used frequency-domain analysis and machine learning to obtain, from human subjects during natural daily activities and exercise, real-time recordings of heart rate, respiration rate, energy intensity and other essential vital signs, as well as talking time and cadence, swallow counts and patterns, and other unconventional biomarkers. We also used the device in sleep laboratories, and validated the measurements via polysomnography.

Do I Talk Too Much in Class? A Quantitative Analysis of ESL Classroom Interaction

Teacher-learner interaction in the classroom is dictated by how well the teacher manages classroom talk-time which has a direct influence on learner achievement in an ESL Classroom. Teachers often perceive that they allocate enough time for student talk time; however, the past literature suggests that teacher talk-time takes around 70-75% of overall time in the class. The purpose of this study is to analyze the TTT (Teacher Talk-Time) in the context of ESL classroom in Pakistan. Convenience based sampling was used to assess the Teacher Talk-Time through observational method. Findings of 12 sessions (30-hours) showed that average Teacher Talk-Time was 65% of the total classroom time. The study highlights that ESL teachers need to improve the Learner Talk-Time (LTT) as the analysis showed that on average each student only gets 22 seconds of talk-time in an ESL class. A blended learning model can help ESL teachers to eliminate some of the talk-time and engage learners with meaningful activities that encourage classroom interaction in the target language.

EFL Instructors’ Performance Evaluation at University Level: Prescriptive and Collaborative Approaches

The present paper aims to investigate EFL instructors’ performance at university level according to prescriptive and collaborative approaches in supervision. In order to achieve this target, the researcher addressed three questions. The first investigates instructors’ level of performance. The second and third questions aimed to identify instructors' points of strength and action points. In this regard, the researcher developed an observation checklist (Appendix A) for supervisors to use when observing teachers'. He also developed observation guidelines for supervisors to make sure they are following the collaborative approach of supervision (Appendix B). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviation and percentages to answer the first question. To answer the second and third questions, the researcher used content analysis to synthesize the supervisors' feedback given to instructors regarding their points of strengths and action points. The results showed that the instructors' performance was either satisfactory or outstanding based on the supervisors' observation, which could be due to the professional development program conducted to develop their teaching competencies. In addition, the instructors showed themselves competent in other areas related to motivating students and providing them with constructive feedback. However, some instructors still need to develop their competencies in areas such as classroom management and teacher talk time. These have been summarized according to their frequency of occurrence in tables 2 and 3. Based on the results, the researcher drew a number of conclusions and recommendations.

POGLĄDY POLSKICH NAUCZYCIELI NA UŻYCIE JĘZYKA PIERWSZEGO W ROZWIJANIU OBCOJĘZYCZNEJ KOMPETENCJI KOMUNIKACYJNEJ

Although a dominating paradigm in foreign language teaching in the past decades has been to use foreign language as often as possible, voices are now being raised that there is a place for students’ mother tongue in a language classroom. As the present article shows, both the critics and the supporters of the monolingual principle put forward commonsensical arguments in support of their stands. These arguments are outlined in the first part of the present article together with a brief look at the history of foreign-language-only approaches in language teaching methodology. What follows is a report on a study conducted by the author among 20 teachers in Poland with the aim of finding out the extent of and reasons for using mother tongue. The study demonstrated that on average teacher talking time in 60% comprises foreign language. Students’ first language is primarily used for teaching grammar and translating vocabulary.

Neutrality and satisfaction in the mediation session: party and mediator perspectives

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between perceptions of mediators acting symmetrically (treating parties equally) and transparently (providing an explanation of past or future behavior) with parties’ assessments of the neutrality of their mediator and satisfaction with the mediation process.Design/methodology/approachThis mixed-method study surveyed parties and mediators from 35 naturally occurring mediation sessions at community mediation centers about their perceptions of neutrality, symmetry, transparency and satisfaction.FindingsThe results showed that parties overwhelmingly assessed their mediators as acting neutrally. Compared to parties’ assessments of mediator neutrality, mediators rated their own neutrality even higher. Symmetry and transparency were both positively correlated with parties’ assessment of mediator neutrality and also emerged as qualitative themes. Speaking order and talk time did not significantly correlate with perception of symmetry. Overall, symmetry appeared to be a more salient factor in parties’ assessment of mediator neutrality than transparency. Both neutrality and symmetry were positively correlated with party satisfaction with the mediation process, but transparency was not.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study provides a foundation for future research in understanding neutrality from both parties and mediators’ perspectives. The primary limitation was a small sample size and possible selection bias in achieving the sample.Practical implicationsThe study found that symmetry and transparency are useful strategies for managing party perceptions of mediator neutrality and party satisfaction with the mediation process.Originality/valueThis study is one of only a few empirical research studies that investigated the parties’ perspective of mediator neutrality. The study provides a foundation for future research in understanding neutrality from both parties and mediators’ perspectives.

TEACHER TALK AND INSTRUCTIONAL LANGUAGE CHOICE: TWO PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN EFL CLASSROOM

When we agree with the internalization of a foreign language acquisition centered in the classroom, teacher talk plays the most important role to achieve the success of teaching and learning. However, a high intensity of teacher talk and the hesitation of instructional language choice become two common problems are usually faced. Therefore, it seems important to present a variety of literature reviews to be considered by teachers which may be used as the reference to solve the problem. This study presented the concept of teacher talk at classroom interaction, monolingual and bilingual approach in EFL classroom and some previous research findings “the rationales for supporting bilingual approach” which were gained from some articles. This study suggests that teachers have to control the quantity and quality of their talk to gain an effective teaching and learning process in the EFL classroom. It is more advantageous to reduce Teacher Talk Time and increase Student Talk Time based on the students’ need because too much teacher talk will have an impact on decreased student learning motivation. When teaching EFL students, it will be helpful for overcoming cognitive difficulties if teachers insert mother tongue for the certain condition such as to translate difficult words from reading the text and to explain grammar. However, the teachers have to keep a principled and judicious use of mother tongue because a very high proportion of it also limits the students’ achievement. If the students are exposed more to the second language, they will become more successful

APPLYING STUDENT TALKING TIME (STT) IN COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITY TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT PESANTREN PUTRI AL-MANAWWARAH PANYILI

This research presents research about Applying Student Talking Time Method in Communicative Activity to Improve the Students’ speaking skill at Pesantren Putri Al-Manawwarah Panyili. The objectives of the research are: 1) to know wether Student Talking Time improve the students’ speaking skill of pesantren putri Al-Manawwarah. 2) To know the use of Student Talking Time interested in teaching speaking of the second grade student of SMA Pesantren Putri Al-Manawwarah Panyili. This research used quantitative method. The result of the study shown that there was a significant improvement of the students’ skill after giving the treatment. From the data, it could be conclude that teaching speaking by applying Student Talking Time method in communicative activity is effective to improve students speaking skill and improve students’ motivation in studying speaking.

Do those who talk more learn more? The relationship between student classroom talk and student achievement

There have been efforts to investigate the link between classroom talk and student achievement for some time. However, studies considering individual student participation in classroom talk have thus far been rare. The research reported in this study was carried out on 639 ninth grade students at Czech middle schools. Observations took place in language arts lessons; talk time and the number of utterances with reasoning were recorded for each student. Achievement was measured using a standardized reading literacy test.The results confirmed a strong link between a given student's talk time and number of utterances featuring reasoning and that student's achievement. As for student talk time, a connection at the classroom level was also identified – students in talkative classrooms had better results. However, there was not a connection between utterances with reasoning and better results at the classroom level. A positive link between individual participation and achievement was observed in all students regardless of socio-economic background or gender.

Communicative characteristics of general practitioner-led and nurse-led telephone triage at two Danish out-of-hours services: an observational study of 200 recorded calls

ObjectivesOut-of-hours (OOH) telephone triage is used to manage patient flow, but knowledge of the communicative skills of telephone triagists is limited. The aims of this study were to compare communicative...

The Impact of Teacher Talking Time on the Effectiveness of English Language Teaching

The Impact of Teacher Talking Time on the Effectiveness of English Language Teaching

Patients' and Doctors' Perceptions of a Mobile Phone-Based Consultation Service for Maternal, Neonatal, and Infant Health Care in Bangladesh: A Mixed-Methods Study.

BackgroundA mobile-based consultation service, or telehealth, can be used for remote consultations with health care professionals for screening, self-care management, and referral. In rural Bangladesh, where there is high demand for scarce male and even scarcer female doctors, remote consultations may help women seeking maternal and child health care. Aponjon is a mHealth service in Bangladesh that provides weekly voice or text messages to pregnant women, new mothers, and family members on various aspects of maternal, neonatal, and infant health. Subscribers can also access a dedicated 24*7 call center to discuss maternal, neonatal, and infant health or emergencies with medically trained doctors. The service provides advice, primary diagnoses, prescriptions, and referrals to subscriber callers.ObjectiveWe investigated the Aponjon service to understand access, acceptability, usability, benefits, and challenges of a mobile phone-based consultation service.MethodsWe conducted call log data analysis for September to November 2015 to understand how many unique subscribers accessed the service, who accessed the service, the geographical distribution of callers, and the purpose of the calls. We also conducted a qualitative exploratory substudy of eight married women and eight married men who were subscribers to and accessed the service during this time to understand their experiences. We interviewed 11 doctors from the same service who provided phone consultations to subscribers.ResultsApproximately 3894 unique subscribers accessed the service for single or multiple consultations during the study period; 68.36% (2662/3894) of subscribers were from rural households, and 53.00% (2064/3894) of calls were made by pregnant women or new mothers. Approximately 96.08% (5081/5288) calls were nonurgent, 2.69% (142/5288) semiurgent, and 1.23% (65/5288) urgent. Almost 64.7% (134/207) semiurgent or urgent calls came between 8 PM and 8 AM. Callers found the consultation service trustworthy, cost-effective, and convenient. The doctors dispelled misconceptions and promoted good health care practices, regular health check-ups, and responsible use of medicine. They helped families understand the severity of sicknesses and advised them to seek care at health facilities for semiurgent or urgent conditions. The service lacked a pro-poor policy to support talk times of subscribers from poor households and a proper referral system to help patients find the right care at the right facilities.ConclusionsAlthough a regular messaging service is constrained by a one-way communication system, this service using the same platform, gave subscribers access to an abbreviated “consultation” with medical doctors. The consultations provided subscribers with valued medical advice and support, although they were limited in their population reach and their integration into the wider medical system. Further research is required to understand the impact of advice and referral, cost-effectiveness, and willingness to pay for mHealth consultation services, but this research suggests that these services should be supported or even expanded.

Telephone-based aftercare groups for family carers of people with dementia: study protocol of the Talking Time \u2013 REHAB project

BackgroundMore than one million people in Germany live with dementia. Most of these people are cared for at home in the family setting. Supporting and caring for people with dementia is time-consuming, and family carers often have high stress levels and are at an increased risk of becoming physically and mentally ill. Medical rehabilitation (rehab) helps to relieve family carers and provide them with strategies to cope with stress. The aim of this study is to improve the sustainability of a multimodal rehab program for family carers of people with dementia. Research question: can the effects of this rehab be maintained through telephone-based aftercare groups following the rehab program?MethodsA prospective randomized controlled longitudinal trial is performed. The intervention group (IG) participates in telephone-based aftercare groups; the control group (CG) receives treatment as usual. For evaluation, a mixed-methods approach is used. The effects of the intervention are quantitatively evaluated by written questionnaires at four measuring points (pre- and post-rehab, as well as 6 and 12 months after the end of rehab). Primary outcome: participation (IMET). Secondary outcomes: Depressive Mood State CES-D, General Complaints SCL-90-R, Subjective Quality of Life WHOQUOL-BREF, Social Support F-SozU, performance in different areas of life, single scales, and support offers (single items). The intervention process is evaluated through qualitative interviews and focus groups with regard to the acceptance of and satisfaction with the aftercare offered; in addition, a health economic evaluation is performed using the EQ-5D questionnaire. Rehabilitants are included in the study (N = 103 each in the IG and CG) who, accompanied by their family members with dementia, participate in the rehab measure in Ratzeburg. The IG participates monthly in 6 telephone aftercare groups over a period of 6 months. Typical stress situations are discussed and worked on.DiscussionUpon successful evaluation, the offer to participate in telephone-based aftercare groups can be firmly established in the participating rehab clinic. Through minor adjustments, the offer would also be suitable for carers of physically ill people and for non-nursing-specific rehabilitation indications.Trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00013736, May 14, 2018.

DEALING WITH STUDENTS’ RETICENCE IN SPEAKING ACTIVITY IN EFL CLASSROOM

Speaking is an activity in an English classroom in which students must integrate not only higher order thinking skills but also confidence. As a result, it can be problematic for students because they feel shy or reticent. This study aimed at finding out the cause of students’ reluctance in speaking activities. The study was framed by using classroom action research in which 2 cycles were employed. Each cycle consisted of four stages: planning, action, evaluation, and reflection. There were 40 students in the 7th grade of junior high school in Bogor as the participants of the study. The data was collected through documentation, observation, and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the causes of students' reluctance in speaking class were shy, lazy, afraid and ignorance. Giving more students’ talk time as a teaching strategy in English speaking activity can be done to reduce students’ reticence.

Embedded Parallelism Enabling Ultralow-Power Zigbee Voice Communications

Short-range wireless technologies are known to transmit voice, audio, image, and video messages in real time. Energy consumption and transmission reach are critical in such networks, especially for portable and power autonomous devices. The purpose of the Voice over Zigbee technology is to provide a competitive offering that excels in these performance aspects. Due to the CSMA-CA mechanism implemented in the 802.15.4 layer, a well-designed strategy must be considered in Zigbee to create a robust, reliable, and full-duplex conversation. In past efforts, we proved that the radio channel of Zigbee has enough bandwidth to support a full-duplex conversation with narrow-band voice codecs. Our embedded implementation of the Speex voice codec targeted the development of a low-cost, ultralow-power, long-range wireless headset using Zigbee technology to transmit voice in full-duplex mode for use with leading PC VoIP programs. Furthermore, we presented the real environment performance evaluation and power consumption tests involving the developed headset prototype. Talk time is comparable to Bluetooth including at the power budget, the codec processing, and analogue audio interface, but its deep-sleep lifetime more than doubles the Bluetooth performance. This was one of the very few successful efforts to port a voice codec on an ultralow-power DSP for use with power sensitive Zigbee applications, which is highly cited in the literature, proving additionally that using an open-source codec can deliver similar voice quality, reducing the total system cost. The current paper elaborates on the embedded parallelism of the Speex implementation and the exploitation of the DSP architectural parallelism which critically enabled the Voice over Zigbee application on the ultralow-power DSP platform. Another significant contribution of this work is towards understanding and resolving the challenges faced when trying to achieve good quality transmission of media over constrained devices and networks. The way to new ultralow-power voice-related Zigbee and constrained network applications is open.

Kofi Annan: Tribute to a rare gentleman

He could give you his full attention for a few seconds and leave you with the feeling you mattered. This is a quality you will recognize in very few individuals. It is emotional and profound. That’s because people occupying powerful positions more commonly portray arrogance and impatience. It could be true such people are usually quite busy, which explains their limited time for kindness or small talk. That is the normal behaviour you sort of expect. And, then, there was the Kofi Annan way.

Students’ use and perceptions of feedback in a paired collaborative speaking task

Learner-centeredness is an integral part of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and paired conversations are promoted by this method because it is considered to effectively increase the student talking time. In paired conversations, instead of being merely interlocutors during their speaking activities, students are expected to initiatively assist each other’s performances by exchanging feedback and comments. This study examined 28 intermediate students on how they gave their partners feedback during a paired collaborative speaking task. It also investigated their perceptions on exchanging feedback. Observation and semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. A mismatch between their viewpoints and actual performances was found. The interview analysis suggests that the students were well-aware of the roles and benefits of giving and receiving feedback. Meanwhile, the empirical data collected from the observation scheme shows that only a modest number of feedback instances, particularly corrective feedback, were actually given by the students. This was mostly resulted from the students’ lack of proper strategies and skills on giving feedback and their fear of losing their partners’ faces.