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STUDY QUESTION Are 24-h movement composition and time reallocations between the movement behaviours (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity (LPA), sedentary behaviour (SB), and sleep) differentially associated with cardiometabolic markers in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) relative to women without PCOS? SUMMARY ANSWER There was no difference in 24-h movement composition between the groups, although among women without PCOS, reducing SB time while increasing either MVPA or LPA time was associated with beneficial differences in cardiometabolic markers, whereas in women with PCOS beneficial differences were observed only when SB time was replaced with MVPA. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Women with PCOS display lower levels of physical activity, higher sedentary time, and less total sleep than women without the syndrome. Exercise interventions among women with PCOS have shown improvements in body composition and insulin sensitivity, while the findings regarding blood pressure, insulin resistance, and lipid profiles are contradictory. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This study was part of a prospective, general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966) (n = 5889 women). At the 31-year and 46-year follow-up, data collection was performed through postal and clinical examinations, including fasting blood samples and anthropometric measurements. Accelerometer data collection of 14 days (n = 2602 women) and a 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (n = 2780 women) were performed at the 46-year follow-up. Participants were identified as women with or without PCOS at age 31 (n = 1883), and the final study population included those who provided valid accelerometer data at age 46 (n = 857). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Women with PCOS (n = 192) were identified based on the 2023 International Evidence-based Guideline, while those who exhibited no PCOS features were considered women without PCOS (controls; n = 665). Accelerometer-measured MVPA, LPA, and SB were combined with self-reported sleep to obtain 24-h compositions. Multivariable regression analysis based on compositional data analysis and isotemporal reallocations were performed to investigate the associations between 24-h movement composition and cardiometabolic markers. Isotemporal reallocations were expressed as differences (%Δ) from the sample's mean. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE There was no difference in overall 24-h movement composition between women with PCOS and controls in midlife. The 24-h movement composition was associated with waist circumference, triglycerides, fasting serum insulin, and Homeostatic Model Assessment–insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in both controls and women with PCOS. Reallocating 15 min from SB to MVPA was associated with favourable differences in cardiometabolic markers in both controls (%Δ range from −1.7 to −4.9) and women with PCOS (%Δ range from −1.9 to −8.6). Reallocating 15 min from SB to LPA was also associated with favourable differences in cardiometabolic markers among controls (%Δ range from −0.5 to −1.6) but not among women with PCOS. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION The substitution technique used in this study is theoretical, which can be considered as a limitation. Other limitations of this study are the use of self-reported sleeping time and the difference in the group sample sizes. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS These findings suggest that women with PCOS should be targeted with interventions involving physical activity of at least moderate intensity to improve their cardiometabolic health and underline the importance of developing tailored activity guidelines for women with PCOS. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study was funded by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Novo Nordisk (NNF21OC0070372), Research Council of Finland (315921/2018, 321763/2019, 6GESS 336449), Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland (OKM/54/626/2019, OKM/85/626/2019, OKM/1096/626/2020, OKM/20/626/2022, OKM/76/626/2022, and OKM/68/626/2023), and Roche Diagnostics International Ltd. L.J.M. is supported by a Veski Fellowship. M.Nu. has received funding from Fibrobesity-project, a strategic profiling project at the University of Oulu, which is supported by Research Council of Finland (Profi6 336449). NFBC1966 follow-ups received financial support from University of Oulu (Grant no. 65354, 24000692), Oulu University Hospital (Grant no. 2/97, 8/97, 24301140), Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (Grant no. 23/251/97, 160/97, 190/97), National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki (Grant no. 54121), Regional Institute of Occupational Health, Oulu, Finland (Grant no. 50621, 54231), and ERDF European Regional Development Fund (Grant no. 539/2010 A31592). T.T.P. declares consulting fees from Gedeon Richter, Organon, Astellas, Roche; speaker's fees from Gedeon Richter, Exeltis, Roche, Stragen, Merck, Organon; and travel support from Gedeon Richter. The remaining authors declare no conflicts of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER N/A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the associations between the composition of movement-related behaviours (sedentary behaviour, sleep, standing, and stepping) and functional outcomes post-stroke. Methods: This study included 34 adults with stroke (mean age: 64.6 ± 12.5 years; time since stroke: 3.5 ± 1.1 months) who underwent an 8-week sedentary behaviour intervention. Functional outcomes were assessed using the timed up and go (TUG) and gait speed tests. Compositional data analysis was used to investigate the relationships between movement-related behaviours and functional outcomes. Results: The baseline composition of movement-related behaviours showed significant associations with changes in TUG (F = 4.28, p = 0.01) and gait speed (F = 4.63, p = 0.01) after the 8-week reducing sedentary behaviour intervention. Reallocating ≥ 30 min/day to stepping, while proportionally decreasing other movement-related behaviours, was associated with a significant change in TUG. Similarly, a relative reallocation of ≥ 40 min/day to stepping was associated with a clinically meaningful change in gait speed. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of considering movement-related behaviours in relation to functional outcomes post-stroke. Reallocating at least 30 min per day to stepping, relative to a reduction in other movement-related behaviours, is associated with significant and meaningful change in functional outcomes. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Reallocating at least 30 minutes/day to stepping, relative to a decrease in other movement-related behaviours, is associated with a positive change in functional mobility after an 8-week post-stroke sedentary behaviour intervention. Relative to a decrease in other movement-behaviours, reallocating ≥ 40 minutes/day to stepping is associated with a meaningful change in gait speed. Reallocating time to standing or sleep at the expense of other movement behaviours is not associated with better functional mobility or gait speed. Finding the optimal balance in movement-related behaviours that favours more stepping may lead to improvements in both functional mobility and gait speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional models of opinion dynamics provide a simplified approach to understanding human behavior in basic social scenarios. However, when it comes to issues such as polarization and extremism, a more nuanced understanding of human biases and cognitive tendencies are required. This paper proposes an approach to modeling opinion dynamics by integrating mental models and assumptions of individuals agents using Bayesian-inspired methods. By exploring the relationship between human rationality and Bayesian theory, this paper demonstrates the usefulness of these methods in describing how opinions evolve. The analysis here builds upon the basic idea in the Continuous Opinions and Discrete Actions (CODA) model, by applying Bayesian-inspired rules to account for key human behaviors such as confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and human reluctance to change opinions. Through this, This paper updates rules that are compatible with known human biases. The current work sheds light on the role of human biases in shaping opinion dynamics. I hope that by making the model more realistic this might lead to more accurate predictions of real-world scenarios.

This paper proposes a new model of closure for Beethoven's sonata-rondo finales that describes the wide variety of ways in which sonata and rondo elements can interact to create unexpected harmonic and formal possibilities after the recapitulation. The paper first considers what models of sonata form can and cannot tell us about sonata-rondo closure and develops a typology of constituent formal functions for sonata-rondo post-recapitulatory space. It then outlines how these formal functions combine to create a variety of post-recapitulatory prototypes in Beethoven's early-period sonata rondos. Finally, it considers the analytical benefits of distinguishing between sonata and sonata-rondo modes of closure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional models of opinion dynamics provide a simplified approach to understanding human behavior in basic social scenarios. However, when it comes to issues such as polarization and extremism, a more nuanced understanding of human biases and cognitive tendencies are required. This paper proposes an approach to modeling opinion dynamics by integrating mental models and assumptions of individuals agents using Bayesian-inspired methods. By exploring the relationship between human rationality and Bayesian theory, this paper demonstrates the usefulness of these methods in describing how opinions evolve. The analysis here builds upon the basic idea in the Continuous Opinions and Discrete Actions (CODA) model, by applying Bayesian-inspired rules to account for key human behaviors such as confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and human reluctance to change opinions. Through this, This paper updates rules that are compatible with known human biases. The current work sheds light on the role of human biases in shaping opinion dynamics. I hope that by making the model more realistic this might lead to more accurate predictions of real-world scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to show that the methodology of classifying firms of the same sector according to the similarity of their classical financial ratios results in serious problems of incoherence and, consequently, it is necessary to find a viable alternative. With this objective in mind, simple examples are used to show that the appearance of multiple unsolvable problems make it impossible to accept the validity of grouping firms according to homogeneous groups based on these ratios using the usual clustering techniques. Once this fundamental fact has been verified, the proposal of classifying firms based on the ratios created in compositional data methodology and fuzzy clustering is shown to offer a viable alternative for this purpose. The paper ends with a complete analysis using real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Although inadequate sleep increases the risk of obesity in children, the mechanisms remain unclear. The aims of this study were to assess how sleep loss influenced dietary intake in children while accounting for corresponding changes in sedentary time and physical activity; and to investigate how changes in time use related to dietary intake. Methods A randomized crossover trial in 105 healthy children (8–12 years) with normal sleep (~ 8–11 h/night) compared sleep extension (asked to turn lights off one hour earlier than usual for one week) and sleep restriction (turn lights off one hour later) conditions, separated by a washout week. 24-h time-use behaviors (sleep, wake after sleep onset, physical activity, sedentary time) were assessed using waist-worn actigraphy and dietary intake using two multiple-pass diet recalls during each intervention week. Longitudinal compositional analysis was undertaken with mixed effects regression models using isometric log ratios of time use variables as exposures and dietary variables as outcomes, and participant as a random effect. Results Eighty three children (10.2 years, 53% female, 62% healthy weight) had 47.9 (SD 30.1) minutes less sleep during the restriction week but were also awake for 8.5 (21.4) minutes less at night. They spent this extra time awake in the day being more sedentary (+ 31 min) and more active (+ 21 min light physical activity, + 4 min MVPA). After adjusting for all changes in 24-h time use, losing 48 min of sleep was associated with consuming significantly more energy (262 kJ, 95% CI:55,470), all of which was from non-core foods (314 kJ; 43, 638). Increases in sedentary time were related to increased energy intake from non-core foods (177 kJ; 25, 329) whereas increases in MVPA were associated with higher intake from core foods (72 kJ; 7,136). Changes in diet were greater in female participants. Conclusion Loss of sleep was associated with increased energy intake, especially of non-core foods, independent of changes in sedentary time and physical activity. Interventions focusing on improving sleep may be beneficial for improving dietary intake and weight status in children. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ANZCTR ACTRN12618001671257, Registered 10th Oct 2018, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=367587&isReview=true

Background: Although inadequate sleep increases the risk of obesity in children, the mechanisms remain unclear. The aims of this study were to assess how sleep loss influenced dietary intake in children while accounting for corresponding changes in sedentary time and physical activity; and to investigate how changes in time use related to dietary intake. Methods: A randomized crossover trial in 105 healthy children (8–12 years) with normal sleep (~ 8–11 h/night) compared sleep extension (asked to turn lights off one hour earlier than usual for one week) and sleep restriction (turn lights off one hour later) conditions, separated by a washout week. 24-h time-use behaviors (sleep, wake after sleep onset, physical activity, sedentary time) were assessed using waist-worn actigraphy and dietary intake using two multiple-pass diet recalls during each intervention week. Longitudinal compositional analysis was undertaken with mixed effects regression models using isometric log ratios of time use variables as exposures and dietary variables as outcomes, and participant as a random effect. Results: Eighty three children (10.2 years, 53% female, 62% healthy weight) had 47.9 (SD 30.1) minutes less sleep during the restriction week but were also awake for 8.5 (21.4) minutes less at night. They spent this extra time awake in the day being more sedentary (+ 31 min) and more active (+ 21 min light physical activity, + 4 min MVPA). After adjusting for all changes in 24-h time use, losing 48 min of sleep was associated with consuming significantly more energy (262 kJ, 95% CI:55,470), all of which was from non-core foods (314 kJ; 43, 638). Increases in sedentary time were related to increased energy intake from non-core foods (177 kJ; 25, 329) whereas increases in MVPA were associated with higher intake from core foods (72 kJ; 7,136). Changes in diet were greater in female participants. Conclusion: Loss of sleep was associated with increased energy intake, especially of non-core foods, independent of changes in sedentary time and physical activity. Interventions focusing on improving sleep may be beneficial for improving dietary intake and weight status in children. Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ANZCTR ACTRN12618001671257, Registered 10th Oct 2018, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=367587&isReview=true [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compositional Data Analysis (CoDa) has gained popularity in recent years. This type of data consists of values from disjoint categories that sum up to a constant. Both Dirichlet regression and logistic-normal regression have become popular as CoDa analysis methods. However, fitting this kind of multivariate models presents challenges, especially when structured random effects are included in the model, such as temporal or spatial effects. To overcome these challenges, we propose the logistic-normal Dirichlet Model (LNDM). We seamlessly incorporate this approach into the R-INLA package, facilitating model fitting and model prediction within the framework of Latent Gaussian Models. Moreover, we explore metrics like Deviance Information Criteria, Watanabe Akaike information criterion, and cross-validation measure conditional predictive ordinate for model selection in R-INLA for CoDa. Illustrating LNDM through two simulated examples and with an ecological case study on Arabidopsis thaliana in the Iberian Peninsula, we underscore its potential as an effective tool for managing CoDa and large CoDa databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are born storytellers as they use oral narratives as a vehicle to share their experiences. This study aimed to study how female Egyptian speakers formulate their personal experiences in oral narratives in the English Language. A need of this study was felt because not much is known how Arab EFL speakers build their oral narratives when its structure is talked about. The sample of this study comprised 24 female students from an Egyptian university pursuing a program in English language and literature, divided equally into two groups of intermediate and advanced levels. By using a non-experimental mixed model research design, the data was collected through semi structured interviews. The quantitative results were based on Mann-Whitney Test, which compared two unpaired groups to investigate the differences between the frequencies of the moves in the oral narratives as well as their use of structural tools; while the qualitative results were obtained from the participants' responses in the interview, which gave insight into how the participants formulated their narratives. Results show variations in the moves of narratives in both groups; however, there was no significant difference in the overall structure of each narrative. The study also attempted to compare the narrative structure of the female Egyptian EFL learners with that of their peers. It was found that there was no relationship between EFL proficiency and the structure of the narratives of female Egyptian at both advanced and intermediate levels. These findings will provide useful insights about the structural aspects of the oral narratives of Arab EFL learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly cancer that can develop from pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN), a microscopic lesion in the pancreatic ductal system. PanIN and PDAC are conventionally studied in 2D via histological tissue sections. As such, their true structure is poorly understood due to the inability to image them in 3D. CODA, a recently developed technique for reconstruction of tissues at cellular resolution, is used to study the 3D morphology of the pancreas. Here, CODA is extended through 3D printing of normal pancreatic ducts, PanIN, and PDAC at cm‐scale and µm resolution. A methodology is presented to create 3D printable files from anatomical maps generated from serial histological images and to show detailed validation of the accuracy of this method. Existing 3D printing workflows utilizing medical images derived from computerized tomography (CT), X‐ray, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are scientifically proven to be useful in printing whole organ‐scale structures with sub‐mm resolution. Here, using serial histological sections, it is demonstrated that 3D printing of higher‐resolution structures is also possible. Finally, with the 3D models of normal ducts, PanIN, and PDAC, marked changes to the structure of the human pancreas during tumorigenesis are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pointing plays a significant role in communication and language development. However, in spoken languages pointing has been viewed as a non-verbal gesture, whereas in sign languages, pointing is regarded to represent a linguistic unit of language. This study compared the use of pointing between seven bilingual hearing children of deaf parents (Kids of Deaf Adults [KODAs]) interacting with their deaf parents and five hearing children interacting with their hearing parents. Data were collected in 6-month intervals from the age of 1;0 to 3;0. Pointing frequency among the deaf parents and KODAs was significantly higher than among the hearing parents and their children. In signing dyads pointing frequency remained stable, whereas in spoken dyads it decreased during the follow-up. These findings suggested that pointing is a fundamental element of parent-child interaction, regardless of the language, but is guided by the modality, gestural and linguistic features of the language in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Czech & Slovak Social Work / Sociální Práce / Sociálna Práca is the property of Czech & Slovak Social Work and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The variable sampling interval (VSI) scheme is a well‐known technique for improving the detection ability of control charts (CCs). In the proposed study, measurement error (ME) has been applied to investigate the effectiveness of the Hotelling T2 charting scheme for compositional data (CoDa) using VSI. The current study considered the case of the monitoring phase, assuming that process parameters are known using the continuous times Markov chain model. The evaluation of the proposed scheme has been done using the average time to signal. The authors studied the impact of MEs on the performance of the Hotelling T2 CC for CoDa using VSI, and additionally, the authors also examined the impact of linearly covariate error model parameters on the performance of Hotelling T2 VSI CoDa CC. Six cases for the variance–covariance matrix were used to study the impact of different involved parameters. The effect of ME, sampling interval (SI), powering operator (b), error variance (σM)$\sigma _M)$, and subgroup size (m) has been studied on the performance of proposed CCs by increasing the value of one parameter while keeping the other parameters fixed. The ME and σ have a negative impact on the performance of the proposed CC, while SI, b and m have a positive impact on the performance of the proposed CC. Among all the six cases, the correlated cases (negatively and positively) with equal variance performed better than all the other four cases. In the end, an illustrative example of muesli production with p=3$p=3$ part CoDa (where p is the number of variables in CoDa vector) is provided for the practical implementation of the Hotelling T2 VSI CoDa CC in the presence of ME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how codas of Urhobo-English loanwords are adapted and shows that the strategies adopted in repairing loanword coda in Urhobo are driven by syllabification constraints and universal conventions. Syllabification conditions in languages that forbid filled coda will require that all the consonant sounds in a phonological word that are to be found in the phonetic string are parsed as onsets. Assuming this is true, it has implications for loanword adaptation. Urhobo exclusively permits the open syllable type. Implicitly, all the coda elements of loanwords are likely to be licensed as onsets, which may result in a possible ‘illicit’ onset cluster given the onset condition requirement of the language. Accordingly, this study examines the attested patterns of adaptation of English coda in Urhobo loanwords and their motivations as well as implications. The discussion is built around the theory of constraints and repair strategies.

O encontro com o filme No ritmo do coração (originalmente CODA - Child Of Deaf Adults), possibilitou entrelaçar inquietações produzidas pelas leituras da Filosofia da Diferença de Deleuze e Guattari. Assim, foram delineados caminhos de um relato de experiência escrito no formato de ensaio, objetivando compreender quais aproximações podem ser feitas entre surdez, ciência e o material artístico audiovisual a partir de interpretações da Filosofia da Diferença. A escrita do ensaio possibilita uma análise interpretativa e experimental ao relacionar esses diferentes objetos de estudo sem a intenção de desassociá-los. Uma das principais percepções é a influência do medo e insegurança como aspectos mantenedores da lógica dominante, capitalista. Essas microgestões envolvem cada movimento de Ruby Rossi, personagem principal da obra, que caminha receosa por linhas de fugas formadas sutilmente em busca de um outro futuro. Tentando se afastar da segmentação por compor com uma família que destoa da normatividade imposta. O filme retrata sensivelmente como as palavras fruto da língua oral são incapazes de expressar os sentimentos que borbulham do lado de dentro do peito de Ruby. As relações com a ciência são identificadas em cenas onde os personagens retratam sentir a música em todo o corpo através das vibrações das ondas sonoras, não restringindo apenas ao sentido da audição. Que deixemos o desejo impulsionar, movimentar, revolucionar, para que possamos coletivar e compor de outras formas.

Copyright of Turkish Studies - Educational Sciences is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Control charts (CCs) are one of the main tools in Statistical Process Control that have been widely adopted in manufacturing sectors as an effective strategy for malfunction detection throughout the previous decades. Measurement errors (M.E's) are involved in the quality characteristic of interest, which can effect the CC's performance. The authors explored the impact of a linear model with additive covariate M.E on the multivariate cumulative sum (CUSUM) CC for a specific kind of data known as compositional data (CoDa). The average run length (ARL) is used to assess the performance of the proposed chart. The results indicate that M.E's significantly affects the multivariate CUSUM-CoDaCCs. The authors have used the Markov chain method to study the impact of different involved parameters using six different cases for the variance-covariance matrix (VCM) (i.e., uncorrelated with equal variances, uncorrelated with unequal variances, positively correlated with equal variances, positively correlated with unequal variances, negatively correlated with equal variances and negatively correlated with unequal variances). The authors concluded that the error VCM has a negative impact on the performance of the multivariate CUSUM-CoDa CC, as the ARL increases with an increase in the value of the error VCM. The subgroup size m and powering operator b positively impact the proposed CC, as the ARL decreases with an increase in m or b. The number of variables p also has a negative impact on the performance of the proposed CC, as the values of ARL increase with an increase in p. For the implementation of the proposal, two illustrated examples have been reported for multivariate CUSUM-CoDaCCs in the presence of M.E's. One deals with the manufacturing process of uncoated aspirin tablets, and the other is based on monitoring the machines involved in the muesli manufacturing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the little-known writing system Thaana, used for the Maldivian language, with Hangeul, used for Korean. Both were intentional inventions by native speakers in early modern times, and both contain some unique features. Both are segmental in their representation while also arranging their letters into higher-order structures: syllables or CV groupings. These structures obey well-formedness constraints that are well known from the study of phonological (spoken) syllables. This paper argues that the operation of these constraints is evidence that these writing systems employ a grammar, which is analyzed here using Optimality Theory. Thaana and Hangeul use the same syllabification constraints, but the rankings differ between the two systems. The rankings also differ between each writing system and its related spoken language. This paper adds to the growing body of research that applies the tools of linguistic analysis to writing systems and finds evidence of grammar in their structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since shortly after its publication in 1957, The Short Reign of Pippin IV has been considered Steinbeck's least characteristic work and is universally viewed as standing squarely at the bottom of his canon of fiction. This article argues for a reevaluation of the consensus view, arguing that Pippin is a crucial part of Steinbeck's artistic oeuvre not only on its own merits but more importantly when viewed in literary sequence as his penultimate novel. Before his fictional work draws to a dissonant close in 1961, in Pippin Steinbeck draws a comparison to a musical coda that achieves an artistic effect of finality by altering the main themes of a movement through changes in tone, tempo, or key. Pippin is the last time Steinbeck expresses in fiction a fundamentally optimistic orientation toward the human condition, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The small body of research on writing and writing processes in the group of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has shown that this group struggles more with writing than their hearing peers. This article aims to explore in what ways the DHH group differs from their peers regarding the written product and the writing processes. Participants are all in the age span 10-12 years old and include: (a) 12 DHH children with knowledge of Swedish sign language (Svenskt teckenspråk, STS) as well as spoken Swedish, (b) 10 age-matched hearing children of deaf adults (CODA) who know STS, (c) 14 age-matched hearing peers with no STS knowledge. More specifically we investigate how text length and lexical properties relate to writing processes such as planning (measured through pauses) and revision, and how the background factors of age, gender, hearing and knowledge of STS predict the outcome in product and process. The data consists of pictureelicited narratives collected with keystroke logging. The overall results show that age is a strong predictor for writing fluency, longer texts and more sophisticated lexicon for all the children. This confirms theories on writing development which stress that when children have automatized basic low-level processes such as transcription and spelling, this will free up cognitive space for engaging in highlevel processes, such as planning and revision--which in turn will result in more mature texts. What characterizes the DHH group is slower writing fluency, higher lexical density, due to omitted function words, and extensive revisions (both deletions and insertions) on word level and below. One explanation for the last finding is that limitations in the auditory input lead to more uncertainty regarding correct and appropriate lexical choices, as well as spelling. The article contributes with more specific knowledge on what is challenging during writing for DHH children with knowledge of STS and spoken Swedish in middle school, in the developmental stage when basic writing skills are established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, based on a doctorate thesis, data obtained from practitioners was evaluated to determine the role of CODA sign-language interpreters in Deaf sports. The study includes a multifaceted analysis of the role played by sign language interpreters in the communication of hearing national team coaches working with athletes who are deaf in the Turkish Deaf Sports Federation (TIESF). For this purpose, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with seven experienced CODA interpreters involved in the national and international activities of the TIESF. To date there have been few studies in the field of sports interpreting in Turkey, and particularly interpreting for athletes who are deaf. The present research is a pioneering and exemplary study that focuses on the role of signed language interpreters as sports interpreters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All gibbons (Primates: Hylobatidae) are well known for emitting loud vocalizations specific for species and sex. The songs of paired and unpaired male southern yellow-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus gabriellae) are characterized by the presence of staccato notes and multi-modulation phrases with two or more extremely rapid frequency modulations in the second note of each phrase. In addition, paired males also produce a coda vocalization, which is similar to the multi-modulation phrase of male calls but lacks the staccato notes and always occurs directly following the female great call as part of a pair-specific duet. The aim of this study was first to assess whether the songs of paired and unpaired males can be acoustically distinguished from one another and second, whether the coda vocalization differs from the multi-modulation phrase of the male call in paired males. To assess these issues, we analyzed 616 songs obtained from a long-term study of vocal development in 14 captive adult males (>7 years old), half of which were unpaired and significantly younger than paired subjects. For each song, we quantified nine acoustic features, for which we applied a suite of linear mixed effects models with social status as a fixed variable and age as a regression coefficient. This allowed us to compare (1) the structure of male calls (staccato notes and multi-modulation phrase) between paired and unpaired subjects, (2) the muti-modulation phrase of unpaired subjects to the coda vocalization of paired subjects, and (3) the multi-modulation phrase of paired males to the coda vocalization. We found that the male call of younger-unpaired subjects had a longer duration, broader frequency range, higher maximum frequency, and fewer staccato notes than their counterparts in paired subjects. The coda vocalization of older-paired males exhibited a larger number of frequency modulations than the multi-modulation phrase of all males. While the male call of younger-unpaired males differs from both the male call and the coda vocalization of older-paired males, further studies are necessary to disentangle the effects of age and pairing status.

The small body of research on writing and writing processes in the group of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has shown that this group struggles more with writing than their hearing peers. This article aims to explore in what ways the DHH group differs from their peers regarding the written product and the writing processes. Participants are all in the age span 10–12 years old and include: (a) 12 DHH children with knowledge of Swedish sign language (Svenskt teckenspråk, STS) as well as spoken Swedish, (b) 10 age-matched hearing children of deaf adults (CODA) who know STS, (c) 14 age-matched hearing peers with no STS knowledge. More specifically we investigate how text length and lexical properties relate to writing processes such as planning (measured through pauses) and revision, and how the background factors of age, gender, hearing and knowledge of STS predict the outcome in product and process. The data consists of picture-elicited narratives collected with keystroke logging. The overall results show that age is a strong predictor for writing fluency, longer texts and more sophisticated lexicon for all the children. This confirms theories on writing development which stress that when children have automatized basic low-level processes such as transcription and spelling, this will free up cognitive space for engaging in high-level processes, such as planning and revision—which in turn will result in more mature texts. What characterizes the DHH group is slower writing fluency, higher lexical density, due to omitted function words, and extensive revisions (both deletions and insertions) on word level and below. One explanation for the last finding is that limitations in the auditory input lead to more uncertainty regarding correct and appropriate lexical choices, as well as spelling. The article contributes with more specific knowledge on what is challenging during writing for DHH children with knowledge of STS and spoken Swedish in middle school, in the developmental stage when basic writing skills are established.

Seismic observations of underground nuclear explosions provide crucial data on source yield and depth that cannot easily be estimated from other geophysical methods. However, it is difficult to obtain reliable yield estimates for test sites for which we do not have direct seismic calibration experiments. To obtain source information from uncalibrated sites and paths, local and regional seismic records of six, proximal, declared underground nuclear explosions in North Korea are used to compute spectral ratios of narrow‐band waveform envelopes of body‐wave coda that remove path and site effects to reveal precise, relative source moment. The yields of these explosions are obtained from the observed source ratios by simultaneously fitting the classical source model of Mueller and Murphy (1971), https://doi.org/10.1785/bssa0610061675 to all event pairs. The source model provides an impressive fit to the observations considering that the P phase coda derived source spectral ratios did not require a prior knowledge of the source or regionally calibrated corrections to be applied to the data. However, the observed corner frequencies from S wave coda spectral ratios are lower than the source model predictions, but are well fit by models calculated using the corner frequency consistent with the Fisk conjecture. The results presented here provide novel constraints on the spectral distributions of the energy radiated by the sources of the DPRK test series, and allows for an independent evaluation of existing estimated source model parameters. Plain Language Summary: It is difficult to determine the size and depth of an underground nuclear explosion only using observations of the ground shaking caused by its detonation. Optimally the test site is first calibrated using a "ground truth" explosion with a known depth and size. However, for many sites of interest, such as the location of the six declared North Korean nuclear tests occurring between 2006 and 2017, this information is not available. In order to characterize these uncalibrated underground explosions, we use ground shaking measured by sensors located within ∼1,000 km of the test site to determine "coda spectral ratios." These coda spectral ratios use the measurements of two explosions which were recorded at the same seismic sensor, and both occurred at roughly the same location, to remove the changes in the wave caused by the rock, as the wave traveled through the Earth's crust from the site of the explosion to the location of the sensor. The resulting measurement is an estimate of the amount of energy created by the explosion for each frequency of vibrational wave that radiates out from the explosions. The size of these nuclear tests is then determined by fitting physical models of explosions to the derived data. Key Points: The P wave coda spectral ratios match the predicted source spectral ratios calculated using the Mueller and Murphy (1971), https://doi.org/10.1785/bssa0610061675 source model (MM71)The observed S wave corner frequencies are consistently lower than those predicted by MM71, and provide support for the Fisk conjectureThe coda spectral ratios obtained in this study are used to estimate new independent yield estimates of the North Korean tests [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the combined mRNA and miRNA content of a biological sample can be of interest for answering several research questions, like biomarkers discovery, or mRNA–miRNA interactions. However, the process is costly and time-consuming, separate libraries need to be prepared and sequenced on different flowcells. Combo-Seq is a library prep kit that allows us to prepare combined mRNA–miRNA libraries starting from very low total RNA. To date, no dedicated bioinformatics method exists for the processing of Combo-Seq data. In this paper, we describe CODA (Combo-seq Data Analysis), a workflow specifically developed for the processing of Combo-Seq data that employs existing free-to-use tools. We compare CODA with exceRpt, the pipeline suggested by the kit manufacturer for this purpose. We also evaluate how Combo-Seq libraries analysed with CODA perform compared with conventional poly(A) and small RNA libraries prepared from the same samples. We show that using CODA more successfully trimmed reads are recovered compared with exceRpt, and the difference is more dramatic with short sequencing reads. We demonstrate how Combo-Seq identifies as many genes and fewer miRNAs compared to the standard libraries, and how miRNA validation favours conventional small RNA libraries over Combo-Seq. The CODA code is available at https://github.com/marta-nazzari/CODA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the phonotactic structure of the Turkish phonological system on the basis of an extensive Turkish linguistic corpus. In a descriptive study, the distribution of Turkish consonants in onset and coda positions as well as consonantal sequences across syllable boundary (in c.c) and coda clusters (in cvcc syllable were examined. Results showed that stops and affricates in syllable onset position are most frequent, which is in line with the hierarchy of sonority scale assumed by the constraint *ONSET/X (Selkirk, 1984). Furthermore, the study of sound sequences in various syllable structures revealed that sonorants are more frequent than stops in coda position (in cvc), and also closer to syllable head than stops in coda clusters (in cvcc). This finding contradicts the predictions assumed by the constraint *CODA/X. Further results indicated that the distribution of Turkish consonants in coda clusters (in cvcc) are in conformity with the Sonority Sequencing Principle with the least marked phonotactic structure. However, the distribution of consonants across syllable boundary (in c.c) involves various consonantal sequences including those which belong to the same or similar natural class of consonants.

Purpose: Movement behaviors (i.e. physical activity [PA], sedentary behavior [SB], and sleep) are intrinsically codependent, an issue resolved using compositional data analysis (CoDA). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a nonspecific inflammatory marker positively associated with cardiovascular diseases and affected by movement behaviors. Examine the relation between movement behaviors using CoDA and how time reallocation between two movement behaviors was associated with hs-CRP concentration.Methods: The Jackson Heart Study was designed to investigate cardiovascular disease risk factors among African American participants in the Jackson, MS area. PA and sleep were self-reported with SB calculated as the remaining time in the day.Results: The median untransformed hs-CRP concentration was 0.28 mg·dL-1 (interquartile range; 0.11, 0.61). Reallocating 15 minutes of PA with SB, the hypothetical change in log hs-CRP concentration was 0.08 mg·dL-1 (95% CIs; 0.04, 0.11) greater than the average log hs-CRP concentration. Substituting 15 minutes of SB or sleep with PA was associated with a hypothetical change in log hs-CRP concentration difference of -0.05 mg·dL-1 (-0.08, -0.03) and -0.06 mg·dL-1 (-0.08, -0.03), respectively. Reallocations between SB and sleep were not associated with the hypothetical difference in log hs-CRP concentration.Conclusions: Modeling estimates suggest replacing 15 minutes of SB with PA is associated with lower inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the research which aims to ascertain whether the sonority of sounds could be used to determine boundaries of syllables in consonant clusters and if this principle is commonly employed by a sample of language users. The research consists of a) the overview of more significant foreign authors’ works, which is then used to identify the theoretic hierarchy of consonant clusters in Lithuanian, b) the exploratory analysis of consonant sonority, c) the investigation of sonority in consonant clusters, d) the research of tendencies in language users’ syllabification. The results have revealed that after establishing the hierarchy of consonant clusters in Lithuanian and applying the principle of syllabification by sonority, one fifth of the consonant clusters in the empirical data base is impossible to syllabify. Neither predicted phonetic syllable, nor the phonological syllable is commonly employed by the language users. The users are likely to assign at least one consonant of a cluster to a preceding syllable, while only the last consonant of polynomial clusters is assigned to the onset of a later syllable. Fricative consonants in consonant clusters are assigned to the coda of a previous syllable.

The article aims to establish the hierarchy of Lithuanian syllable constituents and determine how syllables should be interpreted in terms of syllable weight. The empirical data based on 311 000 syllables show that the variety of consonants in the onset is more significant than in the coda. A vowel and a succeeding approximant form the nucleus of a prosodic syllable, which shows strong coherency between a nucleus and a coda. Therefore, a CVC syllable is interpreted as [syllable Onset [rhyme Nucleus Coda]]. The division of Lithuanian syllables into light and heavy can be based on the realization of pitch accent, and it fully coincides with the traditional classification of long and short syllables in Lithuanian linguistics. Short syllables are light, their nucleus is a short vowel, and the number of consonants in the onset and the coda is unimportant. Such syllables account for almost half of all syllables in the database of this research (45%). Long syllables are heavy, and their nucleus may consist of long vowels (30%), diphthongs (12%), or mixed diphthongs (13%). When stressed, heavy syllables are pronounced in two ways: traditionally known as “acute” and “circumflex”. The stress is not dependent on the syllable weight, as both light (short) and heavy (long) syllables can be stressed. However, it has been observed that heavy (long) syllables are stressed more often than light (short) ones. Heavily stressed syllables constitute 25%, while light stressed syllables comprise 11% of all the syllables in this research database.

This article uses the classic multivariate cumulative sum (MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$) chart scheme proposed by Crossier (1988) to present a new modified MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$ chart for compositional data (CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$). For this purpose, the data are first transformed using isometric log‐ratio (ilr$\operatorname{ilr}$) coordinates representation to eliminate the constant sum constraint of CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$. The MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ control chart has been defined along with the performance measures of the proposed chart using the average run length (ARL$\mathrm{ARL}$). Besides, the Markov chain method has been used to study the ARL$\mathrm{ARL}$ performance of the proposed chart. Assuming that the ilr$\operatorname{ilr}$ transformed data are normally distributed, the proposed MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ charts have been compared with existing competitors such as T2$T^2$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ and MEWMA$\mathrm{MEWMA}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ charts. The comparison shows that the proposed chart has better performance than the T2$T^2$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ control charts, while the performance of the proposed chart is comparable with the MEWMA$\mathrm{MEWMA}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ chart. The effect of the estimated mean vector and variance‐co‐variance matrix on run‐length characteristics of the proposed MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ control chart has also been studied in this paper. For the ARL$\mathrm{ARL}$ performance of MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ with estimated parameters Monte Carlo simulation has been adopted. The effect of the number of variables p$p$, sample size n$n$, and subgroup size m$m$ has also been studied on the data's upper control limit (UCL$\mathrm{UCL}$) and ARL$\mathrm{ARL}$. In the end, two illustrative examples of the particle size distribution of plants and production of muesli are provided to represent the practical implementation of the MCUSUM$\mathrm{MCUSUM}$‐CoDa$\mathrm{CoDa}$ chart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the phonotactic structure of the Turkish phonological system on the basis of an extensive Turkish linguistic corpus. In a descriptive study, the distribution of Turkish consonants in onset and coda positions as well as consonantal sequences across syllable boundary (in c.c) and coda clusters (in cvcc syllable were examined. Results showed that stops and affricates in syllable onset position are most frequent, which is in line with the hierarchy of sonority scale assumed by the constraint *ONSET/X (Selkirk, 1984). Furthermore, the study of sound sequences in various syllable structures revealed that sonorants are more frequent than stops in coda position (in cvc), and also closer to syllable head than stops in coda clusters (in cvcc). This finding contradicts the predictions assumed by the constraint *CODA/X. Further results indicated that the distribution of Turkish consonants in coda clusters (in cvcc) are in conformity with the Sonority Sequencing Principle with the least marked phonotactic structure. However, the distribution of consonants across syllable boundary (in c.c) involves various consonantal sequences including those which belong to the same or similar natural class of consonants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Aletheia is the property of Aletheia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Respectus Philologicus is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The existential sentence is a noncanonical sentence type that is used crosslinguistically to assert the (non)existence of one or more entities. It consists of a set of syntactic items that includes an expletive, pivot, and coda. Two different syntactic analyses have been identified in the literature for the existential construction. The first type of analysis, the standard analysis, treats the existential sentence as a nonraising counterpart of copular sentences. In this analysis, both existential and copular sentences are derived from a single underlying structure, which takes the pivot as a subject and the coda as a predicate. The other type of analysis, the nonstandard analysis, treats the existential sentence differently from the copular sentence. In this analysis, the copular verb takes the pivot NP as its complement, and the coda is treated as an adjunct. The purpose of this paper is to examine the syntactic status of the three syntactic items, namely, the expletive fiih, the pivot NP, and the coda XP, in the existential construction in the dialect of Najdi Arabic (NA). Using the nonstandard analysis, I propose that the existential pronoun fiih is an NP merged in the Spec, vP, the pivot is an NP complement selected by a copular verb, and the coda is an adjunct that serves as either an internal or external modifier. This work about NA existentials may fruitfully contribute to the ongoing discussion on the syntax of existential constructions. Examining existential constructions in various unrelated languages may help obtain a better understanding of this interesting syntactic phenomenon, thereby enabling a more plausible analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime Sign Language (MSL) is a Canadian, minority sign language that originally stems from British Sign Language (BSL). Currently used by elderly Deaf people in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland (and Labrador), it is a moribund language, having undergone language shift to American Sign Language (ASL). MSL is still in use by a regional Deaf community and its use characterizes individuals as a group within the local Deaf community. It serves an important role in members' self and group identity. This research examines the ways in which multilingual MSL users currently practice community placemaking, asserting their identity as MSL users, in spite of language shift. It studies the ways that members of the MSL community actively disseminate knowledge about MSL in order to contribute to its maintenance and preservation. They are establishing a collective memory of their language, its users, and their community. This collaborative and group-driven effort strengthens the MSL community and the connections to the local Deaf, ASL-using community and the non-Deaf community, capitalizing on the assets that the MSL community offers to the region and to society. This article examines the ways in which Maritime Sign Language (MSL) users on Canada's east coast, in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador are engaged in processes of community placemaking. This multilingual group of people function in MSL, American Sign Language (ASL) and English, as deemed necessary by the circumstances, the context and their interlocutors. Today many MSL users, despite MSL being their L1, use mainly ASL to communicate with other Deaf people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hearing children of deaf parents (CODA) are, by their very nature, on the border between the culture of the hearing and the culture of the Deaf. Most deaf parents have hearing children, so it is time to try to approach this biculture. Our goal is to find out how CODA people manifested themselves as children and how the clash of these cultures affected them. The manifestation of these cultures was examined in six sub-areas within the childʼs CODA development. The main research method was semi-structured interviews with seven individuals from the target group. The output is a summary of recommendations at the general level on how to approach CODAs and what to avoid in relation to them. We come to the conclusion that CODA individuals are not negatively affected by this biculturalism; they are able to integrate into society in a standard way and above all to benefit from the specifics of their childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyrolysate gas mixtures are multivariate and relative in nature. Statistical techniques applied to these data generally ignore their relative nature. Published data for permanent gases (CO, CO2, H2, CH4) and tars produced by pyrolysing 15 wildland fuels were reanalysed using compositional data analysis techniques. Mass and mole fractions were compositionally equivalent. Plant species, moisture status and heating mode effects on compositional balances formed from subsets of pyrolysates were tested. Plant species affected the amount of phenol, primary and secondary/tertiary tars relative to permanent gases and relative amounts of single- and multi-ring compounds. Plant moisture status affected the amount of CO relative to other permanent gases, of H2 to CH4 and tars to phenol. Heating mode and rate strongly influenced pyrolysate composition. Slow heating produced more primary tars relative to multi-ring tars than fast heating convective and combined radiant and convective heating modes. Slow heating produced relatively more compounds with fewer rings and fast heating produced relatively more multi-ring compounds. Compositional data analysis is a well-developed statistical methodology, providing models and methods equivalent to traditional ones, that accounts for the special constraining features of relative data. Future analysis of the compositional data related to wildland fire using compositional techniques is recommended. Compositional data techniques were applied to show that heating mode, plant species and moisture status affected the composition of pyrolysis products in an improved and statistically rigorous analysis. These methods should be used for other compositional data related to wildland fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Man - Disability - Society / Człowiek – Niepełnosprawność – Społeczeństwo is the property of Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im Marii Grzegorzewskiej and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents the main tenets of the Parallel Structures Model, a recently new autosegmental model, and applies it, for the first time, to the analysis of some phonological phenomena in Spanish. In particular, the paper illustrates the explanatory advantages of adopting the Parallel Structures Model in the analysis of the realizations of /s/ in coda followed by a voiceless stop within a word, because the wide range of realizations reported for such contexts in aspirant varieties of Spanish poses an interesting challenge to representational theories concerned with the internal structure of segments.

Languages in the Samogo group display a phenomenon referred to as “floating” or “latent” nasals. Though belonging to the end of a word (either synchronically or diachronically) in coda position, latent nasals more often appear as mutations or modifications to either the initial consonant of the following morpheme or the preceding vowel. This paper draws together extant descriptive data on Samogo nasals and considers them in the broader typology of consonant and vowel nasality in Mande. Finally, the question of phonological representation vs. phonetic realization is considered with preliminary acoustic data from Seenku [sos]; the weak surface realization of the nasal raises questions about an analysis in which it is floating and suggests that recent developments in Gradient Symbolic Representation (Smolensky & Goldrick 2016) may be applicable to the data.

Abstract Background Gendered patterns of physical activity behaviours may help explaining health inequalities between men and women. However, evidence on such patterns in the working population is sparse. This study aimed at documenting and comparing compositions of sitting, standing and moving at work and during leisure among male and female office workers of different age. Methods Sitting (including lying), standing and moving were measured using accelerometry for, on average, four working days in 55 male and 57 female Swedish office workers. Behaviours were described in terms of time spent in four exhaustive categories: sitting in short (

Essential oils (EOs) have often a major compound, which content is important for the industry. Thus, rapid techniques suitable to analyze the EOs composition are of great interest. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has proven suitable solutions for many similar targets. NIRS depends on multivariate correlation methods, which were designed for the real space, with values comprised between - ∞ and + ∞. However, essential oils compounds are compositional data (CoDa), restricted to a simplex space. These are co-dependent data, therefore their multivariate correlation with the spectral variables needs specific methods. This study evaluates predictive models of the contents of cinnamaldehyde, eugenol methyl-ether and thymol, respectively in EOs of cinnamon, clove and thyme, built by using CoDa method. This last was the isometric log-ratio transformation (ILR). Besides, the calibrations set without CoDa methods, were assessed. The results showed clearly the best prediction in external validation exercises was by using ILR. This predictive exercise pointed out the compositional method provided better model robustness than the calibration without this.

The purpose of this article is to study the syllable boundaries (codas) in the Albanian language The end of a syllable boundary {coda} is seen as a possible component of the syllable showing some of the features associated with the way the units that build it are organized and is the strongest consonantal position. The final syllable structures in Albanian are various which depend not only on the number of elements but also on the possibilities of their combination. What is to be noted is that, concerning the ability to emerge in the coda position, there are no restrictions on the consonants of the Albanian language, which can occupy all this position either as a single component or as a branched component. Possible combinations of Albanian final clusters are regulated by phonological constraints. The last element of the syllable can consist of either a consonant only, which is the most often encountered pattern, or two consonants, ending in rarer formations of groups of three consonants, and thus giving us a variety of syllable boundaries in Albanian. All consonant segments can emerge as a single element at the end of the syllable making the end structures of the separated syllables in Albanian appear very rich. In Albanian, several combinations of codes appear and consequently, the double groups at the end position of the rhymes are numerous. The most common combinations are S + O and S + F, the less common ones are O + S and F + S combinations and the least common is the O - O and F - F groups. In Albanian, there is also the presence of the three-element end groups, which are part of the clearly defined and phonetically inseparable end-syllable structures. The binary features of the segments included in the double and triple sets of codes in Albanian are: σ O R N C [-syllabic] [-syllabic] [-syllabic] [±sonorant] [-sonorant] [-sonorant] [- contin.] [± contin.] [+ contin.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this era of 'Choosing Wisely,' we present a four-step action plan to reduce unnecessary pathology testing and the associated patient harm (blood loss through repeated phlebotomy), economic cost and environmental impact. The authors are experts from the CODA group; a medical education and health-promotion charity that aims to build on the Choosing Wisely initiative to provide meaningful and sustainable actions to reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare, globally. Pathology testing is expensive and carbon-intensive, with as many as half of all tests being not clinically indicated. Reducing unnecessary testing is the only effective way to decrease the carbon footprint and other associated costs, as opportunities to reuse and recycle pathology specimens are limited. The four key steps for action are (i) auditing local practice; (ii) defining unnecessary testing including developing a clinical guideline for rational ordering; (iii) educating stakeholders; and (iv) measuring the impact of the intervention through re-audit. This proven method is designed to be used in any healthcare setting around the world; having a small group of passionate 'champions' is thought to be as important as strong clinical governance and more important than access to sophisticated equipment. Electronic medical record systems and other technological solutions offer new ways to help establish a sustainability mindset and reduce unnecessary testing. The Codachange.org/coda-earth/ website provides a dynamic crowdsourcing platform through which we can collectively learn to meet the diverse needs of our international medical community. Self-reported outcomes are gamified through collaborative feedback, amplification via social media and the ability to earn rewards, be uploaded to the CODA website, or added to the template as a success story. By combining our existing local networks with the emerging international CODA community, we can initiate meaningful change now and enter the era of environmental stewardship. What is known about the topic? Pathology testing is expensive and carbon-intensive. Up to half of all tests are unnecessary, and rationalising testing is easily achievable. What does this paper add? We present a simple four-step action plan to reduce unnecessary pathology testing and the associated patient harm, economic and environmental costs, and offer a unique platform to facilitate international collaboration. What are the implications for practitioners? This practical template with associated helpful links and resources allows practitioners to improve their environmental stewardship and build a network of like-minded peers across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was an attempt to investigate the probable differences between narratives as rehearsed by EFL language learners of two different English proficiencies. It aimed to find out how narrative elements (abstract, orientation, main action, results, and coda) are recounted differently by EFL language learners of different English proficiencies. To this end, 250 personal oral narratives were recorded through classroom discussions and interviews. Two hundred participants were asked to narrate a personal story in the classroom, and the other 50 were interviewed. The analysis focused on narratives structure to discover how knowledge of target language might affect the way language learners construct English narratives. The collected data were interpreted according to Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) and Labov’s (1972) analytical models. The results revealed that upper-intermediate language learners reported more organized, chronological, logical, and to the point stories than pre-intermediate ones. The difference was in orientation, main action, and result parts. Neither group of language learners expressed the abstract and coda sections.

Most popular models of narratives and narrative analyses have been drawn on native stories, yet EFL learners’ narratives have not received due narrative analysis. The present study then aims at scrutinizing the structure of personal English stories as told by EFL learners. To this aim, three hundred narratives were collected through classroom discussions and interviews. Qualitative analysis methods were utilized to find how narratives were recounted. The results of data analyses indicated that EFL learners’ narratives consisted of 4 parts with the abstract and coda sections absent from them. Besides, there were other differences between the collected narratives and those told by English native speakers.

En este trabajo autoetnográfico relato cómo la adquisición tardía de una lengua de signos permite un proceso de reparación y de reapropiación de una identidad CODA (Children Of Deaf Adults). Se trata de una investigación reflexiva sobre una vivencia singular como hija mayor de padres sordos, con el fin de resaltar sus complejidades y enlazarlas con conceptos sociales, culturales y psicológicos. En ese particular proceso de contar la propia historia, escribo en primera persona fusionando el “sujeto” y “objeto” de la investigación. Cada persona crea la realidad social y cultural al tiempo que se inspira de ella para construir su propia identidad. Así, la elección deliberada de la lengua de signos refleja una voluntad de transformación vital tanto a nivel personal como social, es una acción política. Las tiras de cómic permiten ilustrar las problemáticas y representar la investigación de forma accesible con objeto de alcanzar cierto grado de generalización.

In an election, the vote shares by party for a given subdivision of a territory form a compositional vector (positive components adding up to 1). Conventional multiple linear regression models are not adapted to explain this composition due to the constraint on the sum of the components and the potential spatial autocorrelation across territorial units. We develop a simultaneous spatial autoregressive model for compositional data that allows for both spatial correlation and correlations across equations. Using simulations and a data set from the 2015 French departmental election, we illustrate its estimation by two-stage and three-stage least squares methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]