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The Europeana digital library features cultural heritage collections from over 3,000 European institutions described in 37 languages. However, most textual metadata describe the records in a single language, the data providers' language. Improving Europeana's multilingual accessibility presents challenges due to the unique characteristics of cultural heritage metadata, often expressed in short phrases and using in-domain terminology. This work presents the EuropeanaTranslate project's approach and results, aimed at translating Europeana metadata records from 23 EU languages into English. Machine Translation engines were trained on a cleaned selection of bilingual and synthetic data from Europeana, including multilingual vocabularies and relevant cultural heritage repositories. Automatic translations were evaluated through standard metrics and human assessments by linguists and domain cultural heritage experts. The results showed significant improvements when compared to the generic engines used before the in-domain training as well as the eTranslation service for most languages. The EuropeanaTranslate engines have translated over 29 million metadata records on Europeana.eu. Additionally, the MT engines and training datasets are publicly available via the European Language Grid Catalogue and the ELRC-SHARE repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a commentary on Ramoglou and McMullen’s 2024 article “What is an opportunity?: From theoretical mystification to everyday understanding.” The original article is discussed here with a focus on the philosophy of ordinary language and actualization theory in the context of entrepreneurship theory.

This article is a commentary on Ramoglou and McMullen’s 2024 article “What is an opportunity?: From theoretical mystification to everyday understanding.” As in the original article, the authors here discuss linguistic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work in the context of the application of ordinary language in entrepreneurship.

The current study explored and compared the employment of interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers (MDMs) by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) speaking test takers at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. To conduct this discourse analysis research, a mixed-methods approach with concurrent transformative design was employed. In the quantitative phase, the frequency of MDMs was calculated and compared, while in the qualitative phase, the variety of MDMs was analyzed. The data comprised a total of 36 YouTube videos on the test takers' performance in part 3 of the IELTS speaking test at different band scores. The IELTS speaking band scores were converted into Common European Framework Reference (CEFR) levels using a converting scale, and the videos were transcribed to be analyzed. The results showed a level-by-level increasing trend in MDM use from beginner to advanced level. Moreover, the highly proficient L2 speakers used a wider range and a larger variety of MDMs in their discussions. The comparison between interactional and interactive MDMs also revealed that L2 speakers, at all proficiency levels, use the former considerably more than the latter. The findings of this study have significant pedagogical implications for language assessment, teaching, and learning, which are discussed in the discussion section in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abnormal eye movements occur at the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the characteristics of abnormal eye movements of patients with AD and their relationship with clinical symptoms remain inconsistent, and their predictive value for diagnosing and monitoring the progression of AD remains unclear. Methods: A total of 42 normal controls, 63 patients with mild cognitive impairment due to AD (AD-MCI), and 49 patients with dementia due to AD (AD-D) were recruited. Eye movements were assessed using the EyeKnow eye-tracking and analysis system. Cognitive function, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and activities of daily living were evaluated using various rating scales, and correlation analyses and receiver operating characteristic curves were performed. Results: Patients with AD exhibited increased number of offsets and offset degrees, prolonged offset duration, and decreased accuracy in lateral fixation; reduced accuracy, prolonged saccadic duration, and decreased velocity in prosaccade; decreased accuracy and corrected rate, prolonged corrected antisaccadic duration, and reduced velocity in antisaccade; and reduced accuracy and increased inhibition failures in memory saccade. Eye movement parameters were correlated with global cognition and the cognitive domains of memory, language, attention, visuospatial ability, execution function, and activities of daily living. Subgroup analysis indicated that the associations between eye movements and clinical symptoms in patients with AD were influenced by disease severity and history of diabetes. In the AD-D and AD with diabetes groups, these associations diminished. Nevertheless, the associations persisted in the AD-MCI and AD without diabetes groups. The areas under the curves for predicting AD, AD-MCI, and AD-D were 0.835, 0.737, and 0.899, respectively (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Patients with AD exhibit distinct patterns of abnormal eye movements. Abnormal eye movements are significantly correlated with global cognition, multiple cognitive domains, and activities of daily living. Abnormal eye movements have a considerable predictive value for the diagnosis and progression of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In daily life, there has been a need to establish verbal communication with sentences instead of single-syllable words and to be tested with sentences that better reflect social life. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate signal noise ratio thresholds and speech comprehension scores in noise in children with severe sensorineural hearing loss by using real ambient noises, four-word spectral balanced sentences, and light, medium, and high input signal levels. Results: A total of 40 children, including 20 children with severe sensorineural hearing loss, using bilateral hearing aids, (10.23 ± 1.64) and 20 children with normal hearing (9.25 ± 1.48), aged 8–12 years, were included in the study. The newly developed Turkish Mobile Sentence Test for Distinguish Speech in Real Noises was applied to the participants. This test is performed using spectral and coherence balanced 4-word sentences, at − 10 dB, − 5 dB, 0 dB, 5 dB, and 10 dB SNR thresholds and 40, 60, and 80 dB sound levels at shopping mall and amusement park. Children with hearing loss had higher signal noise ratio thresholds at all sound levels in shopping malls, amusement parks, and classroom environments, and their speech comprehension scores in noise were lower at these thresholds (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Children with hearing loss aged 8–12 have difficulties in verbal communication, in real ambient noises, and in speech discrimination tests, even with 4-word sentences at mild, medium, and high levels of intensity, compared to children with normal hearing. Further studies evaluating hearing aid fitting settings with signal noise ratio thresholds are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mindfulness has been studied as a treatment option for a large range of psychological disorders and is associated with a multitude of positive psychological outcomes. There are now several scales for measuring mindfulness as both a trait and a state. As mindfulness potentially plays a critical role in maintaining physical activity habits, the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity (SMS-PA) was developed to specifically measure mindfulness in a physical activity context. This study aimed to provide validity evidence for a German version of the SMS-PA (henceforth called SMS-PA-G) in a clinical sample. Methods: We used baseline data from 129 participants in the randomised controlled trial 'New Ways to Cope with Depression'. The sample, which was screened for clinical depression symptoms, completed the SMS-PA-G and several other psychometric scales for capturing state mindfulness, self-efficacy, sense of coherence, anxiety, depression, and physical activity. We conducted reliability and item analyses and ran a confirmatory factor analysis. Also, we assessed construct validity through correlations with the abovementioned scales and through differences in SMS-PA scores between physically active and nonactive participants. Results: The mean SMS-PA-G score in our sample was 25.3 with a standard deviation of 8.5. The item and reliability analyses provided satisfactory Cronbach's alpha and discriminatory power values. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that physical activity mindfulness can best be described via a bifactor model, with specific mind and body factors and a general mindfulness factor. We found the expected relationships with the attention subscale of state mindfulness, self-efficacy, and sense of coherence but did not find them with the awareness subscale of state mindfulness, depression, and anxiety. As hypothesised, physically active participants exhibited higher SMS-PA-G values than nonactive participants. Conclusions: The SMS-PA-G is an internally consistent test instrument that captures respondents' general physical activity mindfulness and their attention to mental and bodily events. Whereas validity evidence was generally supportive of the SMS-PA-G, its relationships with other constructs require further investigation. Trial registration: ISRCTN, ISRCTN12347878. Registered 28 March 2022, https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN12347878. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the meaning of the Chinese 房 yan-fang and its corresponding Tangut term 𗡸𗐦 from the phrase "送與房／𗡸𗐦𗐤𘃡" found in the Tangut-Chinese bilingual glossary Timely Pearl in the Palm (1190). Previous interpretations of these two terms include meanings such as 'accounting room,' 'Chen room,' 'wedding chamber,' 'bathroom,' and 'bridal chamber.' This paper reviews the previous scholarship, discusses the original texts, and refutes the aforementioned interpretations. It is determined that the Chinese term "房" not only refers to 'dowry' (as currently recognized by the academic community) but also originally had a gender-neutral usage, generally indicating 'household supplies.' Although "𗡸𗐦" in the Tangut documents can perhaps connote something similar to Chinese 'dowry,' it might not have meant exactly 'dowry' originally. By comparing the Tangut texts with related languages, it is speculated that "𗐦" might be glossed as 'something to be prepared; gifts' and not necessarily used exclusively in reference to women. This paper not only corrects the existing consensus but also provides a new perspective on Tangut language and history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the associations between sexual health dimensions, and overall health and well-being. Methods In February 2024, we systematically searched Scopus, PsyArticles, PsycINFO®, PubMed®, Web of Science and LILACS for articles reporting on associations between sexual health, health and well-being indicators. We applied no language restrictions and followed the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. To assess the risk of bias in the included studies, we used the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies - of Exposures tool. Findings Of 23 930 unique titles identified, 63 studies met the inclusion criteria. We grouped the results into two categories: (i) sexual and physical health; and (ii) sexual and psychological health. The results consistently showed strong correlations between sexual health, overall health and well-being. Almost all studies found significant associations between positive sexual health indicators and lower depression and anxiety, higher quality of life, and greater life satisfaction among men and women, including older adults, pregnant women, and same-sex and mixed-sex couples. Conclusion Findings indicate that emphasizing a positive perspective on sexual health and highlighting its benefits should be regarded as an important component of the effort to improve overall health and well-being for everyone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I parameterize the five tests proposed by Stevens (2005) for characterizing an element as an affixoid and formulate ten criteria for prefixation. Using these criteria, I analyze the morphological status of the initial components of Modern Greek words beginning with pale - and paʎo -. Contrary to Giannoulopoulou's (1999) analysis of paleo - as a "confix" and paʎo - as a "stem", I argue that pale - is a stem that has two allomorphic realizations: pale ~ paʎ. pale - is marked as [+learnèd] and paʎ - as [-learnèd]. While paʎo - historically derives from pale -, it has acquired a distinct morphological status and should now be considered a prefixoid. The ten criteria I present could serve as a model for determining the morphological status of initial elements in other Greek morphological structures and potentially in other languages where this status is ambiguous. Finally, I propose that prefixation in Greek differs from that in word-based languages. In Greek, prefixation is not a case of morphologization; rather, prefixes originate in and remain confined to the morphological domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When negotiating with partners from abroad, which language should we choose: a native or a foreign one? To answer this question, we leverage dual‐process theory to investigate how using a native versus foreign language affects negotiation strategies and outcomes and explore the moderating role of emotions. Across three studies that use dual‐language speakers of four of the five most common languages in the world (English, Chinese, Spanish and French), our findings consistently show that, while the native language is the preferred option for negotiation (Study 1), the consequences are more emotional expression, more passive strategies and worse outcomes (Studies 2 and 3). Anger in a native versus foreign language makes negotiators compromise more, which results in worse outcomes (Study 3). Our contribution is threefold: We are the first to explore the effects of language (foreign vs. native) in an empirical negotiation setting; we separate the intrapersonal from the interpersonal effects of language by using the Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model; and we establish that the language effects are independent of culture. Our results suggest that managers should use their native language with caution when negotiating, since they might unconsciously display higher levels of emotion and use more passive negotiation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Word-representable graphs were introduced in 2008 by Kitaev and Pyatkin in the context of semigroup theory. Graphs are called word-representable if there exists a word with the graph's nodes as letters such that the letters in the word alternate iff there is an edge between them in the graph. Until today numerous works investigated the word-representability of graphs but mostly from the graph perspective. In this work, we change the perspective to the words, i.e., we take classes of words and investigate the represented graphs. Our first subject of interest are the conjugates of words: we determine exactly which graphs are represented if we rotate the word. Afterwards, we look at k-local words introduced by Day et al. (FSTTCS LIPIcs, 2017) in order to gain more insights into this class of words. Here, we investigate especially which graphs are represented by 1-local words. Lastly, we prove that the language of all words representing a graph is regular. We were also able to characterise k-representable graphs, solving an open problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using quantization techniques, we show that the ı-invariant of Fujita-Odaka coincides with the optimal exponent in a certain Moser-Trudinger type inequality. Consequently, we obtain a uniform Yau-Tian-Donaldson theorem for the existence of twisted Kähler-Einstein metrics with arbitrary polarizations. Our approach mainly uses pluripotential theory, which does not involve Cheeger-Colding-Tian theory or the non-Archimedean language. A new computable criterion for the existence of constant scalar curvature Kähler metrics is also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas some studies suggest that ironic praise necessitates a longer processing time than ironic criticism, others posit that the two are processed at comparable speeds. We hypothesize that the presence of an echoic antecedent within the preceding context may at least partially account for these conflicting findings. To investigate this matter, we analyzed reading times and accuracy stemming from two types of contexts: echoic and non-echoic. Our results demonstrate that ironic criticism was judged to be more ironic in both echoic and non-echoic contexts, while ironic praise was rated as more ironic in an echoic context than in a non-echoic context. Additionally, echoing contexts facilitate the comprehension of ironic criticism, but cause ironic praise to be processed more slowly. There was also an observed asymmetry between the two forms of irony. Ironic criticism demonstrated high accuracy and was rated as more ironic than ironic praise. Furthermore, ironic criticism was read faster in an echoic context, whereas performance was similar in a non-echoic context for both types. These findings suggest that echoing context affects ironic criticism and ironic praise differently, implying that distinct mechanisms may be at work in understanding irony in echoic and non-echoic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early research on the first language acquisition of figurative language indicated that figurative language comprehension and production skills develop relatively late, while recent studies contest this view. This study explores early production of metaphorical (e.g., shark meaning a rapacious crafty person) and metonymic (e.g., house meaning an organisation) meanings in English polysemous nouns and verbs by using the Braunwald corpus, which tracks a single child's speech from the age of 1 year, 5 months to 7 years. We explore the initial production of these meanings, with respect to the age, order of acquisition and part of speech (noun vs. verb). Our study shows that children start using figurative meanings at a much earlier age than previously thought. In this early stage, metonymic meanings emerge earlier, while metaphorical meanings come a few months later. These findings challenge prior beliefs that children only develop figurative language skills at 3 years of age and show that it is not only the pre-figurative skills that develop early but also the production of very conventional types of figurative meaning, which might not necessarily require the completed development of the complex set of cognitive skills necessary for cross-domain comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speakers of different languages follow a three-way split in how they express motion events in speech—with a greater emphasis on manner in satellite-framed languages (English), path in verb-framed languages (Turkish), and comparable expression of manner and path in equipollently-framed languages (Chinese). According to the thinking-for-speaking account, these language-specific patterns can affect speakers' representation of motion events but only when verbalizing the event. In this study, we asked whether language might influence learning novel words, particularly when the words were accompanied with gestures. We examined effects of language type (equipollent-framed: Chinese, satellite-framed: English, verb-framed: Turkish) and modality (speech-only, gesture+speech) on learning pseudowords for motion (manner, path). Our results showed that speakers of all three languages learned pseudowords for manner and path but with lower accuracy scores and slower rates of learning by Chinese speakers. Regardless of the language they spoke, participants learned manner words more accurately than path words, but with no added benefits of instruction with gesture+speech over speech-only. Taken together, our study extends the lack of language effect on nonverbal representation of events when not speaking to the domain of novel word learning across structurally different languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is the introduction to the Special Issue 'Events in language and mind: Theoretical and empirical advances in the event integration theory'. We first review Leonard Talmy's event integration theory in addition to some critiques of this framework. Following this, we point to some empirical research inspired by this framework, which explores the interaction between language and cognition. We then briefly introduce the papers in this volume and discuss their contributions to the event integration framework. We conclude with some limitations, questions and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expression of manner has been extensively studied in the case of motion event descriptions, unveiling significant typological differences between satellite-framed and verb-framed languages and cognitive differences between speakers of these languages. However, far from being restricted to this semantic domain, the expression of manner extends to other types of event descriptions and across virtually all verb classes. In this paper, by considering all the means of expressing manner and grounding our research in a domain-independent definition of this component, we investigate the expression and the transfer of manner under high cognitive pressure as evidenced by corpus data from French–English (FE) and English–French (EF) simultaneous interpreting. Unexpectedly, both French and English displayed an overall cross-domain preference for the verbal-lexical coding of manner in event descriptions, while still differing in the degree to which it was favored. In addition, although our study does not allow a direct measure of cognitive load, the FE interpreters transfer more manner from the source to the target speeches than the EF interpreters do, despite high pressure on cognitive resources, supporting the claim that manner can be cognitively more salient and accessible for English than for French speakers, not only in the domain of motion but also at a more general level, potentially in any semantic domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosodic realization of focus has been a widely investigated topic across languages and modalities. Simultaneous focus strategies are intriguing to see how they interact regarding their functional and temporal alignment. We explored the multichannel (manual and nonmanual) realization of focus in Turkish Sign Language. We elicited data with focus type, syntactic roles and movement type variables from 20 signers. The results revealed the focus is encoded via increased duration in manual signs, and nonmanuals do not necessarily accompany focused signs. With a multichanneled structure, sign languages use two available channels or opt for one to express focushood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study aimed to investigate whether vitamin D deficiency is a common finding in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children and whether such deficiency is related to ASD severity and language age or not. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on ASD children aged 2-6 years. The participants were 80 Egyptian children with ASD. All participants were assessed using DSM-V, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), language assessment, and assessment of serum vitamin D using ADVIA Centaur Vit D assay. Results: About 63.8% of ASD children have vitamin D insufficiency, 28.8 % have vitamin D deficiency, and 7.4% have normal serum levels. No correlation was found between serum vitamin D and language age (r = -0.085, P = 0.451), DSM 5 severity levels (r = 0.015,P= 0.894), and CARS scores (r= 0.075, P= 0.511). Conclusion: ASD children have lower serum vitamin D levels, which may be one of the environmental factors contributing to ASD development in genetically susceptible individuals, and its correction may be helpful as adjuvant therapy for ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing and evaluating legal case reports are labor-intensive tasks for judges and lawyers, who usually base their decisions on report abstracts, legal principles, and commonsense reasoning. Thus, summarizing legal documents is time-consuming and requires excellent human expertise. Moreover, public legal corpora of specific languages are almost unavailable. This paper proposes a transfer learning approach with extractive and abstractive techniques to cope with the lack of labeled legal summarization datasets, namely a low-resource scenario. In particular, we conducted extensive multi- and cross-language experiments. The proposed work outperforms the state-of-the-art results of extractive summarization on the Australian Legal Case Reports dataset and sets a new baseline for abstractive summarization. Finally, syntactic and semantic metrics assessments have been carried out to evaluate the accuracy and the factual consistency of the machine-generated legal summaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating is a pleasure and a universal human experience. However, both the positive aspects of eating and the nature of happiness have only recently become subjects of psychological research. What connections can be found between eating and positive emotions? What insights does gastro-psychology, a relatively young discipline, provide on this topic? For humans, food has served not only as a means of survival but also as a source of pleasure. Nutrients ingested through food can exert a relatively rapid effect on our mood, and conversely, our mood can influence our digestion. It is important to be more aware of the potential pleasure-enhancing effects of food, cooking, and eating. Therefore, it is advisable to become as fluent as possible in one’s “gastronomic mother tongue”, while also acquiring some knowledge of a “gastronomic foreign language”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Interpreting services bridge language barriers that may prevent patients and clinicians from understanding each other, impacting quality of care and health outcomes. Despite this, there is limited up-to-date evidence regarding the barriers to and facilitators of uptake in primary care. The aim of this study was to ascertain current national uptake and experience of interpreting services in primary care (general practice) by South Asian communities in England. Methods: We conducted a national cross-sectional survey in 2023 with people with limited or no English language proficiency (n = 609). Multilingual researchers interviewed people from Bangladeshi (n = 213), Indian (n = 200), and Pakistani (n = 196) backgrounds from four regions in England (Greater London, Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West). Results: Sixty-three percent of participants reported using professional interpreting services in primary care. The most common modality was face-to-face interpreting (55%), followed by telephone (17%) and video (8%). Multivariable analysis identified several correlates of lower uptake: participants from Indian backgrounds, those living in the Midlands, and those whose family member/friend interpreted for them within the past year were less likely to have used a professional interpreter provided by their general/family practice. Participants who had visited primary care within the last 12 months, had requested an interpreter but were told they could not have one, were informed about professional interpreting services, and were given choice in their language support were more likely to have used a professional interpreter. Conclusions: Our approach provides novel data on professional interpreting service use and evidence about the factors that may play a role in patient uptake and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The short form of the Dentin Hypersensitivity Experience Questionnaire (DHEQ-15) is a valid and reliable tool for Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) studies. The aim of this study was cross-culturally adapt and validate the English version of DHEQ-15 for the Turkish language. Methods: The Turkish version of the DHEQ-15 was developed using the forward-backward translation method. Two independent translators translated it from English to Turkish, followed by back-translation into English. A pilot study was conducted with 30 patients with dentin hypersensitivity (DH). The sample consisted of 150 individuals with DH and 150 without. DH was assessed using the Schiff Sensitivity Scale by applying air to the cervical area of the tooth for 1 s from a distance of 1 cm. A total of 300 individuals completed the Turkish DHEQ-15 in the waiting room. Subsequently, 30 randomly selected individuals with DH completed the questionnaire again after 7–10 days to assess test-retest reliability. Participants provided an overall oral health rating assessment on a 6-point scale. The reliability of the DHEQ-15 was assessed using internal consistency and test-retest methods. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified its domains, while construct validity was evaluated through cross-cultural (Confirmatory Factor Analysis- CFA), discriminative (Mann-Whitney test) and convergent (Spearman correlation) validity. Results: The demographic characteristics of the sample included 137 men and 163 women, with an average age of 36. The Turkish DHEQ-15 demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = 0.970) and outstanding test-retest reliability (r = 0.920, p < 0.001), indicating an excellent correlation. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the unidimensional scale structure of the Turkish DHEQ-15 (p = 0.000). A statistically significant negative correlation was found between the DHEQ-15 score and the overall oral health rating assessment (p < 0.05). Participants with DH had a significantly higher DHEQ-15 score compared to those without DH (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study provides evidence supporting the cross-cultural validity and reliability of the Turkish DHEQ-15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how second/foreign language (L2) word difficulty estimates derived from item response theory (IRT) and classical test theory (CTT) frameworks are virtually identical in the context of vocabulary testing. This conclusion is reached via a two-stage process: (a) psychometric assessments of both approaches and (b) L2 word difficulty modelling with lexical sophistication. Using data collected from first/native language (L1) Japanese EFL learners, both approaches led to similar conclusions in terms of the psychometric properties of the construct. Furthermore, CTT- and IRT/Rasch-derived estimates for word difficulty yielded nearly identical results in the predictive models. Although the "CTT-vs-IRT" debates in the past few decades have concluded with a middle ground agreed upon in most educational settings, this study acts as a useful demonstration to L2 vocabulary researchers who appear to rely heavily on Rasch/IRT analysis. The findings have practical applications to the area of L2 word difficulty research. Namely, that Rasch (an IRT procedure) alone might not be sufficient for validation, although it could be preferable when conducting inferential testing because of its potential utility for reducing chances of Type II errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient-centred instructions on discharge can improve adherence and outcomes. Using GPT-3.5 to generate patient-centred discharge instructions, we evaluated responses for safety, accuracy and language simplification. When tested on 100 discharge summaries from MIMIC-IV, potentially harmful safety issues attributable to the AI tool were found in 18%, including 6% with hallucinations and 3% with new medications. AI tools can generate patient-centred discharge instructions, but careful implementation is needed to avoid harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the high‐speed video observations obtained at the Tall‐Object Lightning Observatory in Guangzhou (TOLOG), the attachment processes of three lightning flashes seem to belong to the connections between "the lateral surface of negative leader and positive leader tip" which had never been reported before were investigated. The leader connection processes of these flashes were examined in detail, and a mechanism behind connecting behavior between the lateral surface of negative leader and positive leader tip was discussed. Observation shows that negative leaders usually have abundant branches. Although some may extinguish, they still maintain a certain conductivity. When the positive leader tip comes close to the lateral surface of the negative leader (usually a few tens of meters), the previously disappeared short branch can be reactivated. It is easier for the positive leader tip to connect the tips of these branches (whether they have been extinguished or not). Plain Language Summary: In the lightning attachment process, the leader connecting behavior is an interesting topic. In the attachment process of a negative cloud‐to‐ground lightning flash, the "Tip to Tip (negative leader tip to positive leader tip)" and "Tip to the lateral surface (negative leader tip to the lateral surface of positive leader)" connection types have been widely observed, and researchers have carried out a series of studies and discussions on the characteristics and the physical mechanisms of the leader connecting behavior. However, is there an opposite polarity connection type, like "the lateral surface and tip (the lateral surface of negative leader and positive leader tip)" connecting behavior? In this study, the attachment processes of three lightning flashes that seem to belong to the connections between "the lateral surface of negative leader and positive leader tip" were analyzed. The leader connection processes of these flashes were examined in detail. The results allow one to see the details of leader connecting behavior needed for improving our understanding of lightning attachment process mechanisms. Key Points: For the connection between negative and positive leaders, no convincing "lateral surface and tip" type is observedPositive leader tip is easier to connect to the tip of negative leader branch, whether it has been extinguished or notA short gap of a few tens of meters is required for the reactivation of short leader branch on the lateral surface of the negative leader [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utility of intraoperative mapping in multilingual patients with brain tumours in speech-eloquent locations is evidenced by reports of heterogeneity of the location and number of language areas. Furthermore, preserving the ability to switch between languages is crucial for multilingual patients' communication and quality of life. We report the first case of intraoperative bilingual and language switching testing in a child undergoing awake craniotomy for a tumour within the left superior temporal gyrus using a novel test paradigm. Stimulation of the posterior superior temporal gyrus resulted in anomia when switching from Polish to English, in the absence of any stimulation effect on switching from English to Polish or object naming in each individual language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important goals of foreign language teaching is to enable students to use the target language in everyday situations. Developing lexical competence in foreign language learning can play an important role in achieving this goal. The aim of the present study is to call attention to the importance of teaching collocations in foreign language education. The first part of the paper gives an overview about collocations and collocational competence. In the second part of the paper, I would like to focus on principles of phraseology and foreign language teaching methodology that can be used for teaching collocations in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objective: We sought to understand healthcare utilization and barriers to care among youth with chronic illness who interact frequently with the healthcare system. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of healthcare utilization for youth ≤25 years of age with chronic illness during one calendar year (1 January 2021–31 December 2021) in a single urban academic healthcare system. Inclusion criteria were (1) having at least one healthcare encounter in the calendar year of 2021 and (2) having at least six healthcare encounters over the preceding 3-year period or having a qualifying chronic illness. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected along with self-reported and derived social determinants of health. Univariable and multivariable regression models were created to identify predictors of missed clinic visits, telehealth use, and activated patient portal accounts. Results: The cohort (N = 14,245) was demographically, clinically, and socioeconomically diverse. The youth had frequent clinic visits (median 9, IQR 4–18), multiple subspecialty care referrals (median 4, 1–8), were prescribed multiple medications (median 6, 3–10), and a high proportion received emergency department (18%) or inpatient treatment (15%). Race and public insurance were significant predictors of missed clinic visits and telehealth use. Primary language was a significant predictor of patient portal activation. Conclusions: Youth with chronic illness who are high users of the healthcare system face a high burden of clinic, emergency room, and hospital visits, referrals, and medications. Systematic efforts to lower the healthcare burden and improve care access should address existing racial and socioeconomic disparities affecting this patient population, who are likely to need frequent healthcare over their lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational settings, this research aimed to understand how AI-based assessments affect EFL learners beyond just language proficiency. Therefore, this study explored the impacts of integrating AI-driven listening exams on foreign language learners' mindsets, self-competence, resilience, and listening skills among Saudi Arabian EFL learners. To achieve this goal, 57 Saudi Arabian EFL learners were selected and divided into a control group (CG) and an experimental group (EG). The data on listening improvement, mindsets, self-competence, and resilience were collected using pretests and post-tests. The participants of both groups were trained in eight lessons of Tactics for Listening (Book 3) via the Duolingo application. The EG group then took AI-based exams by applying Nearpod, but the CG took traditional exams. After teaching all the lessons, the participants in both groups were given post-tests assessing their development in mindsets, self-competence, resilience, and listening skills. The findings revealed that participants exposed to AI-driven assessments showed significant enhancement in listening skills and reported improved self-competence, mindsets, and resilience. This study highlights the potential of AI to contribute holistically to language education, fostering technical skills and psychological and emotional development in EFL learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Language and cultural discordance refer to when a physician and patient do not share the same language or culture. This can create barriers to providing high-quality care at the end-of-life (EoL). This study explores the intersections of language, culture, geography, and care model in EoL care from the perspectives of palliative care physicians. Methods: In this exploratory-descriptive qualitative study, semi-structured interviews (1-h) were conducted virtually between July and November 2023. We interviewed 16 family physicians with experience providing linguistic and/or culturally discordant palliative/EoL care in various urban, suburban, and rural regions of Ontario, who practiced at community and hospital outpatient clinics, home-based care, or long-term care homes. We used reflexive thematic analysis to identify themes across the interviews guided by the intersectionality theoretical framework. Results: We identified three themes 1) Visible barriers to care access due to the inability to communicate accurate information and insufficient time spent during appointments with patients; 2) Invisible barriers to care access, shaped by the Eurocentric approach to palliative care and physicians' lack of awareness on cultural discordance; 3) Workplace supports that currently exist and interventions that physicians would like to see. Community physicians following fee-for-service models were less likely to have access to professional interpreter services. Physicians in long-term care emphasized resource limitations to providing culturally-appropriate care environments. Conclusion: Cultural discordance required awareness of personal biases, while language discordance hindered basic communication. These findings will be useful in informing clinical practice guidelines and mobilizing policy-level change to improve palliative/EoL care for patients from linguistic and cultural minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing evidence that using more than one languages has significant effects on brain function. These effects have been observed in the developing, adult and aging brain, and have been suggested to have implications for cognitive and brain decline in bilinguals and multilinguals. Aside from extensive investigations with behavioral methods, such effects are now commonly investigated with functional neuroimaging methods, mostly functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). A relatively underused method in the field is functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), which carries several advantages over more established methods, including being appropriate for use with infants and children, but also with older and diseased samples. This paper provides an overview of the method and an account of how it has been used in the field of bilingual cognition. It concludes with suggestions of how the method can be best utilized in future research, highlighting it as a method with a strong potential for updating existing theories on the effects of bilingualism on brain function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are often asked to self-evaluate their abilities, and these evaluations may not always reflect objective reality. Here, we investigated this issue for bilingual adults' self-evaluations of language proficiency and usage. We specifically examined how people's self-reported language solidarity impacted their first- (L1) and second-language (L2) self-evaluations, while statistically controlling for their objective language performance (i.e. LexTALE). We also investigated whether this impact varied for value-laden evaluations (e.g. how "good" am I at my L2) vs. usage-based evaluations (e.g. how often do I use my L2) for two sociolinguistically distinct groups (i.e. English-L1 speakers vs. French-L1 speakers in Montreal). Starting with value-laden self-evaluations, we found that French-L1 speakers with more favourable L2-English solidarity tended to underestimate their objective L2 ability, whereas French-L1 speakers with less favourable L2-English solidarity more accurately estimated their objective L2 ability. In contrast, English-L1 speakers with more favourable L2-French solidarity more accurately estimated their objective L2 ability than those with less favourable L2-French solidarity who underestimated their L2-French abilities. Turning to usage-based self-evaluations, we found that participants' self-evaluations were generally more accurate reflections of their performance, in a manner that was less affected by individual differences in self-reported language solidarity. This implies that language solidarity (or perhaps language attitudes more generally) can implicitly or explicitly impact bilingual adults' language self-evaluations when these evaluations are value-laden. These data suggest that people's language attitudes can bias how they perceive their abilities, although self-evaluations based on language use may be less susceptible to bias than those that are value-laden. These data have implications for the study of language and cognition that depend on self-assessments of individual differences and are relevant to work on how people self-assess their abilities generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Reading makes us human" by Educatio Siglo XXI highlights the importance of reading in education, with the author Elena del Pilar Jiménez Pérez, president of the Spanish Association of Reading Comprehension. It addresses the teaching of language and literature, the influence of neuroscience in education, and methodological designs for meaningful learning. It emphasizes the need to promote reading habits from an early age for comprehensive education. [Extracted from the article]

Typological research shows that across languages, trilled [r] sounds are more common in adjectives describing rough as opposed to smooth surfaces. In this study, this lexical research is built on with an experiment with speakers of 28 different languages from 12 different families. Participants were presented with images of a jagged and a straight line and imagined running their finger along each. They were then played an alveolar trill [r] and an alveolar approximant [l] and matched each sound to one of the lines. Participants showed a strong tendency to match [r] with the jagged line and [l] with the straight line, even more consistently than in a comparable cross-cultural investigation of the bouba/kiki effect. The pattern is strongest for matching [r] to the jagged line, but also very strong for matching [l] to the straight line. While this effect was found with speakers of languages with different phonetic realizations of the rhotic sound, it was weaker when trilled [r] was the primary variant. This suggests that when a sound is used phonologically to make systemic meaning contrasts, its iconic potential may become more limited. These findings extend our understanding of iconic crossmodal correspondences, highlighting deep-rooted connections between auditory perception and touch/vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent study, I demonstrated that large numbers of L2 (second language) speakers do not appear to influence the morphological or information-theoretic complexity of natural languages. This paper has three primary aims: First, I address recent criticisms of my analyses, showing that the points raised by my critics were already explicitly considered and analysed in my original work. Furthermore, I show that the proposed alternative analyses fail to withstand detailed examination. Second, I introduce new data on the information-theoretic complexity of natural languages, with the estimates derived from various language models—ranging from simple statistical models to advanced neural networks—based on a database of 40 multilingual text collections that represent a wide range of text types. Third, I re-analyse the information-theoretic and morphological complexity data using novel methods that better account for model uncertainty in parameter estimation, as well as the genealogical relatedness and geographic proximity of languages. In line with my earlier findings, the results show no evidence that large numbers of L2 speakers have an effect on natural language complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pangenomes have emerged in response to limitations associated with traditional linear reference genomes. In contrast to a traditional reference that is (usually) assembled from a single individual, pangenomes aim to represent all of the genomic variation found in a group of organisms. The term 'pangenome' is currently used to describe multiple different types of genomic information, and limited language is available to differentiate between them. This is frustrating for researchers working in the field and confusing for researchers new to the field. Here, we provide an introduction to pangenomics relevant to both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms and propose a formalization of the language used to describe pangenomes (see the Glossary) to improve the specificity of discussion in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a new way of defining languages accepted by multicounter machines. Given a multicounter machine M and m ≥ 0, the m-crossing language accepted by M is the set of all words where there is an accepting computation of M on w such that, for each counter j, each value c that can appear in the counter is crossed at most m times. We study this concept with multicounter machines and also with the partially-blind restriction where a counter cannot detect whether it contains zero or not. We show that both multicounter and partially-blind multicounter languages with one cross define exactly the reversalbounded multicounter languages, while two crosses can accept strictly more including non-semilinear languages. We find that surprisingly, the family of m-crossing languages accepted by multicounter machines, for some m, and the family of m-crossing languages accepted by partially-blind multicounter machines, for some m, coincide. Decidability properties regarding m-crossing languages are also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the generative power of controlled insertion systems where the control languages are special codes or ideals instead of arbitrary regular languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antonymy is the lexical relation of opposition. The nature of the oppositeness may differ – e.g., contradictory ('true'–'false') or gradable ('tall'–'short') – and there may be variation as to the relationship in their formal encoding, whether the antonyms are expressed as distinct lexical forms (e.g., true vs. false) or if one form is derived from the other (e.g., true vs. untrue). We investigate the relationship between the two members of 37 antonym pairs across 55 spoken languages in order to see whether there are patterns in how antonymy is expressed and which of the two antonym members is more likely to be derived from the other. We find great variation in the extent to which languages use derivation (labeled "neg-constructed forms") as an antonym-formation strategy. However, when we do find a derived form, this tends to target the member of the pair that is either lower in valence (positive vs. negative) or magnitude (more vs. less), in line with our hypotheses. We also find that antonyms that belong to a core set of property concepts are more likely to encode antonyms as distinct lexical forms, whereas peripheral property concepts are relatively more likely to encode the antonyms with derived forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spontaneous discourse, a speaker sometimes encounters word-formulation trouble, and she may use a 'placeholder' (PH) such as whatchamacallit and you-know-what, a dummy expression to be inserted into the slot of a 'target form' in the sentence structure of an utterance. It has been widely held that there are two types of usage motives: (i) a speaker cannot produce a target form when, e.g., she does not recall it, or (ii) a speaker does not want to produce a target form when, e.g., it is considered taboo. Previous studies have described the grammatical and functional properties of PHs in a variety of languages, but no study has examined their usage-motive patterns crosslinguistically. In this paper, I propose an implicational hierarchy relating to the usage motives of PHs based on the relevance-theoretic notions of 'ability' and 'preference' and derive several predictions from this hierarchy, which are tested against PH data in 56 languages. The predictions are mostly confirmed, with some (putative) counterexamples explained by non-cognitive–pragmatic factors (e.g., lexical-semantic factors). As an implication, the hierarchy may also serve as a basis for drawing predictions in other linguistic fields (e.g., language acquisition). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which the grammar of one dialect influences the grammar of another and the mechanisms that bidialectal speakers employ to distinguish a target grammar from non-target grammar have not been adequately investigated. In this study, we elucidate these issues by investigating the grammatical gender of Oromo, a Cushitic language that is spoken in Ethiopia. The results from two successive offline experiments indicate that Oromo bidialectal speakers can differentiate between the grammar of their native dialect and that of a non-native dialect in both spoken and written modes. This finding implies the existence of a dual-system representation of grammar. Moreover, there is a significant amount of dialect mixing that varies across various developmental stages and modalities. The bidialectal speakers' ability to differentiate between the grammar of their native dialect and that of a non-native dialect is constrained by the magnitude of their exposure to the non-native dialect, modalities, and a specific property of grammatical forms. Here, we propose an interactive dialect separation model that accounts for diverse dialect contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Font generation presents a significant challenge due to the intricate details needed, especially for languages with complex ideograms and numerous characters, such as Chinese and Korean. Although various few-shot (or even one-shot) font generation methods have been introduced, most of them rely on GAN-based image-to-image translation frameworks that still face (i) unstable training issues, (ii) limited fidelity in replicating font styles, and (iii) imprecise generation of complex characters. To tackle these problems, we propose a unified one-shot font generation framework called Diff-Font, based on the diffusion model. In particular, we approach font generation as a conditional generation task, where the content of characters is managed through predefined embedding tokens and the desired font style is extracted from a one-shot reference image. For glyph-rich characters such as Chinese and Korean, we incorporate additional inputs for strokes or components as fine-grained conditions. Owing to the proposed diffusion training process, these three types of information can be effectively modeled, resulting in stable training. Simultaneously, the integrity of character structures can be learned and preserved. To the best of our knowledge, Diff-Font is the first work to utilize a diffusion model for font generation tasks. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that Diff-Font outperforms prior font generation methods in both high-fidelity font style replication and the generation of intricate characters. Our method achieves state-of-the-art results in both qualitative and quantitative aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventionally, the goal of Video Instance Segmentation (VIS) is to segment and categorize objects in videos from a closed set of training categories, lacking the generalization ability to handle novel categories in real-world videos. To address this limitation, we make the following three contributions. First, we introduce the novel task of Open-Vocabulary Video Instance Segmentation (OV-VIS), which aims to simultaneously segment, track, and classify objects in videos from open-set categories, including novel categories unseen during training. Second, to benchmark OV-VIS, we collect a Large-Vocabulary Video Instance Segmentation dataset (LV-VIS), that contains well-annotated objects from 1196 diverse categories, significantly surpassing the category size of existing datasets by more than an order of magnitude. Third, we propose a transformer-based OV-VIS model, OV2Seg+, which associates per-frame segmentation masks with a memory-induced transformer and clarifies objects in videos with a voting module given language guidance. In addition, to monitor the progress, we set up the evaluation protocols for OV-VIS and propose a set of strong baseline models to facilitate future endeavors. Extensive experiments on LV-VIS and four existing VIS datasets demonstrate the strong zero-shot generalization ability of OV2Seg+. The dataset and code are released here https://github.com/haochenheheda/LVVIS. The competition website is provided here https://www.codabench.org/competitions/1748. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Editorial introduces the Virtual Issue 'Chemical language of plant–microbe–microbe associations' that includes the following papers: Basak et al. (2024), Böttner et al. (2023), Brisson et al. (2023), Feng et al. (2023), Gfeller et al. (2024), Gómez‐Pérez et al. (2023), Hong et al. (2022, 2023), Hu et al. (2024), Jiang et al. (2024), Lee et al. (2024), Nakano (2024), Ökmen et al. (2023), Revillini et al. (2023), Rovenich & Thomma (2023), Simonin et al. (2022), Snelders et al. (2023), Walsh et al. (2024), Wen et al. (2023), Xia et al. (2023), Xie et al. (2023), Zhang et al. (2023, 2024), Zheng et al. (2023), Zhou et al. (2023, 2024). Access the Virtual Issue at www.newphytologist.com/virtualissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of verb serialization (VS), also regarded as serial verb construction (VS), describes the linguistic situation of verb occurrence or appearance in series in given constructions. This study describes VS in Ezaa dialect of the Igbo language. Data were drawn from both primary and secondary sources. Descriptive method, content analysis, systematic review and interpretive tools were employed in the analysis of the gathered data. The Chomsky's Minimalist Program is adopted for its theoretical framework and used as the lens for realising that Ezaa possesses VS, because it meets the Universalist conditions for being a VS language or dialect. The analysis shows that the phenomenon of VS obtains and operates shabbily in Ezaa, thereby exhibiting peculiar and general constituents and features like inadequate tense marking, implicit negation marker, ordering structure and minimalism, and object sharing and deletion. The study concludes that VS obtains and operates in Ezaa in both specific and general contexts. Among others, it recommends that Ezaa younger generations should be taught their dialect. Besides, they should consistently make efforts to master VS and other linguistic aspects of their dialect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Texts from low-resource languages, including those from the Dravidian language family, are characterized by complex morphological structures that can substantially challenge large language models. While transformer models have proven effective in numerous applications, morphological features make low-resource languages less represented. To address this problem, we present the Tokenization Stability Index (TSI), a new metric that objectively captures the differences and similarities between tokenization techniques. TSI assesses token stability, the degree of vocabulary integration, multi-token matching, and the overall rate of all tokens versus unique tokens. We offer a robust mathematical overview, theoretical implications, and case studies to show that TSI creates a reliable framework for improving low-resource language transformer models. Custom tokenization techniques were developed and tested on Tamil-based text inputs. The modified BERT model significantly surpassed the baseline and IndicBERT models, illustrating further potential for refining tokenization frameworks to enhance text processing accuracy on Dravidian-based languages and low-resource languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]