Discrimination of Lexical Tones in the First Year of Life

In the current study, we examined the developmental course of the perception of non‐native tonal contrast. We tested 4, 6 and 12‐month‐old Dutch infants on their discrimination of Chinese low‐rising tone and low‐dipping tone using the visual fixation paradigm. The infants were tested in two conditions that differed in terms of degree of variability. The 4‐month‐olds did not show discrimination effect in either condition. The 6‐ and 12‐month‐old infants, however, discriminated the tones in both conditions. The improvement of perception might be the result of cognitive development carried over from learning the native phonology. Infants can become better listeners in general in the first year of life, as well as get cognitively better equipped in dealing with the variable input in speech in general. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Poverty,affect and breaking the cycle: Implementing a ‘vulnerability unit’ in a white working-class community school

Schools serving communities experiencing poverty continue to be challenged as to how to best meet the needs of their pupils. This article documents how educators in one school in Wales developed and implemented a ‘vulnerability unit’ – called The Bridge – which centred on trusting relationships to improve the educational experience for primarily white working-class pupils. In the United Kingdom, the white working class remains the lowest performing socio-economic group. To make sense of the ‘emotional archive’ of the vulnerability unit and how subjects were constituted in this school space, I draw on theories of affect. The investigation considers affective relationships as not only integral to fostering inclusive practices but also closely aligned with physical and social spatiality within the community school. I argue The Bridge is a dynamic space which informs the participants' relationships with themselves and each other. With this in mind, the article contributes to research on the importance of affect and space to inclusive education and pastoral support.     

Are brand names special words? Letter visual-similarity affects the identification of brand names,but not common words

Brand names are often considered a special type of words of special relevance to examine the role of visual codes during reading: unlike common words, brand names are typically presented with the same letter-case configuration (e.g., IKEA, adidas). Recently, Pathak et al. (European Journal of Marketing, 2019, 53 , 2109) found an effect of visual similarity for misspelled brand names when the participants had to decide whether the brand name was spelled correctly or not (e.g., tacebook [baseword: facebook] was responded more slowly and less accurately than xacebook). This finding is at odds with both orthographically based visual-word recognition models and prior experiments using misspelled common words (e.g., viotin [baseword: violin ] is identified as fast as viocin ). To solve this puzzle, we designed two experiments in which the participants had to decide whether the presented item was written correctly. In Experiment 1, following a procedure similar to Pathak et al. (European Journal of Marketing, 2019, 53 , 2109), we examined the effect of visual similarity on misspelled brand names with/without graphical information (e.g., anazon vs. atazon [baseword: amazon ]). Experiment 2 was parallel to Experiment 1, but we focused on misspelled common words (e.g., anarillo vs. atarillo ; baseword: amarillo [yellow in Spanish]). Results showed a sizeable effect of visual similarity on misspelled brand names – regardless of their graphical information, but not on misspelled common words. These findings suggest that visual codes play a greater role when identifying brand names than common words. We examined how models of visual-word recognition can account for this dissociation.     

中心词和非中心词在句法启动的词汇增强效应中存在不同的机制

句法启动中, 非中心词和中心词重复是否诱发出相似强度的词汇增强效应, 目前存在着较大的理论争议。本研究在汉语双宾结构和介宾结构上分别操纵中心词和非中心词重复, 并在确保具有合适统计检验力基础上, 完成了3个句法启动实验。实验结果清楚地显示中心词重复诱发了稳定的词汇增强效应, 非中心词中的直接宾语重复也诱发了稳定但相对较弱的词汇增强效应。在此基础上, 我们尝试提出一个解释框架以调和现有的理论争议。     

Forecasting Elections from Voters' Perceptions of Candidates' Ability to Handle Issues

When deciding for whom to vote, voters should select the candidate they expect to best handle issues, all other things equal. A simple heuristic predicted that the candidate who is rated more favorably on a larger number of issues would win the popular vote. This was correct for nine out of ten U.S. presidential elections from 1972 to 2008. We then used simple linear regression to relate the incumbent's relative issue ratings to the actual two‐party popular vote shares. The resulting model yielded out‐of‐sample forecasts that were competitive with those from the Iowa Electronic Markets and established quantitative models. The issue‐index model has implications for political decision makers, as it can help to track campaigns and to decide which issues to focus on. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Behavioral Health Adjustment in Reserve Component Soldiers During a Noncombat Deployment to Africa

This study benchmarked rates of mental health problems, adjustment difficulties, and perceptions of unit climate among 505 U.S. soldiers (primarily National Guard) deployed to the Horn of Africa in 2012. In addition, the study examined whether differences across these outcomes exist between combat veterans (n = 239) and noncombat veterans (n = 242). Rates of mental health problems among soldiers on this noncombat deployment were lower than rates typically found among soldiers on combat deployments. Furthermore, soldiers without previous combat experience had lower rates of mental health problems and aggression than combat veterans. Similar differences were evident when adjustment difficulties and unit climate variables were compared. Although combat veterans could be valuable in training new soldiers, the results of this study indicate that combat veterans may need more targeted resources to facilitate their adjustment if they are to be optimally utilized.     

Psycholinguistic variables involved in concept recall from the successive presentation of features / Variables psicolingüísticas involucradas en la evocación de conceptos a partir de la presentación de atributos sucesivos

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the psycholinguistic variables of the attributes and concepts involved in the recall of a concept. One hundred and twenty adults (18–40 years old) participated. A lexical recall task was administered by presenting a successive list of defining attributes. Forty concepts from different semantic categories were used. The attributes were obtained empirically from local Semantic Features Production Norms. The influence of the characteristics and attributes of the concepts on the number of participants who accessed the name of the concept and the correct guess trend was analysed. Significant values for Age of Acquisition, Presence of Distinctive Attributes and Presence of Taxonomic Attributes were observed. Results show that concepts which are acquired earliest are more easily recalled; presenting taxonomic categories narrows the search and the presence of distinctive attributes allow differentiating between such concepts within a category.     

Mobbing–prevention and management in organizations

Abstract

So far, only a few companies have dealt with the issue of “mobbing”. This article describes some of the variables required for a successful implementation of an anti-mobbing programme, as well as measures of prevention and intervention. A successful anti-mobbing programme depends on the pressure the problem exerts on the company, the competition with other company programmes, the negative image of mobbing, and the slow diffusion of social issues in companies. Various prevention measures are outlined and suggested in connection with the causes of mobbing: changes in work design, changes in leadership behaviour, the protection of the individual social position, and the moral standard of employees. Depending on the stage of conflict escalation, different intervention measures apply. The concepts of appointing contact people for mobbing victims and the setting up of neutral clearing posts are discussed.     

ICU患者的浅镇静：我们追求的目标？

镇静治疗是ICU综合治疗的重要组成部分。随着ICU的发展,先后颁布了3个有关ICU患者的镇静指南,镇静治疗的理念也逐渐发生改变。2013年美国重症医学会颁布的ICU成人患者疼痛、躁动、谵妄治疗指南推荐的镇静目标为浅镇静。该指南是以大量临床研究结论为基础提出的,更具有广泛代表性和推广价值。本文从浅镇静的理论基础、具体实施方案、镇静深度的监测、镇静药物的选择以及浅镇静的局限性等方面具体阐述ICU患者浅镇静策略的相关问题,以期ICU同道能更好地理解和临床实施ICU成人患者的浅镇静策略。     

Cultural and Religious Values: A Cross-Cultural Study In Austria,South Africa and Egypt

This article compares religious values found on the basis of the lexical approach in three cultures. Lists of human values in Austria (German), South Africa (Northern Sotho) and Egypt (Arabic) were compiled. These terms were rated by 456, 400 and 773 participants respectively as personal guiding motives in life. Factor analyses yielded orthogonal dimensions reflecting the specific values of each culture. In all three cases, a dimension pertaining to religious issues emerged. For Austria, a distinct dimension was found, which only comprised religious terms. In South Africa religious values were interrelated with mutual support, while in Egypt, religiosity was highly correlated with political concerns and Arabic nationalism. While only about 25% of the Austrian sample gave positive evaluations to religious values, most of the South African and Egyptian participants rated religiosity positively. Results suggest that religious values are ubiquitous and religious convictions are influenced by the ethical concepts in each culture.