Second language pronunciation assessment: A look at the present and the future

Over three decades ago, Michael Canale summarized what he considered to be the challenges facing language assessment in the era of communicative language learning and teaching: Just as the shift in emphasis from language form to language use has placed new demands on language teaching, so too has it placed new demands on language testing. Evaluation within a communicative approach must address, for example, new content areas such as sociolin- guistic appropriateness rules, new testing formats to permit and encour- age creative, open-ended language use, new test administration procedures to emphasize interpersonal interaction in authentic situa- tions, and new scoring procedures of a manual and judgemental nature. (Canale, 1984: 79) Applied to second language (L2) pronunciation assessment, this descrip- tion remains highly relevant today, raising a number of important issues, such as: broadening the scope of pronunciation assessment beyond the focus on a single aspect of pronunciation (e.g. segmental accuracy) or a single standard (e.g. absence of a discernible nonnative accent); targeting pronunciation assess- ment for various interlocutors in interactive settings, for instance, outside a typical focus on academic performance by students in Western societies; as well as developing and fine-tuning novel assessment instruments and proce- dures. Above all, Canale’s description aptly summarizes an ongoing quest in language assessment to capture the authenticity and interactiveness of language use (e.g. Bachman, 1990; Bachman & Palmer, 2010). The contribu- tions to this edited volume address some of the challenges identified by Canale in innovative ways. Before summarizing these contributions, we hasten to add that no edited volume, including this one, can provide an exhaustive overview of all possible issues in L2 pronunciation assessment; most chapters in this volume are focused on testing or informal evaluative judgements of speech in real-world settings and not on classroom-based assessment, including diagnostic assessment or feedback on test takers’ per- formance. However, the range of topics, the variety of research methodologies and paradigms, and the scope of implications featured here make this volume a timely addition to the growing area of L2 pronunciation assessment

Electricity from photovoltaic solar cells: Flat-Plate Solar Array Project final report. Volume VI: Engineering sciences and reliability

The Flat-Plate Solar Array (FSA) Project, funded by the U.S. Government and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was formed in 1975 to develop the module/array technology needed to attain widespread terrestrial use of photovoltaics by 1985. To accomplish this, the FSA Project established and managed an Industry, University, and Federal Government Team to perform the needed research and development. This volume of the series of final reports documenting the FSA Project deals with the Project's activities directed at developing the engineering technology base required to achieve modules that meet the functional, safety and reliability requirements of large-scale terrestrial photovoltaic systems applications. These activities included: (1) development of functional, safety, and reliability requirements for such applications; (2) development of the engineering analytical approaches, test techniques, and design solutions required to meet the requirements; (3) synthesis and procurement of candidate designs for test and evaluation; and (4) performance of extensive testing, evaluation, and failure analysis to define design shortfalls and, thus, areas requiring additional research and development. During the life of the FSA Project, these activities were known by and included a variety of evolving organizational titles: Design and Test, Large-Scale Procurements, Engineering, Engineering Sciences, Operations, Module Performance and Failure Analysis, and at the end of the Project, Reliability and Engineering Sciences. This volume provides both a summary of the approach and technical outcome of these activities and provides a complete Bibliography (Appendix A) of the published documentation covering the detailed accomplishments and technologies developed

Clinical diagnostic utility of IP-10 and LAM antigen levels for the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusions in a high burden setting

Background: Current tools for the diagnosis of tuberculosis pleural effusions are sub-optimal. Data about the value of new diagnostic technologies are limited, particularly, in high burden settings. Preliminary case control studies have identified IFN-γ-inducible-10kDa protein (IP-10) as a promising diagnostic marker; however, its diagnostic utility in a day-to-day clinical setting is unclear. Detection of LAM antigen has not previously been evaluated in pleural fluid. Methods: We investigated the comparative diagnostic utility of established (adenosine deaminase [ADA]), more recent (standardized nucleic-acid-amplification-test [NAAT]) and newer technologies (a standardized LAM mycobacterial antigendetection assay and IP-10 levels) for the evaluation of pleural effusions in 78 consecutively recruited South African tuberculosis suspects. All consenting participants underwent pleural biopsy unless contra-indicated or refused. The reference standard comprised culture positivity for M. tuberculosis or histology suggestive of tuberculosis. Principal Findings: Of 74 evaluable subjects 48, 7 and 19 had definite, probable and non-TB, respectively. IP-10 levels were significantly higher in TB vs non-TB participants (p<0.0001). The respective outcomes [sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV %] for the different diagnostic modalities were: ADA at the 30 IU/L cut-point [96; 69; 90; 85], NAAT [6; 93; 67; 28], IP-10 at the 28,170 pg/ml ROC-derived cut-point [80; 82; 91; 64], and IP-10 at the 4035 pg/ml cut-point [100; 53; 83; 100]. Thus IP-10, using the ROC-derived cut-point, missed ~20% of TB cases and mis-diagnosed ~20% of non-TB cases. By contrast, when a lower cut-point was used a negative test excluded TB. The NAAT had a poor sensitivity but high specificity. LAM antigendetection was not diagnostically useful. Conclusion: Although IP-10, like ADA, has sub-optimal specificity, it may be a clinically useful rule-out test for tuberculous pleural effusions. Larger multi-centric studies are now required to confirm our findings

Simple and objective prediction of survival in patients with lung cancer: staging the host systemic inflammatory response

Background. Prediction of survival in patients diagnosed with lung cancer remains problematical. The aim of the present study was to examine the clinical utility of an established objective marker of the systemic inflammatory response, the Glasgow Prognostic Score, as the basis of risk stratification in patients with lung cancer. Methods. Between 2005 and 2008 all newly diagnosed lung cancer patients coming through the multidisciplinary meetings (MDTs) of four Scottish centres were included in the study. The details of 882 patients with a confirmed new diagnosis of any subtype or stage of lung cancer were collected prospectively. Results. The median survival was 5.6 months (IQR 4.8–6.5). Survival analysis was undertaken in three separate groups based on mGPS score. In the mGPS 0 group the most highly predictive factors were performance status, weight loss, stage of NSCLC, and palliative treatment offered. In the mGPS 1 group performance status, stage of NSCLC, and radical treatment offered were significant. In the mGPS 2 group only performance status and weight loss were statistically significant. Discussion. This present study confirms previous work supporting the use of mGPS in predicting cancer survival; however, it goes further by showing how it might be used to provide more objective risk stratification in patients diagnosed with lung cancer

Monte Carlo Tree Search with Heuristic Evaluations using Implicit Minimax Backups

Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) has improved the performance of game engines in domains such as Go, Hex, and general game playing. MCTS has been shown to outperform classic alpha-beta search in games where good heuristic evaluations are difficult to obtain. In recent years, combining ideas from traditional minimax search in MCTS has been shown to be advantageous in some domains, such as Lines of Action, Amazons, and Breakthrough. In this paper, we propose a new way to use heuristic evaluations to guide the MCTS search by storing the two sources of information, estimated win rates and heuristic evaluations, separately. Rather than using the heuristic evaluations to replace the playouts, our technique backs them up implicitly during the MCTS simulations. These minimax values are then used to guide future simulations. We show that using implicit minimax backups leads to stronger play performance in Kalah, Breakthrough, and Lines of Action.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, 9 tables, expanded version of paper presented at IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG) 2014 conferenc

A simple novel device for air sampling by electrokinetic capture.

BackgroundA variety of different sampling devices are currently available to acquire air samples for the study of the microbiome of the air. All have a degree of technical complexity that limits deployment. Here, we evaluate the use of a novel device, which has no technical complexity and is easily deployable.ResultsAn air-cleaning device powered by electrokinetic propulsion has been adapted to provide a universal method for collecting samples of the aerobiome. Plasma-induced charge in aerosol particles causes propulsion to and capture on a counter-electrode. The flow of ions creates net bulk airflow, with no moving parts. A device and electrode assembly have been re-designed from air-cleaning technology to provide an average air flow of 120 lpm. This compares favorably with current air sampling devices based on physical air pumping. Capture efficiency was determined by comparison with a 0.4 μm polycarbonate reference filter, using fluorescent latex particles in a controlled environment chamber. Performance was compared with the same reference filter method in field studies in three different environments. For 23 common fungal species by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), there was 100 % sensitivity and apparent specificity of 87 %, with the reference filter taken as "gold standard." Further, bacterial analysis of 16S RNA by amplicon sequencing showed equivalent community structure captured by the electrokinetic device and the reference filter. Unlike other current air sampling methods, capture of particles is determined by charge and so is not controlled by particle mass. We analyzed particle sizes captured from air, without regard to specific analyte by atomic force microscopy: particles at least as low as 100 nM could be captured from ambient air.ConclusionsThis work introduces a very simple plug-and-play device that can sample air at a high-volume flow rate with no moving parts and collect particles down to the sub-micron range. The performance of the device is substantially equivalent to capture by pumping through a filter for microbiome analysis by quantitative PCR and amplicon sequencing

Interviewing the Client

This paper examines an assignment where students taking either an introductory auditing students or an accounting communications course interview a client to gain an understanding of internal control and the interview process. Students document the results of the interview in a memorandum. The paper provides detailed information regarding the design and implementation of a portion of the internal control system. The three main objectives of the assignment are 1) to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate, develop, and enhance their communication skills; 2) to convey a realistic picture of the accounting environment; and 3) to familiarize students with a typical responsibility of entry-level accountants