Contribuições da consciência fonológica e nomeação seriada rápida para a aprendizagem inicial da escrita

RESUMO Objetivo: investigar a contribuição da consciência fonológica e nomeação seriada rápida para a aprendizagem inicial da escrita. Métodos: participaram do estudo 100 crianças, na faixa etária de três a seis anos e onze meses, matriculadas na educação infantil de uma creche e uma escola municipal da cidade do Recife. Utilizou-se como instrumentos de avaliação o Teste de Consciência Fonológica, a tarefa de Nomeação Seriada Rápida e um roteiro de avaliação da escrita. Os dados foram transcritos e analisados conforme a estatística descritiva e inferencial. Resultados: observou-se que o aumento da faixa etária está diretamente relacionado ao desenvolvimento dos níveis de consciência fonológica, assim como com a diminuição dos erros e do tempo para execução das tarefas de NSR. Verificou-se que as crianças com mais de quatro anos, tiveram um desempenho em consciência fonológica aquém do esperado para sua idade. Dentre as habilidades de consciência fonológica, a consciência silábica obteve melhores índices de pontuações, podendo-se observar grande dificuldade dos participantes nas tarefas de consciência fonêmica. Com relação a escrita, a maioria das crianças estavam na fase pré-silábica. Foi possível verificar correlações significantes entre as habilidades de consciência fonológica com a nomeação seriada rápida e escrita. Conclusão: a consciência fonológica e nomeação seriada rápida contribuem para a aprendizagem inicial da escrita, sendo importante o estímulo destas habilidades antes do ciclo de alfabetização, o que pode favorecer este processo e sinalizar, precocemente, eventuais problemas de aprendizagem. O baixo desempenho nas tarefas pode ser sugestivo da influência de fatores socioeducacionais, devendo-se considerar o contexto de vida da criança e as experiências educativas vivenciadas na família e escola

Measurement of Trilinear Gauge Couplings in e+e−e^+ e^- Collisions at 161 GeV and 172 GeV

Trilinear gauge boson couplings are measured using data taken by DELPHI at 161~GeV and 172~GeV. Values for $WWV$ couplings ($V=Z, \gamma$) are determined from a study of the reactions \eeWW\ and \eeWev, using differential distributions from the $WW$ final state in which one $W$ decays hadronically and the other leptonically, and total cross-section data from other channels. Limits are also derived on neutral $ZV\gamma$ couplings from an analysis of the reaction \eegi

Forming social impressions from voices in native and foreign languages

We form very rapid personality impressions about speakers on hearing a single word. This implies that the acoustical properties of the voice (e.g., pitch) are very powerful cues when forming social impressions. Here, we aimed to explore how personality impressions for brief social utterances transfer across languages and whether acoustical properties play a similar role in driving personality impressions. Additionally, we examined whether evaluations are similar in the native and a foreign language of the listener. In two experiments we asked Spanish listeners to evaluate personality traits from different instances of the Spanish word “Hola” (Experiment 1) and the English word “Hello” (Experiment 2), native and foreign language respectively. The results revealed that listeners across languages form very similar personality impressions irrespective of whether the voices belong to the native or the foreign language of the listener. A social voice space was summarized by two main personality traits, one emphasizing valence (e.g., trust) and the other strength (e.g., dominance). Conversely, the acoustical properties that listeners pay attention to when judging other’s personality vary across languages. These results provide evidence that social voice perception contains certain elements invariant across cultures/languages, while others are modulated by the cultural/linguistic background of the listener.This study was funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, National Research Agency) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, European Regional Development Fund) under projects PSI2017- 84539-P and PSI2014-52181-P, the Catalan Government (2017 SGR 268), and the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 613465 - AThEME. CB was supported by the People Program (Marie Curie Actions, FP7-PEOPLE 2014–2016) under REA agreement n°623845 and now is supported by the Beatriu de Pinòs program (AGAUR, BP00381). PB was supported by supported by grant AJE201214 from French Foundation for Medical Research, and grants ANR-16-CONV-0002 (Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain), ANR-11-LABX-0036 (Brain and Language Research Institute) and the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University (A*MIDEX)

Complexities of shrub encroachment: are shrubs important for the maintenance of diversity in Themeda-dominated assemblages on coastal headlands in eastern Australia?

Shrub encroachment is an issue worldwide with consequences which may have both positive and negative outcomes for landscape and community health. Themeda- dominated communities on headlands are listed as endangered within New South Wales, Australia with shrub encroachment listed as threat. Coastal headlands are considered harsh environments and positive effects on species diversity patterns may occur due to variables that ameliorate these conditions or through indirect mechanisms. Shrubs are a natural component of coastal headlands in eastern Australian and tall shrub encroachment may have both positive and negative effects on non-shrub communities. I test whether tall shrubs may have a functional role that positively affects species diversity within and between plots and the distribution of species within Themeda- dominated communities on headlands. 352 2 × 2 m plots were placed on 46 headlands along a 530 km stretch of coastline on the North Coast Bioregion, New South Wales, Australia. Within plots vascular plant species were scored on cover and frequency. Species density, diversity, evenness, turnover and gamma diversity were calculated. Variables tested include cumulative tall shrub height from circular transects at 2, 4 and 8 m from plots, slope, aspect, altitude, ground layer height, distance to closest seaward edge and macropod grazing intensity. Rarefaction was performed on a subset of sites that had no shrubs and sites within shrubs within 8 m of plots. The relative interaction intensity (RII) was calculated for all taxa with more than one observation against plots without shrubs and plots with shrubs within 8 m radius. Analyses were performed using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Generalised Additive Modelling (GAM) on species frequency data. A total of 303 native taxa were recorded within plots. The most significant positive effects on species density, evenness and species accumulation included increasing proximity to, and density of tall shrubs. Tall shrubs may allow direct facilitation of less stress tolerant plants to colonise but may have an indirect interaction by reduction in the dominance of Themeda triandra . Other minor significant variables included distance from headland seaward edge, southern and western facing slopes, higher altitudes and a decrease in ground layer height. 178 (80%) of species were found to have a positive RII score associated with the presence of nearby taller shrubs. Tall shrubs may directly facilitate greater species diversity by ameliorating local conditions and indirectly facilitate by reducing the over- dominance of some taxa. In spite of the positive effect of shrubs on diversity eventually tall shrub encroachment may cause replacement of the Themeda- dominated communities with shrubland. Encroaching taller shrubs are therefore shown to be both of benefit to floristic species diversity at all scales within these Themeda- dominated communities on headlands in eastern Australia but also a potential threat. These results highlight the complex nature of community interactions requiring nuanced and potentially novel approaches to management