The development of receptive language skills from captioned-video viewing in primary school EFL learners

The evidence obtained to date supports the use of captioned videos for L2 learning purposes, such as vocabulary acquisition and the development of L2 listening skills. However, little research has been conducted with primary school learners, and even less so on the extent to which L2-captioned videos foster the development of L2 reading skills. Thus, the present investigation aimed to determine the extent to which five groups of primary school EFL learners from Chile (n = 96, 9–11 years old, years 4 and 5) benefited from their viewing experience (11 captioned videos) as regards the development of L2 listening skills and L2 reading efficacy (measured at pretest, posttest, and delayed-posttest). In addition, we assessed the influence of L1- and L2-related factors on learners’ performance over time (L1 and L2 reading efficacy, L2 vocabulary knowledge, and L2 listening skills). Overall, the results revealed that the treatment led to significant gains in English listening skills and reading efficacy in fourth and fifth graders. However, learners’ performance was also found to be predicted by language-related factors, especially L2 vocabulary knowledge. On the whole, the findings of this investigation support the use of age-appropriate captioned videos at primary school to increase children’s exposure to the target language and enhance the development of receptive language skills

Beyond Crowd Judgments: Data-driven Estimation of Market Value in Association Football

Association football is a popular sport, but it is also a big business. From a managerial perspective, the most important decisions that team managers make concern player transfers, so issues related to player valuation, especially the determination of transfer fees and market values, are of major concern. Market values can be understood as estimates of transfer fees—that is, prices that could be paid for a player on the football market—so they play an important role in transfer negotiations. These values have traditionally been estimated by football experts, but crowdsourcing has emerged as an increasingly popular approach to estimating market value. While researchers have found high correlations between crowdsourced market values and actual transfer fees, the process behind crowd judgments is not transparent, crowd estimates are not replicable, and they are updated infrequently because they require the participation of many users. Data analytics may thus provide a sound alternative or a complementary approach to crowd-based estimations of market value. Based on a unique data set that is comprised of 4217 players from the top five European leagues and a period of six playing seasons, we estimate players’ market values using multilevel regression analysis. The regression results suggest that data-driven estimates of market value can overcome several of the crowd’s practical limitations while producing comparably accurate numbers. Our results have important implications for football managers and scouts, as data analytics facilitates precise, objective, and reliable estimates of market value that can be updated at any time

Long-Term Persistance of the Pathophysiologic Response to Severe Burn Injury

Main contributors to adverse outcomes in severely burned pediatric patients are profound and complex metabolic changes in response to the initial injury. It is currently unknown how long these conditions persist beyond the acute phase post-injury. The aim of the present study was to examine the persistence of abnormalities of various clinical parameters commonly utilized to assess the degree hypermetabolic and inflammatory alterations in severely burned children for up to three years post-burn to identify patient specific therapeutic needs and interventions. Nine-hundred seventy-seven severely burned pediatric patients with burns over 30% of the total body surface admitted to our institution between 1998 and 2008 were enrolled in this study and compared to a cohort non-burned, non-injured children. Demographics and clinical outcomes, hypermetabolism, body composition, organ function, inflammatory and acute phase responses were determined at admission and subsequent regular intervals for up to 36 months post-burn. Statistical analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA, Student's t-test with Bonferroni correction where appropriate with significance accepted at p<0.05. Resting energy expenditure, body composition, metabolic markers, cardiac and organ function clearly demonstrated that burn caused profound alterations for up to three years post-burn demonstrating marked and prolonged hypermetabolism, p<0.05. Along with increased hypermetabolism, significant elevation of cortisol, catecholamines, cytokines, and acute phase proteins indicate that burn patients are in a hyperinflammatory state for up to three years post-burn p<0.05. Severe burn injury leads to a much more profound and prolonged hypermetabolic and hyperinflammatory response than previously shown. Given the tremendous adverse events associated with the hypermetabolic and hyperinflamamtory responses, we now identified treatment needs for severely burned patients for a much more prolonged time

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

"Cuando lleguemos": Narrativas Latinx del siglo XXI

Since 2015, the use of the term "Latinx" has become widespread on the Internet and other sociocultural contexts. Referring to Latinas/os or Hispanics in the United States, the term not only problematizes national categories associated with Latinidades but also suggests a more inclusive vision of gender and sexual identities that transcends heteronormative binaries. The "x" in “Latinx” deconstructs gender binarism, pointing to a more flexible and expansive spectrum of gender and sexual identities in the context of transnational cultural formations, or what have been associated with “genderqueer” practices. This doctoral dissertation examines the origins, developments, and deployments of the term “Latinx” in the Internet and in a corpus of US Latinx literary texts in the 21st century. In particular, I examine the formation of transnational “Latinx” identities, discourses, and micro-resistances in Days of Awe (2001) by Achy Obejas, Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties (2004) by Felicia Luna Lemus, Rosas de abolengo (2011) by Sonia Rivera-Valdés, The Cha Cha Files: A Chapina Poética (2014) by Maya Chinchilla, A Cup of Water Under My Bed: A Memoir (2014) by Daisy Hernandez, and Juliet Takes a Breath (2015) by Gabby Rivera as well as these writers’ interventions on the Web 2.0, including their websites, blogs and social media. Each of my chapters studies the production of a transnational literary space, the rejection of gender binarisms, and the resistances enacted in US Latinx literature and the Web. The convergence of these three elements in the 21st century evinces a paradigmatic shift in US Latina/o literature. While the US Latina “literary boom” and borderlands literature might have sought synthesis or resolution, or the creation of a third space associated with Gloria Anzaldúa’s “consciousness of the borderlands,” the US Latinx literary texts examined here reject narrative resolution. Instead, US Latinx texts display what Michel Foucault has called micro-resistances, an endless process that challenges and deconstructs literary conventions and social norms. Resisting resolutions, US Latinx writers further extend their work onto the Internet, using social media as tools of resistances in the Latinx community. As a way of understanding the on-going micro-resistances in US Latinx literature and social media, I read José Esteban Muñoz´s idea of "futurity" and Juana María Rodriguez´s theories on "gestures" in relation to Giorgio Agamben´s theory on potentialities

Jogos como estratégia para facilitar o ensino-aprendizagem de operações com números inteiros

Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-27T19:13:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 ROSANE-FINAL PDF.pdf: 436181 bytes, checksum: f9ba1adcbe4d235baef9eec191236c59 (MD5) ROSANE-FINAL PDF.pdf.jpg: 3564 bytes, checksum: df7f9d56cbd4895b270f3d8161733ad3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-10-10Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível SuperiorThe objective of this research was to investigate whether the use of games improvises the learning of calculation with whole numbers or not. In doing so, a case study based on observation was done with a sample of students of the sixth grade registered at the elementary school of Colégio Militar de Santa Maria . Some games made on cards comprising black or red circumferences from one to twelve were used, which have represented scores won or lost, respectively, and were recorded on forms. A wooden base with two stems, similar to the abacus was used, where the scores won or lost were registered by means of black or red rings. Later, this abacus was used for adding and subtracting operations of whole numbers. Some games of bingo made on cards were also used for each operation: addition, subtraction, 7 multiplication, division and power of whole numbers. For this games there were rules which should be followed. Finally, a bingo was used comprising all the operations mentioned before. During the games some notes were taken based on observation, with speech register, on student s actions and expressions, and a questionary with semi structured questions was also applied, which was answered by the students of the sample. Based on the analysis of the questionary s answers, and from the notes, some tables were made, which have shown that the games helped in the learning of math operations of addition and subtraction of whole numbers, and raise the interest of the students of math. It was suggested to other researchers to use games to work on operations of whole numbers.Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar se o uso de jogos facilita a aprendizagem das operações com números inteiros. Para isto, foi feito um estudo de caso do tipo observacional, com alunos que constituíram a amostra, matriculados nas sextas séries do Ensino Fundamental do Colégio Militar de Santa Maria. Foram utilizados jogos usando cartas feitas em cartolinas, contendo de uma a doze circunferências pretas ou vermelhas, as quais representavam pontos ganhos ou perdidos, respectivamente, que foram registrados em fichas. Foi usada uma base de madeira com duas hastes, semelhante ao ábaco , onde seriam registrados pontos ganhos ou perdidos por meio de argolas pretas ou vermelhas. Este ábaco , posteriormente, foi usado para realizar as operações de soma e subtração de números inteiros. Foram utilizados, ainda, jogos de bingo feitos em cartolinas para cada uma das operações: soma, subtração, multiplicação, divisão e potenciação de números inteiros, e para estes existiam regras que deveriam ser respeitadas. Por fim, foi usado um bingo contendo todas as operações citadas acima. Durante os jogos foram feitas anotações de campo, com registros de falas e observações de ações e expressões dos alunos, e também foi aplicado um questionário com perguntas semi-estruturadas, respondido pelos participantes da amostra. A partir da análise de conteúdo das respostas do questionário aplicado, e das anotações de campo, foram elaboradas tabelas as quais permitiram constatar que os jogos ajudam na aprendizagem das operações de soma e subtração de números inteiros e despertam o interesse do aluno pela Matemática. Sugere-se que outros pesquisadores utilizem jogos para trabalhar as operações de multiplicação e divisão de números inteiros

Jogos como estratégia para facilitar o ensino-aprendizagem de operações com números inteiros

Submitted by MARCIA ROVADOSCHI ([email protected]) on 2019-08-28T13:40:03Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertacao_RosaneGarciaBandeiraAvello.pdf: 436181 bytes, checksum: f9ba1adcbe4d235baef9eec191236c59 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2019-08-28T13:40:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertacao_RosaneGarciaBandeiraAvello.pdf: 436181 bytes, checksum: f9ba1adcbe4d235baef9eec191236c59 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-21The objective of this research was to investigate whether the use of games improvises the learning of calculation with whole numbers or not. In doing so, a case study based on observation was done with a sample of students of the sixth grade registered at the elementary school of “Colégio Militar de Santa Maria”. Some games made on cards comprising black or red circumferences from one to twelve were used, which have represented scores won or lost, respectively, and were recorded on forms. A wooden base with two stems, similar to the “abacus” was used, where the scores won or lost were registered by means of black or red rings. Later, this “abacus” was used for adding and subtracting operations of whole numbers. Some games of bingo made on cards were also used for each operation: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and power of whole numbers. For this games there were rules which should be followed. Finally, a bingo was used comprising all the operations mentioned before. During the games some notes were taken based on observation, with speech register, on student’s actions and expressions, and a questionary with semi structured questions was also applied, which was answered by the students of the sample. Based on the analysis of the questionary’s answers, and from the notes, some tables were made, which have shown that the games helped in the learning of math operations of addition and subtraction of whole numbers, and raise the interest of the students of math. It was suggested to other researchers to use games to work on operations of whole numbers.Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar se o uso de jogos facilita a aprendizagem das operações com números inteiros. Para isto, foi feito um estudo de caso do tipo observacional, com alunos que constituíram a amostra, matriculados nas sextas séries do Ensino Fundamental do Colégio Militar de Santa Maria. Foram utilizados jogos usando cartas feitas em cartolinas, contendo de uma a doze circunferências pretas ou vermelhas, as quais representavam pontos ganhos ou perdidos, respectivamente, que foram registrados em fichas. Foi usada uma base de madeira com duas hastes, semelhante ao “ábaco”, onde seriam registrados pontos ganhos ou perdidos por meio de argolas pretas ou vermelhas. Este “ábaco”, posteriormente, foi usado para realizar as operações de soma e subtração de números inteiros. Foram utilizados, ainda, jogos de bingo feitos em cartolinas para cada uma das operações: soma, subtração, multiplicação, divisão e potenciação de números inteiros, e para estes existiam regras que deveriam ser respeitadas. Por fim, foi usado um bingo contendo todas as operações citadas acima. Durante os jogos foram feitas anotações de campo, com registros de falas e observações de ações e expressões dos alunos, e também foi aplicado um questionário com perguntas semi-estruturadas, respondido pelos participantes da amostra. A partir da análise de conteúdo das respostas do questionário aplicado, e das anotações de campo, foram elaboradas tabelas as quais permitiram constatar que os jogos ajudam na aprendizagem das operações de soma e subtração de números inteiros e despertam o interesse do aluno pela Matemática. Sugere-se que outros pesquisadores utilizem jogos para trabalhar as operações de multiplicação e divisão de números inteiros

L2 learning from captioned-video viewing in primary school students

Programa de Doctorat en Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge[eng] An increasing number of investigations have been conducted in the last decade to explore the effects of audiovisual input on L2 learning (Montero Perez, 2022; Muñoz, 2022). Nevertheless, primary school L2 learners are still an under-researched age group in comparison with university and secondary school students (Montero Perez & Rodgers, 2019). The literature suggests that L1 subtitles would be a more suitable option for primary school learners due to their lower L2 proficiency level and still developing L1 reading skills. However, the question on how suitable and beneficial captioned-video viewing may be for primary school learners from input-limited contexts still needs further evidence to be answered. The present study attempted to fill the gaps in the literature as regards the extent to which extensive captioned-video viewing (11 episodes) fostered vocabulary learning (written-word form recall, and written-word form and meaning recognition) and the development of receptive language skills in six groups of EFL primary school students from Chile (n=120; 9-11 years old; years 4 and 5). More specifically, we studied the influence of treatment, learner and input-related factors on the results. To start with, the experimental groups differed in terms of viewing distribution (number of episodes watched a week) and the activities completed at the end of each session (meaning-focused vs. construction-focused activities). As for learners’ characteristics, this study assessed the influence of a group of cognitive and language-related factors (L1 and L2) on the results. Finally, we explored the extent to which a set of context and word characteristics predicted vocabulary learning. The findings that emerged from the statistical analyses were interpreted in light of the literature and also of the learners’ perceptions of the viewing experience. Overall, the results revealed significant improvement in vocabulary learning and the development of receptive language skills in both year levels. Still, the treatment appeared to be especially beneficial for fifth graders due to their significantly higher proficiency level in both languages and, possibly, to their cognitive maturity. Notwithstanding this result, the analyses also showed that fourth graders’ performance was enhanced by the implementation of shorter lags between episodes. Additionally, the data on learners’ perceptions of the treatment provided rich evidence on how the participants from both year levels took advantage of the different modalities to compensate for their knowledge gaps. On the whole, the findings reported in this dissertation suggest that the use of captioned videos may be suitable and conducive learning in both year levels as long as some specific factors are considered.[spa] A través de los años ha incrementado el número de investigaciones que han explorado los efectos del input audiovisual en el aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera. Sin embargo, los estudiantes de primaria han recibido una menor atención en comparación a los alumnos universitarios y de secundaria. Por lo tanto, esta investigación se diseñó con el objetivo de contribuir a la literatura en relación a la capacidad de los videos subtitulados en la L2 (11 episodios) de promover el aprendizaje de vocabulario y el desarrollo de habilidades receptivas en seis grupos de estudiantes de primaria de Chile (n= 120; 9-11 años de edad; cuarto y quinto año). Específicamente, se investigó la influencia de diversos factores en los resultados, los cuales estaban asociados tanto al tratamiento como a las características de los estudiantes y del input. Los resultados que se obtuvieron de los análisis estadísticos se interpretaron en base a la literatura y a las percepciones de los estudiantes respecto a la intervención. En resumen, los resultados indicaron que los estudiantes de ambos niveles mejoraron significativamente en vocabulario y el desarrollo de habilidades receptivas. Sin embargo, los estudiantes de quinto de primaria parecieron obtener mayores beneficios del tratamiento, los cuales podrían ser asociados a su mayor nivel de proficiencia en español y en inglés, y posiblemente a su mayor madurez cognitiva. A pesar de estos resultados, los análisis también demonstraron que el desempeño de los estudiantes de cuarto de primaria fue potenciado con la implementación de una menor distancia entre episodios. Adicionalmente, las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre el tratamiento demonstraron que los estudiantes de ambos niveles utilizaron las distintas modalidades para compensar por su falta de conocimiento sobre la L2. En general, los resultados publicados en esta tesis sugieren que los videos subtitulados en la L2 podrían ser apropiados y beneficiosos en ambos niveles siempre y cuando se consideren diversos factores en su implementación