Effects Of Length, Complexity, And Grammatical Correctness On Stuttering In Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children

Purpose: To explore the effects of utterance length, syntactic complexity, and grammatical correctness on stuttering in the spontaneous speech of young, monolingual Spanish-speaking children. Method: Spontaneous speech samples of 11 monolingual Spanish-speaking children who stuttered, ages 35 to 70 months, were examined. Mean number of syllables, total number of clauses, utterance complexity (i.e., containing no clauses, simple clauses, or subordinate and/or conjoined clauses), and grammatical correctness (i.e., the presence or absence of morphological and syntactical errors) in stuttered and fluent utterances were compared. Results: Findings revealed that stuttered utterances in Spanish tended to be longer and more often grammatically incorrect, and contain more clauses, including more subordinate and/or conjoined clauses. However, when controlling for the interrelatedness of syllable number and clause number and complexity, only utterance length and grammatical incorrectness were significant predictors of stuttering in the spontaneous speech of these Spanish-speaking children. Use of complex utterances did not appear to contribute to the prediction of stuttering when controlling for utterance length. Conclusions: Results from the present study were consistent with many earlier reports of English-speaking children. Both length and grammatical factors appear to affect stuttering in Spanish-speaking children. Grammatical errors, however, served as the greatest predictor of stuttering.Communication Sciences and Disorder

A Comparative Analysis of Detecting Symmetries in Toroidal Topology

In late 1940s and with the introduction of cellular automata, various types of problems in computer science and other multidisciplinary fields have started utilising this new technique. The generative capabilities of cellular automata have been used for simulating various natural, physical and chemical phenomena. Aside from these applications, the lattice grid of cellular automata has been providing a by-product interface to generate graphical patterns for digital art creation. One notable aspect of cellular automata is symmetry, detecting of which is often a difficult task and computationally expensive. This paper uses a swarm intelligence algorithm—Stochastic Diffusion Search—to extend and generalise previous works and detect partial symmetries in cellular automata generated patterns. The newly proposed technique tailored to address the spatially-independent symmetry problem is also capable of identifying the absolute point of symmetry (where symmetry holds from all perspectives) in a given pattern. Therefore, along with partially symmetric areas, the centre of symmetry is highlighted through the convergence of the agents of the swarm intelligence algorithm. Additionally this paper proposes the use of entropy and information gain measure as a complementary tool in order to offer insight into the structure of the input cellular automata generated images. It is shown that using these technique provides a comprehensive picture about both the structure of the images as well as the presence of any complete or spatially-independent symmetries. These technique are potentially applicable in the domain of aesthetic evaluation where symmetry is one of the measures

Towards a consolidation of worldwide journal rankings - A classification using random forests and aggregate rating via data envelopment analysis

AbstractThe question of how to assess research outputs published in journals is now a global concern for academics. Numerous journal ratings and rankings exist, some featuring perceptual and peer-review-based journal ranks, some focusing on objective information related to citations, some using a combination of the two. This research consolidates existing journal rankings into an up-to-date and comprehensive list. Existing approaches to determining journal rankings are significantly advanced with the application of a new classification approach, ‘random forests’, and data envelopment analysis. As a result, a fresh look at a publication׳s place in the global research community is offered. While our approach is applicable to all management and business journals, we specifically exemplify the relative position of ‘operations research, management science, production and operations management’ journals within the broader management field, as well as within their own subject domain

PATTERNS OF IMAGERY IN CARSON MCCULLERS\u27 MAJOR FICTION

Carson McCullers produced in a short lifetime a body of work in which she returned again and again to the theme of spiritual isolation and incompleteness. One detects, on her part, a dedication, almost an obsession with this characteristic human phenomenon. Just as obvious as her characteristic theme is her method of approach, a personal vision invariably expressed through repeated images and symbols. Recurring adolescent and freak characters; place repetitions, such as,. small Southern towns, cafes, and kitchens; constant references to the atmosphere, to the North and snow; repeated musical images, time images and color images; culminating psychological images of Love of Eros and Love of Agape; indicate a conscious and significant patterning on McCullers\u27 part. Most critics who deal with McCullers\u27 work have commented on her theme of spiritual, isolation, but only William Dodd and Ihab Hassan have attempted brief or, direct analyses, of McCullers\u27 imagistic and symbolic approach. No commentator has attempted a thorough analysis of the images and image patterns she employs in her fiction as they serve her artistic purposes. Understandably, the primary concern of McCullers\u27 criticism thus far has been with the content of her work, since she is typically a good story teller. Nevertheless, such an emphasis tends to obscure her artistry, for it negates her symbolic mode of expression, an expression which is essential rather than tangential to her particular vision..

Patterns of Imagery in Carson McCullers\u27 Major Fiction

Carson McCullers produced in a short lifetime a body of work in which she returned again and again to the theme of spiritual isolation and incompleteness. One detects, on her part, a dedication, almost an obsession with this characteristic human phenomenon. Just as obvious as her characteristic theme is her method of approach, a personal vision invariably expressed through repeated images and symbols. Recurring adolescent and freak characters; place repetitions, such as,. small Southern towns, cafes, and kitchens; constant references to the atmosphere, to the North and snow; repeated musical images, time images and color images; culminating psychological images of Love of Eros and Love of Agape; indicate a conscious and significant patterning on McCullers\u27 part. Most critics who deal with McCullers\u27 work have commented on her theme of spiritual, isolation, but only William Dodd and Ihab Hassan have attempted brief or, direct analyses, of McCullers\u27 imagistic and symbolic approach. No commentator has attempted a thorough analysis of the images and image patterns she employs in her fiction as they serve her artistic purposes. Understandably, the primary concern of McCullers\u27 criticism thus far has been with the content of her work, since she is typically a good story teller. Nevertheless, such an emphasis tends to obscure her artistry, for it negates her symbolic mode of expression, an expression which is essential rather than tangential to her particular vision..