Using Context To Communicate: Romanian Sign Language Learners And Their Communication Strategies

This study focuses on the communication strategies used by second language learners of Romanian Sign Language (LSR), including learners of different proficiency levels, and investigates whether the learner’s proficiency level affects the kinds or variety of communication strategies they use. Unlike previous studies of communication strategies by language learners, it focuses on learners of a signed rather than a spoken language. The study consisted of two tasks—the first being a structured task where the learner was given a list of ten words to communicate to an interlocutor (a Deaf native signer). The second task was less structured and asked the learner to describe a video to the interlocutor. The study finds that learners choose their communication strategies by thinking about the knowledge they share with the interlocutor and then making conscious decisions about the most effective strategies to use with that particular person. This is not necessarily a function of their proficiency in the language. In fact, unlike findings from previous studies, beginning learners in the present study used more LSR-based strategies than the advanced learners, which can be explained by the fact that their language background did not happen to overlap as much with that of the interlocutor. In interviews, learners stated that they chose certain strategies because they knew they would be more familiar to the interlocutor. These statements show that the learners are not solely at the mercy of their proficiency level in the language but can use their knowledge of the interlocutor and the situation in order to communicate. The study also showed that more advanced learners tended to use more variety in their choice of communication strategies. This study also found that it is not necessarily helpful to analyze communication strategies in terms of L1 vs. L2 strategies. It would be more helpful to think of all of the different languages that are available to the learners, since these are the choices that the learners are thinking through when they are talking to the interlocutor. The learner may use their L1 more often if the interlocutor also knows that language, and less often if their L1 is not known to the interlocutor

The Employed Versus the Nonemployed Mother: the Effects on the Seventh-day Adventist Family in Southwestern Michigan

Previous research indicates that researchers are not always agreed as to the negative or positive effects that the employed mother has on the family. The purpose of this study was to research the effects that the nonemployed and employed Seventh-day Adventist mother, in southwestern Michigan, has on the family. The broad hypothesis for this study is that nonemployed mothers have a more positive effect on families, in general, as opposed to mothers who were employed outside of the home. Two hundred Seventh-day Adventist mothers, after completing a specially designed instrument, were placed in various categories depending on the numbers of hours they were employed or the number of hours they spent in volunteer work each week. In this ex-post facto study the data were studied statistically by Chi-square analysis to compare the frequencies of the various responding groups. The results indicated that sixteen of the one hundred and twelve subhypotheses were significant. The data indicate that the mothers in the various categories of employment (0 - 30+ hours per week) and those involved in volunteer activities (0 - 20 hours per week) differ in their opinions concerning their roles in family life. As the overall picture of the nonemployed and employed mothers in their roles in the home is studied, it appears that there are some effects on the family. The more the mother is out of the home, irrespective of the reason, the greater the negative effects this absence from the home has on the family in general. It may be concluded from this study that there are more positive aspects related to the role the nonemployed mother has in the home compared to that of the employed mother. Recommendations for further research are offered

Dredge Spoil Disposal with Particular Reference to Management Practices in Southern New England

One-half million acres of U.S. coastal wetlands have been destroyed by dredging and filling operations since 1956. They are being destroyed at the rate of 0.5-1.0% each year. In one ten year period, Rhode Island lost 5% of its 2000 acres of wetlands to urban development, and Connecticut lost 12% of its marsh lands. Less than 1500 acres of marsh remain in Connecticut. During the course of this research project, I examined one aspect of wetland destruction - the dredging and disposal of spoil materials onto wetlands and into the coastal waters of Southern New England. What follows is a compilation of facts, policies, and operating procedures on dredge and fill activities, and a discussion of how these activities impact the ecology of southern New England

The Board of Directors and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Listed Companies

Purpose: This study seeks to reconcile some of the conflicting results in prior studies of the board structure/firm performance relationship, and to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of agency theory in the specific context of Italian corporate governance practice. Design/methodology/approach: This research applies a dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) methodology on a sample of Italian listed companies over the period 2003-2015. Proxies for corporate governance mechanisms are the board size, the level of board independence, ownership structure, shareholder agreements and CEO-Chairman leadership. Findings: While directors elected by minority shareholders are not able to impact upon performance, independent directors do have a non-linear effect on performance. Board size has a positive effect on firm performance for lower levels of board size. Ownership structure per se and shareholder agreements do not affect firm performance. Research Implications: This paper contributes to the literature on agency theory by reconciling some of the conflicting results inherent in the board structure-performance relationship. Firm performance is not necessarily improved by having a high number of independent directors on the board. Ownership structure and composition do not affect firm performance; therefore, greater monitoring provided by concentrated ownership does not necessarily lead to stronger firm performance. Practical Implications: We suggest that Italian corporate governance law should improve the rules and effectiveness of minority directors by controlling whether they are able to impede the main shareholders to expropriate private benefits on the expenses of the minority. The legislator should not impose any restrictive regulations with regard to CEO-duality, as the influence of CEO-duality on performance may vary with respect to the unique characteristics of each company. Originality/Value: The results enrich the understanding of the applicability of agency theory in listed companies, especially in Italy. Additionally, this paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of research evidence of agency theory studies

A qualitative study exploring why adults with intellectual disabilities and obesity want to lose weight and views of their carers

Background: Obesity is more prevalent in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) compared to the general population. Motivations for weight loss may influence engagement with weight management programmes and have only been studied in adults without ID. Aims: To determine reasons given by adults with ID and obesity for seeking weight loss and whether these reasons differ from those of their carers. Methods: Prior to a multi-component weight management intervention, participants were asked “why do you want to lose weight?” Carers were asked their views and these were compared to the answers given by the adult with ID. Responses were themed. The Fisher’s Exact analysis was used to test for any relationship between reasons for seeking weight loss and participants’ level of ID, age, gender and BMI. Results: Eighteen men and 32 women; age 41.6 SD 14.6 years; BMI 40.8 SD 7.5 kg/m2; Level ID Mild (28 %), Moderate (42 %), Severe (22 %), Profound (8 %). Eleven were unable to respond. Six themes emerged; Health; Fitness / Activity / Mobility; Appearance / Clothes; Emotional / Happiness; For Others; Miscellaneous. The most frequent reason given overall and by women was “appearance.” Carers cited “health” most frequently and “appearance” least, rarely agreeing with participants. “Health” was given as a reason more from older adults and those with milder ID. No statistically significant associations were found between reasons for seeking weight loss and BMI age, gender or level of ID but the differing views of adults with ID and their carers were clear. Conclusions: Views of adults with obesity and mild or moderate ID can be collected. The opposing views of adults and their carers may affect motivation for weight loss

Use of behaviour change techniques in lifestyle change interventions for people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review

Background: People with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience more health problems and have different lifestyle change needs, compared with the general population. Aims: To improve lifestyle change interventions for people with ID, this review examined how behaviour change techniques (BCTs) were applied in interventions aimed at physical activity, nutrition or physical activity and nutrition, and described their quality. Methods and procedures: After a broad search and detailed selection process, 45 studies were included in the review. For coding BCTs, the CALO-RE taxonomy was used. To assess the quality of the interventions, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used. Extracted data included general study characteristics and intervention characteristics. Outcomes and results: All interventions used BCTs, although theory-driven BCTs were rarely used. The most frequently used BCTs were ‘provide information on consequences of behaviour in general’ and ‘plan social support/social change’. Most studies were of low quality and a theoretical framework was often missing. Conclusion and implications: This review shows that BCTs are frequently applied in lifestyle change interventions. To further improve effectiveness, these lifestyle change interventions could benefit from using a theoretical framework, a detailed intervention description and an appropriate and reliable intervention design which is tailored to people with ID

N released from organic amendments is affected by soil management history

A ryegrass bioassay was conducted to investigate the effect of soil management history on nitrogen mineralisation from composted manure and pelleted poultry manure. Soils were used from 2 field experiments comparing conventional and organic/low input management systems. When composted manure was added, soils which had received high rates of composted FYM under biodynamic management released a greater amount of nitrogen for plant uptake than those with a history of mineral or fresh manure fertilisation, suggesting that biological preconditioning may result in greater efficiency of composted FYM as a nitrogen source for plants. “Native” N mineralisation was found to be related to total soil N content

Principal manifolds and graphs in practice: from molecular biology to dynamical systems

We present several applications of non-linear data modeling, using principal manifolds and principal graphs constructed using the metaphor of elasticity (elastic principal graph approach). These approaches are generalizations of the Kohonen's self-organizing maps, a class of artificial neural networks. On several examples we show advantages of using non-linear objects for data approximation in comparison to the linear ones. We propose four numerical criteria for comparing linear and non-linear mappings of datasets into the spaces of lower dimension. The examples are taken from comparative political science, from analysis of high-throughput data in molecular biology, from analysis of dynamical systems.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure