Word Processing differences between dyslexic and control children

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate brain responses triggered by different wordclasses in dyslexic and control children. The majority of dyslexic children have difficulties to phonologically assemble a word from sublexical parts following grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences. Therefore, we hypothesised that dyslexic children should mainly differ from controls processing low frequent words that are unfamiliar to the reader. METHODS: We presented different wordclasses (high and low frequent words, pseudowords) in a rapid serial visual word (RSVP) design and performed wavelet analysis on the evoked activity. RESULTS: Dyslexic children had lower evoked power amplitudes and a higher spectral frequency for low frequent words compared to control children. No group differences were found for high frequent words and pseudowords. Control children had higher evoked power amplitudes and a lower spectral frequency for low frequent words compared to high frequent words and pseudowords. This pattern was not present in the dyslexic group. CONCLUSION: Dyslexic children differed from control children only in their brain responses to low frequent words while showing no modulated brain activity in response to the three word types. This might support the hypothesis that dyslexic children are selectively impaired reading words that require sublexical processing. However, the lacking differences between word types raise the question if dyslexic children were able to process the words presented in rapid serial fashion in an adequate way. Therefore the present results should only be interpreted as evidence for a specific sublexical processing deficit with caution

Leading toward creativity and innovation: A study of hotels and resorts

To stay competitive, hotels and resorts, require focusing on being innovative. Given the important role of innovation in the contemporary hotel industry, this research investigated how employee's creativity and innovation can be motivated. Of all the determinants of employee's innovative behavior, leadership has been highlighted in the literature as one of the most influential organizational factors in encouraging subordinates' creativity and innovation. This study examined the influence of perceived innovation-enhancing leadership behaviors on employee's creativity and innovation in Iranian hotels and resorts. In particular, this research investigated the direct impact of seven categories of innovation-enhancing leadership behaviors on employee's creativity and innovation, drawing on a sample of 107 employees and managers from 3-, 4- and 5- stars hotels and resorts in Iran. The empirical findings indicated that the construct of innovation-enhancing leadership is positively and significantly associated with employee's creativity and innovation, further this study identified particular leadership behaviors that account for employee's creativity and innovation in Iranian hotels sectors. This research also reviews the literature on the topic of effective leadership practices in the Asian hotels industry in order to understand more comprehensively how leadership enhances employee's innovative behavior in the context of hotels industry. On the basis of this finding, industry practitioners would be able to develop strategies that enhance and sustain organizational competitive advantage, and this outcome especially in regard to leadership behaviors offer useful directions for training and development programs

Entrepreneurial attributes for success in the small hotel sector: a fuzzy-set QCA approach

By examining small hotels in Spain, this research contributes to understanding how human capital, social capital, and contingency factors interact to build a success model based on high hotel occupancy rates, profit, and profit per employee. Human capital theory, social capital theory, and multilevel theory provide the theoretical basis for this research. The study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis applied to a sample of 51 small Spanish hotels. The results reveal the existence of different configurations that lead to the desired performance outcomes. Each configuration combines two or three causal conditions. The results also reflect the difficulties that small hotels may face in reconciling different performance objectives. This paper thus provides solutions for managers, who must make strategic decisions based on existing conditions both inside and outside their organisations. The findings discussed herein can thus help small hotels better define their performance objectives by considering their individual characteristics. The findings can also help new small hotel entrepreneurs better understand the conditions required for success in this highly competitive market.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio