Prosodic Phrasing in Spontaneous Swedish

One of the most important functions of prosody is to divide the flow of speech into chunks. The chunking, or prosodic phrasing, of speech plays an important role in both the production and perception of speech. This study represents a move away from the laboratory speech examined in previous, related studies on prosodic phrasing in Swedish, since a spontaneous, Southern Swedish speech material is investigated. The study is, however, not primarily intended as a study of the Southern Swedish dialect; rather Southern Swedish is used as a convenient object on which to test various hypotheses about the phrasing function of prosody in spontaneous speech. The study comprises both analyses of production data and perception experiments, and both the phonetics and phonology of prosodic phrasing is dealt with. First, the distribution of prosodic phrase boundaries in spontaneous speech is examined by considering it as a reflection of optimality theoretic constraints that restrain the production and perception of speech. Secondly, the phonetic realization of prosodic phrase boundaries is investigated in a study on articulation rate changes within the prosodic phrase. Evidence of phrase-final lengthening, a reduction of the articulation rate in the final part of the prosodic phrase, is found. The tonal means used to signal coherence within the prosodic phrase is subsequently investigated. An attempt is made to test the two Lund intonation models’ capacities for describing spontaneous speech. The two approaches have different implications for the amount of preplanning needed, which makes them particularly interesting to compare by testing spontaneous data. The results indicate that no or little preplanning is needed to produce tonally coherent phrases. No evidence is found to suggest e.g. that speakers accommodate for the length of the upcoming phrase by starting longer phrases with a higher F0 than short phrases. An explanation is sought for variation in F0 starting points found in the data despite F0’s insensitivity to phrase length. It is concluded that F0 is used to signal coherence even across prosodic phrase boundaries. It is furthermore found that tonal coherence signals are used to override strong boundary signals in spontaneous speech, thereby making initially unplanned additions possible. Finally, the perception of boundary strength is examined in two perception experiments. Listeners are found to agree well in their perceptual judgments of boundary strength, and it is shown that the main correlate to perceived boundary strength in spontaneous speech is pause length. The useful distinction between weak, prosodic phrase boundaries and strong, prosodic utterance boundaries in descriptions of read speech is found to be inappropriate for descriptions of spontaneous speech. It fails to capture the conflicting local and global signals of boundary strength and coherence that arise when strong boundary signals are overriden by coherence signals. The possibility to use conflicting signals in this way is seen as an important asset to the speaker as it makes changes in the speech plan possible, and it is regarded to be a characteristic of prosodic phrasing in spontaneous speech

Constraints on prosodic phrasing in spontaneous speech

The present paper makes some preliminary hypotheses about the constraints on prosodic phrasing in spontaneous Swedish speech. Within Optimality Theory, linguistic phenomena such as prosodic phrasing are explained through the interaction of constraints (McCarthy & Prince 1993). One may assume that there are a number of constraints that interact to determine what prosodic form an utterance is assigned given its syntactic and information structure. Among these are constraints that both align prosodic phrase structure with syntactic and information structure, as well as constraints that assign word and focal accents and delimit the prosodic phrases’ size and accentual content. The constraints on output representations are hypothesized to be universal. Languages differ only in the ranking order of the constraints. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate in what way constraints previously claimed for other languages can be assumed to interact in Swedish. In the present paper, results from a production data study will be presented. Taking a number of constraints suggested to exist in other languages as a starting point, a possible constraint hierarchy for Swedish is discussed

A 2-year follow-up study of people with severe mental illness involved in psychosocial rehabilitation

Backgrounds. A focus on psychiatric rehabilitation in order to support recovery among persons with severe mental illness (SMI) has been given great attention in research and mental health policy, but less impact on clinical practice. Despite the potential impact of psychiatric rehabilitation on health and wellbeing, there is a lack of research regarding the model called the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Approach from Boston University (BPR). Aim: The aim was to investigate the outcome of the BPR intervention regarding changes in life situation, use of healthcare services, quality of life, health, psychosocial functioning and empowerment. Methods: The study has a prospective longitudinal design and the setting was seven mental health services who worked with the BPR in the county of Halland in Sweden. In total, 71 clients completed the assessment at baseline and of these 49 completed the 2-year follow-up assessments. Results: The most significant finding was an improved psychosocial functioning at the follow-up assessment. Furthermore, 65% of the clients reported that they had mainly or almost completely achieved their self-formulated rehabilitation goals at the 2-year follow-up. There were significant differences with regard to health, empowerment, quality of life and psychosocial functioning for those who reported that they had mainly/completely had achieved their self-formulated rehabilitation goals compared to those who reported that they only had to a small extent or not at all reached their goals. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the BPR approach has impact on clients' health, empowerment, quality of life and in particular concerning psychosocial functioning

Albedo on cropland: Field-scale effects of current agricultural practices in Northern Europe

Agricultural land use and management affect land surface albedo and thus the climate. Increasing the albedo of cropland could enhance reflection of solar radiation, counteracting the radiative forcing (RF) of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and local warming. However, knowledge is lacking on how agricultural practices affect albedo under local conditions, and on the benefits of individual practices. In this study, field measurements were made in 15 paired plots at a site in Northern Europe to determine albedo, net shortwave irradiance and RF impacts under various common crops, cultivation intensities and tillage practices. Field data for 2019-2020 were compared with satellite-based albedo for the surrounding region in 2010-2020. At regional level, different combinations of soil type, yearly weather and agricultural practices led to great variability in the albedo of individual crops, despite similar pedo-climatic conditions. At field level within years, albedo differences were determined mainly by crop type, species-specific phenology and post-harvest management. Annual albedo was higher with perennial ley (0.20-0.22) and winter-sown crops (0.18-0.22) than with spring-sown crops (0.16-0.18) and bare soil (0.13). Barley had the highest albedo among winter and spring cereals. In summer, when increased albedo could alleviate local heat stress, oats reduced net shortwave irradiance at the surface by 0.8-5.8 Wm(-2) compared with other cereals, ley, peas or rapeseed. Delayed or reduced tillage gave high local cooling potential (up to-13.6 Wm(-2)) in late summer. Potential benefits for global mean climate as GWP(100 )per hectare and year reached-980 kg CO(2)e for avoiding black fallow,-578 kg CO(2)e for growing a winter-sown variety and-288 kg CO(2)e for delayed tillage. Thus realistic albedo increases on cropland could have important effects on local temperatures and offset a substantial proportion of the RF deriving from field-scale GHG emissions on short time-scales

Albedo impacts of current agricultural land use: Crop-specific albedo from MODIS data and inclusion in LCA of crop production

Agricultural land use and management practices affect the global climate due to greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes and changes in land surface properties. Increased albedo has the potential to counteract the radiative forcing and warming effect of emitted GHGs. Thus considering albedo could be important to evaluate and improve agricultural systems in light of climate change, but the albedo of individual practices is usually not known. This study quantified the albedo of individual crops under regional conditions, and evaluated the importance of albedo change for the climate impact of current crop production using life cycle assessment (LCA). Seven major crops in southern Sweden were assessed relative to a land reference without cultivation, represented by semi-natural grassland. Crop-specific albedo data were obtained from a MODIS product (MCD43A1 v6), by combining its spatial response pattern with geodata on agricultural land use 2011–2020. Fluxes of GHGs were estimated using regional data and models, including production of inputs, field operations, and soil nitrogen and carbon balances. Ten-year mean albedo was 6–11% higher under the different crops than under the reference. Crop-specific albedo varied between years due to weather fluctuations, but differences between crops were largely consistent. Increased albedo countered the GHG impact from production of inputs and field operations by 17–47% measured in GWP100, and the total climate impact was warming. Using a time-dependent metric, all crops had a net cooling impact on global mean surface temperature on shorter timescales due to albedo (3–12 years under different crops), but a net warming impact on longer timescales due to GHG emissions. The methods and data presented in this study could support increasingly comprehensive assessments of agricultural systems. Further research is needed to integrate climatic effects of land use on different spatial and temporal scales, and direct and indirect consequences from a systems perspective

Discourse markers and the segmentation of spontaneous speech - The case of Swedish men 'but/and/so'

Prosodic and lexical correlates of ‘clause-like’ and ‘paragraph-like’ boundaries associated with the Swedish discourse marker men ‘but/and/so’ are examined. Men-tokens in spontaneous monologues were labelled as to their boundary-status, first using text-only data. The ‘strong’ tokens (labelled identically by all labellers) were subsequently seen to be correlated with clear differences in the prosodic and lexical parameters examined. This tendency was not found for the corresponding ‘weak’ tokens which were subsequently relabelled using both text and speech nor for the data-base as a whole. A test using a neural network trained using strong tokens is seen to be able to correctly categorize 90% of the strong men-tokens as to their associated boundary-type. The results show that discourse markers along with their prosodic and lexical correlates constitute a constellation of important information for understanding how segmentation of speech is produced and understoo

Sustainable development teaching : ethical and political challenges

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Clients’ experiences of the Boston Psychiatric Rehabilitation Approach: A qualitative study

The Boston Psychiatric Rehabilitation Approach (BPR) is person-centered and characterized by being based entirely on the individual's unique needs and preferences in the areas of working, learning, social contacts, and living environment. Nevertheless, the person-centered approach is lacking firm evidence regarding outcomes, and empirical studies regarding clients’ experiences of this particular model are needed. A qualitative content analysis of 10 transcribed semistructured individual interviews was used to describe and explore clients’ experiences of the BPR during an implementation project in Sweden. The findings from the interviews could be summarized in “A sense of being in communion with self and others” theme, consisting of three categories: increased self-understanding, getting new perspectives, and being in a trusting relationship. The results showed that clients do not always recognize nor are able to verbalize their goals before they have been given the possibility to reflect their thoughts in collaboration with a trusted person. The guidelines of the approach are intended to support the clients’ ability to participate in decision making regarding their own care. More research about efficacy of different rehabilitation approaches and exploration of fidelity to guidelines of rehabilitation programs are required

Identification of Regulatory Networks in HSCs and Their Immediate Progeny via Integrated Proteome, Transcriptome, and DNA Methylome Analysis

SummaryIn this study, we present integrated quantitative proteome, transcriptome, and methylome analyses of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and four multipotent progenitor (MPP) populations. From the characterization of more than 6,000 proteins, 27,000 transcripts, and 15,000 differentially methylated regions (DMRs), we identified coordinated changes associated with early differentiation steps. DMRs show continuous gain or loss of methylation during differentiation, and the overall change in DNA methylation correlates inversely with gene expression at key loci. Our data reveal the differential expression landscape of 493 transcription factors and 682 lncRNAs and highlight specific expression clusters operating in HSCs. We also found an unexpectedly dynamic pattern of transcript isoform regulation, suggesting a critical regulatory role during HSC differentiation, and a cell cycle/DNA repair signature associated with multipotency in MPP2 cells. This study provides a comprehensive genome-wide resource for the functional exploration of molecular, cellular, and epigenetic regulation at the top of the hematopoietic hierarchy