Perspectives on linguistic documentation from sociolinguistic research on dialects

The goal of the paper is to demonstrate how sociolinguistic research can be applied to endangered language documentation field linguistics. It first provides an overview of the techniques and practices of sociolinguistic fieldwork and the ensuring corpus compilation methods. The discussion is framed with examples from research projects focused on European-heritage English-speaking communities in the UK and Canada that have documented and analyzed English dialects from the far reaches of Scotland to the wilds of Northern Ontario, Canada. The main focus lies on morpho-syntactic and discourse-pragmatic variation; however, the same techniques could be applied to other types of variation. The discussion includes examples from a broad range of research studies in order to illustrate how sociolinguistic analyses are conducted and what they offer for understanding language variation and change.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Multiple description video coding for stereoscopic 3D

In this paper, we propose an MDC schemes for stereoscopic 3D video. In the literature, MDC has previously been applied in 2D video but not so much in 3D video. The proposed algorithm enhances the error resilience of the 3D video using the combination of even and odd frame based MDC while retaining good temporal prediction efficiency for video over error-prone networks. Improvements are made to the original even and odd frame MDC scheme by adding a controllable amount of side information to improve frame interpolation at the decoder. The side information is also sent according to the video sequence motion for further improvement. The performance of the proposed algorithms is evaluated in error free and error prone environments especially for wireless channels. Simulation results show improved performance using the proposed MDC at high error rates compared to the single description coding (SDC) and the original even and odd frame MDC

Adaptive Psychosocial Competencies: Toward a Development of a Framework for Life Skills-Based Philippine Nursing Education Curricula

In the Philippines, the nursing curriculum has a solid liberal arts and sciences education with a transdisciplinary approach. In their formative years, the most common source of stress for student nurses was related to academics. However, countries around the world formalize initiatives on life skills education to promote adaptive psychosocial skills and abilities to achieve holistic development. The study aimed to explore and examine the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and its implications for life skills education in the curricula. This study employed a qualitative research design, mainly through needs analysis, literature review, and theoretical synthesis. The investigation revealed that the academic rigor and practice of the nursing program influenced students’ ability to cope with stress. The full nursing curriculum is considered eclectic; however, life skills competency integration needs to be more obscure. The nursing curriculum must have a striking balance of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Furthermore, life skills education in nursing must uphold caring as the core value proposed in the Humanistic Life Skills Framework for Nursing. Life skills education should be strengthened, which is imperative in the current nursing program

A Really Interesting Story: The Influence of Narrative in Linguistic Change

The intensifier system is well known for its perpetual recycling of fresh innovations; however, neither qualitative nor quantitative analyses have offered a consensus on which social factors are involved in the increased use of one variant at the expense of another, nor do we know much about sites of innovation. In this paper, we delve deep into the intensifier system by considering the distinction between narrative and non-narrative discourse contexts (Labov and Waletsky 1967) and using a “small-within-large” methodology wherein a subset of data from a broad sociolinguistic study is our foundation (Tagliamonte 2008). Our results reveal that narratives have significantly higher intensification rates than non-narratives, which we interpret as a linguistic resource to increase affective meaning when performing the identity work inherent in storytelling (Schiffrin 1996). Further, the statistically significant predictors for intensifier use in narratives are predominantly semantic, involving adjective type and emotional value with no significant social factors. Yet in non-narrative discourse, syntactic factors predominate and both gender and age are statistically significant effects. Partitioning the data by discourse context uncovers additional sociolinguistic bifurcation. Indeed, a more detailed examination of the interaction of speaker age and gender reveals how critical the narrative/non-narrative contrast is in the ebb and flow of changes within this system. While younger speakers of both genders show an increase in really in narratives, in non-narratives younger women exhibit a heightened usage compared to older women (4% vs. 21%). The results for very are equally suggestive: younger women use less very in both registers but there is a sharp decline in non-narratives in particular. This suggests that innovations rise first in narratives for all speakers and then diffuse to non-narratives lead by younger women. Taken together, the findings from this study support earlier observations that greater care should be placed on the discourse embedding linguistic variation and change (see e.g., Cheshire 2005 et seq). We have demonstrated that language change actually begins and ends in stories

Simulation of Lattice Polymers with Multi-Self-Overlap Ensemble

A novel family of dynamical Monte Carlo algorithms for lattice polymers is proposed. Our central idea is to simulate an extended ensemble in which the self-avoiding condition is systematically weakened. The degree of the self-overlap is controlled in a similar manner as the multicanonical ensemble. As a consequence, the ensemble --the multi-self-overlap ensemble-- contains adequate portions of self-overlapping conformations as well as higher energy ones. It is shown that the multi-self-overlap ensemble algorithm reproduce correctly the canonical averages at finite temperatures of the HP model of lattice proteins. Moreover, it outperforms massively a standard multicanonical algorithm for a difficult example of a polymer with 8-stickers. Alternative algorithm based on exchange Monte Carlo method is also discussed.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses epsf.st

Binding energy of an impurity in polar microspheres

We have examined the binding energy of a polaron bound to a hydrogenic donor impurity located in a spherical quantum dot by means of a variational technique for both finite and infinite potential models. The polaronic effect on the binding energy has been considered taking into account the ion-phonon coupling by using the Lee-Low-Pines variational method. The results we have obtained show that the binding energies are drastically affected by the dot radius, the potential barrier height and the polaronic effects.We have examined the binding energy of a polaron bound to a hydrogenic donor impurity located in a spherical quantum dot by means of a variational technique for both finite and infinite potential models. The polaronic effect on the binding energy has been considered taking into account the ion-phonon coupling by using the Lee-Low-Pines variational method. The results we have obtained show that the binding energies are drastically affected by the dot radius, the potential barrier height and the polaronic effects

Orthosis reduces breast pain and mechanical forces through natural and augmented breast tissue in women lying prone

BACKGROUND: Breast implant displacement or rupture can cause aesthetic problems and serious medical complications. Activities with prone positioning and loading of the anterior chest wall, such as massage, chiropractic or osteopathic therapies may increase the risk of implant failure and can also cause discomfort in women with natural breast tissue. Here we test the effectiveness of a newly developed orthosis on pain, mechanical pressure and displacement of breast tissue in women with cosmetic augmentation, post-mastectomy reconstruction, lactating or natural breast tissue. METHODS: Thirty-two females volunteers, aged 25–56 years with augmented, reconstructed, natural or lactating breast tissue and cup sizes B-F, participated in this open-label clinical trial. We measured pain perception, peak pressure, maximum force, and breast tissue displacement using different sizes of the orthosis compared to no orthosis. Different densities of the orthosis were also tested in a subgroup of women (n = 7). Pain perception was rated using a validated 11-point visual-analogue scale. Peak pressure and maximum force were assessed using a bilateral set of capacitance-pliance® sensor strips whilst participants were load bearing in a prone position, and breast displacement was measured by magnetic-resonance-imaging. RESULTS: The orthosis significantly reduced pain, breast displacement and mechanical pressures in women with natural and augmented breast tissue in prone position. Greater relief of pain and greater reduction in mechanical forces were found with increased size and density of the orthosis. Use of the orthosis improved overall comfort by 64-100%, lowered peak pressure by up to 85% and maximum force by up to 96%. Medio-lateral displacement of breast tissue was reduced by 16%, resulting in a 51% desirable increase of breast tissue height. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that the newly developed orthosis significantly reduced pain, mechanical pressure and breast tissue displacement in women with augmented and natural breast tissue when lying prone. Our findings are of clinical significance, potentially reducing the risk of complication from prone activities in women with breast augmentation or reconstruction, as well as improving comfort whilst undergoing prone procedures. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register, ACTRN12613000541707