Is there room for the BBC in the mental lexicon? On the recognition of acronyms

It has been suggested that acronyms like BBC are processed like real words. This claim has been based on improved performance with acronyms in the Reicher-Wheeler task, the letter string matching task, the visual feature integration task, and the N400 component in event-related potential (ERP) studies. Unfortunately, in all these tasks performance on acronyms resembled performance on pseudowords more than performance on words. To further assess the similarity of acronyms and words, we focused on the meaning of the acronyms and used masked priming to examine whether target words can be primed to the same extent with associatively related acronyms as with associatively related words. Such priming was possible at a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 84ms. In addition, the priming of the acronyms did not depend on the letter case in which they were presented: The target word books was primed as much by isbn and iSbN as by ISBN

Methodological framework for World Health Organization estimates of the global burden of foodborne disease

Background: The Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) was established in 2007 by the World Health Organization to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases (FBDs). This paper describes the methodological framework developed by FERG's Computational Task Force to transform epidemiological information into FBD burden estimates. Methods and Findings: The global and regional burden of 31 FBDs was quantified, along with limited estimates for 5 other FBDs, using Disability-Adjusted Life Years in a hazard- and incidence-based approach. To accomplish this task, the following workflow was defined: outline of disease models and collection of epidemiological data; design and completion of a database template; development of an imputation model; identification of disability weights; probabilistic burden assessment; and estimating the proportion of the disease burden by each hazard that is attributable to exposure by food (i.e., source attribution). All computations were performed in R and the different functions were compiled in the R package 'FERG'. Traceability and transparency were ensured by sharing results and methods in an interactive way with all FERG members throughout the process. Conclusions: We developed a comprehensive framework for estimating the global burden of FBDs, in which methodological simplicity and transparency were key elements. All the tools developed have been made available and can be translated into a user-friendly national toolkit for studying and monitoring food safety at the local level

Research Synthesis Methods in an Age of Globalized Risks: Lessons from the Global Burden of Foodborne Disease Expert Elicitation

We live in an age that increasingly calls for national or regional management of global risks. This article discusses the contributions that expert elicitation can bring to efforts to manage global risks and identifies challenges faced in conducting expert elicitation at this scale. In doing so it draws on lessons learned from conducting an expert elicitation as part of the World Health Organizations (WHO) initiative to estimate the global burden of foodborne disease; a study commissioned by the Foodborne Disease Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG). Expert elicitation is designed to fill gaps in data and research using structured, transparent methods. Such gaps are a significant challenge for global risk modeling. Experience with the WHO FERG expert elicitation shows that it is feasible to conduct an expert elicitation at a global scale, but that challenges do arise, including: defining an informative, yet feasible geographical structure for the elicitation; defining what constitutes expertise in a global setting; structuring international, multidisciplinary expert panels; and managing demands on experts' time in the elicitation. This article was written as part of a workshop, Methods for Research Synthesis: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach held at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis on October 13, 2013

The Role of Teachers' Expectations in the Association between Children's SES and Performance in Kindergarten: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study examines the role of teachers' expectations in the association between children's socio-economic background and achievement outcomes. Furthermore, the role of children's ethnicity in moderating this mediated relation is investigated. In the present study, 3,948 children from kindergarten are examined. Data are analysed by means of structural equation modeling. First, results show that teachers' expectations mediate the relation between children's SES and their later language and math achievement, after controlling for children's ethnicity, prior achievement and gender. This result indicates that teachers may exacerbate individual differences between children. Second, children's ethnicity moderates the mediation effect of teachers' expectations with respect to math outcomes. The role of teachers' expectations in mediating the relation between SES and math outcomes is stronger for majority children than for minority children

a review of methodological design choices

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3,053 studies of which 2,948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Burden of infectious disease studies in Europe and the United Kingdom: a review of methodological design choices.

This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3053 studies of which 2948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results

Teachers' expectations and the achievement gap: the role of students' ethnicity and socio-economic status

When people interact with others, they form expectations about what these others will say or do. These expectations can also have consequences as they can lead people to behave in ways that conform with the expectations. Such social interactions also occur within the domain of education. Teachers develop expectations for students academic performance which could in turn have important consequences. Especially for students who are at risk for school failure such as ethnic minority students or students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the impact may be large. Within the educational research field, numerous studies have investigated predictors and effects of teachers expectations. Nevertheless, shortcomings in the existing knowledge base remain. In order to address some of these gaps, four studies are carried out that aimed at identifying important antecedents, consequences and moderators of teachers expectations with respect to ethnic minority students and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in Flanders. All four studies are based on data from the large-scale longitudinal SiBO-project (Dutch acronym for Trajectories through Primary Education), comprising a representative cohort of approximately 4000 students followed from kindergarten until the end of sixth grade and beyond. Information is gathered on students cognitive skills and on characteristics of their family, classroom and teacher. The effects of teachers expectations are investigated both cross-sectional (i.e., in kindergarten) and longitudinally, across several grades in elementary school. Data are analysed by means of structural equation modeling and multilevel regression analyses.By means of an integrated moderated mediation structural equation model, the first study reveals that teachers expectations in kindergarten mediates the association between students SES and their later language and math achievement, controlling for students ethnicity, prior achievement and gender. Furthermore, students ethnicity moderates this mediation effect of teachers expectations with respect to math outcomes. The second study shows that teachers have higher expectations for girls and students with a higher SES than for boys and students with a lower SES, controlling for students prior achievement. The multilevel regression analyses also demonstrate that the expectations are higher in classes with more low-SES students than in classes with more high-SES students. Furthermore, teachers expect more from minority students when these students belong to classes with a larger proportion of minority students than when these students belong to classes with a larger proportion of majority students. By using a latent sum and difference structural equation model, the third study shows that teachers and parents expectations in kindergarten are, both independently and congruently, associated with students achievement, controlling for their prior achievement. These associations are most pronounced for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, if teachers and parents have differential expectations, the effect of the parents predominates. In the fourth study, the results of the longitudinal reciprocal structural equation model point towards direct effects of teachers expectations on students achievement within one school year and to indirect effects across several school years through a transfer of expectations of different teachers over time. The associations between expectations and achievement during elementary school do not differ for majority and minority students nor for different SES groups.To conclude, teachers have differential expectations concerning their students in kindergarten and in elementary school. Furthermore, teachers expectations in turn affect students achievement outcomes. Although in general the effects are rather small, they become larger for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, when teachers expectations match the expectations of parents and by means of a transfer of expectations of different teachers over time.status: publishe