Idiom, syntax, and advanced theory of mind abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Whyte, Elisabeth M; Nelson, Keith E; Scherf, K Suzanne

2014-02-01

When researchers investigate figurative language abilities (including idioms) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), syntax abilities may be more important than once considered. In addition, there are limitations to the overreliance on false-belief tasks to measure theory of mind (TOM) abilities. In the current study, the authors investigated idiom, syntax, and advanced TOM abilities in children with ASD compared to children with typical development (TD). Twenty-six children with ASD, ages 5 to 12 years, were compared to individuals in each of 2 control groups of children with TD: 1 matched on chronological age and nonverbal IQ, and 1 matched on syntax age-equivalence and raw scores. Idiom comprehension, syntax, vocabulary, and 2 measures of advanced TOM abilities were examined. Although children with ASD performed worse on idiom comprehension compared to the age-matched group with TD, they exhibited comparable idiom performance to the syntax-matched group with TD. Advanced TOM abilities were related to idiom comprehension for children with ASD, but not for children with TD, above the contributions of basic language abilities. Syntax abilities should be used as a matching variable when examining figurative or other late-developing language skills.

Power analysis for multivariate and repeated measurements designs via SPSS: correction and extension of D'Amico, Neilands, and Zambarano (2001).

PubMed

Osborne, Jason W

2006-05-01

D'Amico, Neilands, and Zambarano (2001) published SPSS syntax to perform power analyses for three complex procedures: ANCOVA, MANOVA, and repeated measures ANOVA. Unfortunately, the published SPSS syntax for performing the repeated measures analysis needed some minor revision in order to perform the analysis correctly. This article presents the corrected syntax that will successfully perform the repeated measures analysis and provides some guidance on modifying the syntax to customize the analysis.

Space syntax in healthcare facilities research: a review.

PubMed

Haq, Saif; Luo, Yang

2012-01-01

Space Syntax is a theory and method that has been developing for the last 40 years. Originally conceived as a theory of "society and space," it has expanded to other areas. An important aspect of this is technical; it allows the quantification of layouts, and unit spaces within a layout, so that the environment itself can produce independent variables in quantitative research. Increasingly, it is being used to study healthcare facilities. Space Syntax has thereby become relevant to healthcare facilities researchers and designers. This paper attempts to explain Space Syntax to a new audience of healthcare designers, administrators, and researchers; it provides a literature review on the use of Space Syntax in healthcare facility research and suggests some possibilities for future application.

A Conformance Test Suite for Arden Syntax Compilers and Interpreters.

PubMed

Wolf, Klaus-Hendrik; Klimek, Mike

2016-01-01

The Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Modules is a standardized and well-established programming language to represent medical knowledge. To test the compliance level of existing compilers and interpreters no public test suite exists. This paper presents the research to transform the specification into a set of unit tests, represented in JUnit. It further reports on the utilization of the test suite testing four different Arden Syntax processors. The presented and compared results reveal the status conformance of the tested processors. How test driven development of Arden Syntax processors can help increasing the compliance with the standard is described with two examples. In the end some considerations how an open source test suite can improve the development and distribution of the Arden Syntax are presented.

An Empirical Investigation into Programming Language Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stefik, Andreas; Siebert, Susanna

2013-01-01

Recent studies in the literature have shown that syntax remains a significant barrier to novice computer science students in the field. While this syntax barrier is known to exist, whether and how it varies across programming languages has not been carefully investigated. For this article, we conducted four empirical studies on programming…

78 FR 63522 - Syntax Analytics, LLC and Syntax ETF Trust; Notice of Application

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-24

... Analytics, LLC and Syntax ETF Trust; Notice of Application October 18, 2013. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... Trust (``Trust''). Summary of Application: Applicants request an order that permits: (a) Actively... unit investment trusts outside of the same group of investment companies as the series to acquire...

SYNTAX Score and Long-Term Outcomes: The BARI-2D Trial.

PubMed

Ikeno, Fumiaki; Brooks, Maria Mori; Nakagawa, Kaori; Kim, Min-Kyu; Kaneda, Hideaki; Mitsutake, Yoshiaki; Vlachos, Helen A; Schwartz, Leonard; Frye, Robert L; Kelsey, Sheryl F; Waseda, Katsuhisa; Hlatky, Mark A

2017-01-31

The extent of coronary disease affects clinical outcomes and may predict the effectiveness of coronary revascularization with either coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) score quantifies the extent of coronary disease. This study sought to determine whether SYNTAX scores predicted outcomes and the effectiveness of coronary revascularization compared with medical therapy in the BARI-2D (Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes) trial. Baseline SYNTAX scores were retrospectively calculated for BARI-2D patients without prior revascularization (N = 1,550) by angiographic laboratory investigators masked to patient characteristics and outcomes. The primary outcome was major cardiovascular events (a composite of death, myocardial infarction, and stroke) over 5 years. A mid/high SYNTAX score (≥23) was associated with a higher risk of major cardiovascular events (hazard ratio: 1.36, confidence interval: 1.07 to 1.75, p = 0.01). Patients in the CABG stratum had significantly higher SYNTAX scores: 36% had mid/high SYNTAX scores compared with 13% in the PCI stratum (p < 0.001). Among patients with low SYNTAX scores (≤22), major cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between revascularization and medical therapy, either in the CABG stratum (26.1% vs. 29.9%, p = 0.41) or in the PCI stratum (17.8% vs. 19.2%, p = 0.84). Among patients with mid/high SYNTAX scores, however, major cardiovascular events were lower after revascularization than with medical therapy in the CABG stratum (15.3% vs. 30.3%, p = 0.02), but not in the PCI stratum (35.6% vs. 26.5%, p = 0.12). Among patients with diabetes and stable ischemic heart disease, higher SYNTAX scores predict higher rates of major cardiovascular events and were associated with more favorable outcomes of revascularization compared with medical therapy among patients suitable for CABG. (Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation in Type 2 Diabetes; NCT00006305). Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rhythmic Effects of Syntax Processing in Music and Language

PubMed Central

Jung, Harim; Sontag, Samuel; Park, YeBin S.; Loui, Psyche

2015-01-01

Music and language are human cognitive and neural functions that share many structural similarities. Past theories posit a sharing of neural resources between syntax processing in music and language (Patel, 2003), and a dynamic attention network that governs general temporal processing (Large and Jones, 1999). Both make predictions about music and language processing over time. Experiment 1 of this study investigates the relationship between rhythmic expectancy and musical and linguistic syntax in a reading time paradigm. Stimuli (adapted from Slevc et al., 2009) were sentences broken down into segments; each sentence segment was paired with a musical chord and presented at a fixed inter-onset interval. Linguistic syntax violations appeared in a garden-path design. During the critical region of the garden-path sentence, i.e., the particular segment in which the syntactic unexpectedness was processed, expectancy violations for language, music, and rhythm were each independently manipulated: musical expectation was manipulated by presenting out-of-key chords and rhythmic expectancy was manipulated by perturbing the fixed inter-onset interval such that the sentence segments and musical chords appeared either early or late. Reading times were recorded for each sentence segment and compared for linguistic, musical, and rhythmic expectancy. Results showed main effects of rhythmic expectancy and linguistic syntax expectancy on reading time. There was also an effect of rhythm on the interaction between musical and linguistic syntax: effects of violations in musical and linguistic syntax showed significant interaction only during rhythmically expected trials. To test the effects of our experimental design on rhythmic and linguistic expectancies, independently of musical syntax, Experiment 2 used the same experimental paradigm, but the musical factor was eliminated—linguistic stimuli were simply presented silently, and rhythmic expectancy was manipulated at the critical region. Experiment 2 replicated effects of rhythm and language, without an interaction. Together, results suggest that the interaction of music and language syntax processing depends on rhythmic expectancy, and support a merging of theories of music and language syntax processing with dynamic models of attentional entrainment. PMID:26635672

Additive prognostic value of the SYNTAX score over GRACE, TIMI, ZWOLLE, CADILLAC and PAMI risk scores in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

PubMed

Brkovic, Voin; Dobric, Milan; Beleslin, Branko; Giga, Vojislav; Vukcevic, Vladan; Stojkovic, Sinisa; Stankovic, Goran; Nedeljkovic, Milan A; Orlic, Dejan; Tomasevic, Miloje; Stepanovic, Jelena; Ostojic, Miodrag

2013-08-01

This study evaluated additive prognostic value of the SYNTAX score over GRACE, TIMI, ZWOLLE, CADILLAC and PAMI risk scores in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). All six scores were calculated in 209 consecutive STEMI patients undergoing pPCI. Primary end-point was the major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE--composite of cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction and stroke); secondary end point was cardiovascular mortality. Patients were stratified according to the SYNTAX score tertiles (≤12; between 12 and 19.5; >19.5). The median follow-up was 20 months. Rates of MACE and cardiovascular mortality were highest in the upper tertile of the SYNTAX score (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively). SYNTAX score was independent multivariable predictor of MACE and cardiovascular mortality when added to GRACE, TIMI, ZWOLLE, and PAMI risk scores. However, the SYNTAX score did not improve the Cox regression models of MACE and cardiovascular mortality when added to the CADILLAC score. The SYNTAX score has predictive value for MACE and cardiovascular mortality in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI. Furthermore, SYNTAX score improves prognostic performance of well-established GRACE, TIMI, ZWOLLE and PAMI clinical scores, but not the CADILLAC risk score. Therefore, long-term survival in patients after STEMI depends less on detailed angiographical characterization of coronary lesions, but more on clinical characteristics, myocardial function and basic angiographic findings as provided by the CADILLAC score.

The Psychic Organ Point of Autistic Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amir, Dana

2013-01-01

This paper deals with autistic syntax and its expressions both in the fully fledged autistic structure and in the autistic zones of other personality structures. The musical notion of the organ point serves as a point of departure in an attempt to describe how autistic syntax transforms what was meant to constitute the substrate for linguistic…

Cognitive, Environmental, and Linguistic Predictors of Syntax in Fragile X Syndrome and Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Estigarribia, Bruno; Martin, Gary E.; Roberts, Joanne E.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To examine which cognitive, environmental, and speech-language variables predict expressive syntax in boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS), boys with Down syndrome (DS), and typically developing (TD) boys, and whether predictive relationships differed by group. Method: We obtained Index of Productive Syntax ( Scarborough, 1990) scores for…

What Artificial Grammar Learning Reveals about the Neurobiology of Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersson, Karl-Magnus; Folia, Vasiliki; Hagoort, Peter

2012-01-01

In this paper we examine the neurobiological correlates of syntax, the processing of structured sequences, by comparing FMRI results on artificial and natural language syntax. We discuss these and similar findings in the context of formal language and computability theory. We used a simple right-linear unification grammar in an implicit artificial…

Phonetic Pause Unites Phonology and Semantics against Morphology and Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sakarna, Ahmad Khalaf; Mobaideen, Adnan

2012-01-01

The present study investigates the phonological effect triggered by the different types of phonetic pause used in Quran on morphology, syntax, and semantics. It argues that Quranic pause provides interesting evidence about the close relation between phonology and semantics, from one side, and semantics, morphology, and syntax, from the other…

Adapting current Arden Syntax knowledge for an object oriented event monitor.

PubMed

Choi, Jeeyae; Lussier, Yves A; Mendoça, Eneida A

2003-01-01

Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Module (MLM)1 was designed for writing and sharing task-specific health knowledge in 1989. Several researchers have developed frameworks to improve the sharability and adaptability of Arden Syntax MLMs, an issue known as "curly braces" problem. Karadimas et al proposed an Arden Syntax MLM-based decision support system that uses an object oriented model and the dynamic linking features of the Java platform.2 Peleg et al proposed creating a Guideline Expression Language (GEL) based on Arden Syntax's logic grammar.3 The New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) has a collection of about 200 MLMs. In a process of adapting the current MLMs for an object-oriented event monitor, we identified two problems that may influence the "curly braces" one: (1) the query expressions within the curly braces of Arden Syntax used in our institution are cryptic to the physicians, institutional dependent and written ineffectively (unpublished results), and (2) the events are coded individually within a curly braces, resulting sometimes in a large number of events - up to 200.

Syntax and Morphology in Danish-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brynskov, Cecilia; Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Jørgensen, Meta; Lemcke, Sanne; Bohn, Ocke-Schwen; Krøjgaard, Peter

2017-01-01

The current study examined delays in syntax and morphology, and vocabulary, in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children ages 4-6 years with ASD (n = 21) and typical development (n = 21), matched on nonverbal mental age, completed five language tasks. The ASD group had significant delays in both syntax and morphology, and vocabulary measures, with…

Integration of Speech and Natural Language

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

major activities: • Development of the syntax and semantics components for natural language processing. • Integration of the developed syntax and...evaluating the performance of speech recognition algonthms developed K» under the Strategic Computing Program. grs Our work on natural language processing...included the developement of a grammar (syntax) that uses the Uiuficanon gnmmaj formaMsm (an augmented context free formalism). The Unification

Events and the Ontology of Individuals: Verbs as a Source of Individuating Mass and Count Nouns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barner, David; Wagner, Laura; Snedeker, Jesse

2008-01-01

What does mass-count syntax contribute to the interpretation of noun phrases (NPs), and how much of NP meaning is contributed by lexical items alone? Many have argued that count syntax specifies reference to countable individuals (e.g., "cats") while mass syntax specifies reference to unindividuated entities (e.g., "water"). We evaluated this…

The Genetic and Environmental Etiology of the Association between Vocabulary and Syntax in First Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mimeau, Catherine; Dionne, Ginette; Feng, Bei; Brendgen, Mara; Vitaro, Frank; Tremblay, Richard E.; Boivin, Michel

2018-01-01

This twin study examined the genetic and environmental etiology of vocabulary, syntax, and their association in first graders. French-speaking same-sex twins (n = 555) completed two vocabulary tests, and two scores of syntax were calculated from their spontaneous speech at 7 years of age. Multivariate latent factor genetic analyses showed that…

Adding Concrete Syntax to a Prolog-Based Program Synthesis System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fischer, Bernd; Visser, Eelco

2004-01-01

Program generation and transformation systems work on two language levels, the object-level (i e., the language of the manipulated programs), and the meta-level (i.e., the implementation language of the system itself). The meta-level representations of object-level program fragments are usually built in an essentially syntax-free fashion using the operations provided by the meta-language. However, syntax matters and a large conceptual distance between the two languages makes it difficult to maintain and extend such systems. Here we describe how an existing Prolog-based system can gradually be retrofitted with concrete object-level syntax, thus shrinking this distance.

Retrofitting the AutoBayes Program Synthesis System with Concrete Syntax

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fischer, Bernd; Visser, Eelco

2004-01-01

AutoBayes is a fully automatic, schema-based program synthesis system for statistical data analysis applications. Its core component is a schema library. i.e., a collection of generic code templates with associated applicability constraints which are instantiated in a problem-specific way during synthesis. Currently, AutoBayes is implemented in Prolog; the schemas thus use abstract syntax (i.e., Prolog terms) to formulate the templates. However, the conceptual distance between this abstract representation and the concrete syntax of the generated programs makes the schemas hard to create and maintain. In this paper we describe how AutoBayes is retrofitted with concrete syntax. We show how it is integrated into Prolog and describe how the seamless interaction of concrete syntax fragments with AutoBayes's remaining legacy meta-programming kernel based on abstract syntax is achieved. We apply the approach to gradually mitigate individual schemas without forcing a disruptive migration of the entire system to a different First experiences show that a smooth migration can be achieved. Moreover, it can result in a considerable reduction of the code size and improved readability of the code. In particular, abstracting out fresh-variable generation and second-order term construction allows the formulation of larger continuous fragments.

Tracking Training-Related Plasticity by Combining fMRI and DTI: The Right Hemisphere Ventral Stream Mediates Musical Syntax Processing.

PubMed

Oechslin, Mathias S; Gschwind, Markus; James, Clara E

2018-04-01

As a functional homolog for left-hemispheric syntax processing in language, neuroimaging studies evidenced involvement of right prefrontal regions in musical syntax processing, of which underlying white matter connectivity remains unexplored so far. In the current experiment, we investigated the underlying pathway architecture in subjects with 3 levels of musical expertise. Employing diffusion tensor imaging tractography, departing from seeds from our previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study on music syntax processing in the same participants, we identified a pathway in the right ventral stream that connects the middle temporal lobe with the inferior frontal cortex via the extreme capsule, and corresponds to the left hemisphere ventral stream, classically attributed to syntax processing in language comprehension. Additional morphometric consistency analyses allowed dissociating tract core from more dispersed fiber portions. Musical expertise related to higher tract consistency of the right ventral stream pathway. Specifically, tract consistency in this pathway predicted the sensitivity for musical syntax violations. We conclude that enduring musical practice sculpts ventral stream architecture. Our results suggest that training-related pathway plasticity facilitates the right hemisphere ventral stream information transfer, supporting an improved sound-to-meaning mapping in music.

Can Vocabulary Lessons Increase the Amount of Complex Syntax Produced by Head Start Teachers? A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Horne, Amanda Owen; Curran, Maura; Hall, Jessica

2017-01-01

In this pilot study, we examine the suitability of materials for a vocabulary intervention designed to influence the amount of complex syntax teachers use in at-risk preschool classrooms. Six Head Start classrooms were assigned to one of two vocabulary interventions: a condition using cognitive verbs, which are biased toward complex syntax (e.g.…

Creating Clinical Fuzzy Automata with Fuzzy Arden Syntax.

PubMed

de Bruin, Jeroen S; Steltzer, Heinz; Rappelsberger, Andrea; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter

2017-01-01

Formal constructs for fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic are incorporated into Arden Syntax version 2.9 (Fuzzy Arden Syntax). With fuzzy sets, the relationships between measured or observed data and linguistic terms are expressed as degrees of compatibility that model the unsharpness of the boundaries of linguistic terms. Propositional uncertainty due to incomplete knowledge of relationships between clinical linguistic concepts is modeled with fuzzy logic. Fuzzy Arden Syntax also supports the construction of fuzzy state monitors. The latter are defined as monitors that employ fuzzy automata to observe gradual transitions between different stages of disease. As a use case, we re-implemented FuzzyARDS, a previously published clinical monitoring system for patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Using the re-implementation as an example, we show how key concepts of fuzzy automata, i.e., fuzzy states and parallel fuzzy state transitions, can be implemented in Fuzzy Arden Syntax. The results showed that fuzzy state monitors can be implemented in a straightforward manner.

Using Arden Syntax for the creation of a multi-patient surveillance dashboard.

PubMed

Kraus, Stefan; Drescher, Caroline; Sedlmayr, Martin; Castellanos, Ixchel; Prokosch, Hans-Ulrich; Toddenroth, Dennis

2015-10-09

Most practically deployed Arden-Syntax-based clinical decision support (CDS) modules process data from individual patients. The specification of Arden Syntax, however, would in principle also support multi-patient CDS. The patient data management system (PDMS) at our local intensive care units does not natively support patient overviews from customizable CDS routines, but local physicians indicated a demand for multi-patient tabular overviews of important clinical parameters such as key laboratory measurements. As our PDMS installation provides Arden Syntax support, we set out to explore the capability of Arden Syntax for multi-patient CDS by implementing a prototypical dashboard for visualizing laboratory findings from patient sets. Our implementation leveraged the object data type, supported by later versions of Arden, which turned out to be serviceable for representing complex input data from several patients. For our prototype, we designed a modularized architecture that separates the definition of technical operations, in particular the control of the patient context, from the actual clinical knowledge. Individual Medical Logic Modules (MLMs) for processing single patient attributes could then be developed according to well-tried Arden Syntax conventions. We successfully implemented a working dashboard prototype entirely in Arden Syntax. The architecture consists of a controller MLM to handle the patient context, a presenter MLM to generate a dashboard view, and a set of traditional MLMs containing the clinical decision logic. Our prototype could be integrated into the graphical user interface of the local PDMS. We observed that with realistic input data the average execution time of about 200ms for generating dashboard views attained applicable performance. Our study demonstrated the general feasibility of creating multi-patient CDS routines in Arden Syntax. We believe that our prototypical dashboard also suggests that such implementations can be relatively easy, and may simultaneously hold promise for sharing dashboards between institutions and reusing elementary components for additional dashboards. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Analysis of A1 Level Speaking Exam in Terms of Syntax: The Effect of General Competence on Syntax in A1 Level Speaking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misir, Hülya

2017-01-01

This study aims at discovering the relevance of general competence of Turkish and Arab learners who have an A1 level of English proficiency in preparatory school of University of Turkish Aeronautical Association (UTAA) to their speaking skill in terms of syntax by analyzing the recordings of speaking exams in the first semester. One can ask why…

Multiclausal Utterances Aren't Just for Big Kids: A Framework for Analysis of Complex Syntax Production in Spoken Language of Preschool- and Early School-Age Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arndt, Karen Barako; Schuele, C. Melanie

2013-01-01

Complex syntax production emerges shortly after the emergence of two-word combinations in oral language and continues to develop through the school-age years. This article defines a framework for the analysis of complex syntax in the spontaneous language of preschool- and early school-age children. The purpose of this article is to provide…

Language and theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder: the relationship between complement syntax and false belief task performance.

PubMed

Lind, Sophie E; Bowler, Dermot M

2009-06-01

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use their knowledge of complement syntax as a means of "hacking out" solutions to false belief tasks, despite lacking a representational theory of mind (ToM). Participants completed a "memory for complements" task, a measure of receptive vocabulary, and traditional location change and unexpected contents false belief tasks. Consistent with predictions, the correlation between complement syntax score and location change task performance was significantly stronger within the ASD group than within the comparison group. However, contrary to predictions, complement syntax score was not significantly correlated with unexpected contents task performance within either group. Possible explanations for this pattern of results are considered.

Incremental prognostic value of the SYNTAX score to late gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance images for patients with stable coronary artery disease.

PubMed

Kato, Shingo; Saito, Naka; Kirigaya, Hidekuni; Gyotoku, Daiki; Iinuma, Naoki; Kusakawa, Yuka; Iguchi, Kohei; Nakachi, Tatsuya; Fukui, Kazuki; Futaki, Masaaki; Iwasawa, Tae; Taguri, Masataka; Kimura, Kazuo; Umemura, Satoshi

2016-06-01

The prognostic significance of the SYNTAX (Synergy between PCI with Taxus and cardiac surgery) score has recently been demonstrated in patients with stable multivessel or left main coronary artery disease (CAD). The present study determines whether adding the SYNTAX score to Framingham risk score (FRS), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and presence of myocardial infarction (MI) by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) magnetic resonance imaging can improve the risk stratification in patients with stable CAD. We calculated the SYNTAX score in 161 patients with stable CAD (mean age: 66 ± 10 years old). During a mean follow-up of 2.3 years, 56 (35 %) of 161 patients developed cardiovascular events defined as cardiovascular death, non-fatal MI, cerebral infarction, unstable angina pectoris, hospitalization due to heart failure and revascularization. Multivariate Cox regression analysis selected triglycerides [hazard ratio (HR): 1.005 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.001-1.008), p < 0.008], presence of LGE [HR: 6.329 (95 % CI: 2.662-15.05), p < 0.001] and the SYNTAX score [HR: 1.085 (95 % CI: 1.044-1.127), p < 0.001] as risk factors for future cardiovascular events. Adding the SYNTAX score to FRS, EF and LGE significantly improved the net reclassification index (NRI) [40.4 % (95 % CI: 18.1-54.8 %), p < 0.05] with an increase in C-statistics of 0.089 (from 0.707 to 0.796). An increase in C-statistics and significant improvement of NRI showed that adding the SYNTAX score to the FRS, LVEF and LGE incrementally improved risk stratification in patient with stable CAD.

NEAMS-IPL MOOSE Midyear Framework Activities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Permann, Cody; Alger, Brian; Peterson, John

The MOOSE Framework is a modular pluggable framework for building complex simulations. The ability to add new objects with custom syntax is a core capability that makes MOOSE a powerful platform for coupling multiple applications together within a single environment. The creation of a new, more standardized JSON syntax output improves the external interfaces for generating graphical components or for validating input file syntax. The design of this interface and the requirements it satisfies are covered in this short report.

The role of syntax in complex networks: Local and global importance of verbs in a syntactic dependency network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Čech, Radek; Mačutek, Ján; Žabokrtský, Zdeněk

2011-10-01

Syntax of natural language has been the focus of linguistics for decades. The complex network theory, being one of new research tools, opens new perspectives on syntax properties of the language. Despite numerous partial achievements, some fundamental problems remain unsolved. Specifically, although statistical properties typical for complex networks can be observed in all syntactic networks, the impact of syntax itself on these properties is still unclear. The aim of the present study is to shed more light on the role of syntax in the syntactic network structure. In particular, we concentrate on the impact of the syntactic function of a verb in the sentence on the complex network structure. Verbs play the decisive role in the sentence structure (“local” importance). From this fact we hypothesize the importance of verbs in the complex network (“global” importance). The importance of verb in the complex network is assessed by the number of links which are directed from the node representing verb to other nodes in the network. Six languages (Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese) were used for testing the hypothesis.

Design of a Syntax Validation Tool for Requirements Analysis Using Structured Analysis and Design Technique (SADT)

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-01

analysis phase of the software life cycle (16:1-1). While editing a SADT diagram, the tool should be able to check whether or not structured analysis...diag-ams are valid for the SADT’s syntax, produce error messages, do error recovery, and perform editing suggestions. Thus, this tool must have the...directed editors are editors which use the syn- tax of the programming language while editing a program. While text editors treat programs as text, syntax

About Edible Restaurants: Conflicts between Syntax and Semantics as Revealed by ERPs

PubMed Central

Kos, Miriam; Vosse, Theo; van den Brink, Daniëlle; Hagoort, Peter

2010-01-01

In order to investigate conflicts between semantics and syntax, we recorded ERPs, while participants read Dutch sentences. Sentences containing conflicts between syntax and semantics (Fred eats in a sandwich…/Fred eats a restaurant…) elicited an N400. These results show that conflicts between syntax and semantics not necessarily lead to P600 effects and are in line with the processing competition account. According to this parallel account the syntactic and semantic processing streams are fully interactive and information from one level can influence the processing at another level. The relative strength of the cues of the processing streams determines which level is affected most strongly by the conflict. The processing competition account maintains the distinction between the N400 as index for semantic processing and the P600 as index for structural processing. PMID:21833277

Modeling the Arden Syntax for medical decisions in XML.

PubMed

Kim, Sukil; Haug, Peter J; Rocha, Roberto A; Choi, Inyoung

2008-10-01

A new model expressing Arden Syntax with the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) was developed to increase its portability. Every example was manually parsed and reviewed until the schema and the style sheet were considered to be optimized. When the first schema was finished, several MLMs in Arden Syntax Markup Language (ArdenML) were validated against the schema. They were then transformed to HTML formats with the style sheet, during which they were compared to the original text version of their own MLM. When faults were found in the transformed MLM, the schema and/or style sheet was fixed. This cycle continued until all the examples were encoded into XML documents. The original MLMs were encoded in XML according to the proposed XML schema and reverse-parsed MLMs in ArdenML were checked using a public domain Arden Syntax checker. Two hundred seventy seven examples of MLMs were successfully transformed into XML documents using the model, and the reverse-parse yielded the original text version of MLMs. Two hundred sixty five of the 277 MLMs showed the same error patterns before and after transformation, and all 11 errors related to statement structure were resolved in XML version. The model uses two syntax checking mechanisms, first an XML validation process, and second, a syntax check using an XSL style sheet. Now that we have a schema for ArdenML, we can also begin the development of style sheets for transformation ArdenML into other languages.

Empirical evidence for musical syntax processing? Computer simulations reveal the contribution of auditory short-term memory

PubMed Central

Bigand, Emmanuel; Delbé, Charles; Poulin-Charronnat, Bénédicte; Leman, Marc; Tillmann, Barbara

2014-01-01

During the last decade, it has been argued that (1) music processing involves syntactic representations similar to those observed in language, and (2) that music and language share similar syntactic-like processes and neural resources. This claim is important for understanding the origin of music and language abilities and, furthermore, it has clinical implications. The Western musical system, however, is rooted in psychoacoustic properties of sound, and this is not the case for linguistic syntax. Accordingly, musical syntax processing could be parsimoniously understood as an emergent property of auditory memory rather than a property of abstract processing similar to linguistic processing. To support this view, we simulated numerous empirical studies that investigated the processing of harmonic structures, using a model based on the accumulation of sensory information in auditory memory. The simulations revealed that most of the musical syntax manipulations used with behavioral and neurophysiological methods as well as with developmental and cross-cultural approaches can be accounted for by the auditory memory model. This led us to question whether current research on musical syntax can really be compared with linguistic processing. Our simulation also raises methodological and theoretical challenges to study musical syntax while disentangling the confounded low-level sensory influences. In order to investigate syntactic abilities in music comparable to language, research should preferentially use musical material with structures that circumvent the tonal effect exerted by psychoacoustic properties of sounds. PMID:24936174

Walkability and walking for transport: characterizing the built environment using space syntax.

PubMed

Koohsari, Mohammad Javad; Owen, Neville; Cerin, Ester; Giles-Corti, Billie; Sugiyama, Takemi

2016-11-24

Neighborhood walkability has been shown to be associated with walking behavior. However, the availability of geographical data necessary to construct it remains a limitation. Building on the concept of space syntax, we propose an alternative walkability index, space syntax walkability (SSW). This study examined associations of the full walkability index and SSW with walking for transport (WT). Data were collected in 2003-2004 from 2544 adults living in 154 Census Collection Districts (CCD) in Adelaide, Australia. Participants reported past week WT frequency. Full walkability (consisting of net residential density, intersection density, land use mix, and net retail area ratio) and SSW (consisting of gross population density and a space syntax measure of street integration) were calculated for each CCD using geographic information systems and space syntax software. Generalized linear models with negative binomial variance and logarithmic link functions were employed to examine the associations of each walkability index with WT frequency, adjusting for socio-demographic variables. Two walkability indices were closely correlated (ρ = 0.76, p < 0.01). The associations of full walkability and SSW with WT frequency were positive, with regression coefficients of 1.12 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.17) and 1.14 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.19), respectively. SSW employs readily-available geographic data, yet is comparable to full walkability in its association with WT. The concept and methods of space syntax provide a novel approach to further understanding how urban design influences walking behaviors.

Origins of Complex Syntax in Interlanguage Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sato, Charlene J.

1988-01-01

Functional analysis of longitudinal, conversational interlanguage data from two Vietnamese learners of English focused on the emergence of complex syntax in interlanguage development. The interdependence of different linguistic levels in interlanguage development was demonstrated. (Author/CB)

One vendor's experience: preliminary development of a reminder system based on the Arden Syntax.

PubMed

Spates, R P; Aller, K C

1994-09-01

This article reviews the efforts of HBO & Company in the production of a first phase clinical alerting system based on the Arden Syntax. The alerting system was integrated with a clinical data repository and clinical workstation to process returning laboratory results. Investigations with expert systems resulted in a C language alerting system. GUI prototyping of an authoring environment led to a Smalltalk language authoring system. Future development is expected to broaden the system scope and address the evolution of the Arden Syntax.

Syntax and serial recall: How language supports short-term memory for order.

PubMed

Perham, Nick; Marsh, John E; Jones, Dylan M

2009-07-01

The extent to which familiar syntax supports short-term serial recall of visually presented six-item sequences was shown by the superior recall of lists in which item pairs appeared in the order of "adjective-noun" (items 1-2, 3-4, 5-6)--congruent with English syntax--compared to when the order of items within pairs was reversed. The findings complement other evidence suggesting that short-term memory is an assemblage of language processing and production processes more than it is a bespoke short-term memory storage system.

The role of stimulus-specific adaptation in songbird syntax generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wittenbach, Jason D.

Sequential behaviors are an important part of the behavioral repertoire of many animals and understanding how neural circuits encode and generate such sequences is a long-standing question in neuroscience. The Bengalese finch is a useful model system for studying variable action sequences. The songs of these birds consist of well-defined vocal elements (syllables) that are strung together to form sequences. The ordering of the syllables within the sequence is variable but not random - it shows complex statistical patterns (syntax). While often thought to be first-order, the syntax of the Bengalese finch song shows a distinct form of history dependence where the probability of repeating a syllable decreases as a function of the number of repetitions that have already occurred. Current models of the Bengalese finch song control circuitry offer no explanation for this repetition adaptation. The Bengalese finch also uses real-time auditory feedback to control the song syntax. Considering these facts, we hypothesize that repetition adaptation in the Bengalese finch syntax may be caused by stimulus-specific adaptation - a wide-spread phenomenon where neural responses to a specific stimulus become weaker with repeated presentations of the same stimulus. We begin by proposing a computational model for the song-control circuit where an auditory feedback signal that undergoes stimulus-specific adaptation helps drive repeated syllables. We show that this model does indeed capture the repetition adaptation observed in Bengalese finch syntax; along the way, we derive a new probabilistic model for repetition adaptation. Key predictions of our model are analyzed in light of experiments performed by collaborators. Next we extend the model in order to predict how the syntax will change as a function of brain temperature. These predictions are compared to experimental results from collaborators where portions of the Bengalese finch song circuit are cooled in awake and behaving birds. Finally we show that repetition adaptation persists even in a simplified dynamical system model when a parameter controlling the repeat probability changes slowly over repetitions.

Obtaining correct compile results by absorbing mismatches between data types representations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Horie, Michihiro; Horii, Hiroshi H.; Kawachiya, Kiyokuni

Methods and a system are provided. A method includes implementing a function, which a compiler for a first language does not have, using a compiler for a second language. The implementing step includes generating, by the compiler for the first language, a first abstract syntax tree. The implementing step further includes converting, by a converter, the first abstract syntax tree to a second abstract syntax tree of the compiler for the second language using a conversion table from data representation types in the first language to data representation types in the second language. When a compilation error occurs, the implementingmore » step also includes generating a special node for error processing in the second abstract syntax tree and storing an error token in the special node. When unparsing, the implementing step additionally includes outputting the error token, in the form of source code written in the first language.« less

Generic extravehicular (EVA) and telerobot task primitives for analysis, design, and integration. Version 1.0: Reference compilation for the EVA and telerobotics communities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Jeffrey H.; Drews, Michael

1990-01-01

The results are described of an effort to establish commonality and standardization of generic crew extravehicular (crew-EVA) and telerobotic task analysis primitives used for the study of spaceborne operations. Although direct crew-EVA plans are the most visible output of spaceborne operations, significant ongoing efforts by a wide variety of projects and organizations also require tools for estimation of crew-EVA and telerobotic times. Task analysis tools provide estimates for input to technical and cost tradeoff studies. A workshop was convened to identify the issues and needs to establish a common language and syntax for task analysis primitives. In addition, the importance of such a syntax was shown to have precedence over the level to which such a syntax is applied. The syntax, lists of crew-EVA and telerobotic primitives, and the data base in diskette form are presented.

Obtaining correct compile results by absorbing mismatches between data types representations

DOEpatents

Horie, Michihiro; Horii, Hiroshi H.; Kawachiya, Kiyokuni; Takeuchi, Mikio

2017-03-21

Methods and a system are provided. A method includes implementing a function, which a compiler for a first language does not have, using a compiler for a second language. The implementing step includes generating, by the compiler for the first language, a first abstract syntax tree. The implementing step further includes converting, by a converter, the first abstract syntax tree to a second abstract syntax tree of the compiler for the second language using a conversion table from data representation types in the first language to data representation types in the second language. When a compilation error occurs, the implementing step also includes generating a special node for error processing in the second abstract syntax tree and storing an error token in the special node. When unparsing, the implementing step additionally includes outputting the error token, in the form of source code written in the first language.

Obtaining correct compile results by absorbing mismatches between data types representations

DOEpatents

Horie, Michihiro; Horii, Hiroshi H.; Kawachiya, Kiyokuni; Takeuchi, Mikio

2017-11-21

Methods and a system are provided. A method includes implementing a function, which a compiler for a first language does not have, using a compiler for a second language. The implementing step includes generating, by the compiler for the first language, a first abstract syntax tree. The implementing step further includes converting, by a converter, the first abstract syntax tree to a second abstract syntax tree of the compiler for the second language using a conversion table from data representation types in the first language to data representation types in the second language. When a compilation error occurs, the implementing step also includes generating a special node for error processing in the second abstract syntax tree and storing an error token in the special node. When unparsing, the implementing step additionally includes outputting the error token, in the form of source code written in the first language.

Sensory Constraints on Birdsong Syntax: Neural Responses to Swamp Sparrow Songs with Accelerated Trill Rates

PubMed Central

Prather, JF; Peters, S; Mooney, R; Nowicki, S

2013-01-01

Both sensory and motor mechanisms can constrain behavioral performance. Sensory mechanisms may be especially important for constraining behaviors that depend on experience, such as learned birdsongs. Swamp sparrows learn to sing by imitating the song of a tutor, but sparrows fail to accurately imitate artificial tutor songs with abnormally accelerated trills, instead singing brief and rapid trills interrupted by silent gaps. This “broken syntax” has been proposed to arise from vocal-motor limitations. Here we consider whether sensory limitations exist that could also contribute to broken syntax. We tested this idea by recording auditory-evoked activity of sensorimotor neurons in the swamp sparrow’s brain that are known to be important for the learning, performance and perception of song. In freely behaving adult sparrows that sang songs with normal syntax, neurons were detected that exhibited precisely time-locked activity to each repetition of the syllable in a trill when presented at a natural rate. Those cells failed to faithfully follow syllables presented at an accelerated rate, however, and their failure to respond to consecutive syllables increased as a function of trill rate. This “flickering” auditory representation in animals performing normal syntax reveals a central constraint on the sensory processing of rapid trills. Furthermore, because these neurons are implicated in both song learning and perception, and because auditory flickering began to occur at accelerated trill rates previously associated with the emergence of broken song syntax, these sensory constraints may contribute to the emergence of broken syntax. PMID:23976787

Using Arden Syntax for the Generation of Intelligent Intensive Care Discharge Letters.

PubMed

Kraus, Stefan; Castellanos, Ixchel; Albermann, Matthias; Schuettler, Christina; Prokosch, Hans-Ulrich; Staudigel, Martin; Toddenroth, Dennis

2016-01-01

Discharge letters are an important means of communication between physicians and nurses from intensive care units and their colleagues from normal wards. The patient data management system (PDMS) used at our local intensive care units provides an export tool to create discharge letters by inserting data items from electronic medical records into predefined templates. Local intensivists criticized the limitations of this tool regarding the identification and the further processing of clinically relevant data items for a flexible creation of discharge letters. As our PDMS supports Arden Syntax, and the demanded functionalities are well within the scope of this standard, we set out to investigate the suitability of Arden Syntax for the generation of discharge letters. To provide an easy-to-understand facility for integrating data items into document templates, we created an Arden Syntax interface function which replaces the names of previously defined variables with their content in a way that permits arbitrary custom formatting by clinical users. Our approach facilitates the creation of flexible text sections by conditional statements, as well as the integration of arbitrary HTML code and dynamically generated graphs. The resulting prototype enables clinical users to apply the full set of Arden Syntax language constructs to identify and process relevant data items in a way that far exceeds the capabilities of the PDMS export tool. The generation of discharge letters is an uncommon area of application for Arden Syntax, considerably differing from its original purpose. However, we found our prototype well suited for this task and plan to evaluate it in clinical production after the next major release change of our PDMS.

The Twenty-Second LACUS Forum, 1995.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffer, Bates, Ed.

Forty-five papers on linguistic theory and language research from the annual conference address these topics: aspects of discourse analysis; agreement languages; grammatical relations; syntax; phonology; grammar; contrastive linguistics; second language learning; syntax; quotations; topic management; aphasia; interpersonal communication; laughter;…

Executable medical guidelines with Arden Syntax-Applications in dermatology and obstetrics.

PubMed

Seitinger, Alexander; Rappelsberger, Andrea; Leitich, Harald; Binder, Michael; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter

2016-08-12

Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are being developed to assist physicians in processing extensive data and new knowledge based on recent scientific advances. Structured medical knowledge in the form of clinical alerts or reminder rules, decision trees or tables, clinical protocols or practice guidelines, score algorithms, and others, constitute the core of CDSSs. Several medical knowledge representation and guideline languages have been developed for the formal computerized definition of such knowledge. One of these languages is Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Systems, an International Health Level Seven (HL7) standard whose development started in 1989. Its latest version is 2.10, which was presented in 2014. In the present report we discuss Arden Syntax as a modern medical knowledge representation and processing language, and show that this language is not only well suited to define clinical alerts, reminders, and recommendations, but can also be used to implement and process computerized medical practice guidelines. This section describes how contemporary software such as Java, server software, web-services, XML, is used to implement CDSSs based on Arden Syntax. Special emphasis is given to clinical decision support (CDS) that employs practice guidelines as its clinical knowledge base. Two guideline-based applications using Arden Syntax for medical knowledge representation and processing were developed. The first is a software platform for implementing practice guidelines from dermatology. This application employs fuzzy set theory and logic to represent linguistic and propositional uncertainty in medical data, knowledge, and conclusions. The second application implements a reminder system based on clinically published standard operating procedures in obstetrics to prevent deviations from state-of-the-art care. A to-do list with necessary actions specifically tailored to the gestational week/labor/delivery is generated. Today, with the latest versions of Arden Syntax and the application of contemporary software development methods, Arden Syntax has become a powerful and versatile medical knowledge representation and processing language, well suited to implement a large range of CDSSs, including clinical-practice-guideline-based CDSSs. Moreover, such CDS is provided and can be shared as a service by different medical institutions, redefining the sharing of medical knowledge. Arden Syntax is also highly flexible and provides developers the freedom to use up-to-date software design and programming patterns for external patient data access. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Analysis of spatial configuration of the Palace Museum: an application of the axial-based space syntax

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jie; Lu, Feng

2006-10-01

Movement in a spatial system is produced and determined by the structure of the complex space itself, rather than special attractors within the whole spatial system. Based on this theory of space syntax, tourists' convergence and dispersal in the Palace Museum should be originated by the distribution of the internal constructions form. This article presents an application of the space syntax approach to the Palace Museum. After analyzing its internal spatial configuration, as a conclusion, the paper provides some rational advices so as to facilitate tourists as well as protect our invaluable cultural heritage.

An add-in implementation of the RESAMPLING syntax under Microsoft EXCEL.

PubMed

Meineke, I

2000-10-01

The RESAMPLING syntax defines a set of powerful commands, which allow the programming of probabilistic statistical models with few, easily memorized statements. This paper presents an implementation of the RESAMPLING syntax using Microsoft EXCEL with Microsoft WINDOWS(R) as a platform. Two examples are given to demonstrate typical applications of RESAMPLING in biomedicine. Details of the implementation with special emphasis on the programming environment are discussed at length. The add-in is available electronically to interested readers upon request. The use of the add-in facilitates numerical statistical analyses of data from within EXCEL in a comfortable way.

Generalizing the Arden Syntax to a Common Clinical Application Language.

PubMed

Kraus, Stefan

2018-01-01

The Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Systems is a standard for encoding and sharing knowledge in the form of Medical Logic Modules (MLMs). Although the Arden Syntax has been designed to meet the requirements of data-driven clinical event monitoring, multiple studies suggest that its language constructs may be suitable for use outside the intended application area and even as a common clinical application language. Such a broader context, however, requires to reconsider some language features. The purpose of this paper is to outline the related modifications on the basis of a generalized Arden Syntax version. The implemented prototype provides multiple adjustments to the standard, such as an option to use programming language constructs without the frame-like MLM structure, a JSON compliant data type system, a means to use MLMs as user-defined functions, and native support of restful web services with integrated data mapping. This study does not aim to promote an actually new language, but a more generic version of the proven Arden Syntax standard. Such an easy-to-understand domain-specific language for common clinical applications might cover multiple additional medical subdomains and serve as a lingua franca for arbitrary clinical algorithms, therefore avoiding a patchwork of multiple all-purpose languages between, and even within, institutions.

Syntax for calculation of discounting indices from the monetary choice questionnaire and probability discounting questionnaire.

PubMed

Gray, Joshua C; Amlung, Michael T; Palmer, Abraham A; MacKillop, James

2016-09-01

The 27-item Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ; Kirby, Petry, & Bickel, 1999) and 30-item Probability Discounting Questionnaire (PDQ; Madden, Petry, & Johnson, 2009) are widely used, validated measures of preferences for immediate versus delayed rewards and guaranteed versus risky rewards, respectively. The MCQ measures delayed discounting by asking individuals to choose between rewards available immediately and larger rewards available after a delay. The PDQ measures probability discounting by asking individuals to choose between guaranteed rewards and a chance at winning larger rewards. Numerous studies have implicated these measures in addiction and other health behaviors. Unlike typical self-report measures, the MCQ and PDQ generate inferred hyperbolic temporal and probability discounting functions by comparing choice preferences to arrays of functions to which the individual items are preconfigured. This article provides R and SPSS syntax for processing the MCQ and PDQ. Specifically, for the MCQ, the syntax generates k values, consistency of the inferred k, and immediate choice ratios; for the PDQ, the syntax generates h indices, consistency of the inferred h, and risky choice ratios. The syntax is intended to increase the accessibility of these measures, expedite the data processing, and reduce risk for error. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

[Correlation of heart rate variability with SYNTAX II on chronic angina].

PubMed

Castro-de la Torre, Tatiana Chantal; Amador-Licona, Norma; Bernal-Ruíz, Enrique

2017-01-01

The heart rate variability (HRV) is a prognostic value of cardiovascular risk. It is unknown the correlation between HRV and coronary severity on patients with chronic angina. The objective was to determine the correlation between HRV and the SYNTAX II score in chronic angina. Cross-sectional study in patients of 18 years or older with stable angina and indication of coronary angiography who went to a third level center. The SYNTAX II score was established by using coronary angiography, while HRV was obtained by a 24-hour Holter ECG. The correlation between SYNTAX II and HRV was performed with Pearson's test. Values of SDNN < 100 ms and RMSSD < 15 ms were considered risk factors. 61 patients were included. 45 had a decreased value of SDNN (73.77%) and eight had a decreased value of RMSSD (13.11%). There was no correlation between HRV and SYNTAX II score. There were more events of ventricular tachycardia in the group of patients with low SDNN than in those with normal SDNN (15.5% vs. 0.0%; p = 0.04). There was no correlation between HRV and the severity of coronary artery disease in stable chronic ischemic heart disease. However, those patients with low HRV showed more events of ventricular tachycardia.

Pitch Syntax Violations Are Linked to Greater Skin Conductance Changes, Relative to Timbral Violations - The Predictive Role of the Reward System in Perspective of Cortico-subcortical Loops.

PubMed

Gorzelańczyk, Edward J; Podlipniak, Piotr; Walecki, Piotr; Karpiński, Maciej; Tarnowska, Emilia

2017-01-01

According to contemporary opinion emotional reactions to syntactic violations are due to surprise as a result of the general mechanism of prediction. The classic view is that, the processing of musical syntax can be explained by activity of the cerebral cortex. However, some recent studies have indicated that subcortical brain structures, including those related to the processing of emotions, are also important during the processing of syntax. In order to check whether emotional reactions play a role in the processing of pitch syntax or are only the result of the general mechanism of prediction, the comparison of skin conductance levels reacting to three types of melodies were recorded. In this study, 28 subjects listened to three types of short melodies prepared in Musical Instrument Digital Interface Standard files (MIDI) - tonally correct, tonally violated (with one out-of-key - i.e., of high information content), and tonally correct but with one note played in a different timbre. The BioSemi ActiveTwo with two passive Nihon Kohden electrodes was used. Skin conductance levels were positively correlated with the presented stimuli (timbral changes and tonal violations). Although changes in skin conductance levels were also observed in response to the change in timbre, the reactions to tonal violations were significantly stronger. Therefore, despite the fact that timbral change is at least as equally unexpected as an out-of-key note, the processing of pitch syntax mainly generates increased activation of the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. These results suggest that the cortico-subcortical loops (especially the anterior cingulate - limbic loop) may play an important role in the processing of musical syntax.

Severity of erectile dysfunction is highly correlated with the syntax score in patients undergoing coronariography

PubMed Central

Andrade, Weslley Santiago; Oliveira, Paulo; Laydner, Humberto; Ferreira, Eduardo Jose Pereira; Barreto, Jose Augusto Soares

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the association between the severity of erectile dysfunction (ED) and coronary artery disease (CAD) in men undergoing coronary angiography for angina or acute myocardial infarct (AMI). Material and Methods We studied 132 males who underwent coronary angiography for first time between January and November 2010. ED severity was assessed by the international index of erectile function (IIEF-5) and CAD severity was assessed by the Syntax score. Patients with CAD (cases) and without CAD (controls) had their IIEF-5 compared. In the group with CAD, their IIEF-5 scores were compared to their Syntax score results. Results We identified 86 patients with and 46 without CAD. The IIEF-5 score of the group without CAD (22.6±0.8) was significantly higher than the group with CAD (12.5±0.5; p<0.0001). In patients without ED, the Syntax score average was 6.3±3.5, while those with moderate or severe ED had a mean Syntax score of 39.0±11.1. After adjustment, ED was independently associated to CAD, with an odds ratio of 40.6 (CI 95%, 14.3-115.3, p<0.0001). The accuracy of the logistic model to correctly identify presence or absence of CAD was 87%, with 92% sensitivity and 78% specificity. The average time that ED was present in patients with CAD was 38.8±2.3 months before coronary symptoms, about twice as high as patients without CAD (18.0±5.1 months). Conclusions ED severity is strongly and independently correlated with CAD complexity, as assessed by the Syntax score in patients undergoing coronariography for evaluation of new onset coronary symptoms. PMID:27136478

The Screen Display Syntax for CAI.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Boyd F.; Salisbury, David F.

1987-01-01

Describes four storyboard techniques frequently used in designing computer assisted instruction (CAI) programs, and explains screen display syntax (SDS), a new technique combining the major advantages of the storyboard techniques. SDS was developed to facilitate communication among designers, programmers, and editors working on a large CAI basic…

Linguistics from a Conceptual Viewpoint (Aspects of Aspects of a Theory of Syntax).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schank, Roger C.

Some of the assertions made by Chomsky in "Aspects of the Theory of Syntax" are considered. In particular, the notion of a "competence" model in linguistics is criticized. Formal postulates for a conceptually-based linguistic theory are presented. (Author/JD)

Papers in Syntax. Working Papers in Linguistics No. 42.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kathol, Andreas, Ed.; Pollard, Carl, Ed.

1993-01-01

This collection of working papers in syntax includes: "Null Objects in Mandarin Chinese" (Christie Block); "Toward a Linearization-Based Approach to Word Order Variation in Japanese" (Mike Calcagno); "A Lexical Approach to Inalienable Possession Constructions in Korean" (Chung, Chan); "Chinese NP Structure"…

Using Arden Syntax to Identify Registry-Eligible Very Low Birth Weight Neonates from the Electronic Health Record

PubMed Central

Sarkar, Indra Neil; Chen, Elizabeth S.; Rosenau, Paul T.; Storer, Matthew B.; Anderson, Beth; Horbar, Jeffrey D.

2014-01-01

Condition-specific registries are essential resources for supporting epidemiological, quality improvement, and clinical trial studies. The identification of potentially eligible patients for a given registry often involves a manual process or use of ad hoc software tools. With the increased availability of electronic health data, such as within Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, there is potential to develop healthcare standards based approaches for interacting with these data. Arden Syntax, which has traditionally been used to represent medical knowledge for clinical decision support, is one such standard that may be adapted for the purpose of registry eligibility determination. In this feasibility study, Arden Syntax was explored for its ability to represent eligibility criteria for a registry of very low birth weight neonates. The promising performance (100% recall; 97% precision) of the Arden Syntax approach at a single institution suggests that a standards-based methodology could be used to robustly identify registry-eligible patients from EHRs. PMID:25954412

Comment on Hoffman and Rovine (2007): SPSS MIXED can estimate models with heterogeneous variances.

PubMed

Weaver, Bruce; Black, Ryan A

2015-06-01

Hoffman and Rovine (Behavior Research Methods, 39:101-117, 2007) have provided a very nice overview of how multilevel models can be useful to experimental psychologists. They included two illustrative examples and provided both SAS and SPSS commands for estimating the models they reported. However, upon examining the SPSS syntax for the models reported in their Table 3, we found no syntax for models 2B and 3B, both of which have heterogeneous error variances. Instead, there is syntax that estimates similar models with homogeneous error variances and a comment stating that SPSS does not allow heterogeneous errors. But that is not correct. We provide SPSS MIXED commands to estimate models 2B and 3B with heterogeneous error variances and obtain results nearly identical to those reported by Hoffman and Rovine in their Table 3. Therefore, contrary to the comment in Hoffman and Rovine's syntax file, SPSS MIXED can estimate models with heterogeneous error variances.

Improving the human readability of Arden Syntax medical logic modules using a concept-oriented terminology and object-oriented programming expressions.

PubMed

Choi, Jeeyae; Bakken, Suzanne; Lussier, Yves A; Mendonça, Eneida A

2006-01-01

Medical logic modules are a procedural representation for sharing task-specific knowledge for decision support systems. Based on the premise that clinicians may perceive object-oriented expressions as easier to read than procedural rules in Arden Syntax-based medical logic modules, we developed a method for improving the readability of medical logic modules. Two approaches were applied: exploiting the concept-oriented features of the Medical Entities Dictionary and building an executable Java program to replace Arden Syntax procedural expressions. The usability evaluation showed that 66% of participants successfully mapped all Arden Syntax rules to Java methods. These findings suggest that these approaches can play an essential role in the creation of human readable medical logic modules and can potentially increase the number of clinical experts who are able to participate in the creation of medical logic modules. Although our approaches are broadly applicable, we specifically discuss the relevance to concept-oriented nursing terminologies and automated processing of task-specific nursing knowledge.

The evolution of syntactic communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nowak, Martin A.; Plotkin, Joshua B.; Jansen, Vincent A. A.

2000-03-01

Animal communication is typically non-syntactic, which means that signals refer to whole situations. Human language is syntactic, and signals consist of discrete components that have their own meaning. Syntax is a prerequisite for taking advantage of combinatorics, that is, ``making infinite use of finite means''. The vast expressive power of human language would be impossible without syntax, and the transition from non-syntactic to syntactic communication was an essential step in the evolution of human language. We aim to understand the evolutionary dynamics of this transition and to analyse how natural selection can guide it. Here we present a model for the population dynamics of language evolution, define the basic reproductive ratio of words and calculate the maximum size of a lexicon. Syntax allows larger repertoires and the possibility to formulate messages that have not been learned beforehand. Nevertheless, according to our model natural selection can only favour the emergence of syntax if the number of required signals exceeds a threshold value. This result might explain why only humans evolved syntactic communication and hence complex language.

Emergence of Scale-Free Syntax Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corominas-Murtra, Bernat; Valverde, Sergi; Solé, Ricard V.

The evolution of human language allowed the efficient propagation of nongenetic information, thus creating a new form of evolutionary change. Language development in children offers the opportunity of exploring the emergence of such complex communication system and provides a window to understanding the transition from protolanguage to language. Here we present the first analysis of the emergence of syntax in terms of complex networks. A previously unreported, sharp transition is shown to occur around two years of age from a (pre-syntactic) tree-like structure to a scale-free, small world syntax network. The observed combinatorial patterns provide valuable data to understand the nature of the cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of syntax, introducing a new ingredient to understand the possible biological endowment of human beings which results in the emergence of complex language. We explore this problem by using a minimal, data-driven model that is able to capture several statistical traits, but some key features related to the emergence of syntactic complexity display important divergences.

Long-term forecasting and comparison of mortality in the Evaluation of the Xience Everolimus Eluting Stent vs. Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery for Effectiveness of Left Main Revascularization (EXCEL) trial: prospective validation of the SYNTAX Score II.

PubMed

Campos, Carlos M; van Klaveren, David; Farooq, Vasim; Simonton, Charles A; Kappetein, Arie-Pieter; Sabik, Joseph F; Steyerberg, Ewout W; Stone, Gregg W; Serruys, Patrick W

2015-05-21

To prospectively validate the SYNTAX Score II and forecast the outcomes of the randomized Evaluation of the Xience Everolimus-Eluting Stent Versus Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery for Effectiveness of Left Main Revascularization (EXCEL) Trial. Evaluation of the Xience Everolimus Eluting Stent vs. Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery for Effectiveness of Left Main Revascularization is a prospective, randomized multicenter trial designed to establish the efficacy and safety of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the everolimus-eluting stent compared with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in subjects with unprotected left-main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease and low-intermediate anatomical SYNTAX scores (<33). After completion of patient recruitment in EXCEL, the SYNTAX Score II was prospectively applied to predict 4-year mortality in the CABG and PCI arms. The 95% prediction intervals (PIs) for mortality were computed using simulation with bootstrap resampling (10 000 times). For the entire study cohort, the 4-year predicted mortalities were 8.5 and 10.5% in the PCI and CABG arms, respectively [odds ratios (OR) 0.79; 95% PI 0.43-1.50). In subjects with low (≤22) anatomical SYNTAX scores, the predicted OR was 0.69 (95% PI 0.34-1.45); in intermediate anatomical SYNTAX scores (23-32), the predicted OR was 0.93 (95% PI 0.53-1.62). Based on 4-year mortality predictions in EXCEL, clinical characteristics shifted long-term mortality predictions either in favour of PCI (older age, male gender and COPD) or CABG (younger age, lower creatinine clearance, female gender, reduced left ventricular ejection fraction). The SYNTAX Score II indicates at least an equipoise for long-term mortality between CABG and PCI in subjects with ULMCA disease up to an intermediate anatomical complexity. Both anatomical and clinical characteristics had a clear impact on long-term mortality predictions and decision making between CABG and PCI. Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2015. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Selective Preservation of Syntax in Alzheimer's Dementia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kempler, Daniel; Curtiss, Susan

A study investigating the independence of linguistic abilities from each other, specifically the separability of syntax and semantics and the autonomy of syntactic abilities, is described. In the study, 30 individuals with Alzheimer's disease produced spontaneous conversations, completed sentences eliciting 16 grammatical forms, and when possible,…

Contribution of parenting to complex syntax development in preschool children with developmental delays or typical development.

PubMed

Moody, C T; Baker, B L; Blacher, J

2018-05-10

Despite studies of how parent-child interactions relate to early child language development, few have examined the continued contribution of parenting to more complex language skills through the preschool years. The current study explored how positive and negative parenting behaviours relate to growth in complex syntax learning from child age 3 to age 4 years, for children with typical development or developmental delays (DDs). Participants were children with or without DD (N = 60) participating in a longitudinal study of development. Parent-child interactions were transcribed and coded for parenting domains and child language. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify the contribution of parenting to complex syntax growth in children with typical development or DD. Analyses supported a final model, F(9,50) = 11.90, P < .001, including a significant three-way interaction between positive parenting behaviours, negative parenting behaviours and child delay status. This model explained 68.16% of the variance in children's complex syntax at age 4. Simple two-way interactions indicated differing effects of parenting variables for children with or without DD. Results have implications for understanding of complex syntax acquisition in young children, as well as implications for interventions. © 2018 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Facilitation and Practice in Verb Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keren-Portnoy, Tamar

2006-01-01

This paper presents a model of syntax acquisition, whose main points are as follows: Syntax is acquired in an item-based manner; early learning facilitates subsequent learning--as evidenced by the accelerating rate of new verbs entering a given structure; and mastery of syntactic knowledge is typically achieved through practice--as evidenced by…

Assessment of Syntax after Adolescent Brain Injury: Effects of Memory on Test Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turkstra, Lyn S.; Holland, Audrey L.

1998-01-01

This study of six adolescents with brain injuries, and six controls, investigated the influence of working memory load on performance of a task designed to measure receptive syntax ability. The performance of the adolescents with brain injuries was significantly worse than that of controls. (Author/CR)

Story Problem Formats: Verbal Versus Telegraphic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moyer, John C.; And Others

1984-01-01

Students in grades three to seven were given tests on which problems were presented in either verbal or telegraphic format. Only in grade six was a significant difference found, favoring the verbal format. Problems with conventional syntax appeared to be easier to interpret than those with bare bones syntax. (MNS)

Is Young Children's Passive Syntax Semantically Constrained? Evidence from Syntactic Priming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Messenger, Katherine; Branigan, Holly P.; McLean, Janet F.; Sorace, Antonella

2012-01-01

Previous research suggests that English-speaking children comprehend agent-patient verb passives earlier than experiencer-theme verb passives (Maratsos, Fox, Becker, & Chalkley, 1985). We report three experiments examining whether such effects reflect delayed acquisition of the passive syntax or instead are an artifact of the experimental task,…

Syntax Flowcharts for Advanced French Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, William H.

1983-01-01

The use of syntax flow charts as a graphic illustration of syntactic rules is suggested as both an instructional and a heuristic tool. Charts for these French structures are presented: negating of verbal expressions; balancing of conditional tenses; use of imperfect versus compound; agreement of past participles; and subjunctive sequences. (MSE)

Fuzzy-Arden-Syntax-based, Vendor-agnostic, Scalable Clinical Decision Support and Monitoring Platform.

PubMed

Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter; Fehre, Karsten; Rappelsberger, Andrea

2015-01-01

This study's objective is to develop and use a scalable genuine technology platform for clinical decision support based on Arden Syntax, which was extended by fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic. Arden Syntax is a widely recognized formal language for representing clinical and scientific knowledge in an executable format, and is maintained by Health Level Seven (HL7) International and approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Fuzzy set theory and logic permit the representation of knowledge and automated reasoning under linguistic and propositional uncertainty. These forms of uncertainty are a common feature of patients' medical data, the body of medical knowledge, and deductive clinical reasoning.

Exploring item and higher order factor structure with the Schmid-Leiman solution: syntax codes for SPSS and SAS.

PubMed

Wolff, Hans-Georg; Preising, Katja

2005-02-01

To ease the interpretation of higher order factor analysis, the direct relationships between variables and higher order factors may be calculated by the Schmid-Leiman solution (SLS; Schmid & Leiman, 1957). This simple transformation of higher order factor analysis orthogonalizes first-order and higher order factors and thereby allows the interpretation of the relative impact of factor levels on variables. The Schmid-Leiman solution may also be used to facilitate theorizing and scale development. The rationale for the procedure is presented, supplemented by syntax codes for SPSS and SAS, since the transformation is not part of most statistical programs. Syntax codes may also be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive/.

Chomsky, Syntax, and Reading: A Primer for Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolczynski, Richard G.

Noam Chomsky's theory of grammar, or more specifically his theory of syntax, proposes to describe all possible English sentences through an explanation of how the native speaker generates sentences. It is the study of one's competence that offers insights into how language is acquired and how the rules and generalizations of that language are…

The Dynamics of Syntax Acquisition: Facilitation between Syntactic Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keren-Portnoy, Tamar; Keren, Michael

2011-01-01

This paper sets out to show how facilitation between different clause structures operates over time in syntax acquisition. The phenomenon of facilitation within given structures has been widely documented, yet inter-structure facilitation has rarely been reported so far. Our findings are based on the naturalistic production corpora of six toddlers…

On the "Vulnerability" of Syntactic Domains in Swedish and German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohnacker, Ute

2007-01-01

This article investigates the L2 acquisition of clausal syntax in postpuberty learners of German and Swedish regarding V2, VP headedness, and verb particle constructions. The learner data are tested against L2 theories according to which lower structural projections (VP) are acquired before higher functional projections (IP, CP), VP syntax is…

Thematic Resultative Expressions in English and Japanese: A View from the Syntax of Event Aspect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asano, Yukiko

2012-01-01

This dissertation examines the cross-linguistic behavior of Thematic Resultative Expressions in English and Japanese from the viewpoint of syntax-semantics mappings of event aspects, and discusses the source of some of their well-recognized syntactic and syntactico-semantic properties. Thematic Resultative Expressions (e.g. "John smashed the…

Individual Differences in Statistical Learning Predict Children's Comprehension of Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kidd, Evan; Arciuli, Joanne

2016-01-01

Variability in children's language acquisition is likely due to a number of cognitive and social variables. The current study investigated whether individual differences in statistical learning (SL), which has been implicated in language acquisition, independently predicted 6- to 8-year-old's comprehension of syntax. Sixty-eight (N = 68)…

The Syntax of Elliptical Constructions in Jordanian Arabic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al Bukhari, Juman

2016-01-01

The syntax of Arabic elliptical constructions is unsettled, as there are few studies that have been done in the Arabic descriptive literature, as well as in Jordanian Arabic (henceforth, JA) specifically. Therefore, this paper will investigate some elliptical constructions in JA in particular to figure out the analysis of these constructions. In…

Shape, Material, and Syntax: Interacting Forces in Children's Learning In Novel Words for Objects and Substances.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri; Landau, Barbara; Gelman, Rochel

1999-01-01

Three studies examined the role of ontological and syntactic information in children's learning of words for physical entities, such as objects and substances. Results reveal a strong and changing developmental interaction for the use of ontologically relevant perceptual information, labels, and syntax. (Author/VWL)

Deriving Case, Agreement and Voice Phenomena in Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sigurdsson, Einar Freyr

2017-01-01

This dissertation places case, agreement and Voice phenomena in syntax. It argues that the derivation is driven by so-called derivational features, that is, structure-building features (Merge) and probe features (Agree) (Heck and Muller 2007 and Muller 2010; see also Chomsky 2000, 2001). Both types are essential in deriving case and agreement in…

The Effectiveness of Chinese NNESTs in Teaching English Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chou, Chun-Hui; Bartz, Kevin

2007-01-01

This paper evaluates the effect of Chinese non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) on Chinese ESL students' struggles with English syntax. The paper first classifies Chinese learners' syntactic errors into 10 common types. It demonstrates how each type of error results from an internal attempt to translate a common Chinese construction into…

The Interaction of Animacy and Morphosyntax in Arabic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melebari, Alaa

2017-01-01

The topic of this dissertation concerns the ways that (IN)ANIMACY distinctions interact with various sub-systems of the human language faculty, in particular, morpho-syntax. In Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), morpho-syntax and ANIMACY can be pit against each other directly on the same set of target words, allowing a close inspection of the…

Linguistic Transfer in Andean Spanish: Syntax or Pragmatics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muntendam, Antje

2009-01-01

This dissertation uses the generative framework to study the syntax and pragmatics of word order variation in the Andean Spanish of Bolivia and Ecuador. While Standard Spanish has basic order SVO, in Andean Spanish the object frequently appears in preverbal position, resulting in alternative orders (e.g. OVS). Previous studies have attributed this…

A Role for Chunk Formation in Statistical Learning of Second Language Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamrick, Phillip

2014-01-01

Humans are remarkably sensitive to the statistical structure of language. However, different mechanisms have been proposed to account for such statistical sensitivities. The present study compared adult learning of syntax and the ability of two models of statistical learning to simulate human performance: Simple Recurrent Networks, which learn by…

Idiom, Syntax, and Advanced Theory of Mind Abilities in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whyte, Elisabeth M.; Nelson, Keith E.; Scherf, K. Suzanne

2014-01-01

Purpose: When researchers investigate figurative language abilities (including idioms) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), syntax abilities may be more important than once considered. In addition, there are limitations to the overreliance on false-belief tasks to measure theory of mind (TOM) abilities. In the current study, the…

Sentence Adverbs in the Kingdom of Agree

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shu, Chih-hsiang

2011-01-01

This dissertation offers a novel account of the syntax of sentence adverbs. The need for a new account is clear from the lack of descriptive coverage and theoretical coherence in current work on adverbial syntax. Descriptively, the majority of work has so far neglected the fact that sentence adverbs behave syntactically like typical focusing…

From Sound to Syntax: The Prosodic Bootstrapping of Clauses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawthorne, Kara

2013-01-01

It has long been argued that prosodic cues may facilitate syntax acquisition (e.g., Morgan, 1986). Previous studies have shown that infants are sensitive to violations of typical correlations between clause-final prosodic cues (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 1987) and that prosody facilitates memory for strings of words (Soderstrom et al., 2005). This…

The Language of Fairness: how Cross-Linguistic Norms in Spanish and English Influence Reactions to Unfair Treatment.

PubMed

Birk, Sam J; Kausel, Edgar E

2016-11-14

We integrate recent findings from the linguistics literature with the organizational justice literature to examine how the language used to encode justice violations influences fairness perceptions. The study focused on the use of non-agentive syntax to encode mistakes in Spanish ("The vase was broken") versus using agentive syntax in English ("She broke the vase") influences event fairness perceptions. We hypothesized that when justice violations are encoded using Spanish, because the non-agentive syntax makes the responsible party less salient, the event would be perceived as less unfair. In Study 1 (n = 111), English-speaking participants rated the fairness of an event in which a mistake was made and an employee received a negative outcome. They rated it as more unfair (p < .01, η2 = .06) when the scenario was presented in agentive syntax. Experiment 2 (n = 70) used native English- and Spanish-speakers who watched a video of manager making a mistake. We found that Spanish-speakers used less agentive syntax (p < .01, η2 = .21), perceived the event as less unfair (p < .001, η2 = .23), and were more willing to help the manager who made the mistake. In Experiment 3 (n = 101) we replicated this effect controlling for cross-cultural differences and native language; further, we found an interaction between entity fairness (event vs. entity) and native language (Spanish vs. English) on citizenship intentions (p < .01, η2 = .08). These results extend our understanding of how language may influence relevant workplace attitudes.

Vocabulary, syntax, and narrative development in typically developing children and children with early unilateral brain injury: Early parental talk about the there-and-then matters

PubMed Central

Demir, Özlem Ece; Rowe, Meredith L.; Heller, Gabriella; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Levine, Susan C.

2014-01-01

This study examines the role of a particular kind of linguistic input––talk about the past and future, pretend, and explanations, that is, talk that is decontextualized––in the development of vocabulary, syntax, and narrative skill in typically developing (TD) children and children with pre- or perinatal brain injury (BI). Decontextualized talk has been shown to be particularly effective in predicting children’s language skills, but it is not clear why. We first explored the nature of parent decontextualized talk and found it to be linguistically richer than contextualized talk in parents of both TD and BI children. We then found, again for both groups, that parent decontextualized talk at child age 30 months was a significant predictor of child vocabulary, syntax, and narrative performance at kindergarten, above and beyond the child’s own early language skills, parent contextualized talk and demographic factors. Decontextualized talk played a larger role in predicting kindergarten syntax and narrative outcomes for children with lower syntax and narrative skill at 30 months, and also a larger role in predicting kindergarten narrative outcomes for children with BI than for TD children. The difference between the two groups stemmed primarily from the fact that children with BI had lower narrative (but not vocabulary or syntax) scores than TD children. When the two groups were matched in terms of narrative skill at kindergarten, the impact that decontextualized talk had on narrative skill did not differ for children with BI and for TD children. Decontextualized talk is thus a strong predictor of later language skill for all children, but may be particularly potent for children at the lower-end of the distribution for language skill. The findings also suggest that variability in the language development of children with BI is influenced not only by the biological characteristics of their lesions, but also by the language input they receive. PMID:25621756

Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) Correlation with Severity of Coronary Artery Disease in Non-diabetic Patients - A Hospital based Study from North-Eastern India

PubMed Central

Dutta, Bornali; Neginhal, Mahesh

2016-01-01

Introduction Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels are predictive of cardiovascular disease and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus, however, association of HbA1c with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) in non-diabetics is inconsistent. Aim To evaluate the correlation between HbA1c level and severity of CAD in non-diabetic patients using SYNTAX score in a cohort of proven CAD on angiography at Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati, Assam, India, which is a major tertiary care hospital of North-Eastern India. Materials and Methods We prospectively collected data of non-diabetic patients with proven CAD on angiography from June 2014 to June 2015. Patients were divided into four groups (interquartiles) according to HbA1c levels, less than 4.8%, 4.8% to 5.1%, 5.1% to 5.6%, and 5.6% to 6.5%. Severity of CAD was assessed using SYNTAX score and the number of coronary vessels diseased. We compared different quartiles of HbA1c with regard to SYNTAX score and number of diseased vessels. Results A total of 346 patients were included in the study. Mean age was 58.1±10.4 years. Of the total 91.9% (318) were males, 44.8% (155) were hypertensives, 29.2% (101) were smokers and 34.7% (120) were dyslipidemic. We found that CAD severity by SYNTAX score as well as number of vessels involved was significantly different among quartiles (p-values <0.001 and <0.001 respectively). Increase in HbA1c level was strongly correlated with disease severity and higher SYNTAX score. A significant increase was noted in the mean number of diseased vessels (p-value <0.001) as HbA1c level increases. Age, gender, hypertension and dyslipidemia did not show significant difference among quartiles however smoking was found to be an independent predictor of severity of CAD by SYNTAX score (p <0.05). Conclusion From this clinical study, we can conclude that a significant correlation exists between HbA1c and severity of CAD by SYNTAX score as well as number of vessels involved in non- diabetes. PMID:27790487

Morphology and Syntax in Late Talkers at Age 5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rescorla, Leslie; Turner, Hannah L.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study reports age 5 morphology and syntax skills in late talkers identified at age 2 (n = 34) and typically developing comparison children (n = 20). Results: The late talkers manifested significant morphological delays at ages 3 and 4 relative to comparison peers. Based on the 14 morphemes analyzed at age 5, the only significant…

Transfer at the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface: Pronominal Subjects in Bilingual Turkish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haznedar, Belma

2010-01-01

This study investigates the issue of crosslinguistic influence in the domain of subject realization in Turkish in simultaneous acquisition of Turkish and English. The use of subjects in a null subject language like Turkish is a phenomenon linked to the pragmatics-syntax interface of the grammar and, thus, is a domain where crosslinguistic…

Contextual Approach to the Development of an Indonesian Syntax Textbook in Higher Education in Indonesia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wahyuni, Tutik; Suwandi, Sarwiji; Slamet, St. Y.; Andayani

2018-01-01

The objective of this present research is to develop an Indonesian Syntax textbook. At the exploratory stage, a descriptive-qualitative approach was adopted. The data were collected using a documentary study, observations, and questionnaires and analyzed through a contextual model. The model was experimentally tested. At this stage, some main…

Effects of Distributed Practice on the Acquisition of Second Language English Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bird, Steve

2010-01-01

A longitudinal study compared the effects of distributed and massed practice schedules on the learning of second language English syntax. Participants were taught distinctions in the tense and aspect systems of English at short and long practice intervals. They were then tested at short and long intervals. The results showed that distributed…

Impact of Typical Aging and Parkinson's Disease on the Relationship among Breath Pausing, Syntax, and Punctuation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huber, Jessica E.; Darling, Meghan; Francis, Elaine J.; Zhang, Dabao

2012-01-01

Purpose: The present study examines the impact of typical aging and Parkinson's disease (PD) on the relationship among breath pausing, syntax, and punctuation. Method: Thirty young adults, 25 typically aging older adults, and 15 individuals with PD participated. Fifteen participants were age- and sex-matched to the individuals with PD.…

Peer Conflict Explanations in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Examining the Development of Complex Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nippold, Marilyn A.; Mansfield, Tracy C.; Billow, Jesse L.

2007-01-01

Purpose: Expository discourse, the use of language to convey information, requires facility with complex syntax. Although expository discourse is often employed in school and work settings, little is known about its development in children, adolescents, and adults. Hence, it is difficult to evaluate this genre in students who have language…

Modern Greek Language: Acquisition of Morphology and Syntax by Non-Native Speakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andreou, Georgia; Karapetsas, Anargyros; Galantomos, Ioannis

2008-01-01

This study investigated the performance of native and non native speakers of Modern Greek language on morphology and syntax tasks. Non-native speakers of Greek whose native language was English, which is a language with strict word order and simple morphology, made more errors and answered more slowly than native speakers on morphology but not…

Two-Year-Olds Compute Syntactic Structure On-Line

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernal, Savita; Dehaene-Lambertz, Ghislaine; Millotte, Severine; Christophe, Anne

2010-01-01

Syntax allows human beings to build an infinite number of new sentences from a finite stock of words. Because toddlers typically utter only one or two words at a time, they have been thought to have no syntax. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we demonstrated that 2-year-olds do compute syntactic structure when listening to spoken sentences.…

Differential Effects of Language Attrition in the Domains of Verb Placement and Object Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Cristina

2012-01-01

This study investigates the differential effects of language attrition in two diverse linguistic domains: verb placement and object expression. Linguistic phenomena at the syntax--discourse interface, such as object expression, have been shown to be more vulnerable to attrition than narrow syntax properties, such as verb placement. This study aims…

Syntax of Kindergarten and Elementary School Children: A Transformational Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donnell, Roy C.; And Others

This investigation sought to learn about the oral and written language behavior of students from kindergarten age through grade 7, and to determine the validity of different analytic techniques for measuring children's development in control of syntax. Language samples were collected from 180 children (grades K-3, 5, and 7) by having the children…

On the Nature of Syntactic Variation: Evidence from Complex Predicates and Complex Word-Formation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, William

2001-01-01

Provides evidence from child language acquisition and comparative syntax for existence of a syntactic parameter in the classical sense of Chomsky (1981), with simultaneous effects on syntactic argument structure. Implications are that syntax is subject to points of substantive parametric variation as envisioned in Chomsky, and the time course of…

Designing a Syntax-Based Retrieval System for Supporting Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsao, Nai-Lung; Kuo, Chin-Hwa; Wible, David; Hung, Tsung-Fu

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose a syntax-based text retrieval system for on-line language learning and use a fast regular expression search engine as its main component. Regular expression searches provide more scalable querying and search results than keyword-based searches. However, without a well-designed index scheme, the execution time of regular…

Linguistic Interdependence between Spanish Language and English Language and Reading: A Longitudinal Exploration from Second through Fifth Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Proctor, C. Patrick; Harring, Jeffrey R.; Silverman, Rebecca D.

2017-01-01

This study explored effects of Spanish oral language skills (vocabulary and syntax) on the development of English oral language skills (vocabulary, morphology, semantics, syntax) and reading comprehension among 156 bilingual Latino children in second through fifth grade whose first language was Spanish and whose second language was English. Using…

Preschoolers' Preference for Syntactic Complexity Varies by Socioeconomic Status

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corriveau, Kathleen H.; Kurkul, Katelyn; Arunachalam, Sudha

2016-01-01

Two experiments investigated whether 4- and 5-year-old children choose to learn from informants who use more complex syntax (passive voice) over informants using more simple syntax (active voice). In Experiment 1 (N = 30), children viewed one informant who consistently used the passive voice and another who used active voice. When learning novel…

Adolescent Summaries of Narrative and Expository Discourse: Differences and Predictors.

PubMed

Lundine, Jennifer P; Harnish, Stacy M; McCauley, Rebecca J; Blackett, Deena Schwen; Zezinka, Alexandra; Chen, Wei; Fox, Robert A

2018-05-03

Summarizing expository passages is a critical academic skill that is understudied in language research. The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of verbal summaries produced by adolescents for 3 different discourse types and to determine whether a composite measure of cognitive skill or a test of expressive syntax predicted their performance. Fifty adolescents listened to, and then verbally summarized, 1 narrative and 2 expository lectures (compare-contrast and cause-effect). They also participated in testing that targeted expressive syntax and 5 cognitive subdomains. Summary quality scores were significantly different across discourse types, with a medium effect size. Analyses revealed significantly higher summary quality scores for cause-effect than compare-contrast summaries. Although the composite cognitive measure contributed significantly to the prediction of quality scores for both types of expository summaries, the expressive syntax score only contributed significantly to the quality scores for narrative summaries. These results support previous research indicating that type of expository discourse may impact student performance. These results also show, for the first time, that cognition may play a predictive role in determining summary quality for expository but not narrative passages in this population. In addition, despite the more complex syntax commonly associated with exposition versus narratives, an expressive syntax score was only predictive of performance on narrative summaries. These findings provide new information, questions, and directions for future research for those who study academic discourse and for professionals who must identify and manage the problems of students struggling with different types of academic discourse. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6167879.

The relation between intensity and complexity of coronary artery lesion and oxidative stress in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

PubMed

Turan, Turhan; Menteşe, Ümit; Ağaç, Mustafa Tarık; Akyüz, Ali Rıza; Kul, Selim; Aykan, Ahmet Çağrı; Bektaş, Hüseyin; Korkmaz, Levent; Öztaş Menteşe, Seda; Dursun, İhsan; Çelik, Şükrü

2015-10-01

Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of atherosclerosis. However, the relationship between oxidative stress and complexity and intensity of coronary artery disease is less clear. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between oxidative stress markers and the complexity and intensity of coronary artery disease in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Sixty-seven consecutive patients with an early phase of ACS (<3 h) were included in this single-centre, cross-sectional, prospective study. Syntax and Gensini scores were calculated based on angiographic findings. Patients were divided into two CAD complexity groups according to their Syntax scores: low SYNTAX score (<22) and moderate to high SYNTAX score (>=22). Likewise patients were divided into two CAD severity groups according to the median Gensini score of 64: less intensive CAD with Gensini score (<64) and intensive CAD with Gensini score >=64. Blood samples were taken in 1 hour within administration in order to measure total oxidative status (TOS) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels determined by Erel method. Oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated by TOS /TAC. There was no significant difference between the two SYNTAX groups for oxidative stress markers. Median TOS and OSI values were significantly high in the intensive CAD group (p=0.005, p=0.04, respectively). The Gensini score was positively correlated with TOS and OSI (p=0.003, p=0.02, respectively). Oxidative stress markers may be considered supportive laboratory parameters related to CAD intensity but not complexity in ACS patients.

Effectiveness of a Computer-Based Syntax Program in Improving the Morphosyntax of Students Who Are Deaf/Hard of Hearing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cannon, Joanna E.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if the frequent use of LanguageLinks: Syntax Assessment and Intervention (LL), produced by Laureate Learning Systems, Inc., as a supplemental classroom activity, affected morphosyntax structures (determiners, tense, and complementizers) in participants who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) and use American…

Complement Syntax, Mental Verbs, and Theory of Mind in Children Who Are Deaf

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keddington, Holly B.

2013-01-01

The present study was conducted in three parts. Each part analyzed theory of mind (ToM) development in children who are deaf in relation to mental verb and complement syntax understanding. In the first part, participants were given a series of tests for the purpose of correlational analysis of ToM, mental verb understanding, and memory for…

Enhancing Battlemind: Preventing PTSD by Coping with Intrusive Thoughts

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-01

to write scoring syntax, etc.). We were optimistic that these two milestones would demonstrate significant progress during the coming quarter...fully met; preparation for data analyses (including familiarizing themselves with background literature and writing of scoring syntax) is complete...quality controlling this data in preparation for analyses and manuscript writing . • Manuscript preparation begins—Phase 1 PROGRESS: Drs. Shipherd

Comparison of Syntax Training for Students with Developmental Disabilities Utilizing Clinician-Directed versus Self-Determined Session Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleinert, Jane O'Regan; Gonzalez, Lori; Schuster, John W.; Huebner, Ruth

2007-01-01

The ability to make choices, plan, and self-evaluate are among the primary skills included in the development of self-determination. This study was designed to determine if a teaching paradigm, which incorporates key elements of self-determination, is as effective and more efficient in teaching syntax than a traditional, clinician-directed…

An Investigation of the Relationship between Reading Disabilities and Oral Syntax and the Temporal Aspects of that Relationship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dumas, Marsha Rose

Fifteen eight- and nine-year-old boys with reading disabilities and 15 with normal reading ability participated in a study of the relationships among reading disabilities, oral syntax, and temporal functioning ability (sequencing and the ability to perceive relationships in time). Each subject was given an individual battery of tests which…

Evidence for Knowledge of the Syntax of Large Numbers in Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrouillet, Pierre; Thevenot, Catherine; Fayol, Michel

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to provide evidence for knowledge of the syntax governing the verbal form of large numbers in preschoolers long before they are able to count up to these numbers. We reasoned that if such knowledge exists, it should facilitate the maintenance in short-term memory of lists of lexical primitives that constitute a number…

From Number Agreement to the Subjunctive: Evidence for Processability Theory in L2 Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonilla, Carrie L.

2015-01-01

This article contributes to typological plausibility of Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998, 2005) by providing empirical data that show that the stages predicted by PT are followed in the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish syntax and morphology. In the present article, the PT stages for L2 Spanish morphology and syntax are first…

The Syntax and Semantics of ERICA. Technical Report No. 185, Psychology and Education Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Robert Lawrence, Jr.

This report is a detailed empirical examination of Suppes' ideas about the syntax and semantics of natural language, and an attempt at supporting the proposal that model-theoretic semantics of the type first proposed by Tarski is a useful tool for understanding the semantics of natural language. Child speech was selected as the best place to find…

Children's Overtensing Errors: Phonological and Lexical Effects on Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stemberger, Joseph Paul

2007-01-01

Overtensing (the use of an inflected form in place of a nonfinite form, e.g. *"didn't broke" for target "didn't break") is common in early syntax. In a ChiLDES-based study of 36 children acquiring English, I examine the effects of phonological and lexical factors. For irregulars, errors are more common with verbs of low frequency and when…

Design and Validation of a Photographic Expressive Persian Grammar Test for Children Aged 4-6 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haresabadi, Fatemeh; Ebadi, Abbas; Shirazi, Tahereh Sima; Dastjerdi Kazemi, Mehdi

2016-01-01

Syntax has a high importance among linguistic parameters, and syntax-related problems are the most common in language disorders. Therefore, the present study aimed to design a Photographic Expressive Persian Grammar Test for Iranian children in the age group of 4-6 years and to determine its validity and reliability. First, the target…

Processing of Tense Morphology and Filler-Gap Dependencies by Chinese Second Language Speakers of English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dong, Zhiyin Renee

2014-01-01

There is an ongoing debate in the field of Second Language Acquisition concerning whether a fundamental difference exists between the native language (L1) and adult second language (L2) online processing of syntax and morpho-syntax. The Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) (Clahsen and Felser, 2006a, b) states that L2 online parsing is qualitatively…

Argument Realization in Second Language Acquisition of French and Spanish: A View from the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Work, Nicola

2009-01-01

Recent research on monolingual (L1) and bilingual (2L1) language acquisition is exploring the idea that children's early deviant structures involving omission of obligatory subjects and objects might be due not so much to performance limitations or purely syntactic deficits, but rather to an immature interface between syntax and discourse. For…

Clitic-Doubled Left Dislocation and Focus Fronting in L2 Spanish: A Case of Successful Acquisition at the Syntax-Discourse Interface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slabakova, Roumyana; Kempchinsky, Paula; Rothman, Jason

2012-01-01

This experimental study tests the Interface Hypothesis by looking into processes at the syntax-discourse interface, teasing apart acquisition of syntactic, semantic and discourse knowledge. Adopting Lopez's (2009) pragmatic features [[plus or minus]a(naphor)] and [[plus or minus]c(ontrast)], which in combination account for the constructions of…

Musical training modulates the early but not the late stage of rhythmic syntactic processing.

PubMed

Sun, Lijun; Liu, Fang; Zhou, Linshu; Jiang, Cunmei

2018-02-01

Syntactic processing is essential for musical understanding. Although the processing of harmonic syntax has been well studied, very little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying rhythmic syntactic processing. The present study investigated the neural processing of rhythmic syntax and whether and to what extent long-term musical training impacts such processing. Fourteen musicians and 14 nonmusicians listened to syntactic-regular or syntactic-irregular rhythmic sequences and judged the completeness of these sequences. Nonmusicians, as well as musicians, showed a P600 effect to syntactic-irregular endings, indicating that musical exposure and perceptual learning of music are sufficient to enable nonmusicians to process rhythmic syntax at the late stage. However, musicians, but not nonmusicians, also exhibited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) response to syntactic-irregular endings, which suggests that musical training only modulates the early but not the late stage of rhythmic syntactic processing. These findings revealed for the first time the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of rhythmic syntax in music, which has important implications for theories of hierarchically organized music cognition and comparative studies of syntactic processing in music and language. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Native-language N400 and P600 predict dissociable language-learning abilities in adults

PubMed Central

Qi, Zhenghan; Beach, Sara D.; Finn, Amy S.; Minas, Jennifer; Goetz, Calvin; Chan, Brian; Gabrieli, John D.E.

2018-01-01

Language learning aptitude during adulthood varies markedly across individuals. An individual’s native-language ability has been associated with success in learning a new language as an adult. However, little is known about how native-language processing affects learning success and what neural markers of native-language processing, if any, are related to success in learning. We therefore related variation in electrophysiology during native-language processing to success in learning a novel artificial language. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while native English speakers judged the acceptability of English sentences prior to learning an artificial language. There was a trend towards a double dissociation between native-language ERPs and their relationships to novel syntax and vocabulary learning. Individuals who exhibited a greater N400 effect when processing English semantics showed better future learning of the artificial language overall. The N400 effect was related to syntax learning via its specific relationship to vocabulary learning. In contrast, the P600 effect size when processing English syntax predicted future syntax learning but not vocabulary learning. These findings show that distinct neural signatures of native-language processing relate to dissociable abilities for learning novel semantic and syntactic information. PMID:27737775

A behavior analytic analogue of learning to use synonyms, syntax, and parts of speech.

PubMed

Chase, Philip N; Ellenwood, David W; Madden, Gregory

2008-01-01

Matching-to-sample and sequence training procedures were used to develop responding to stimulus classes that were considered analogous to 3 aspects of verbal behavior: identifying synonyms and parts of speech, and using syntax. Matching-to-sample procedures were used to train 12 paired associates from among 24 stimuli. These pairs were analogous to synonyms. Then, sequence characteristics were trained to 6 of the stimuli. The result was the formation of 3 classes of 4 stimuli, with the classes controlling a sequence response analogous to a simple ordering syntax: first, second, and third. Matching-to-sample procedures were then used to add 4 stimuli to each class. These stimuli, without explicit sequence training, also began to control the same sequence responding as the other members of their class. Thus, three 8-member functionally equivalent sequence classes were formed. These classes were considered to be analogous to parts of speech. Further testing revealed three 8-member equivalence classes and 512 different sequences of first, second, and third. The study indicated that behavior analytic procedures may be used to produce some generative aspects of verbal behavior related to simple syntax and semantics.

Disentangling syntax and intelligibility in auditory language comprehension.

PubMed

Friederici, Angela D; Kotz, Sonja A; Scott, Sophie K; Obleser, Jonas

2010-03-01

Studies of the neural basis of spoken language comprehension typically focus on aspects of auditory processing by varying signal intelligibility, or on higher-level aspects of language processing such as syntax. Most studies in either of these threads of language research report brain activation including peaks in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and/or the superior temporal sulcus (STS), but it is not clear why these areas are recruited in functionally different studies. The current fMRI study aims to disentangle the functional neuroanatomy of intelligibility and syntax in an orthogonal design. The data substantiate functional dissociations between STS and STG in the left and right hemispheres: first, manipulations of speech intelligibility yield bilateral mid-anterior STS peak activation, whereas syntactic phrase structure violations elicit strongly left-lateralized mid STG and posterior STS activation. Second, ROI analyses indicate all interactions of speech intelligibility and syntactic correctness to be located in the left frontal and temporal cortex, while the observed right-hemispheric activations reflect less specific responses to intelligibility and syntax. Our data demonstrate that the mid-to-anterior STS activation is associated with increasing speech intelligibility, while the mid-to-posterior STG/STS is more sensitive to syntactic information within the speech. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Generation of development environments for the Arden Syntax.

PubMed Central

Bång, M.; Eriksson, H.

1997-01-01

Providing appropriate development environments for specialized languages requires a significant development and maintenance effort. Specialized environments are therefore expensive when compared to their general-language counterparts. The Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Modules (MLM) is a standardized language for representing medical knowledge. We have used PROTEGE-II, a knowledge-engineering environment, to generate a number of experimental development environments for the Arden Syntax. MEDAILLE is the resulting MLM editor, which provides a user-friendly environment that allows users to create and modify MLM definitions. Although MEDAILLE is a generated editor, it has similar functionality, while reducing the programming effort, as compared to other MLM editors developed using traditional programming techniques. We discuss how developers can use PROTEGE-II to generate development environments for other standardized languages and for general programming languages. PMID:9357639

Subject-to-Subject Raising and the Syntax of Tense in L2 Spanish: A Full Access Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campos-Dintrans, Gonzalo; Pires, Acrisio; Rothman, Jason

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the acquisition of syntax in L2 grammars. We tested adult L2 speakers of Spanish (English L1) on the feature specification of T(ense), which is different in English and Spanish in so-called subject-to-subject raising structures. We present experimental results with the verb parecer "to seem/to appear" in different…

The Use of the Bilingual Aphasia Test for Assessment and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Modulate Language Acquisition in Minimally Verbal Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Harry D.; Hopp, Jenna P.

2011-01-01

Minimally verbal children with autism commonly demonstrate language dysfunction, including immature syntax acquisition. We hypothesised that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) should facilitate language acquisition in a cohort (n = 10) of children with immature syntax. We modified the English version of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT)…

Language and Theory of Mind in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Relationship between Complement Syntax and False Belief Task Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lind, Sophie E.; Bowler, Dermot M.

2009-01-01

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use their knowledge of complement syntax as a means of "hacking out" solutions to false belief tasks, despite lacking a representational theory of mind (ToM). Participants completed a "memory for complements" task, a measure of receptive vocabulary, and…

The evolution of syntax: an exaptationist perspective.

PubMed

Fitch, W Tecumseh

2011-01-01

The evolution of language required elaboration of a number of independent mechanisms in the hominin lineage, including systems involved in signaling, semantics, and syntax. Two perspectives on the evolution of syntax can be contrasted. The "continuist" perspective seeks the evolutionary roots of complex human syntax in simpler combinatory systems used in animal communication systems, such as iteration and sequencing. The "exaptationist" perspective posits evolutionary change of function, so that systems today used for linguistic communication might previously have served quite different functions in earlier hominids. I argue that abundant biological evidence supports an exaptationist perspective, in general, and that it must be taken seriously when considering language evolution. When applied to syntax, this suggests that core computational components used today in language could have originally served non-linguistic functions such as motor control, non-verbal thought, or spatial reasoning. I outline three specific exaptationist hypotheses for spoken language. These three hypotheses each posit a change of functionality in a precursor circuit, and its transformation into a neural circuit or region specifically involved in language today. Hypothesis 1 suggests that the precursor mechanism for intentional vocal control, specifically direct cortical control over the larynx, was manual motor control subserved by the cortico-spinal tract. The second is that the arcuate fasciculus, which today connects syntactic and lexical regions, had its origin in intracortical connections subserving vocal imitation. The third is that the specialized components of Broca's area, specifically BA 45, had their origins in non-linguistic motor control, and specifically hierarchical planning of action. I conclude by illustrating the importance of both homology (studied via primates) and convergence (typically analyzed in birds) for testing such evolutionary hypotheses.

PCG: A prototype incremental compilation facility for the SAGA environment, appendix F

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kimball, Joseph John

1985-01-01

A programming environment supports the activity of developing and maintaining software. New environments provide language-oriented tools such as syntax-directed editors, whose usefulness is enhanced because they embody language-specific knowledge. When syntactic and semantic analysis occur early in the cycle of program production, that is, during editing, the use of a standard compiler is inefficient, for it must re-analyze the program before generating code. Likewise, it is inefficient to recompile an entire file, when the editor can determine that only portions of it need updating. The pcg, or Pascal code generation, facility described here generates code directly from the syntax trees produced by the SAGA syntax directed Pascal editor. By preserving the intermediate code used in the previous compilation, it can limit recompilation to the routines actually modified by editing.

Research on Interactive Acquisition and Use of Knowledge.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-11-01

complex and challenging endeavor. Computer scientists faced with the problem of managing software complexity have de - veloped strict design disciplines...handle most-indeed, probably all-- phenomena in the syntax and semantics of natural language. It has also turned out to be well suited for the classes of...Semantics The previous grammar performs a de facto coordination of syntax and semantics by requiring that the (syntactically) preverbal NP play the

Vocabulary, Syntax, and Narrative Development in Typically Developing Children and Children with Early Unilateral Brain Injury: Early Parental Talk about the "There-and-Then" Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demir, Özlem Ece; Rowe, Meredith L.; Heller, Gabriella; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Levine, Susan C.

2015-01-01

This study examines the role of a particular kind of linguistic input--talk about the past and future, pretend, and explanations, that is, talk that is decontextualized--in the development of vocabulary, syntax, and narrative skill in typically developing (TD) children and children with pre- or perinatal brain injury (BI). Decontextualized talk…

Analyse des erreurs et grammaire generative: La syntaxe de l'interrogation en francais (Error Analysis and Generative Grammar: The Syntax of Interrogation in French).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Py, Bernard

A progress report is presented of a study which applies a system of generative grammar to error analysis. The objective of the study was to reconstruct the grammar of students' interlanguage, using a systematic analysis of errors. (Interlanguage refers to the linguistic competence of a student who possesses a relatively systematic body of rules,…

Re-Examining the Content Validation of a Grammar Test: The (Im)Possibility of Distinguishing Vocabulary and Structural Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alderson, J. Charles; Kremmel, Benjamin

2013-01-01

"Vocabulary and structural knowledge" (Grabe, 1991, p. 379) appears to be a key component of reading ability. However, is this component to be taken as a unitary one or is structural knowledge a separate factor that can therefore also be tested in isolation in, say, a test of syntax? If syntax can be singled out (e.g. in order to…

XML syntax for clinical laboratory procedure manuals.

PubMed

Saadawi, Gilan; Harrison, James H

2003-01-01

We have developed a document type description (DTD) in Extensable Markup Language (XML) for clinical laboratory procedures. Our XML syntax can adequately structure a variety of procedure types across different laboratories and is compatible with current procedure standards. The combination of this format with an XML content management system and appropriate style sheets will allow efficient procedure maintenance, distributed access, customized display and effective searching across a large body of test information.

Punctuation, Prosody, and Discourse: Afterthought Vs. Right Dislocation

PubMed Central

Kalbertodt, Janina; Primus, Beatrice; Schumacher, Petra B.

2015-01-01

In a reading production experiment we investigate the impact of punctuation and discourse structure on the prosodic differentiation of right dislocation (RD) and afterthought (AT). Both discourse structure and punctuation are likely to affect the prosodic marking of these right-peripheral constructions, as certain prosodic markings are appropriate only in certain discourse structures, and punctuation is said to correlate with prosodic phrasing. With RD and AT clearly differing in discourse function (comment-topic structuring vs. disambiguation) and punctuation (comma vs. full stop), critical items in this study were manipulated with regard to the (mis-)match of these parameters. Since RD and AT are said to prosodically differ in pitch range, phrasing, and accentuation patterns, we measured the reduction of pitch range, boundary strength and prominence level. Results show an effect of both punctuation and discourse context (mediated by syntax) on phrasing and accentuation. Interestingly, for pitch range reduction no difference between RDs and ATs could be observed. Our results corroborate a language architecture model in which punctuation, prosody, syntax, and discourse-semantics are independent but interacting domains with correspondence constraints between them. Our findings suggest there are tight correspondence constraints between (i) punctuation (full stop and comma in particular) and syntax, (ii) prosody and syntax as well as (iii) prosody and discourse-semantics. PMID:26648883

The relationship between executive functioning and language: Examining vocabulary, syntax, and language learning in preschoolers attending Head Start.

PubMed

White, Lisa J; Alexander, Alexandra; Greenfield, Daryl B

2017-12-01

Early childhood marks a time of dynamic development within language and cognitive domains. Specifically, a body of research focuses on the development of language as related to executive functions, which are foundational cognitive skills that relate to both academic achievement and social-emotional development during early childhood and beyond. Although there is evidence to support the relationship between language and executive functions, existing studies focus mostly on vocabulary and fail to examine other components of language such as syntax and language learning skills. To address this gap, this study examined the relationship between executive functioning (EF) and three aspects of language: syntax, vocabulary, and language learning. A diverse sample of 182 children (67% Latino and 33% African American) attending Head Start were assessed on both EF and language ability. Findings demonstrated that EF related to a comprehensive latent construct of language composed of vocabulary, syntax, and language learning. EF also related to each individual component of language. This study furthers our understanding of the complex relationship between language and cognitive development by measuring EF as it relates to various components of language in a sample of preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Native-language N400 and P600 predict dissociable language-learning abilities in adults.

PubMed

Qi, Zhenghan; Beach, Sara D; Finn, Amy S; Minas, Jennifer; Goetz, Calvin; Chan, Brian; Gabrieli, John D E

2017-04-01

Language learning aptitude during adulthood varies markedly across individuals. An individual's native-language ability has been associated with success in learning a new language as an adult. However, little is known about how native-language processing affects learning success and what neural markers of native-language processing, if any, are related to success in learning. We therefore related variation in electrophysiology during native-language processing to success in learning a novel artificial language. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while native English speakers judged the acceptability of English sentences prior to learning an artificial language. There was a trend towards a double dissociation between native-language ERPs and their relationships to novel syntax and vocabulary learning. Individuals who exhibited a greater N400 effect when processing English semantics showed better future learning of the artificial language overall. The N400 effect was related to syntax learning via its specific relationship to vocabulary learning. In contrast, the P600 effect size when processing English syntax predicted future syntax learning but not vocabulary learning. These findings show that distinct neural signatures of native-language processing relate to dissociable abilities for learning novel semantic and syntactic information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language influences music harmony perception: effects of shared syntactic integration resources beyond attention

PubMed Central

Willems, Roel M.; Hagoort, Peter

2016-01-01

Many studies have revealed shared music–language processing resources by finding an influence of music harmony manipulations on concurrent language processing. However, the nature of the shared resources has remained ambiguous. They have been argued to be syntax specific and thus due to shared syntactic integration resources. An alternative view regards them as related to general attention and, thus, not specific to syntax. The present experiments evaluated these accounts by investigating the influence of language on music. Participants were asked to provide closure judgements on harmonic sequences in order to assess the appropriateness of sequence endings. At the same time participants read syntactic garden-path sentences. Closure judgements revealed a change in harmonic processing as the result of reading a syntactically challenging word. We found no influence of an arithmetic control manipulation (experiment 1) or semantic garden-path sentences (experiment 2). Our results provide behavioural evidence for a specific influence of linguistic syntax processing on musical harmony judgements. A closer look reveals that the shared resources appear to be needed to hold a harmonic key online in some form of syntactic working memory or unification workspace related to the integration of chords and words. Overall, our results support the syntax specificity of shared music–language processing resources. PMID:26998339

Best way to revascularize patients with main stem and three vessel lesions: patients should undergo PCI!

PubMed

Schächinger, Volker; Herdeg, Christian; Scheller, Bruno

2010-09-01

The optimal revascularization strategy for multivessel disease is under controversial discussion for long time. Until now, technical innovations have been faster than performance of clinical trials, making results of randomized studies outdated at the time of appearance. Recently, the SYNTAX trial has been published, which compared drug elutings stents (DES) implantation with Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients with multivessel or left main disease in a clinically stable population. Overall, CABG was superior with respect to the clinical endpoint of death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or revascularization. However, the difference is driven by the "weakest" end point, namely repeated revascularization, whereas combined "hard" events did not demonstrate a difference. More detailed analysis demonstrates that only patients with most complex coronary anatomy gain definite benefit from CABG. In addition, SYNTAX demonstrated that left main disease is no longer a domain of CABG, since DES implantation revealed comparable results, as long as there is no concomitant multivessel disease. Regardless the results of SYNTAX, one should not forget that SYNTAX represents only a minority of daily patients in a catheterization laboratory, excluding patients with one- or two-vessel disease and those with an acute coronary syndrome. Especially in the latter, percutaneous coronary intervention has demonstrated to improve prognosis.

Units in the VO Version 1.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derriere, Sebastien; Gray, Norman; Demleitner, Markus; Louys, Mireille; Ochsenbein, Francois; Derriere, Sebastien; Gray, Norman

2014-05-01

This document describes a recommended syntax for writing the string representation of unit labels ("VOUnits"). In addition, it describes a set of recognised and deprecated units, which is as far as possible consistent with other relevant standards (BIPM, ISO/IEC and the IAU). The intention is that units written to conform to this specification will likely also be parsable by other well-known parsers. To this end, we include machine-readable grammars for other units syntaxes.

Hierarchical CAD Tools for Radiation Hardened Mixed Signal Electronic Circuits

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-28

11 Figure 3: Schematic of Analog and Digital Components 12 Figure 4: Dose Rate Syntax 14 Figure 5: Single Event Effects (SEE) Syntax 15 Figure 6...Harmony-AMS simulation of a Digital Phase Locked Loop 19 Figure 10: SEE results from DPLL Simulation 20 Figure 11: Published results used for validation...analog and digital circuitry. Combining the analog and digital elements onto a single chip has several advantages, but also creates unique challenges

Prosody-Syntax Integration in a Second Language: Contrasting Event-Related Potentials from German and Chinese Learners of English Using Linear Mixed Effect Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nickels, Stefanie; Steinhauer, Karsten

2018-01-01

The role of prosodic information in sentence processing is not usually addressed in second language (L2) instruction, and neurocognitive studies on prosody-syntax interactions are rare. Here we compare event-related potentials (ERP) of Chinese and German learners of English L2 to those of native English speakers and show how first language (L1)…

Views of Nature and the Human-Nature Relations: An Analysis of the Visual Syntax of Pictures about the Environment in Greek Primary School Textbooks--Diachronic Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemoni, Rea; Lefkaditou, Ageliki; Stamou, Anastasia G.; Schizas, Dimitrios; Stamou, George P.

2013-01-01

This paper explores the function of the visual syntax of images in Greek primary school textbooks. By using a model for the formal analysis of the visual material, which will allow us to disclose the mechanisms through which meanings are manifested, our aim is to investigate the discursive transition relating to the view of nature and the…

Executing medical logic modules expressed in ArdenML using Drools.

PubMed

Jung, Chai Young; Sward, Katherine A; Haug, Peter J

2012-01-01

The Arden Syntax is an HL7 standard language for representing medical knowledge as logic statements. Despite nearly 2 decades of availability, Arden Syntax has not been widely used. This has been attributed to the lack of a generally available compiler to implement the logic, to Arden's complex syntax, to the challenges of mapping local data to data references in the Medical Logic Modules (MLMs), or, more globally, to the general absence of decision support in healthcare computing. An XML representation (ArdenML) may partially address the technical challenges. MLMs created in ArdenML can be converted into executable files using standard transforms written in the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) language. As an example, we have demonstrated an approach to executing MLMs written in ArdenML using the Drools business rule management system. Extensions to ArdenML make it possible to generate a user interface through which an MLM developer can test for logical errors.

Standards-Based Procedural Phenotyping: The Arden Syntax on i2b2.

PubMed

Mate, Sebastian; Castellanos, Ixchel; Ganslandt, Thomas; Prokosch, Hans-Ulrich; Kraus, Stefan

2017-01-01

Phenotyping, or the identification of patient cohorts, is a recurring challenge in medical informatics. While there are open source tools such as i2b2 that address this problem by providing user-friendly querying interfaces, these platforms lack semantic expressiveness to model complex phenotyping algorithms. The Arden Syntax provides procedural programming language construct, designed specifically for medical decision support and knowledge transfer. In this work, we investigate how language constructs of the Arden Syntax can be used for generic phenotyping. We implemented a prototypical tool to integrate i2b2 with an open source Arden execution environment. To demonstrate the applicability of our approach, we used the tool together with an Arden-based phenotyping algorithm to derive statistics about ICU-acquired hypernatremia. Finally, we discuss how the combination of i2b2's user-friendly cohort pre-selection and Arden's procedural expressiveness could benefit phenotyping.

Neural syntax: cell assemblies, synapsembles and readers

PubMed Central

Buzsáki, György

2010-01-01

Summary A widely discussed hypothesis in neuroscience is that transiently active ensembles of neurons, known as ‘cell assemblies’, underlie numerous operations of the brain, from encoding memories to reasoning. However, the mechanisms responsible for the formation and disbanding of cell assemblies and temporal evolution of cell assembly sequences are not well understood. I introduce and review three interconnected topics, which could facilitate progress in defining cell assemblies, identifying their neuronal organization and revealing causal relationships between assembly organization and behavior. First, I hypothesize that cell assemblies are best understood in light of their output product, as detected by ‘reader-actuator’ mechanisms. Second, I suggest that the hierarchical organization of cell assemblies may be regarded as a neural syntax. Third, constituents of the neural syntax are linked together by dynamically changing constellations of synaptic weights (‘synapsembles’). Existing support for this tripartite framework is reviewed and strategies for experimental testing of its predictions are discussed. PMID:21040841

The Roots of Linguistic Organization in a New Language*

PubMed Central

Aronoff, Mark; Meir, Irit; Padden, Carol; Sandler, Wendy

2011-01-01

It is possible for a language to emerge with no direct linguistic history or outside linguistic influence. Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) arose about 70 years ago in a small, insular community with a high incidence of profound prelingual neurosensory deafness. In ABSL, we have been able to identify the beginnings of phonology, morphology, syntax, and prosody. The linguistic elements we find in ABSL are not exclusively holistic, nor are they all compositional, but a combination of both. We do not, however, find in ABSL certain features that have been posited as essential even for a proto-language. ABSL has a highly regular syntax as well as word-internal compounding, also highly regular but quite distinct from syntax in its patterns. ABSL, however, has no discernable word-internal structure of the kind observed in more mature sign languages: no spatially organized morphology and no evident duality of phonological patterning. PMID:22448152

Role of Two Types of Syntactic Embedding in Belief Attribution in Adults with or without Asperger Syndrome

PubMed Central

Burnel, Morgane Clémentine; Perrone-Bertolotti, Marcela; Durrleman, Stephanie; Reboul, Anne C.; Baciu, Monica

2017-01-01

The role of syntax in belief attribution (BA) is not completely understood in healthy adults and understudied in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Embedded syntax could be useful either for the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) (Emergence account) or more generally over the lifespan (Reasoning account). Two hypotheses have been explored, one suggesting that embedding itself (Relatives and Complement sentences and Metarepresentation account) is important for ToM and another one considering that the embedding of a false proposition into a true one (Complement sentences and Misrepresentation account) is important. The goals of this study were to evaluate (1) the role of syntax in ToM (Emergence vs. Reasoning account), (2) the type of syntax implied in ToM (Metarepresentation vs. Misrepresentation account), and (3) the verbally mediated strategies which compensate for ToM deficits in adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Fifty NeuroTypical (NT) adults and 22 adults with AS were involved in a forced-choice task including ±ToM tasks (BA and a control task, physical causation, PC) under four Interference conditions (silence, syllable repetition, relative sentences repetition, and complement sentences repetition). The non-significant ±ToM × Interference interaction effect in the NT group did not support the Reasoning account and thus suggests that syntax is useful only for ToM development (i.e., Emergence account). Results also indicated that repeating complement clauses put NT participants in a dual task whereas repeating relative clauses did not, suggesting that repeating relatives is easier for NT than repeating complements. This could be an argument in favor of the Misrepresentation account. However, this result should be interpreted with caution because our results did not support the Reasoning account. Moreover, AS participants (but not NT participants) were more disrupted by ±ToM tasks when asked to repeat complement sentences compared to relative clause sentences. This result is in favor of the Misrepresentation account and indirectly suggests verbally mediated strategies for ToM in AS. To summarize, our results are in favor of the Emergence account in NT and of Reasoning and Misrepresentation accounts in adults with AS. Overall, this suggests that adults with AS use complement syntax to compensate for ToM deficits. PMID:28553246

Role of Two Types of Syntactic Embedding in Belief Attribution in Adults with or without Asperger Syndrome.

PubMed

Burnel, Morgane Clémentine; Perrone-Bertolotti, Marcela; Durrleman, Stephanie; Reboul, Anne C; Baciu, Monica

2017-01-01

The role of syntax in belief attribution (BA) is not completely understood in healthy adults and understudied in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Embedded syntax could be useful either for the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) ( Emergence account) or more generally over the lifespan ( Reasoning account). Two hypotheses have been explored, one suggesting that embedding itself (Relatives and Complement sentences and Metarepresentation account) is important for ToM and another one considering that the embedding of a false proposition into a true one (Complement sentences and Misrepresentation account) is important. The goals of this study were to evaluate (1) the role of syntax in ToM ( Emergence vs. Reasoning account), (2) the type of syntax implied in ToM ( Metarepresentation vs. Misrepresentation account), and (3) the verbally mediated strategies which compensate for ToM deficits in adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Fifty NeuroTypical (NT) adults and 22 adults with AS were involved in a forced-choice task including ±ToM tasks (BA and a control task, physical causation, PC) under four Interference conditions (silence, syllable repetition, relative sentences repetition, and complement sentences repetition). The non-significant ±ToM × Interference interaction effect in the NT group did not support the Reasoning account and thus suggests that syntax is useful only for ToM development (i.e., Emergence account). Results also indicated that repeating complement clauses put NT participants in a dual task whereas repeating relative clauses did not, suggesting that repeating relatives is easier for NT than repeating complements. This could be an argument in favor of the Misrepresentation account. However, this result should be interpreted with caution because our results did not support the Reasoning account. Moreover, AS participants (but not NT participants) were more disrupted by ±ToM tasks when asked to repeat complement sentences compared to relative clause sentences. This result is in favor of the Misrepresentation account and indirectly suggests verbally mediated strategies for ToM in AS. To summarize, our results are in favor of the Emergence account in NT and of Reasoning and Misrepresentation accounts in adults with AS. Overall, this suggests that adults with AS use complement syntax to compensate for ToM deficits.

Domain-Wide or Variable-Dependent Vulnerability of the Semantics-Syntax Interface in L2 Acquisition? Evidence from "Wh"-Words Used as Existential Polarity Words in L2 Chinese Grammars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Boping

2010-01-01

Most studies in the second language (L2) literature that deal with interface issues do so in holistic terms. On the one hand, researchers have suggested that interface relations between the syntax and other domains are particularly difficult for adult L2 learners. On the other, it has been argued that such relations can be established in a…

Using the Feature Exchange Language in the Next Generation Controller

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

IFCTE DEC 28 The Robotics InstituteCarnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 LI 4 August 1990 Copyright 0 1990 Carnegie Mellon University The work...ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER The Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University CMU-RI-TR-90-19 Pittsburgh, PA...Basic Syntax 3.1.1. The Grammar The design of FEL syntax is based on a few simple concepts: (1) sentences, (2) verbs, (3) attributes with associated

Syntax diagrams for body wave nomenclature, with generalizations for terrestrial planets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knapmeyer, M.

2003-04-01

The Apollo network on the Moon constitutes the beginning of planetary seismology. In the next few decades, we may see seismometers deployed on the Moon again, on Mars, and perhaps on other terrestrial planets or satellites. Any seismological software for computation of body wave travel times on other planets should be highly versatile and be prepared for a huge variety of velocity distributions and internal structures. A suite of trial models for a planet might, for example, contain models with and without solid inner cores. It would then be useful if the software could detect physically meaningless phase names automatically without actually carrying out any computation. It would also be useful if the program were prepared to deal with features like fully solid cores, internal oceans, and varying depths of mineralogical phase changes like the olivine-spinel transition. Syntax diagrams are a standard method to describe the syntax of programming languages. They represent a graphical way to define which letter or phrase is allowed to follow a given sequence of letters. Syntax diagrams may be stored in data structures that allow automatic evaluation of a given letter sequence. Such diagrams are presented here for a generalized body wave nomenclature. Generalizations are made to overcome earth-specific notations which incorporate discontinuity depths into phase names or to distinguish olivine transitions from ice-ice transitions (as expected on the Galilean Satellites).

Validating the EXCEL hypothesis: a propensity score matched 3-year comparison of percutaneous coronary intervention versus coronary artery bypass graft in left main patients with SYNTAX score ≤32.

PubMed

Capodanno, Davide; Caggegi, Anna; Capranzano, Piera; Cincotta, Glauco; Miano, Marco; Barrano, Gionbattista; Monaco, Sergio; Calvo, Francesco; Tamburino, Corrado

2011-06-01

The aim of this study is to verify the study hypothesis of the EXCEL trial by comparing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) in an EXCEL-like population of patients. The upcoming EXCEL trial will test the hypothesis that left main patients with SYNTAX score ≤ 32 experience similar rates of 3-year death, myocardial infarction (MI), or cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) following revascularization by PCI or CABG. We compared the 3-year rates of death/MI/CVA and death/MI/CVA/target vessel revascularization (MACCE) in 556 patients with left main disease and SYNTAX score ≤ 32 undergoing PCI (n = 285) or CABG (n = 271). To account for confounders, outcome parameters underwent extensive statistical adjustment. The unadjusted incidence of death/MI/CVA was similar between PCI and CABG (12.7% vs. 8.4%, P = 0.892), while MACCE were higher in the PCI group compared to the CABG group (27.0% vs. 11.8%, P < 0.001). After propensity score matching, PCI was not associated with a significant increase in the rate of death/MI/CVA (11.8% vs. 10.7%, P = 0.948), while MACCE were more frequently noted among patients treated with PCI (28.8% vs. 14.1%, P = 0.002). Adjustment by means of SYNTAX score and EUROSCORE, covariates with and without propensity score, and propensity score alone did not change significantly these findings. In an EXCEL-like cohort of patients with left main disease, there seems to be a clinical equipoise between PCI and CABG in terms of death/MI/CVA. However, even in patients with SYNTAX score ≤ 32, CABG is superior to PCI when target vessel revascularization is included in the combined endpoint. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Longitudinal Profiles of Expressive Vocabulary, Syntax, and Pragmatic Language in Boys with Fragile X Syndrome or Down Syndrome

PubMed Central

Martin, Gary E.; Losh, Molly; Estigarribia, Bruno; Sideris, John; Roberts, Joanne

2014-01-01

Background Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS) are the two leading genetic causes of intellectual disability, and FXS is the most common known genetic condition associated with autism. Both FXS and DS are associated with significant language impairment, but little is known about expressive language across domains over time or the role of autism in language development in FXS. Aims To compare three domains of language production (vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatics) over time within and across groups of boys with FXS with and without autism spectrum disorder (FXS-ASD, FXS-O), boys with DS, and typically developing (TD) boys. Methods & Procedures Twenty-nine boys with FXS-O, 40 boys with FXS-ASD, 34 boys with DS, and 48 younger TD boys of similar nonverbal mental age living in the United States participated. The Antonyms, Syntax Construction, and Pragmatic Judgment subtests of the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language were administered annually over three years. Outcomes & Results TD boys scored higher than all other groups on all three subtests, boys with FXS-O and FXS-ASD scored higher than boys with DS in Syntax Construction, and boys with FXS-O scored higher than boys with FXS-ASD in Pragmatic Judgment. Within-group patterns varied between groups. Overall the TD group showed significantly more change over time than all other groups. Conclusions & Implications Findings suggest that expressive language skills and growth across various domains are more impaired in boys with FXS and DS than would be expected based on nonverbal mental age, that for boys with DS syntax is more impaired than would be expected based on intellectual disability, and that autism status affects pragmatic language in boys with FXS. Findings suggest that language production across domains should be addressed during assessment and intervention for boys with FXS and boys with DS, with differing group profiles also suggesting potentially different areas of focus. PMID:23889838

Brain and Behavioral Assessment of Executive Functions for Self-Regulating Levels of Language in Reading Brain.

PubMed

Berninger, Virginia W; Richards, Todd L; Abbott, Robert D

2017-11-01

This brief research report examines brain-behavioral relationships specific to levels of language in the complex reading brain. The first specific aim was to examine prior findings for significant fMRI connectivity from four seeds (left precuneus, left occipital temporal, left supramarginal, left inferior frontal) for each of four levels of language-subword, word (word-specific spelling or affixed words), syntax (with and without homonym foils or affix foils), and multi-sentence text to identify significant fMRI connectivity (a) unique to the lower level of language when compared to the immediately higher adjacent level of language across subword-word, word-syntax, and syntax-text comparisons; and (b) involving a brain region associated with executive functions. The second specific aim was to correlate the magnitude of that connectivity with standard scores on tests of Focused Attention (D-K EFS Color Word Form Inhibition) and Switching Attention (Wolf & Denckla Rapid Automatic Switching). Seven correlations were significant. Focused Attention was significantly correlated with the word level (word-specific spellings of real words) fMRI task in left cingulum from left inferior frontal seed. Switching Attention was significantly correlated with the (a) subword level (grapheme-phoneme correspondence) fMRI task in left and right Cerebellum V from left supramarginal seed; (b) the word level (word-specific spelling) fMRI task in right Cerebellum V from left precuneus seed; (c) the syntax level (with and without homonym foils) fMRI task in right Cerebellum V from left precuneus seed and from left supramarginal seed; and (d) syntax level (with and without affix foils) fMRI task in right Cerebellum V from left precuneus seed. Results are discussed in reference to neuropsychological assessment of supervisory attention (focused and switching) for specific levels of language related to reading acquisition in students with and without language-related specific learning disabilities and self-regulation of the complex reading brain.

Brain and Behavioral Assessment of Executive Functions for Self-Regulating Levels of Language in Reading Brain

PubMed Central

Berninger, Virginia W.; Richards, Todd L.; Abbott, Robert D.

2017-01-01

This brief research report examines brain-behavioral relationships specific to levels of language in the complex reading brain. The first specific aim was to examine prior findings for significant fMRI connectivity from four seeds (left precuneus, left occipital temporal, left supramarginal, left inferior frontal) for each of four levels of language—subword, word (word-specific spelling or affixed words), syntax (with and without homonym foils or affix foils), and multi-sentence text to identify significant fMRI connectivity (a) unique to the lower level of language when compared to the immediately higher adjacent level of language across subword-word, word-syntax, and syntax-text comparisons; and (b) involving a brain region associated with executive functions. The second specific aim was to correlate the magnitude of that connectivity with standard scores on tests of Focused Attention (D-K EFS Color Word Form Inhibition) and Switching Attention (Wolf & Denckla Rapid Automatic Switching). Seven correlations were significant. Focused Attention was significantly correlated with the word level (word-specific spellings of real words) fMRI task in left cingulum from left inferior frontal seed. Switching Attention was significantly correlated with the (a) subword level (grapheme-phoneme correspondence) fMRI task in left and right Cerebellum V from left supramarginal seed; (b) the word level (word-specific spelling) fMRI task in right Cerebellum V from left precuneus seed; (c) the syntax level (with and without homonym foils) fMRI task in right Cerebellum V from left precuneus seed and from left supramarginal seed; and (d) syntax level (with and without affix foils) fMRI task in right Cerebellum V from left precuneus seed. Results are discussed in reference to neuropsychological assessment of supervisory attention (focused and switching) for specific levels of language related to reading acquisition in students with and without language-related specific learning disabilities and self-regulation of the complex reading brain. PMID:29104930

Discriminative feature-rich models for syntax-based machine translation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dixon, Kevin R.

This report describes the campus executive LDRD %E2%80%9CDiscriminative Feature-Rich Models for Syntax-Based Machine Translation,%E2%80%9D which was an effort to foster a better relationship between Sandia and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The primary purpose of the LDRD was to fund the research of a promising graduate student at CMU; in this case, Kevin Gimpel was selected from the pool of candidates. This report gives a brief overview of Kevin Gimpel's research.

From data mining rules to medical logical modules and medical advices.

PubMed

Gomoi, Valentin; Vida, Mihaela; Robu, Raul; Stoicu-Tivadar, Vasile; Bernad, Elena; Lupşe, Oana

2013-01-01

Using data mining in collaboration with Clinical Decision Support Systems adds new knowledge as support for medical diagnosis. The current work presents a tool which translates data mining rules supporting generation of medical advices to Arden Syntax formalism. The developed system was tested with data related to 2326 births that took place in 2010 at the Bega Obstetrics - Gynaecology Hospital, Timişoara. Based on processing these data, 14 medical rules regarding the Apgar score were generated and then translated in Arden Syntax language.

Executing medical logic modules expressed in ArdenML using Drools

PubMed Central

Jung, Chai Young; Sward, Katherine A

2011-01-01

The Arden Syntax is an HL7 standard language for representing medical knowledge as logic statements. Despite nearly 2 decades of availability, Arden Syntax has not been widely used. This has been attributed to the lack of a generally available compiler to implement the logic, to Arden's complex syntax, to the challenges of mapping local data to data references in the Medical Logic Modules (MLMs), or, more globally, to the general absence of decision support in healthcare computing. An XML representation (ArdenML) may partially address the technical challenges. MLMs created in ArdenML can be converted into executable files using standard transforms written in the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) language. As an example, we have demonstrated an approach to executing MLMs written in ArdenML using the Drools business rule management system. Extensions to ArdenML make it possible to generate a user interface through which an MLM developer can test for logical errors. PMID:22180871

A Formal Messaging Notation for Alaskan Aviation Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rios, Joseph L.

2015-01-01

Data exchange is an increasingly important aspect of the National Airspace System. While many data communication channels have become more capable of sending and receiving data at higher throughput rates, there is still a need to use communication channels efficiently with limited throughput. The limitation can be based on technological issues, financial considerations, or both. This paper provides a complete description of several important aviation weather data in Abstract Syntax Notation format. By doing so, data providers can take advantage of Abstract Syntax Notation's ability to encode data in a highly compressed format. When data such as pilot weather reports, surface weather observations, and various weather predictions are compressed in such a manner, it allows for the efficient use of throughput-limited communication channels. This paper provides details on the Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) implementation for Alaskan aviation data, and demonstrates its use on real-world aviation weather data samples as Alaska has sparse terrestrial data infrastructure and data are often sent via relatively costly satellite channels.

Some empirical observations about early stuttering: a possible link to language development.

PubMed

Bloodstein, O

2006-01-01

This article suggests a possible link between incipient stuttering and early difficulty in language formulation. The hypothesis offers a unifying explanation of an array of empirical observations. Among these observations are the following: early stuttering occurs only on the first word of a syntactic structure; stuttering does not appear to be influenced by word-related factors; early stuttering seldom occurs on one-word utterances; the earliest age at which stuttering is reported is 18 months, with the beginning of grammatical development; the age at which most onset of stuttering is reported, 2-5 years, coincides with the period during which children acquire syntax; considerable spontaneous recovery takes place at the time most children have mastered syntax; incipient stuttering is influenced by the length and grammatical complexity of utterances; young children who stutter may be somewhat deficient in language skills; boys who stutter outnumber girls. The reader will learn about a number of empirical observations about incipient stuttering and how they may be explained by a syntax-based hypothesis about its etiology.

Using features of Arden Syntax with object-oriented medical data models for guideline modeling.

PubMed

Peleg, M; Ogunyemi, O; Tu, S; Boxwala, A A; Zeng, Q; Greenes, R A; Shortliffe, E H

2001-01-01

Computer-interpretable guidelines (CIGs) can deliver patient-specific decision support at the point of care. CIGs base their recommendations on eligibility and decision criteria that relate medical concepts to patient data. CIG models use expression languages for specifying these criteria, and define models for medical data to which the expressions can refer. In developing version 3 of the GuideLine Interchange Format (GLIF3), we used existing standards as the medical data model and expression language. We investigated the object-oriented HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM) as a default data model. We developed an expression language, called GEL, based on Arden Syntax's logic grammar. Together with other GLIF constructs, GEL reconciles incompatibilities between the data models of Arden Syntax and the HL7 RIM. These incompatibilities include Arden's lack of support for complex data types and time intervals, and the mismatch between Arden's single primary time and multiple time attributes of the HL7 RIM.

Syntactic Approach To Geometric Surface Shell Determination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeGryse, Donald G.; Panton, Dale J.

1980-12-01

Autonomous terminal homing of a smart missile requires a stored reference scene of the target for which the missle is destined. The reference scene is produced from stereo source imagery by deriving a three-dimensional model containing cultural structures such as buildings, towers, bridges, and tanks. This model is obtained by the precise matching of cultural features from one image of the stereo pair to the other. In the past, this stereo matching process has relied heavily on local edge operators and a gray scale matching metric. The processing is performed line by line over the imagery and the amount of geometric control is minimal. As a result, the gross structure of the scene is determined but the derived three-dimensional data is noisy, oscillatory, and at times significantly inaccurate. This paper discusses new concepts that are currently being developed to stabilize this geometric reference preparation process. The new concepts involve the use of a structural syntax which will be used as a geometric constraint on automatic stereo matching. The syntax arises from the stereo configuration of the imaging platforms at the time of exposure and the knowledge of how various cultural structures are constructed. The syntax is used to parse a scene in terms of its cultural surfaces and to dictate to the matching process the allowable relative positions and orientations of surface edges in the image planes. Using the syntax, extensive searches using a gray scale matching metric are reduced.

Narrative Skill in Children with Early Unilateral Brain Injury: A Possible Limit to Functional Plasticity

PubMed Central

Demir, Özlem Ece; Levine, Susan C.; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2009-01-01

Children with pre- or perinatal brain injury (PL) exhibit marked plasticity for language learning. Previous work mostly focused on the emergence of earlier developing skills, such as vocabulary and syntax. Here we ask whether this plasticity for earlier developing aspects of language extends to more complex, later-developing language functions by examining the narrative production of children with PL. Using an elicitation technique that involves asking children to create stories de novo in response to a story stem, we collected narratives from 11 children with PL and 20 typically-developing (TD) children. Narratives were analyzed for length, diversity of the vocabulary used, use of complex syntax, complexity of the macro-level narrative structure and use of narrative evaluation. Children’s language performance on vocabulary and syntax tasks outside of the narrative context was also measured. Findings show that children with PL produced shorter stories, used less diverse vocabulary, produced structurally less complex stories at the macro-level, and made fewer inferences regarding the cognitive states of the story characters. These differences in the narrative task emerged even though children with PL did not differ from TD children on vocabulary and syntax tasks outside of the narrative context. Thus, findings suggest that there may be limitations to the plasticity for language functions displayed by children with PL, and that these limitations may be most apparent in complex, decontextualized language tasks such as narrative production. PMID:20590727

Clinical decision support systems at the Vienna General Hospital using Arden Syntax: Design, implementation, and integration.

PubMed

Schuh, Christian; de Bruin, Jeroen S; Seeling, Walter

2015-12-01

The Allgemeines Krankenhaus Informations Management (AKIM) project was started at the Vienna General Hospital (VGH) several years ago. This led to the introduction of a new hospital information system (HIS), and the installation of the expert system platform (EXP) for the integration of Arden-Syntax-based clinical decision support systems (CDSSs). In this report we take a look at the milestones achieved and the challenges faced in the creation and modification of CDSSs, and their integration into the HIS over the last three years. We introduce a three-stage development method, which is followed in nearly all CDSS projects at the Medical University of Vienna and the VGH. Stage one comprises requirements engineering and system conception. Stage two focuses on the implementation and testing of the system. Finally, stage three describes the deployment and integration of the system in the VGH HIS. The HIS provides a clinical work environment for healthcare specialists using customizable graphical interfaces known as parametric medical documents. Multiple Arden Syntax servers are employed to host and execute the CDSS knowledge bases: two embedded in the EXP for production and development, and a further three in clinical routine for production, development, and quality assurance. Three systems are discussed; the systems serve different purposes in different clinical areas, but are all implemented with Arden Syntax. MONI-ICU is an automated surveillance system for monitoring healthcare-associated infections in the intensive care setting. TSM-CDS is a CDSS used for risk prediction in the formation of cutaneous melanoma metastases. Finally, TacroDS is a CDSS for the manipulation of dosages for tacrolimus, an immunosuppressive agent used after kidney transplantation. Problems in development and integration were related to data quality or availability, although organizational difficulties also caused delays in development and integration. Since the inception of the AKIM project at the VGH and its ability to support standards such as Arden Syntax and integrate CDSSs into clinical routine, the clinicians' interest in, and demand for, decision support has increased substantially. The use of Arden Syntax as a standard for CDSSs played a substantial role in the ability to rapidly create high-quality CDSS systems, whereas the ability to integrate these systems into the HIS made CDSSs more popular among physicians. Despite these successes, challenges such as lack of (consistent and high-quality) electronic data, social acceptance among healthcare personnel, and legislative issues remain. These have to be addressed effectively before CDSSs can be more widely accepted and adopted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Varieties of operator manipulation. [for solving differential equations and calculating finite differences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doohovskoy, A.

1977-01-01

A change in MACSYMA syntax is proposed to accommodate the operator manipulators necessary to implement direct and indirect methods for the solution of differential equations, calculus of finite differences, and the fractional calculus, as well as their modern counterparts. To illustrate the benefits and convenience of this syntax extension, an example is given to show how MACSYMA's pattern-matching capability can be used to implement a particular set of operator identities which can then be used to obtain exact solutions to nonlinear differential equations.

An implementation and analysis of the Abstract Syntax Notation One and the basic encoding rules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harvey, James D.; Weaver, Alfred C.

1990-01-01

The details of abstract syntax notation one standard (ASN.1) and the basic encoding rules standard (BER) that collectively solve the problem of data transfer across incompatible host environments are presented, and a compiler that was built to automate their use is described. Experiences with this compiler are also discussed which provide a quantitative analysis of the performance costs associated with the application of these standards. An evaluation is offered as to how well suited ASN.1 and BER are in solving the common data representation problem.

The development of variable MLM editor and TSQL translator based on Arden Syntax in Taiwan.

PubMed

Liang, Yan Ching; Chang, Polun

2003-01-01

The Arden Syntax standard has been utilized in the medical informatics community in several countries during the past decade. It is never used in nursing in Taiwan. We try to develop a system that acquire medical expert knowledge in Chinese and translates data and logic slot into TSQL Language. The system implements TSQL translator interpreting database queries referred to in the knowledge modules. The decision-support systems in medicine are data driven system where TSQL triggers as inference engine can be used to facilitate linking to a database.

Overcoming the Subject-Object Dichotomy in Urban Modeling: Axial Maps as Geometric Representations of Affordances in the Built Environment.

PubMed

Marcus, Lars

2018-01-01

The world is witnessing unprecedented urbanization, bringing extreme challenges to contemporary practices in urban planning and design. This calls for improved urban models that can generate new knowledge and enhance practical skill. Importantly, any urban model embodies a conception of the relation between humans and the physical environment. In urban modeling this is typically conceived of as a relation between human subjects and an environmental object, thereby reproducing a humans-environment dichotomy. Alternative modeling traditions, such as space syntax that originates in architecture rather than geography, have tried to overcome this dichotomy. Central in this effort is the development of new representations of urban space, such as in the case of space syntax, the axial map. This form of representation aims to integrate both human behavior and the physical environment into one and the same description. Interestingly, models based on these representations have proved to better capture pedestrian movement than regular models. Pedestrian movement, as well as other kinds of human flows in urban space, is essential for urban modeling, since increasingly flows of this kind are understood as the driver in urban processes. Critical for a full understanding of space syntax modeling is the ontology of its' representations, such as the axial map. Space syntax theory here often refers to James Gibson's "Theory of affordances," where the concept of affordances, in a manner similar to axial maps, aims to bridge the subject-object dichotomy by neither constituting physical properties of the environment or human behavior, but rather what emerges in the meeting between the two. In extension of this, the axial map can be interpreted as a representation of how the physical form of the environment affords human accessibility and visibility in urban space. This paper presents a close examination of the form of representations developed in space syntax methodology, in particular in the light of Gibson's "theory of affordances." The overarching aim is to contribute to a theoretical framework for urban models based on affordances, which may support the overcoming of the subject-object dichotomy in such models, here deemed essential for a greater social-ecological sustainability of cities.

Examining General and Specific Factors in the Dimensionality of Oral Language and Reading in 4th–10th Grades

PubMed Central

Foorman, Barbara R.; Koon, Sharon; Petscher, Yaacov; Mitchell, Alison; Truckenmiller, Adrea

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to explore dimensions of oral language and reading and their influence on reading comprehension in a relatively understudied population—adolescent readers in 4th through 10th grades. The current study employed latent variable modeling of decoding fluency, vocabulary, syntax, and reading comprehension so as to represent these constructs with minimal error and to examine whether residual variance unaccounted for by oral language can be captured by specific factors of syntax and vocabulary. A 1-, 3-, 4-, and bifactor model were tested with 1,792 students in 18 schools in 2 large urban districts in the Southeast. Students were individually administered measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary, syntax, and decoding fluency in mid-year. At the end of the year students took the state reading test as well as a group-administered, norm-referenced test of reading comprehension. The bifactor model fit the data best in all 7 grades and explained 72% to 99% of the variance in reading comprehension. The specific factors of syntax and vocabulary explained significant unique variance in reading comprehension in 1 grade each. The decoding fluency factor was significantly correlated with the reading comprehension and oral language factors in all grades, but, in the presence of the oral language factor, was not significantly associated with the reading comprehension factor. Results support a bifactor model of lexical knowledge rather than the 3-factor model of the Simple View of Reading, with the vast amount of variance in reading comprehension explained by a general oral language factor. PMID:26346839

Computer Instruction in Handwriting, Spelling, and Composing for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 to 9.

PubMed

Berninger, Virginia W; Nagy, William; Tanimoto, Steve; Thompson, Rob; Abbott, Robert D

2015-02-01

Effectiveness of iPad computerized writing instruction was evaluated for 4 th to 9 th graders ( n =35) with diagnosed specific learning disabilities (SLDs) affecting writing: dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing). Each of the 18 two-hour lessons had multiple learning activities aimed at improving subword - (handwriting), word - (spelling), and syntax - (sentence composing) level language skills by engaging all four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to create a functional writing system. To evaluate treatment effectiveness, normed measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing were used with the exception of one non-normed alphabet writing task. Results showed that the sample as a whole improved significantly from pretest to posttest in three handwriting measures, four spelling measures, and both written and oral syntax construction measures. All but oral syntax was evaluated with pen and paper tasks, showing that the computer writing instruction transferred to better writing with pen and paper. Performance on learning activities during instruction correlated with writing outcomes; and individual students tended to improve in the impaired skill associated with their diagnosis. Thus, although computers are often used in upper elementary school and middle school in the United States (US) for accommodations (alternatives to pen and paper) for students with persisting SLDs affecting writing, this study shows computers can also be used for Tier 3 instruction to improve the writing skills of students in grades 4 to 9 with history of persisting writing disabilities.

Computer Instruction in Handwriting, Spelling, and Composing for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 to 9

PubMed Central

Berninger, Virginia W.; Nagy, William; Tanimoto, Steve; Thompson, Rob; Abbott, Robert D.

2014-01-01

Effectiveness of iPad computerized writing instruction was evaluated for 4th to 9th graders (n=35) with diagnosed specific learning disabilities (SLDs) affecting writing: dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing). Each of the 18 two-hour lessons had multiple learning activities aimed at improving subword- (handwriting), word- (spelling), and syntax- (sentence composing) level language skills by engaging all four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to create a functional writing system. To evaluate treatment effectiveness, normed measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing were used with the exception of one non-normed alphabet writing task. Results showed that the sample as a whole improved significantly from pretest to posttest in three handwriting measures, four spelling measures, and both written and oral syntax construction measures. All but oral syntax was evaluated with pen and paper tasks, showing that the computer writing instruction transferred to better writing with pen and paper. Performance on learning activities during instruction correlated with writing outcomes; and individual students tended to improve in the impaired skill associated with their diagnosis. Thus, although computers are often used in upper elementary school and middle school in the United States (US) for accommodations (alternatives to pen and paper) for students with persisting SLDs affecting writing, this study shows computers can also be used for Tier 3 instruction to improve the writing skills of students in grades 4 to 9 with history of persisting writing disabilities. PMID:25378768

Morpho-syntactic processing of Arabic plurals after aphasia: dissecting lexical meaning from morpho-syntax within word boundaries.

PubMed

Khwaileh, Tariq; Body, Richard; Herbert, Ruth

2015-01-01

Within the domain of inflectional morpho-syntax, differential processing of regular and irregular forms has been found in healthy speakers and in aphasia. One view assumes that irregular forms are retrieved as full entities, while regular forms are compiled on-line. An alternative view holds that a single mechanism oversees regular and irregular forms. Arabic offers an opportunity to study this phenomenon, as Arabic nouns contain a consonantal root, delivering lexical meaning, and a vocalic pattern, delivering syntactic information, such as gender and number. The aim of this study is to investigate morpho-syntactic processing of regular (sound) and irregular (broken) Arabic plurals in patients with morpho-syntactic impairment. Three participants with acquired agrammatic aphasia produced plural forms in a picture-naming task. We measured overall response accuracy, then analysed lexical errors and morpho-syntactic errors, separately. Error analysis revealed different patterns of morpho-syntactic errors depending on the type of pluralization (sound vs broken). Omissions formed the vast majority of errors in sound plurals, while substitution was the only error mechanism that occurred in broken plurals. The dissociation was statistically significant for retrieval of morpho-syntactic information (vocalic pattern) but not for lexical meaning (consonantal root), suggesting that the participants' selective impairment was an effect of the morpho-syntax of plurals. These results suggest that irregular plurals forms are stored, while regular forms are derived. The current findings support the findings from other languages and provide a new analysis technique for data from languages with non-concatenative morpho-syntax.

Schizophrenia and the structure of language: the linguist's view.

PubMed

Covington, Michael A; He, Congzhou; Brown, Cati; Naçi, Lorina; McClain, Jonathan T; Fjordbak, Bess Sirmon; Semple, James; Brown, John

2005-09-01

Patients with schizophrenia often display unusual language impairments. This is a wide ranging critical review of the literature on language in schizophrenia since the 19th century. We survey schizophrenic language level by level, from phonetics through phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. There are at least two kinds of impairment (perhaps not fully distinct): thought disorder, or failure to maintain a discourse plan, and schizophasia, comprising various dysphasia-like impairments such as clanging, neologism, and unintelligible utterances. Thought disorder appears to be primarily a disruption of executive function and pragmatics, perhaps with impairment of the syntax-semantics interface; schizophasia involves disruption at other levels. Phonetics is also often abnormal (manifesting as flat intonation or unusual voice quality), but phonological structure, morphology, and syntax are normal or nearly so (some syntactic impairments have been demonstrated). Access to the lexicon is clearly impaired, manifesting as stilted speech, word approximation, and neologism. Clanging (glossomania) is straightforwardly explainable as distraction by self-monitoring. Recent research has begun to relate schizophrenia, which is partly genetic, to the genetic endowment that makes human language possible.

Joint action syntax in Japanese martial arts.

PubMed

Yamamoto, Yuji; Yokoyama, Keiko; Okumura, Motoki; Kijima, Akifumi; Kadota, Koji; Gohara, Kazutoshi

2013-01-01

Participation in interpersonal competitions, such as fencing or Japanese martial arts, requires players to make instantaneous decisions and execute appropriate motor behaviors in response to various situations. Such actions can be understood as complex phenomena emerging from simple principles. We examined the intentional switching dynamics associated with continuous movement during interpersonal competition in terms of their emergence from a simple syntax. Linear functions on return maps identified two attractors as well as the transitions between them. The effects of skill differences were evident in the second- and third-order state-transition diagrams for these two attractors. Our results suggest that abrupt switching between attractors is related to the diverse continuous movements resulting from quick responses to sudden changes in the environment. This abrupt-switching-quick-response behavior is characterized by a joint action syntax. The resulting hybrid dynamical system is composed of a higher module with discrete dynamics and a lower module with continuous dynamics. Our results suggest that intelligent human behavior and robust autonomy in real-life scenarios are based on this hybrid dynamical system, which connects interpersonal coordination and competition.

Resolving Conflicts Between Syntax and Plausibility in Sentence Comprehension

PubMed Central

Andrews, Glenda; Ogden, Jessica E.; Halford, Graeme S.

2017-01-01

Comprehension of plausible and implausible object- and subject-relative clause sentences with and without prepositional phrases was examined. Undergraduates read each sentence then evaluated a statement as consistent or inconsistent with the sentence. Higher acceptance of consistent than inconsistent statements indicated reliance on syntactic analysis. Higher acceptance of plausible than implausible statements reflected reliance on semantic plausibility. There was greater reliance on semantic plausibility and lesser reliance on syntactic analysis for more complex object-relatives and sentences with prepositional phrases than for less complex subject-relatives and sentences without prepositional phrases. Comprehension accuracy and confidence were lower when syntactic analysis and semantic plausibility yielded conflicting interpretations. The conflict effect on comprehension was significant for complex sentences but not for less complex sentences. Working memory capacity predicted resolution of the syntax-plausibility conflict in more and less complex items only when sentences and statements were presented sequentially. Fluid intelligence predicted resolution of the conflict in more and less complex items under sequential and simultaneous presentation. Domain-general processes appear to be involved in resolving syntax-plausibility conflicts in sentence comprehension. PMID:28458748

Effects of attention on the neural processing of harmonic syntax in Western music.

PubMed

Loui, Psyche; Grent-'t-Jong, Tineke; Torpey, Dana; Woldorff, Marty

2005-12-01

The effects of selective attention on the neural response to the violation of musical syntax were investigated in the present study. Musical chord progressions were played to nonmusicians while Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The five-chord progressions included 61% harmonically expected cadences (I-I(6)-IV-V-I), 26% harmonically unexpected cadences (I-I(6)-IV-V-N(6)), and 13% with one of the five chords having an intensity fadeout across its duration. During the attended condition, subjects responded by pressing a button upon detecting a fadeout in volume; during the unattended condition, subjects were given reading comprehension materials and instructed to ignore all auditory stimuli. In response to the harmonic deviant, an Early Anterior Negativity (EAN) was observed at 150-300 ms in both attention conditions, but it was much larger in amplitude in the attended condition. A second scalp-negative deflection was also identified at 380-600 ms following the harmonic deviants; this Late Negativity onset earlier during the attended condition. These results suggest strong effects of attention on the neural processing of harmonic syntax.

The Development of Variable MLM Editor and TSQL Translator Based on Arden Syntax in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Liang, Yan-Ching; Chang, Polun

2003-01-01

The Arden Syntax standard has been utilized in the medical informatics community in several countries during the past decade. It is never used in nursing in Taiwan. We try to develop a system that acquire medical expert knowledge in Chinese and translates data and logic slot into TSQL Language. The system implements TSQL translator interpreting database queries referred to in the knowledge modules. The decision-support systems in medicine are data driven system where TSQL triggers as inference engine can be used to facilitate linking to a database. PMID:14728414

A Gradualist Scenario for Language Evolution: Precise Linguistic Reconstruction of Early Human (and Neandertal) Grammars

PubMed Central

Progovac, Ljiljana

2016-01-01

In making an argument for the antiquity of language, based on comparative evidence, Dediu and Levinson (2013) express hope that some combinations of structural features will prove so conservative that they will allow deep linguistic reconstruction. I propose that the earliest stages of syntax/grammar as reconstructed in Progovac (2015a), based on a theoretical and data-driven linguistic analysis, provide just such a conservative platform, which would have been commanded also by Neandertals and the common ancestor. I provide a fragment of this proto-grammar, which includes flat verb-noun compounds used for naming and insult (e.g., rattle-snake, cry-baby, scatter-brain), and paratactic (loose) combinations of such flat structures (e.g., Come one, come all; You seek, you find). This flat, binary, paratactic platform is found in all languages, and can be shown to serve as foundation for any further structure building. However, given the degree and nature of variation across languages in elaborating syntax beyond this proto-stage, I propose that hierarchical syntax did not emerge once and uniformly in all its complexity, but rather multiple times, either within Africa, or after dispersion from Africa. If so, then, under the uniregional hypothesis, our common ancestor with Neandertals, H. heidelbergensis, could not have commanded hierarchical syntax, but “only” the proto-grammar. Linguistic reconstructions of this kind are necessary for formulating precise and testable hypotheses regarding language evolution. In addition to the hominin timeline, this reconstruction can also engage, and negotiate between, the fields of neuroscience and genetics, as I illustrate with one specific scenario involving FOXP2 gene. PMID:27877146

Computational principles of syntax in the regions specialized for language: integrating theoretical linguistics and functional neuroimaging

PubMed Central

Ohta, Shinri; Fukui, Naoki; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L.

2013-01-01

The nature of computational principles of syntax remains to be elucidated. One promising approach to this problem would be to construct formal and abstract linguistic models that parametrically predict the activation modulations in the regions specialized for linguistic processes. In this article, we review recent advances in theoretical linguistics and functional neuroimaging in the following respects. First, we introduce the two fundamental linguistic operations: Merge (which combines two words or phrases to form a larger structure) and Search (which searches and establishes a syntactic relation of two words or phrases). We also illustrate certain universal properties of human language, and present hypotheses regarding how sentence structures are processed in the brain. Hypothesis I is that the Degree of Merger (DoM), i.e., the maximum depth of merged subtrees within a given domain, is a key computational concept to properly measure the complexity of tree structures. Hypothesis II is that the basic frame of the syntactic structure of a given linguistic expression is determined essentially by functional elements, which trigger Merge and Search. We then present our recent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, demonstrating that the DoM is indeed a key syntactic factor that accounts for syntax-selective activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. Hypothesis III is that the DoM domain changes dynamically in accordance with iterative Merge applications, the Search distances, and/or task requirements. We confirm that the DoM accounts for activations in various sentence types. Hypothesis III successfully explains activation differences between object- and subject-relative clauses, as well as activations during explicit syntactic judgment tasks. A future research on the computational principles of syntax will further deepen our understanding of uniquely human mental faculties. PMID:24385957

Computational principles of syntax in the regions specialized for language: integrating theoretical linguistics and functional neuroimaging.

PubMed

Ohta, Shinri; Fukui, Naoki; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

2013-01-01

The nature of computational principles of syntax remains to be elucidated. One promising approach to this problem would be to construct formal and abstract linguistic models that parametrically predict the activation modulations in the regions specialized for linguistic processes. In this article, we review recent advances in theoretical linguistics and functional neuroimaging in the following respects. First, we introduce the two fundamental linguistic operations: Merge (which combines two words or phrases to form a larger structure) and Search (which searches and establishes a syntactic relation of two words or phrases). We also illustrate certain universal properties of human language, and present hypotheses regarding how sentence structures are processed in the brain. Hypothesis I is that the Degree of Merger (DoM), i.e., the maximum depth of merged subtrees within a given domain, is a key computational concept to properly measure the complexity of tree structures. Hypothesis II is that the basic frame of the syntactic structure of a given linguistic expression is determined essentially by functional elements, which trigger Merge and Search. We then present our recent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, demonstrating that the DoM is indeed a key syntactic factor that accounts for syntax-selective activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. Hypothesis III is that the DoM domain changes dynamically in accordance with iterative Merge applications, the Search distances, and/or task requirements. We confirm that the DoM accounts for activations in various sentence types. Hypothesis III successfully explains activation differences between object- and subject-relative clauses, as well as activations during explicit syntactic judgment tasks. A future research on the computational principles of syntax will further deepen our understanding of uniquely human mental faculties.

Serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin levels are correlated with the complexity and the severity of atherosclerosis in acute coronary syndrome

PubMed Central

Soylu, Korhan; Aksan, Gökhan; Nar, Gökay; Özdemir, Metin; Gülel, Okan; İnci, Sinan; Aksakal, Aytekin; İdil Soylu, Ayşegül; Yılmaz, Özcan

2015-01-01

Objective: Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a novel inflammatory marker that is released from neutrophils. In this study, we evaluated the correlation between serum NGAL level and clinical and angiographic risk scores in patients diagnosed with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). Methods: Forty-seven random NSTE-ACS patients and 45 patients with normal coronary arteries (NCA) who underwent coronary angiography were enrolled in the study. GRACE risk score and SYNTAX and Gensini risk scores were used, respectively, for the purpose of clinical risk assessment and angiographic risk scoring. Serum NGAL level was measured via ELISA in peripheral blood samples obtained from the patients at the time of admission. Results: Serum NGAL level was significantly higher in the NSTE-ACS group compared to the control group (112.3±49.6 ng/mL vs. 58.1±24.3 ng/mL, p<0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between serum NGAL levels and the GRACE (r=0.533 and p<0.001), SYNTAX (r=0.395 and p=0.006), and Gensini risk scores (r=0.575 and p<0.001). The intermediate-high SYNTAX (>22) group had statistically significantly higher serum NGAL levels compared to the low SYNTAX (≤22) group (143±29.5 ng/mL vs. 98.7±43.2 ng/mL, p=0.001). Conclusion: NGAL level was positively correlated with lesion complexity and severity of coronary artery disease in patients with NSTE-ACS. Serum NGAL levels on admission are associated with increased burden of atherosclerosis in patients with NSTE-ACS. PMID:25430410

Does geographical variability influence five-year MACCE rates in the multicentre SYNTAX revascularisation trial?

PubMed

Roy, Andrew K; Chevalier, Bernard; Lefèvre, Thierry; Louvard, Yves; Segurado, Ricardo; Sawaya, Fadi; Spaziano, Marco; Neylon, Antoinette; Serruys, Patrick A; Dawkins, Keith D; Kappetein, Arie Pieter; Mohr, Friedrich-Wilhelm; Colombo, Antonio; Feldman, Ted; Morice, Marie-Claude

2017-09-20

The use of multiple geographical sites for randomised cardiovascular trials may lead to important heterogeneity in treatment effects. This study aimed to determine whether treatment effects from different geographical recruitment regions impacted significantly on five-year MACCE rates in the SYNTAX trial. Five-year SYNTAX results (n=1,800) were analysed for geographical variability by site and country for the effect of treatment (CABG vs. PCI) on MACCE rates. Fixed, random, and linear mixed models were used to test clinical covariate effects, such as diabetes, lesion characteristics, and procedural factors. Comparing five-year MACCE rates, the pooled odds ratio (OR) between study sites was 0.58 (95% CI: 0.47-0.71), and countries 0.59 (95% CI: 0.45-0.73). By homogeneity testing, no individual site (X2=93.8, p=0.051) or country differences (X2=25.7, p=0.080) were observed. For random effects models, the intraclass correlation was minimal (ICC site=5.1%, ICC country=1.5%, p<0.001), indicating minimal geographical heterogeneity, with a hazard ratio of 0.70 (95% CI: 0.59-0.83). Baseline risk (smoking, diabetes, PAD) did not influence regional five-year MACCE outcomes (ICC 1.3%-5.2%), nor did revascularisation of the left main vs. three-vessel disease (p=0.241), across site or country subgroups. For CABG patients, the number of arterial (p=0.49) or venous (p=0.38) conduits used also made no difference. Geographic variability has no significant treatment effect on MACCE rates at five years. These findings highlight the generalisability of the five-year outcomes of the SYNTAX study.

Ankle-brachial index and its link to automated carotid ultrasound measurement of intima-media thickness variability in 500 Japanese coronary artery disease patients.

PubMed

Ikeda, Nobutaka; Araki, Tadashi; Sugi, Kaoru; Nakamura, Masatako; Deidda, Martino; Molinari, Filippo; Meiburger, Kristen M; Acharya, U Rajendra; Saba, Luca; Bassareo, Pier Paolo; Di Martino, Michele; Nagashima, Yoshinori; Mercuro, Giuseppe; Nakano, Masataka; Nicolaides, Andrew; Suri, Jasjit S

2014-03-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and intima-media thickness variability (IMTV) along the artery are correlated to the ankle-brachial index (ABI) in Japanese coronary artery disease patients. Five hundred consecutive patients (312 males; median age 69 ± 11 years) who underwent carotid ultrasonography and first coronary angiography were prospectively analyzed. By using automated software (AtheroEdge™, AtheroPoint, Roseville, CA, USA), we obtained the cIMT and IMTV. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to calculate the association between ABI, automatically measured cIMT, automatically measured IMTV, and the SYNTAX score. The mean cIMT was 0.881 ± 0.334 mm and the mean IMTV was 0.141 ± 0.112. IMTV was negatively and significantly correlated to ABI (ρ = -0.147; p = 0.001), whereas cIMT was not (ρ = -0.075; p = 0.097). IMTV and cIMT had the same significant correlation with the SYNTAX score. When we considered patients with a higher risk factor (ABI ≤ 0.9), we found higher values of IMTV and the SYNTAX score, but not higher values of cIMT. Logistic regression analysis showed that IMTV was independently associated with the complexity of the coronary artery disease (as assessed by the SYNTAX score). In conclusion, we show that IMTV automatically measured using AtheroEdge™ was correlated with ABI, whereas cIMT was not. IMTV could be integrated with cIMT measurement to improve the assessment of cardiovascular disease.

Neural bases of event knowledge and syntax integration in comprehension of complex sentences.

PubMed

Malaia, Evie; Newman, Sharlene

2015-01-01

Comprehension of complex sentences is necessarily supported by both syntactic and semantic knowledge, but what linguistic factors trigger a readers' reliance on a specific system? This functional neuroimaging study orthogonally manipulated argument plausibility and verb event type to investigate cortical bases of the semantic effect on argument comprehension during reading. The data suggest that telic verbs facilitate online processing by means of consolidating the event schemas in episodic memory and by easing the computation of syntactico-thematic hierarchies in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The results demonstrate that syntax-semantics integration relies on trade-offs among a distributed network of regions for maximum comprehension efficiency.

Empirical analysis of knowledge bases to support structured output in the Arden syntax.

PubMed

Jenders, Robert A

2013-01-01

Structured output has been suggested for the Arden Syntax to facilitate interoperability. Tabulate the components of WRITE statements in a corpus of medical logic modules (MLMs)in order to validate requiring structured output. WRITE statements were tabulated in 258 MLMs from 2 organizations. In a total of 351 WRITE statements, email destinations (226) predominated, and 39 orders and 40 coded output elements also were tabulated. Free-text strings predominated as the message data. Arden WRITE statements contain considerable potentially structured data now included as free text. A future, normative structured WRITE statement must address a variety of data types and destinations.

Statistical Analysis of the Indus Script Using n-Grams

PubMed Central

Yadav, Nisha; Joglekar, Hrishikesh; Rao, Rajesh P. N.; Vahia, Mayank N.; Adhikari, Ronojoy; Mahadevan, Iravatham

2010-01-01

The Indus script is one of the major undeciphered scripts of the ancient world. The small size of the corpus, the absence of bilingual texts, and the lack of definite knowledge of the underlying language has frustrated efforts at decipherment since the discovery of the remains of the Indus civilization. Building on previous statistical approaches, we apply the tools of statistical language processing, specifically n-gram Markov chains, to analyze the syntax of the Indus script. We find that unigrams follow a Zipf-Mandelbrot distribution. Text beginner and ender distributions are unequal, providing internal evidence for syntax. We see clear evidence of strong bigram correlations and extract significant pairs and triplets using a log-likelihood measure of association. Highly frequent pairs and triplets are not always highly significant. The model performance is evaluated using information-theoretic measures and cross-validation. The model can restore doubtfully read texts with an accuracy of about 75%. We find that a quadrigram Markov chain saturates information theoretic measures against a held-out corpus. Our work forms the basis for the development of a stochastic grammar which may be used to explore the syntax of the Indus script in greater detail. PMID:20333254

Transformation of Arden Syntax's medical logic modules into ArdenML for a business rules management system.

PubMed

Jung, Chai Young; Choi, Jong-Ye; Jeong, Seong Jik; Cho, Kyunghee; Koo, Yong Duk; Bae, Jin Hee; Kim, Sukil

2016-05-16

Arden Syntax is a Health Level Seven International (HL7) standard language that is used for representing medical knowledge as logic statements. Arden Syntax Markup Language (ArdenML) is a new representation of Arden Syntax based on XML. Compilers are required to execute medical logic modules (MLMs) in the hospital environment. However, ArdenML may also replace the compiler. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that MLMs, encoded in ArdenML, can be transformed into a commercial rule engine format through an XSLT stylesheet and made executable in a target system. The target rule engine selected was Blaze Advisor. We developed an XSLT stylesheet to transform MLMs in ArdenML into Structured Rules Language (SRL) in Blaze Advisor, through a comparison of syntax between the two languages. The stylesheet was then refined recursively, by building and applying rules collected from the billing and coding guidelines of the Korean health insurance service. Two nurse coders collected and verified the rules and two information technology (IT) specialists encoded the MLMs and built the XSLT stylesheet. Finally, the stylesheet was validated by importing the MLMs into Blaze Advisor and applying them to claims data. The language comparison revealed that Blaze Advisor requires the declaration of variables with explicit types. We used both integer and real numbers for numeric types in ArdenML. "IF∼THEN" statements and assignment statements in ArdenML become rules in Blaze Advisor. We designed an XSLT stylesheet to solve this issue. In addition, we maintained the order of rule execution in the transformed rules, and added two small programs to support variable declarations and action statements. A total of 1489 rules were reviewed during this study, of which 324 rules were collected. We removed duplicate rules and encoded 241 unique MLMs in ArdenML, which were successfully transformed into SRL and imported to Blaze Advisor via the XSLT stylesheet. When applied to 73,841 outpatients' insurance claims data, the review result was the same as that of the legacy system. We have demonstrated that ArdenML can replace a compiler for transforming MLMs into commercial rule engine format. While the proposed XSLT stylesheet requires refinement for general use, we anticipate that the development of further XSLT stylesheets will support various rule engines. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Overcoming the Subject-Object Dichotomy in Urban Modeling: Axial Maps as Geometric Representations of Affordances in the Built Environment

PubMed Central

Marcus, Lars

2018-01-01

The world is witnessing unprecedented urbanization, bringing extreme challenges to contemporary practices in urban planning and design. This calls for improved urban models that can generate new knowledge and enhance practical skill. Importantly, any urban model embodies a conception of the relation between humans and the physical environment. In urban modeling this is typically conceived of as a relation between human subjects and an environmental object, thereby reproducing a humans-environment dichotomy. Alternative modeling traditions, such as space syntax that originates in architecture rather than geography, have tried to overcome this dichotomy. Central in this effort is the development of new representations of urban space, such as in the case of space syntax, the axial map. This form of representation aims to integrate both human behavior and the physical environment into one and the same description. Interestingly, models based on these representations have proved to better capture pedestrian movement than regular models. Pedestrian movement, as well as other kinds of human flows in urban space, is essential for urban modeling, since increasingly flows of this kind are understood as the driver in urban processes. Critical for a full understanding of space syntax modeling is the ontology of its' representations, such as the axial map. Space syntax theory here often refers to James Gibson's “Theory of affordances,” where the concept of affordances, in a manner similar to axial maps, aims to bridge the subject-object dichotomy by neither constituting physical properties of the environment or human behavior, but rather what emerges in the meeting between the two. In extension of this, the axial map can be interpreted as a representation of how the physical form of the environment affords human accessibility and visibility in urban space. This paper presents a close examination of the form of representations developed in space syntax methodology, in particular in the light of Gibson's “theory of affordances.“ The overarching aim is to contribute to a theoretical framework for urban models based on affordances, which may support the overcoming of the subject-object dichotomy in such models, here deemed essential for a greater social-ecological sustainability of cities. PMID:29731726

Automatic generation of the index of productive syntax for child language transcripts.

PubMed

Hassanali, Khairun-nisa; Liu, Yang; Iglesias, Aquiles; Solorio, Thamar; Dollaghan, Christine

2014-03-01

The index of productive syntax (IPSyn; Scarborough (Applied Psycholinguistics 11:1-22, 1990) is a measure of syntactic development in child language that has been used in research and clinical settings to investigate the grammatical development of various groups of children. However, IPSyn is mostly calculated manually, which is an extremely laborious process. In this article, we describe the AC-IPSyn system, which automatically calculates the IPSyn score for child language transcripts using natural language processing techniques. Our results show that the AC-IPSyn system performs at levels comparable to scores computed manually. The AC-IPSyn system can be downloaded from www.hlt.utdallas.edu/~nisa/ipsyn.html .

Language, music, syntax and the brain.

PubMed

Patel, Aniruddh D

2003-07-01

The comparative study of music and language is drawing an increasing amount of research interest. Like language, music is a human universal involving perceptually discrete elements organized into hierarchically structured sequences. Music and language can thus serve as foils for each other in the study of brain mechanisms underlying complex sound processing, and comparative research can provide novel insights into the functional and neural architecture of both domains. This review focuses on syntax, using recent neuroimaging data and cognitive theory to propose a specific point of convergence between syntactic processing in language and music. This leads to testable predictions, including the prediction that that syntactic comprehension problems in Broca's aphasia are not selective to language but influence music perception as well.

Oscillatory brain activity differentially reflects false belief understanding and complementation syntax processing.

PubMed

Guan, Yao; Farrar, M Jeffrey; Keil, Andreas

2018-02-01

False belief understanding (FBU) enables people to consider conflicting beliefs about the same situation. While language has been demonstrated to be a correlate of FBU, there is still controversy about the extent to which a specific aspect of language, complementation syntax, is a necessary condition for FBU. The present study tested an important notion from the debate proposing that complementation syntax task is redundant to FBU measures. Specifically, we examined electrophysiological correlates of false belief, false complementation, and their respective true conditions in adults using electroencephalography (EEG), focusing on indices of oscillatory brain activity and large-scale connectivity. The results showed strong modulation of parieto-occipital alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-20 Hz) power by the experimental manipulations, with heightened sustained alpha power reflective of effortful internal processing observed in the false compared to the true conditions and reliable beta power reductions sensitive to mentalizing and/or syntactic demands in the belief versus the complementation conditions. In addition, higher coupling between parieto-occipital regions and widespread frontal sites in the beta band was found for the false-belief condition selectively. The result of divergence in beta oscillatory activity and in connectivity between false belief and false complementation does not support the redundancy hypothesis.

Using Space Syntax to Assess Safety in Public Areas - Case Study of Tarbiat Pedestrian Area, Tabriz-Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cihangir Çamur, Kübra; Roshani, Mehdi; Pirouzi, Sania

2017-10-01

In studying the urban complex issues, simulation and modelling of public space use considerably helps in determining and measuring factors such as urban safety. Depth map software for determining parameters of the spatial layout techniques; and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for analysing and evaluating the views of the pedestrians on public safety were used in this study. Connectivity, integration, and depth of the area in the Tarbiat city blocks were measured using the Space Syntax Method, and these parameters are presented as graphical and mathematical data. The combination of the results obtained from the questionnaire and statistical analysis with the results of spatial arrangement technique represents the appropriate and inappropriate spaces for pedestrians. This method provides a useful and effective instrument for decision makers, planners, urban designers and programmers in order to evaluate public spaces in the city. Prior to physical modification of urban public spaces, space syntax simulates the pedestrian safety to be used as an analytical tool by the city management. Finally, regarding the modelled parameters and identification of different characteristics of the case, this study represents the strategies and policies in order to increase the safety of the pedestrians of Tarbiat in Tabriz.

Language skills and phonological awareness in children with cochlear implants and normal hearing.

PubMed

Soleymani, Zahra; Mahmoodabadi, Najmeh; Nouri, Mina Mohammadi

2016-04-01

Early auditory experience plays a major role in language acquisition. Linguistic and metalinguistic abilities of children aged 5-5.5 years with cochlear implants (CIs) were compared to age-matched children with normal hearing (NH) to investigate the effect of hearing on development of these two skills. Eighteen children with NH and 18 children with CIs took part in the study. The Test of Language Development-Primary, third edition, was used to assess language and metalinguistic skills by assessment of phonological awareness (PA). Language skills and PA were then compared between groups. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine whether the language skills explained the unique variance in PA. There were significant differences between children with NH and those with CIs for language skills and PA (p≤0.001). All language skills (semantics, syntax, listening, spoken language, organizing, and speaking) were uniquely predictive of PA outcome in the CI children. Linear combinations of listening and semantics and listening, semantics, and syntax correlated significantly with PA. The results show that children with CIs may have trouble with language skills and PA. Listening, semantics, and syntax, among other skills, are significant indicators of the variance in PA for children with CIs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abnormal dynamics of language in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Stephane, Massoud; Kuskowski, Michael; Gundel, Jeanette

2014-05-30

Language could be conceptualized as a dynamic system that includes multiple interactive levels (sub-lexical, lexical, sentence, and discourse) and components (phonology, semantics, and syntax). In schizophrenia, abnormalities are observed at all language elements (levels and components) but the dynamic between these elements remains unclear. We hypothesize that the dynamics between language elements in schizophrenia is abnormal and explore how this dynamic is altered. We, first, investigated language elements with comparable procedures in patients and healthy controls. Second, using measures of reaction time, we performed multiple linear regression analyses to evaluate the inter-relationships among language elements and the effect of group on these relationships. Patients significantly differed from controls with respect to sub-lexical/lexical, lexical/sentence, and sentence/discourse regression coefficients. The intercepts of the regression slopes increased in the same order above (from lower to higher levels) in patients but not in controls. Regression coefficients between syntax and both sentence level and discourse level semantics did not differentiate patients from controls. This study indicates that the dynamics between language elements is abnormal in schizophrenia. In patients, top-down flow of linguistic information might be reduced, and the relationship between phonology and semantics but not between syntax and semantics appears to be altered. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Associations of neighbourhood walkability indices with weight gain.

PubMed

Koohsari, Mohammad Javad; Oka, Koichiro; Shibata, Ai; Liao, Yung; Hanibuchi, Tomoya; Owen, Neville; Sugiyama, Takemi

2018-04-03

Inconsistent associations of neighbourhood walkability with adults' body weight have been reported. Most studies examining the relationships of walkability and adiposity are cross-sectional in design. We examined the longitudinal relationships of two walkability indices - conventional walkability and space syntax walkability, and their individual components, with weight change among adults over four years. Data were from the Physical Activity in Localities and Community study in Adelaide, Australia. In 2003-2004, 2650 adults living in 154 Census Collection Districts (CCDs) returned baseline questionnaires; in 2007-2008, the follow-up survey was completed by 1098. Participants reported their weight at baseline and at follow-up. Neighbourhood walkability indices were calculated using geographic information systems and space syntax software. Linear marginal models using generalized estimating equations with robust standard errors were fitted to examine associations of the two walkability indices and their individual components with the weight at follow-up, adjusting for baseline weight, socio-demographic variables, and spatial clustering at the level of CCD. The overall mean weight gain over four years was 1.5 kg. The two walkability indices were closely correlated (r = 0.76, p < 0.01). No significant associations were found between the overall neighbourhood walkability indices and weight change. Among walkability components, there was a marginally significant negative association between space syntax measure of street integration and weight change: one standard deviation increment in street integration was associated with 0.31 kg less weight gain (p = 0.09). Using a prospective study design and a novel space-syntax based measure of walkability, we were not able to identify relationships between neighbourhood walkability with weight gain. This is consistent with other inconclusive findings on the built environment and obesity. Research on the built environment and adults' weight gain may need to consider not just local environments but also a larger scale environment within a city or workplace environment in order to capture multiple behaviours relevant to weight gain.

Two projects in theoretical neuroscience: A convolution-based metric for neural membrane potentials and a combinatorial connectionist semantic network method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Garrett Nolan

In this work, I present two projects that both contribute to the aim of discovering how intelligence manifests in the brain. The first project is a method for analyzing recorded neural signals, which takes the form of a convolution-based metric on neural membrane potential recordings. Relying only on integral and algebraic operations, the metric compares the timing and number of spikes within recordings as well as the recordings' subthreshold features: summarizing differences in these with a single "distance" between the recordings. Like van Rossum's (2001) metric for spike trains, the metric is based on a convolution operation that it performs on the input data. The kernel used for the convolution is carefully chosen such that it produces a desirable frequency space response and, unlike van Rossum's kernel, causes the metric to be first order both in differences between nearby spike times and in differences between same-time membrane potential values: an important trait. The second project is a combinatorial syntax method for connectionist semantic network encoding. Combinatorial syntax has been a point on which those who support a symbol-processing view of intelligent processing and those who favor a connectionist view have had difficulty seeing eye-to-eye. Symbol-processing theorists have persuasively argued that combinatorial syntax is necessary for certain intelligent mental operations, such as reasoning by analogy. Connectionists have focused on the versatility and adaptability offered by self-organizing networks of simple processing units. With this project, I show that there is a way to reconcile the two perspectives and to ascribe a combinatorial syntax to a connectionist network. The critical principle is to interpret nodes, or units, in the connectionist network as bound integrations of the interpretations for nodes that they share links with. Nodes need not correspond exactly to neurons and may correspond instead to distributed sets, or assemblies, of neurons.

The representation of lexical-syntactic information: evidence from syntactic and lexical retrieval impairments in aphasia.

PubMed

Biran, Michal; Friedmann, Naama

2012-10-01

This study explored lexical-syntactic information - syntactic information that is stored in the lexicon - and its relation to syntactic and lexical impairments in aphasia. We focused on two types of lexical-syntactic information: predicate argument structure (PAS) of verbs (the number and types of arguments the verb selects) and grammatical gender of nouns. The participants were 17 Hebrew-speaking individuals with aphasia who had a syntactic deficit (agrammatism) or a lexical retrieval deficit (anomia) located at the semantic lexicon, the phonological output lexicon, or the phonological output buffer. After testing the participants' syntactic and lexical retrieval abilities and establishing the functional loci of their deficits, we assessed their PAS and grammatical gender knowledge. This assessment included sentence completion, sentence production, sentence repetition, and grammaticality judgment tasks. The participants' performance on these tests yielded several important dissociations. Three agrammatic participants had impaired syntax but unimpaired PAS knowledge. Three agrammatic participants had impaired syntax but unimpaired grammatical gender knowledge. This indicates that lexical-syntactic information is represented separately from syntax, and can be spared even when syntax at the sentence level, such as embedding and movement are impaired. All 5 individuals with phonological output buffer impairment and all 3 individuals with phonological output lexicon impairment had preserved lexical-syntactic knowledge. These selective impairments indicate that lexical-syntactic information is represented at a lexical stage prior to the phonological lexicon and the phonological buffer. Three participants with impaired PAS (aPASia) and impaired grammatical gender who showed intact lexical-semantic knowledge indicate that the lexical-syntactic information is represented separately from the semantic lexicon. This led us to conclude that lexical-syntactic information is stored in a separate syntactic lexicon. A double dissociation between PAS and grammatical gender impairments indicated that different types of lexical-syntactic information are represented separately in this syntactic lexicon. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

Multiple Solutions to the Same Problem: Utilization of Plausibility and Syntax in Sentence Comprehension by Older Adults with Impaired Hearing.

PubMed

Amichetti, Nicole M; White, Alison G; Wingfield, Arthur

2016-01-01

A fundamental question in psycholinguistic theory is whether equivalent success in sentence comprehension may come about by different underlying operations. Of special interest is whether adult aging, especially when accompanied by reduced hearing acuity, may shift the balance of reliance on formal syntax vs. plausibility in determining sentence meaning. In two experiments participants were asked to identify the thematic roles in grammatical sentences that contained either plausible or implausible semantic relations. Comprehension of sentence meanings was indexed by the ability to correctly name the agent or the recipient of an action represented in the sentence. In Experiment 1 young and older adults' comprehension was tested for plausible and implausible sentences with the meaning expressed with either an active-declarative or a passive syntactic form. In Experiment 2 comprehension performance was examined for young adults with age-normal hearing, older adults with good hearing acuity, and age-matched older adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss for plausible or implausible sentences with meaning expressed with either a subject-relative (SR) or an object-relative (OR) syntactic structure. Experiment 1 showed that the likelihood of interpreting a sentence according to its literal meaning was reduced when that meaning expressed an implausible relationship. Experiment 2 showed that this likelihood was further decreased for OR as compared to SR sentences, and especially so for older adults whose hearing impairment added to the perceptual challenge. Experiment 2 also showed that working memory capacity as measured with a letter-number sequencing task contributed to the likelihood that listeners would base their comprehension responses on the literal syntax even when this processing scheme yielded an implausible meaning. Taken together, the results of both experiments support the postulate that listeners may use more than a single uniform processing strategy for successful sentence comprehension, with the existence of these alternative solutions only revealed when literal syntax and plausibility do not coincide.

Multiple Solutions to the Same Problem: Utilization of Plausibility and Syntax in Sentence Comprehension by Older Adults with Impaired Hearing

PubMed Central

Amichetti, Nicole M.; White, Alison G.; Wingfield, Arthur

2016-01-01

A fundamental question in psycholinguistic theory is whether equivalent success in sentence comprehension may come about by different underlying operations. Of special interest is whether adult aging, especially when accompanied by reduced hearing acuity, may shift the balance of reliance on formal syntax vs. plausibility in determining sentence meaning. In two experiments participants were asked to identify the thematic roles in grammatical sentences that contained either plausible or implausible semantic relations. Comprehension of sentence meanings was indexed by the ability to correctly name the agent or the recipient of an action represented in the sentence. In Experiment 1 young and older adults’ comprehension was tested for plausible and implausible sentences with the meaning expressed with either an active-declarative or a passive syntactic form. In Experiment 2 comprehension performance was examined for young adults with age-normal hearing, older adults with good hearing acuity, and age-matched older adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss for plausible or implausible sentences with meaning expressed with either a subject-relative (SR) or an object-relative (OR) syntactic structure. Experiment 1 showed that the likelihood of interpreting a sentence according to its literal meaning was reduced when that meaning expressed an implausible relationship. Experiment 2 showed that this likelihood was further decreased for OR as compared to SR sentences, and especially so for older adults whose hearing impairment added to the perceptual challenge. Experiment 2 also showed that working memory capacity as measured with a letter-number sequencing task contributed to the likelihood that listeners would base their comprehension responses on the literal syntax even when this processing scheme yielded an implausible meaning. Taken together, the results of both experiments support the postulate that listeners may use more than a single uniform processing strategy for successful sentence comprehension, with the existence of these alternative solutions only revealed when literal syntax and plausibility do not coincide. PMID:27303346

Using SAS PROC MCMC for Item Response Theory Models

PubMed Central

Samonte, Kelli

2014-01-01

Interest in using Bayesian methods for estimating item response theory models has grown at a remarkable rate in recent years. This attentiveness to Bayesian estimation has also inspired a growth in available software such as WinBUGS, R packages, BMIRT, MPLUS, and SAS PROC MCMC. This article intends to provide an accessible overview of Bayesian methods in the context of item response theory to serve as a useful guide for practitioners in estimating and interpreting item response theory (IRT) models. Included is a description of the estimation procedure used by SAS PROC MCMC. Syntax is provided for estimation of both dichotomous and polytomous IRT models, as well as a discussion on how to extend the syntax to accommodate more complex IRT models. PMID:29795834

The impact of coronary artery disease and left ventricular ejection fraction on the prognosis of patients with peripheral artery disease.

PubMed

Tsujimura, Takuya; Iida, Osamu; Ishihara, Takayuki; Fujita, Masashi; Masuda, Masaharu; Okamoto, Shin; Nanto, Kiyonori; Kanda, Takashi; Sunaga, Akihiro; Takahara, Mitsuyoshi; Uematsu, Masaaki

2017-11-01

The impact of the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on the prognosis of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) has not been systematically studied. We retrospectively analysed 622 patients with PAD (intermittent claudication (IC): n = 446; critical limb ischaemia (CLI): n = 176). The association of SYNTAX score and LVEF with mortality was analysed using the Cox proportional hazard model. In patients with IC, a high SYNTAX score was significantly associated with mortality, whereas reduced LVEF was significantly associated with mortality in patients with CLI. The prognostic impact of CAD and LVEF appears different between patients with IC and CLI. © 2017 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

CTTITEM: SAS macro and SPSS syntax for classical item analysis.

PubMed

Lei, Pui-Wa; Wu, Qiong

2007-08-01

This article describes the functions of a SAS macro and an SPSS syntax that produce common statistics for conventional item analysis including Cronbach's alpha, item difficulty index (p-value or item mean), and item discrimination indices (D-index, point biserial and biserial correlations for dichotomous items and item-total correlation for polytomous items). These programs represent an improvement over the existing SAS and SPSS item analysis routines in terms of completeness and user-friendliness. To promote routine evaluations of item qualities in instrument development of any scale, the programs are available at no charge for interested users. The program codes along with a brief user's manual that contains instructions and examples are downloadable from suen.ed.psu.edu/-pwlei/plei.htm.

Songs to syntax: the linguistics of birdsong.

PubMed

Berwick, Robert C; Okanoya, Kazuo; Beckers, Gabriel J L; Bolhuis, Johan J

2011-03-01

Unlike our primate cousins, many species of bird share with humans a capacity for vocal learning, a crucial factor in speech acquisition. There are striking behavioural, neural and genetic similarities between auditory-vocal learning in birds and human infants. Recently, the linguistic parallels between birdsong and spoken language have begun to be investigated. Although both birdsong and human language are hierarchically organized according to particular syntactic constraints, birdsong structure is best characterized as 'phonological syntax', resembling aspects of human sound structure. Crucially, birdsong lacks semantics and words. Formal language and linguistic analysis remains essential for the proper characterization of birdsong as a model system for human speech and language, and for the study of the brain and cognition evolution. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The application of rules in morphology, syntax and number processing: a case of selective deficit of procedural or executive mechanisms?

PubMed

Macoir, Joël; Fossard, Marion; Nespoulous, Jean-Luc; Demonet, Jean-François; Bachoud-Lévi, Anne-Catherine

2010-08-01

Declarative memory is a long-term store for facts, concepts and words. Procedural memory subserves the learning and control of sensorimotor and cognitive skills, including the mental grammar. In this study, we report a single-case study of a mild aphasic patient who showed procedural deficits in the presence of preserved declarative memory abilities. We administered several experiments to explore rule application in morphology, syntax and number processing. Results partly support the differentiation between declarative and procedural memory. Moreover, the patient's performance varied according to the domain in which rules were to be applied, which underlines the need for more fine-grained distinctions in cognition between procedural rules.

Thought beyond language: neural dissociation of algebra and natural language.

PubMed

Monti, Martin M; Parsons, Lawrence M; Osherson, Daniel N

2012-08-01

A central question in cognitive science is whether natural language provides combinatorial operations that are essential to diverse domains of thought. In the study reported here, we addressed this issue by examining the role of linguistic mechanisms in forging the hierarchical structures of algebra. In a 3-T functional MRI experiment, we showed that processing of the syntax-like operations of algebra does not rely on the neural mechanisms of natural language. Our findings indicate that processing the syntax of language elicits the known substrate of linguistic competence, whereas algebraic operations recruit bilateral parietal brain regions previously implicated in the representation of magnitude. This double dissociation argues against the view that language provides the structure of thought across all cognitive domains.

Prognostic Analysis for Cardiogenic Shock in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Receiving Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

PubMed Central

Lin, Mao-Jen; Chen, Chun-Yu; Lin, Hau-De

2017-01-01

Cardiogenic shock (CS) is uncommon in patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Long-term outcome and adverse predictors for outcomes in AMI patients with CS receiving percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are unclear. A total of 482 AMI patients who received PCI were collected, including 53 CS and 429 non-CS. Predictors for AMI patients with CS including recurrent MI, cardiovascular (CV) mortality, all-cause mortality, and repeated-PCI were analyzed. The CS group had a lower central systolic pressure and central diastolic pressure (both P < 0.001). AMI patients with hypertension history were less prone to develop CS (P < 0.001). Calcium channel blockers and statins were less frequently used by the CS group than the non-CS group (both P < 0.05) after discharge. Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score, CV mortality, and all-cause mortality were higher in the CS group than the non-CS group (all P < 0.005). For patients with CS, stroke history was a predictor of recurrent MI (P = 0.036). CS, age, SYNTAX score, and diabetes were predictors of CV mortality (all P < 0.05). CS, age, SYNTAX score, and stroke history were predictors for all-cause mortality (all P < 0.05). CS, age, and current smoking were predictors for repeated-PCI (all P < 0.05). PMID:28251160

Fitting direct covariance structures by the MSTRUCT modeling language of the CALIS procedure.

PubMed

Yung, Yiu-Fai; Browne, Michael W; Zhang, Wei

2015-02-01

This paper demonstrates the usefulness and flexibility of the general structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to fitting direct covariance patterns or structures (as opposed to fitting implied covariance structures from functional relationships among variables). In particular, the MSTRUCT modelling language (or syntax) of the CALIS procedure (SAS/STAT version 9.22 or later: SAS Institute, 2010) is used to illustrate the SEM approach. The MSTRUCT modelling language supports a direct covariance pattern specification of each covariance element. It also supports the input of additional independent and dependent parameters. Model tests, fit statistics, estimates, and their standard errors are then produced under the general SEM framework. By using numerical and computational examples, the following tests of basic covariance patterns are illustrated: sphericity, compound symmetry, and multiple-group covariance patterns. Specification and testing of two complex correlation structures, the circumplex pattern and the composite direct product models with or without composite errors and scales, are also illustrated by the MSTRUCT syntax. It is concluded that the SEM approach offers a general and flexible modelling of direct covariance and correlation patterns. In conjunction with the use of SAS macros, the MSTRUCT syntax provides an easy-to-use interface for specifying and fitting complex covariance and correlation structures, even when the number of variables or parameters becomes large. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Five-year outcomes of staged percutaneous coronary intervention in the SYNTAX study.

PubMed

Watkins, Stuart; Oldroyd, Keith G; Preda, Istvan; Holmes, David R; Colombo, Antonio; Morice, Marie-Claude; Leadley, Katrin; Dawkins, Keith D; Mohr, Friedrich W; Serruys, Patrick W; Feldman, Ted E

2015-04-01

The SYNTAX study compared PCI with TAXUS Express stents to CABG for the treatment of de novo 3-vessel and/or left main coronary disease. This study aimed to determine patient characteristics and five-year outcomes after a staged PCI strategy compared to single-session PCI. In the SYNTAX trial, staged procedures were discouraged but were allowed within 72 hours or, if renal insufficiency or contrast-induced nephropathy occurred, within 14 days (mean 9.8±18.1 days post initial procedure). A total of 125 (14%) patients underwent staged PCI. These patients had greater disease severity and/or required a more complex procedure. MACCE was significantly increased in staged patients (48.1% vs. 35.5%, p=0.004), as was the composite of death/stroke/MI (32.2% vs. 19%, p=0.0007). Individually, cardiac death and stroke occurred more frequently in the staged PCI group (p=0.03). Repeat revascularisation was significantly higher in staged patients (32.8% vs 24.8%, p=0.035), as was stent thrombosis (10.9% vs. 4.7%, p=0.005). There is a higher incidence of MACCE in patients undergoing staged compared to single-session PCI for 3-vessel and/or left main disease over the first five years of follow-up. However, these patients had more comorbidities and more diffuse disease.

Field observations into the environmental soul: spatial configuration and social life for people experiencing dementia.

PubMed

Ferdous, Farhana; Moore, Keith Diaz

2015-03-01

This article focuses on the important, facilitating role architectural design plays in social interaction within long-term care facilities (LTCFs) serving people with dementia. Here, we apply space syntax, a set of theories and techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations, as an objective measure of environmental characteristics. Almost 150 rounds of behavioral observations were collected in the social spaces of 3 LTCFs. Using the visibility and proximity metrics of space syntax, the locations of occurrence of various social activities in relation to the furniture and spatial layout on architectural floor plans have been identified. The results did not confirm the space syntax hypothesis that spaces with greater visibility and proximity promote more social interaction. Further analysis revealed that when in settings with better visibility and accessibility, the residents were more likely to engage in low levels of interaction. High-level social interactions actually were more likely to occur in settings providing greater privacy (eg, less visibility and accessibility). The findings suggest an important nuance that architectural configuration factors impact not only the likelihood but also the type of conversations likely to occur in certain locations. This would have implications for both design and staff training on how best to utilize social spaces for therapeutic effect, particularly within the context of person-centered care. © The Author(s) 2014.

Inadequate reporting of concomitant drug treatment in cardiovascular interventional head-to-head trials.

PubMed

Mahfoud, Felix; Böhm, Michael; Baumhäkel, Magnus

2012-04-01

Optimal revascularization strategy is still under debate in patients with coronary artery disease, particularly due to the results of the Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial. Although medical prevention has been clearly shown to be beneficial in coronary artery disease, it has been suggested that patients were significantly undertreated with evidence-based medications for cardiovascular protection. The purpose of the study was to evaluate concomitant medical treatment in cardiovascular interventional head-to-head trials comparing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A systematic search of the literature regarding documentation and reports of medical treatment in cardiovascular interventional head-to-head trials with more than 500 patients comparing CABG and PCI was performed. Systematic research of the literature identified 2106 articles of potential interest. After review and selection, only 3 trials reported on medical treatment. Baseline medication was reported in the RITA (Randomized Intervention Treatment of Angina), CABRI (Coronary Angioplasty versus Bypass Revascularisation Investigation), and SYNTAX trials, and follow-up data were provided by the CABRI and SYNTAX 3-year trials only. Poor reporting of medical treatment at discharge might reflect an underestimation of secondary prevention in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or interventional procedures in head-to-head interventional trials. Thus, discussion of optimal revascularization procedure has to remain open, even in terms of concomitant medical treatment of patients. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Ground Operations Aerospace Language (GOAL) textbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dickison, L. R.

1973-01-01

The textbook provides a semantical explanation accompanying a complete set of GOAL syntax diagrams, system concepts, language component interaction, and general language concepts necessary for efficient language implementation/execution.

Learning the Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bellugi, Ursula

1970-01-01

Discusses a study of the grammar and syntax development in the speech of three children; adapted from the forthcoming book, Developmental Psychology Today" (CRM Books, Communications Research Machines, Inc., 1971). (Editor/SW)

Problems of Translation in Cross-Cultural Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sechrest, Lee; And Others

1972-01-01

Various types of translation problems in cross-cultural research are translation of questions or other verbal stimuli, vocabulary equivalence, equivalence in idiom, grammar, syntax, and back-translation. (Author/SB)

The role of language in the development of false belief understanding: a training study.

PubMed

Lohmann, Heidemarie; Tomasello, Michael

2003-01-01

The current study used a training methodology to determine whether different kinds of linguistic interaction play a causal role in children's development of false belief understanding. After 3 training sessions, 3-year-old children improved their false belief understanding both in a training condition involving perspective-shifting discourse about deceptive objects (without mental state terms) and in a condition in which sentential complement syntax was used (without deceptive objects). Children did not improve in a condition in which they were exposed to deceptive objects without accompanying language. Children showed most improvement in a condition using both perspective-shifting discourse and sentential complement syntax, suggesting that each of these types of linguistic experience plays an independent role in the ontogeny of false belief understanding.

The Interface of Syntax with Pragmatics and Prosody in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

PubMed

Terzi, Arhonto; Marinis, Theodoros; Francis, Kostantinos

2016-08-01

In order to study problems of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with morphosyntax, we investigated twenty high-functioning Greek-speaking children (mean age: 6;11) and twenty age- and language-matched typically developing children on environments that allow or forbid object clitics or their corresponding noun phrase. Children with ASD fell behind typically developing children in comprehending and producing simple clitics and producing noun phrases in focus structures. The two groups performed similarly in comprehending and producing clitics in clitic left dislocation and in producing noun phrases in non-focus structures. We argue that children with ASD have difficulties at the interface of (morpho)syntax with pragmatics and prosody, namely, distinguishing a discourse prominent element, and considering intonation relevant for a particular interpretation that excludes clitics.

A survey of compiler development aids. [concerning lexical, syntax, and semantic analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buckles, B. P.; Hodges, B. C.; Hsia, P.

1977-01-01

A theoretical background was established for the compilation process by dividing it into five phases and explaining the concepts and algorithms that underpin each. The five selected phases were lexical analysis, syntax analysis, semantic analysis, optimization, and code generation. Graph theoretical optimization techniques were presented, and approaches to code generation were described for both one-pass and multipass compilation environments. Following the initial tutorial sections, more than 20 tools that were developed to aid in the process of writing compilers were surveyed. Eight of the more recent compiler development aids were selected for special attention - SIMCMP/STAGE2, LANG-PAK, COGENT, XPL, AED, CWIC, LIS, and JOCIT. The impact of compiler development aids were assessed some of their shortcomings and some of the areas of research currently in progress were inspected.

Automata learning algorithms and processes for providing more complete systems requirements specification by scenario generation, CSP-based syntax-oriented model construction, and R2D2C system requirements transformation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Margaria, Tiziana (Inventor); Hinchey, Michael G. (Inventor); Rouff, Christopher A. (Inventor); Rash, James L. (Inventor); Steffen, Bernard (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which in some embodiments, automata learning algorithms and techniques are implemented to generate a more complete set of scenarios for requirements based programming. More specifically, a CSP-based, syntax-oriented model construction, which requires the support of a theorem prover, is complemented by model extrapolation, via automata learning. This may support the systematic completion of the requirements, the nature of the requirement being partial, which provides focus on the most prominent scenarios. This may generalize requirement skeletons by extrapolation and may indicate by way of automatically generated traces where the requirement specification is too loose and additional information is required.

The use and limits of scientific names in biological informatics.

PubMed

Remsen, David

2016-01-01

Scientific names serve to label biodiversity information: information related to species. Names, and their underlying taxonomic definitions, however, are unstable and ambiguous. This negatively impacts the utility of names as identifiers and as effective indexing tools in biological informatics where names are commonly utilized for searching, retrieving and integrating information about species. Semiotics provides a general model for describing the relationship between taxon names and taxon concepts. It distinguishes syntactics, which governs relationships among names, from semantics, which represents the relations between those labels and the taxa to which they refer. In the semiotic context, changes in semantics (i.e., taxonomic circumscription) do not consistently result in a corresponding and reflective change in syntax. Further, when syntactic changes do occur, they may be in response to semantic changes or in response to syntactic rules. This lack of consistency in the cardinal relationship between names and taxa places limits on how scientific names may be used in biological informatics in initially anchoring, and in the subsequent retrieval and integration, of relevant biodiversity information. Precision and recall are two measures of relevance. In biological taxonomy, recall is negatively impacted by changes or ambiguity in syntax while precision is negatively impacted when there are changes or ambiguity in semantics. Because changes in syntax are not correlated with changes in semantics, scientific names may be used, singly or conflated into synonymous sets, to improve recall in pattern recognition or search and retrieval. Names cannot be used, however, to improve precision. This is because changes in syntax do not uniquely identify changes in circumscription. These observations place limits on the utility of scientific names within biological informatics applications that rely on names as identifiers for taxa. Taxonomic systems and services used to organize and integrate information about taxa must accommodate the inherent semantic ambiguity of scientific names. The capture and articulation of circumscription differences (i.e., multiple taxon concepts) within such systems must be accompanied with distinct concept identifiers that can be employed in association with, or in replacement of, traditional scientific names.

2-year results of the AUTAX (Austrian Multivessel TAXUS-Stent) registry beyond the SYNTAX (synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXUS and cardiac surgery) study.

PubMed

Gyöngyösi, Mariann; Christ, Günter; Lang, Irene; Kreiner, Gerhard; Sochor, Heinz; Probst, Peter; Neunteufl, Thomas; Badr-Eslam, Rosa; Winkler, Susanne; Nyolczas, Noemi; Posa, Aniko; Leisch, Franz; Karnik, Ronald; Siostrzonek, Peter; Harb, Stefan; Heigert, Matthias; Zenker, Gerald; Benzer, Werner; Bonner, Gerhard; Kaider, Alexandra; Glogar, Dietmar

2009-08-01

The multicenter AUTAX (Austrian Multivessel TAXUS-Stent) registry investigated the 2-year clinical/angiographic outcomes of patients with multivessel coronary artery disease after implantation of TAXUS Express stents (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts), in a "real-world" setting. The AUTAX registry included patients with 2- or 3-vessel disease, with/without previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and concomitant surgery. Patients (n = 441, 64 +/- 12 years, 78% men) (n = 1,080 lesions) with possible complete revascularization by PCI were prospectively included. Median clinical follow-up was 753 (quartiles 728 to 775) days after PCI in 95.7%, with control angiography of 78% at 6 months. The primary end point was the composite of major adverse cardiac (nonfatal acute myocardial infarction [AMI], all-cause mortality, target lesion revascularization [TLR]) and cerebrovascular events (MACCE). Potential risk factor effects on 2-year MACCE were evaluated using Cox regression. Complete revascularization was successful in 90.5%, with left main PCI of 6.8%. Rates of acute, subacute, and late stent thrombosis were 0.7%, 0.5%, and 0.5%. Two-year follow-up identified AMI (1.4%), death (3.6%), stroke (0.2%), and TLR (13.1%), for a composite MACCE of 18.3%. The binary restenosis rate was 10.8%. The median of cumulative SYNTAX score was 23.0 (range 12.0 to 56.5). The SYNTAX score did not predict TLR or MACCE, due to lack of scoring of restenotic or bypass stenoses (29.8%). Age (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.03, p = 0.019) and acute coronary syndrome (HR: 2.1, p = 0.001) were significant predictors of 2-year MACCE. Incomplete revascularization predicted death or AMI (HR: 3.84, p = 0.002). With the aim of complete revascularization, TAXUS stent implantations can be safe for patients with multivessel disease. The AUTAX registry including patients with post-PCI lesions provides additional information to the SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery) study. (Austrian Multivessel TAXUS-Stent Registry; NCT00738686).

Three-year outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with heart failure: from the CREDO-Kyoto percutaneous coronary intervention/coronary artery bypass graft registry cohort-2†.

PubMed

Marui, Akira; Kimura, Takeshi; Nishiwaki, Noboru; Komiya, Tatsuhiko; Hanyu, Michiya; Shiomi, Hiroki; Tanaka, Shiro; Sakata, Ryuzo

2015-02-01

Ischaemic heart disease is a major risk factor for heart failure. However, long-term benefit of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in those patients has not been well elucidated. Of the 15 939 patients undergoing first myocardial revascularization enrolled in the CREDO-Kyoto PCI/CABG Registry Cohort-2, we identified 1064 patients with multivessel and/or left main disease with a history of heart failure (ACC/AHA Stage C or D). There were 672 patients undergoing PCI and 392 CABG. Preprocedural left ventricular ejection fraction was not different between PCI and CABG (46.6 ± 15.1 vs 46.6 ± 14.6%, P = 0.89), but the CABG group included more patients with triple-vessel and left main disease (P < 0.01 each). Three-year outcomes revealed that the risk of hospital readmission for heart failure was higher after PCI than after CABG (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]; 1.90 [1.18-3.05], P = 0.01). More importantly, adjusted mortality after PCI was significantly higher than after CABG (1.79 [1.13-2.82], P = 0.01). The risk of cardiac death after PCI was also higher than after CABG (1.98 [1.10-3.55], P = 0.02). Stratified analysis using the SYNTAX score demonstrated that risk of death was not different between PCI and CABG in patients with low (<23) and intermediate (23-32) SYNTAX scores (2.10 [0.57-7.68], P = 0.26 and 1.43 [0.63-3.21], P = 0.39, respectively), whereas those with a high (≥ 33) SYNTAX score, the risk of death was far higher after PCI than after CABG (4.83 [1.46-16.0], P = 0.01). In patients with heart failure with advanced coronary artery disease, CABG was a better option than PCI because CABG was associated with better survival benefit, particularly in more complex coronary lesions stratified by the SYNTAX score. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

Hanging Out the "Cloze" Line

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spooncer, Frank

1974-01-01

Presents information gathered as to how children make use of reading skills and what effects factors in the text, such as vocabulary, syntax, layout, and even illustrations, can have on the child's response. (RB)

Dynamic video encryption algorithm for H.264/AVC based on a spatiotemporal chaos system.

PubMed

Xu, Hui; Tong, Xiao-Jun; Zhang, Miao; Wang, Zhu; Li, Ling-Hao

2016-06-01

Video encryption schemes mostly employ the selective encryption method to encrypt parts of important and sensitive video information, aiming to ensure the real-time performance and encryption efficiency. The classic block cipher is not applicable to video encryption due to the high computational overhead. In this paper, we propose the encryption selection control module to encrypt video syntax elements dynamically which is controlled by the chaotic pseudorandom sequence. A novel spatiotemporal chaos system and binarization method is used to generate a key stream for encrypting the chosen syntax elements. The proposed scheme enhances the resistance against attacks through the dynamic encryption process and high-security stream cipher. Experimental results show that the proposed method exhibits high security and high efficiency with little effect on the compression ratio and time cost.

Tool development in threat assessment: syntax regularization and correlative analysis. Final report Task I and Task II, November 21, 1977-May 21, 1978. [Linguistic analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miron, M.S.; Christopher, C.; Hirshfield, S.

1978-05-01

Psycholinguistics provides crisis managers in nuclear threat incidents with a quantitative methodology which can aid in the determination of threat credibility, authorship identification and perpetrator apprehension. The objective of this contract is to improve and enhance present psycholinguistic software systems by means of newly-developed, computer-automated techniques which significantly extend the technology of automated content and stylistic analysis of nuclear threat. In accordance with this overall objective, the first two contract Tasks have been completed and are reported on in this document. The first Task specifies the development of software support for the purpose of syntax regularization of vocabulary to rootmore » form. The second calls for the exploration and development of alternative approaches to correlative analysis of vocabulary usage.« less

In Defense of Theory.

PubMed

Jackendoff, Ray

2017-03-01

Formal theories of mental representation have receded from the importance they had in the early days of cognitive science. I argue that such theories are crucial in any mental domain, not just for their own sake, but to guide experimental inquiry, as well as to integrate the domain into the mind as a whole. To illustrate the criteria of adequacy for theories of mental representation, I compare two theoretical approaches to language: classical generative grammar (Chomsky, 1965, 1981, 1995) and the parallel architecture (Jackendoff, 1997, 2002). The grounds for comparison include (a) the internal coherence of the theory across phonology, syntax, and semantics; (b) the relation of language to other mental faculties; (c) the relationship between grammar and lexicon; (d) relevance to theories of language processing; and (e) the possibility of languages with little or no syntax. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Object-Oriented Query Language For Events Detection From Images Sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganea, Ion Eugen

2015-09-01

In this paper is presented a method to represent the events extracted from images sequences and the query language used for events detection. Using an object oriented model the spatial and temporal relationships between salient objects and also between events are stored and queried. This works aims to unify the storing and querying phases for video events processing. The object oriented language syntax used for events processing allow the instantiation of the indexes classes in order to improve the accuracy of the query results. The experiments were performed on images sequences provided from sport domain and it shows the reliability and the robustness of the proposed language. To extend the language will be added a specific syntax for constructing the templates for abnormal events and for detection of the incidents as the final goal of the research.

PLUMED-GUI: An environment for the interactive development of molecular dynamics analysis and biasing scripts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giorgino, Toni

2014-03-01

PLUMED-GUI is an interactive environment to develop and test complex PLUMED scripts within the Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) environment. Computational biophysicists can take advantage of both PLUMED’s rich syntax to define collective variables (CVs) and VMD’s chemically-aware atom selection language, while working within a natural point-and-click interface. Pre-defined templates and syntax mnemonics facilitate the definition of well-known reaction coordinates. Complex CVs, e.g. involving reference snapshots used for RMSD or native contacts calculations, can be built through dialogs that provide a synoptic view of the available options. Scripts can be either exported for use in simulation programs, or evaluated on the currently loaded molecular trajectories. Script development takes place without leaving VMD, thus enabling an incremental try-see-modify development model for molecular metrics.

Brain connectivity associated with cascading levels of language.

PubMed

Richards, Todd; Nagy, William; Abbott, Robert; Berninger, Virginia

2016-01-01

Typical oral and written language learners (controls) (5 girls, 4 boys) completed fMRI reading judgment tasks (sub-word grapheme-phoneme, word spelling, sentences with and without spelling foils, affixed words, sentences with and without affix foils, and multi-sentence). Analyses identified connectivity within and across adjacent levels (units) of language in reading: from subword to word to syntax in Set I and from word to syntax to multi-sentence in Set II). Typicals were compared to (a) students with dyslexia (6 girls, 10 boys) on the subword and word tasks in Set I related to levels of language impaired in dyslexia, and (b) students with oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (3 girls, 2 boys) on the morphology and syntax tasks in Set II, related to levels of language impaired in OWL LD. Results for typical language learners showed that adjacent levels of language in the reading brain share common and unique connectivity. The dyslexia group showed over-connectivity to a greater degree on the imaging tasks related to their levels of language impairments than the OWL LD group who showed under-connectivity to a greater degree than did the dyslexia group on the imaging tasks related to their levels of language impairment. Results for these students in grades 4 to 9 (ages 9 to 14) are discussed in reference to the contribution of patterns of connectivity across levels of language to understanding the nature of persisting dyslexia and dysgraphia despite early intervention.

Eliciting and Analyzing Male Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalization (USV) Songs

PubMed Central

Chabout, Jonathan; Jones-Macopson, Joshua; Jarvis, Erich D.

2017-01-01

Mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in a variety of social contexts throughout development and adulthood. These USVs are used for mother-pup retrieval1, juvenile interactions2, opposite and same sex interactions345, and territorial interactions6. For decades, the USVs have been used by investigators as proxies to study neuropsychiatric and developmental or behavioral disorders789, and more recently to understand mechanisms and evolution of vocal communication among vertebrates10. Within the sexual interactions, adult male mice produce USV songs, which have some features similar to courtship songs of songbirds11. The use of such multisyllabic repertoires can increase potential flexibility and information they carry, as they can be varied in how elements are organized and recombined, namely syntax. In this protocol a reliable method to elicit USV songs from male mice in various social contexts, such as exposure to fresh female urine, anesthetized animals, and estrus females is described. This includes conditions to induce a large amount of syllables from the mice. We reduce recording of ambient noises with inexpensive sound chambers, and present a quantification method to automatically detect, classify and analyze the USVs. The latter includes evaluation of call-rate, vocal repertoire, acoustic parameters, and syntax. Various approaches and insight on using playbacks to study an animal's preference for specific song types are described. These methods were used to describe acoustic and syntax changes across different contexts in male mice, and song preferences in female mice. PMID:28518074

Glacier and landslide feedbacks to topographic relief in the Himalayan syntaxes

PubMed Central

Korup, Oliver; Montgomery, David R.; Hewitt, Kenneth

2010-01-01

Despite longstanding research on the age and formation of the Tibetan Plateau, the controls on the erosional decay of its margins remain controversial. Pronounced aridity and highly localized rock uplift have traditionally been viewed as limits to the dissection of the plateau by bedrock rivers. Recently, however, glacier dynamics and landsliding have been argued to retard headward fluvial erosion into the plateau interior by forming dams and protective alluvial fill. Here, we report a conspicuous clustering of hundreds of natural dams along the Indus and the Tsangpo Rivers where these cross the Himalayan syntaxes. The Indus is riddled by hundreds of dams composed of debris from catastrophic rock avalanches, forming the largest concentration of giant landslide dams known worldwide, whereas the Tsangpo seems devoid of comparable landslide dams. In contrast, glacial dams such as river-blocking moraines in the headwaters of both rivers are limited to where isolated mountain ranges intersect the regional snowline. We find that to first-order, high local topographic relief along both rivers corresponds to conspicuously different knickzones and differences in the type and potential longevity of these dams. In both syntaxes, glacier and landslide dams act as a negative feedback in response to fluvial dissection of the plateau margins. Natural damming protects bedrock from river incision and delays headward knickpoint migration, thereby helping stabilize the southwestern and southeastern margins of the Tibetan Plateau in concert with the effects of upstream aridity and localized rock uplift. PMID:20212156

Music and Language Syntax Interact in Broca's Area: An fMRI Study.

PubMed

Kunert, Richard; Willems, Roel M; Casasanto, Daniel; Patel, Aniruddh D; Hagoort, Peter

2015-01-01

Instrumental music and language are both syntactic systems, employing complex, hierarchically-structured sequences built using implicit structural norms. This organization allows listeners to understand the role of individual words or tones in the context of an unfolding sentence or melody. Previous studies suggest that the brain mechanisms of syntactic processing may be partly shared between music and language. However, functional neuroimaging evidence for anatomical overlap of brain activity involved in linguistic and musical syntactic processing has been lacking. In the present study we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with an interference paradigm based on sung sentences. We show that the processing demands of musical syntax (harmony) and language syntax interact in Broca's area in the left inferior frontal gyrus (without leading to music and language main effects). A language main effect in Broca's area only emerged in the complex music harmony condition, suggesting that (with our stimuli and tasks) a language effect only becomes visible under conditions of increased demands on shared neural resources. In contrast to previous studies, our design allows us to rule out that the observed neural interaction is due to: (1) general attention mechanisms, as a psychoacoustic auditory anomaly behaved unlike the harmonic manipulation, (2) error processing, as the language and the music stimuli contained no structural errors. The current results thus suggest that two different cognitive domains-music and language-might draw on the same high level syntactic integration resources in Broca's area.

AUX: a scripting language for auditory signal processing and software packages for psychoacoustic experiments and education.

PubMed

Kwon, Bomjun J

2012-06-01

This article introduces AUX (AUditory syntaX), a scripting syntax specifically designed to describe auditory signals and processing, to the members of the behavioral research community. The syntax is based on descriptive function names and intuitive operators suitable for researchers and students without substantial training in programming, who wish to generate and examine sound signals using a written script. In this article, the essence of AUX is discussed and practical examples of AUX scripts specifying various signals are illustrated. Additionally, two accompanying Windows-based programs and development libraries are described. AUX Viewer is a program that generates, visualizes, and plays sounds specified in AUX. AUX Viewer can also be used for class demonstrations or presentations. Another program, Psycon, allows a wide range of sound signals to be used as stimuli in common psychophysical testing paradigms, such as the adaptive procedure, the method of constant stimuli, and the method of adjustment. AUX Library is also provided, so that researchers can develop their own programs utilizing AUX. The philosophical basis of AUX is to separate signal generation from the user interface needed for experiments. AUX scripts are portable and reusable; they can be shared by other researchers, regardless of differences in actual AUX-based programs, and reused for future experiments. In short, the use of AUX can be potentially beneficial to all members of the research community-both those with programming backgrounds and those without.

Music and Language Syntax Interact in Broca’s Area: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Kunert, Richard; Willems, Roel M.; Casasanto, Daniel; Patel, Aniruddh D.; Hagoort, Peter

2015-01-01

Instrumental music and language are both syntactic systems, employing complex, hierarchically-structured sequences built using implicit structural norms. This organization allows listeners to understand the role of individual words or tones in the context of an unfolding sentence or melody. Previous studies suggest that the brain mechanisms of syntactic processing may be partly shared between music and language. However, functional neuroimaging evidence for anatomical overlap of brain activity involved in linguistic and musical syntactic processing has been lacking. In the present study we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with an interference paradigm based on sung sentences. We show that the processing demands of musical syntax (harmony) and language syntax interact in Broca’s area in the left inferior frontal gyrus (without leading to music and language main effects). A language main effect in Broca’s area only emerged in the complex music harmony condition, suggesting that (with our stimuli and tasks) a language effect only becomes visible under conditions of increased demands on shared neural resources. In contrast to previous studies, our design allows us to rule out that the observed neural interaction is due to: (1) general attention mechanisms, as a psychoacoustic auditory anomaly behaved unlike the harmonic manipulation, (2) error processing, as the language and the music stimuli contained no structural errors. The current results thus suggest that two different cognitive domains—music and language—might draw on the same high level syntactic integration resources in Broca’s area. PMID:26536026

Designing for Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loeffelman, Pamela

2001-01-01

Discusses how educational facility designers can design schools for greater building flexibility. Understanding how corridors and hidden spaces can be better utilized is highlighted, and better design of the scale and syntax of a school's parts is discussed. (GR)

Finding the Best Logo for Your Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Brian

1987-01-01

Variations among different versions of Logo are discussed in terms of special hardware needed, size and speed, bugs and misfeatures, and syntax. LogoWriter and Object Logo are also described. A comparison chart is included. (MNS)

Nonretarded and Mentally Retarded Children's Control over Syntax Structures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLeavey, Breda C.; And Others

1982-01-01

Ten nonretarded preschoolers and 10 mildly mentally retarded children (mean age 8 years) were compared for control over various syntactic structures. The retarded children evidenced difficulties similar to those of younger nonretarded children. (Author/SB)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, La Tonya Nicole; Malczynski, Leonard A.

DYNAMO is a computer program for building and running 'continuous' simulation models. It was developed by the Industrial Dynamics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for simulating dynamic feedback models of business, economic, and social systems. The history of the system dynamics method since 1957 includes many classic models built in DYANMO. It was not until the late 1980s that software was built to take advantage of the rise of personal computers and graphical user interfaces that DYNAMO was supplanted. There is much learning and insight to be gained from examining the DYANMO models and their accompanying research papers.more » We believe that it is a worthwhile exercise to convert DYNAMO models to more recent software packages. We have made an attempt to make it easier to turn these models into a more current system dynamics software language, Powersim © Studio produced by Powersim AS 2 of Bergen, Norway. This guide shows how to convert DYNAMO syntax into Studio syntax.« less

Standards for plant synthetic biology: a common syntax for exchange of DNA parts.

PubMed

Patron, Nicola J; Orzaez, Diego; Marillonnet, Sylvestre; Warzecha, Heribert; Matthewman, Colette; Youles, Mark; Raitskin, Oleg; Leveau, Aymeric; Farré, Gemma; Rogers, Christian; Smith, Alison; Hibberd, Julian; Webb, Alex A R; Locke, James; Schornack, Sebastian; Ajioka, Jim; Baulcombe, David C; Zipfel, Cyril; Kamoun, Sophien; Jones, Jonathan D G; Kuhn, Hannah; Robatzek, Silke; Van Esse, H Peter; Sanders, Dale; Oldroyd, Giles; Martin, Cathie; Field, Rob; O'Connor, Sarah; Fox, Samantha; Wulff, Brande; Miller, Ben; Breakspear, Andy; Radhakrishnan, Guru; Delaux, Pierre-Marc; Loqué, Dominique; Granell, Antonio; Tissier, Alain; Shih, Patrick; Brutnell, Thomas P; Quick, W Paul; Rischer, Heiko; Fraser, Paul D; Aharoni, Asaph; Raines, Christine; South, Paul F; Ané, Jean-Michel; Hamberger, Björn R; Langdale, Jane; Stougaard, Jens; Bouwmeester, Harro; Udvardi, Michael; Murray, James A H; Ntoukakis, Vardis; Schäfer, Patrick; Denby, Katherine; Edwards, Keith J; Osbourn, Anne; Haseloff, Jim

2015-10-01

Inventors in the field of mechanical and electronic engineering can access multitudes of components and, thanks to standardization, parts from different manufacturers can be used in combination with each other. The introduction of BioBrick standards for the assembly of characterized DNA sequences was a landmark in microbial engineering, shaping the field of synthetic biology. Here, we describe a standard for Type IIS restriction endonuclease-mediated assembly, defining a common syntax of 12 fusion sites to enable the facile assembly of eukaryotic transcriptional units. This standard has been developed and agreed by representatives and leaders of the international plant science and synthetic biology communities, including inventors, developers and adopters of Type IIS cloning methods. Our vision is of an extensive catalogue of standardized, characterized DNA parts that will accelerate plant bioengineering. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Measuring Metasyntactic Abilities: On a Classification of Metasyntactic Tasks.

PubMed

Simard, Daphnée; Labelle, Marie; Bergeron, Annie

2017-04-01

Researchers working on metasyntactic abilities (i.e., the metalinguistic ability associated with syntax) face the problem of defining and measuring them. Metasyntactic abilities is a multifaceted concept, which encompasses various types of behaviours, from being able to intentionally manipulate syntactic structures to being able to state syntactic rules, and the way in which it is defined and measured varies greatly from one study to another. The present paper proposes a theoretically informed classification of syntax related tasks. The first part presents previous research defining and distinguishing various types of syntactic and metasyntactic abilities and their interrelations. In the second part, commonly used tasks are described and analyzed in terms of the framework presented, with the aim of better pinpointing the type of ability measured by each task. Ultimately, with this analysis of commonly used tasks, we hope to offer criteria for discriminating between the various measures of metasyntactic abilities.

Passing in Command Line Arguments and Parallel Cluster/Multicore Batching in R with batch.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Thomas J

2011-03-01

It is often useful to rerun a command line R script with some slight change in the parameters used to run it - a new set of parameters for a simulation, a different dataset to process, etc. The R package batch provides a means to pass in multiple command line options, including vectors of values in the usual R format, easily into R. The same script can be setup to run things in parallel via different command line arguments. The R package batch also provides a means to simplify this parallel batching by allowing one to use R and an R-like syntax for arguments to spread a script across a cluster or local multicore/multiprocessor computer, with automated syntax for several popular cluster types. Finally it provides a means to aggregate the results together of multiple processes run on a cluster.

Memory for syntax despite amnesia.

PubMed

Ferreira, Victor S; Bock, Kathryn; Wilson, Michael P; Cohen, Neal J

2008-09-01

Syntactic persistence is a tendency for speakers to reproduce sentence structures independently of accompanying meanings, words, or sounds. The memory mechanisms behind syntactic persistence are not fully understood. Although some properties of syntactic persistence suggest a role for procedural memory, current evidence suggests that procedural memory (unlike declarative memory) does not maintain the abstract, relational features that are inherent to syntactic structures. In a study evaluating the contribution of procedural memory to syntactic persistence, patients with anterograde amnesia and matched control speakers reproduced prime sentences with different syntactic structures; reproduced 0, 1, 6, or 10 neutral sentences; then spontaneously described pictures that elicited the primed structures; and finally made recognition judgments for the prime sentences. Amnesic and control speakers showed significant and equivalent syntactic persistence, despite the amnesic speakers' profoundly impaired recognition memory for the primes. Thus, syntax is maintained by procedural-memory mechanisms. This result reveals that procedural memory is capable of supporting abstract, relational knowledge.

The Structure of Oral Language and Reading and Their Relation to Comprehension in Kindergarten through Grade 2

PubMed Central

Foorman, Barbara R.; Herrera, Sarah; Petscher, Yaacov; Mitchell, Alison; Truckenmiller, Adrea

2016-01-01

This study examined the structure of oral language and reading and their relation to comprehension from a latent variable modeling perspective in Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. Participants were students in Kindergarten (n = 218), Grade 1 (n = 372), and Grade 2 (n = 273), attending Title 1 schools. Students were administered phonological awareness, syntax, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and decoding fluency measures in mid-year. Outcome measures included a listening comprehension measure in Kindergarten and a reading comprehension test in Grades1 and 2. In Kindergarten, oral language (consisting of listening comprehension, syntax, and vocabulary) shared variance with phonological awareness in predicting a listening comprehension outcome. However, in Grades 1 and 2, phonological awareness was no longer predictive of reading comprehension when decoding fluency and oral language were included in the model. In Grades 1 and 2, oral language and decoding fluency were significant predictors of reading comprehension. PMID:27660395

Syntax of emotional narratives of persons diagnosed with antisocial personality.

PubMed

Gawda, Barbara

2010-08-01

The aim of this study was to show some specificity of syntax of narratives created by persons diagnosed with antisocial personality. The author attempted to verify and supplement information that persons with antisocial personality have an incapacity for emotional language. Scores of 60 prisoners with high antisocial tendencies, 40 prisoners with low antisocial tendencies, and 100 men without the antisocial tendencies, were analyzed. The participants had to describe the situations of love, hate and anxiety inspired by the photographs. The narrative discourse was analyzed. The research was concentrated on syntactic elements. Comparisons between the three groups were conducted. The results show the differences between the antisocial inmates, non-antisocial inmates, and controls. In their emotional narratives, the antisocial individuals used more repetitions, pauses and negations. These linguistic characteristics are attributed to high activity, psychopathy and emotionality of persons diagnosed with antisocial personality.

What does Pirahã grammar have to teach us about human language and the mind?

PubMed

Everett, Daniel L

2012-11-01

Pirahã is a language isolate of the Brazilian Amazon. Among the lessons it has to teach us about human language and the mind, two are highlighted here. The first is that recursion is not a necessary condition for human syntax, because there is no evidence for recursive sentential syntax in the language. This is a stark counterexample to the claims of Chomsky and others. The second lesson is that the influence of culture on Pirahã grammar, coupled with much established and newer research, indicates that the idea of an innate, universal grammar has little if any role to play in our understanding of the nature, origins, and use of human language. WIREs Cogn Sci 2012 doi: 10.1002/wcs.1195 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Development of Learning Models Based on Problem Solving and Meaningful Learning Standards by Expert Validity for Animal Development Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lufri, L.; Fitri, R.; Yogica, R.

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study is to produce a learning model based on problem solving and meaningful learning standards by expert assessment or validation for the course of Animal Development. This research is a development research that produce the product in the form of learning model, which consist of sub product, namely: the syntax of learning model and student worksheets. All of these products are standardized through expert validation. The research data is the level of validity of all sub products obtained using questionnaire, filled by validators from various field of expertise (field of study, learning strategy, Bahasa). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The result of the research shows that the problem solving and meaningful learning model has been produced. Sub products declared appropriate by expert include the syntax of learning model and student worksheet.

Best way to revascularize patients with main stem and three-vessel lesions. Patients should be operated!

PubMed

Reichenspurner, H; Conradi, L; Cremer, J; Mohr, F W

2010-09-01

Despite established guidelines for the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) by either coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), everyday clinical practice has proven to differ substantially with even the most complex coronary lesions being targeted by PCI today. However, an abundancy of clinical trials, both observational and randomized has proven the superiority of coronary surgery over PCI in almost every type of multivessel or left main CAD in symptomatic patients. This holds true also for 'hard' endpoints like cardiac death or myocardial infarction as recently demonstrated by the landmark SYNTAX trial. These results have lead to the wording of appropriateness criteria, which integrate current guidelines, evidence from clinical trials and interdisciplinary expert opinion and which express essentially the same message as the SYNTAX trial: "CABG remains the standard of care for patients with three-vessel or left main coronary artery disease"

Visual DMDX: A web-based authoring tool for DMDX, a Windows display program with millisecond accuracy.

PubMed

Garaizar, Pablo; Reips, Ulf-Dietrich

2015-09-01

DMDX is a software package for the experimental control and timing of stimulus display for Microsoft Windows systems. DMDX is reliable, flexible, millisecond accurate, and can be downloaded free of charge; therefore it has become very popular among experimental researchers. However, setting up a DMDX-based experiment is burdensome because of its command-based interface. Further, DMDX relies on RTF files in which parts of the stimuli, design, and procedure of an experiment are defined in a complicated (DMASTR-compatible) syntax. Other experiment software, such as E-Prime, Psychopy, and WEXTOR, became successful as a result of integrated visual authoring tools. Such an intuitive interface was lacking for DMDX. We therefore created and present here Visual DMDX (http://visualdmdx.com/), a HTML5-based web interface to set up experiments and export them to DMDX item files format in RTF. Visual DMDX offers most of the features available from the rich DMDX/DMASTR syntax, and it is a useful tool to support researchers who are new to DMDX. Both old and modern versions of DMDX syntax are supported. Further, with Visual DMDX, we go beyond DMDX by having added export to JSON (a versatile web format), easy backup, and a preview option for experiments. In two examples, one experiment each on lexical decision making and affective priming, we explain in a step-by-step fashion how to create experiments using Visual DMDX. We release Visual DMDX under an open-source license to foster collaboration in its continuous improvement.

CytometryML: a data standard which has been designed to interface with other standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.

2007-02-01

Because of the differences in the requirements, needs, and past histories including existing standards of the creating organizations, a single encompassing cytology-pathology standard will not, in the near future, replace the multiple existing or under development standards. Except for DICOM and FCS, these standardization efforts are all based on XML. CytometryML is a collection of XML schemas, which are based on the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and Flow Cytometry Standard (FCS) datatypes. The CytometryML schemas contain attributes that link them to the DICOM standard and FCS. Interoperability with DICOM has been facilitated by, wherever reasonable, limiting the difference between CytometryML and the previous standards to syntax. In order to permit the Resource Description Framework, RDF, to reference the CytometryML datatypes, id attributes have been added to many CytometryML elements. The Laboratory Digital Imaging Project (LDIP) Data Exchange Specification and the Flowcyt standards development effort employ RDF syntax. Documentation from DICOM has been reused in CytometryML. The unity of analytical cytology was demonstrated by deriving a microscope type and a flow cytometer type from a generic cytometry instrument type. The feasibility of incorporating the Flowcyt gating schemas into CytometryML has been demonstrated. CytometryML is being extended to include many of the new DICOM Working Group 26 datatypes, which describe patients, specimens, and analytes. In situations where multiple standards are being created, interoperability can be facilitated by employing datatypes based on a common set of semantics and building in links to standards that employ different syntax.

Pidgins and Creoles as Models of Language Change: The State of the Art.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McWhorter, John H.

2003-01-01

Examines the interface between language change and Creole studies. Discusses the Language Bioprogram Hypothesis, the Creole continuum, Creoles and grammaticalization, theoretic syntax, creole prototypes, and second language acquisition and language change. (Author/VWL)

JFLIP-JPL FORTRAN language with interval pre-processor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Germann, D. A.; Knowlton, P. H.; Smith, H. L.

1969-01-01

FLIP and TMG are a FORTRAN pre-processor and a Syntax-Directed-Compiler used to describe the language in which the former is written. They provide those who write in FORTRAN 4 with greater language flexibility and power.

Exploring bicycle route choice behavior with space syntax analysis : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-12-31

Cycling provides an environmentally friendly alternative mode of transportation. It improves : urban mobility, livability, and public health, and it also helps in reducing traffic congestion and : emissions. Cycling is gaining popularity both as a re...

linkedISA: semantic representation of ISA-Tab experimental metadata.

PubMed

González-Beltrán, Alejandra; Maguire, Eamonn; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Rocca-Serra, Philippe

2014-01-01

Reporting and sharing experimental metadata- such as the experimental design, characteristics of the samples, and procedures applied, along with the analysis results, in a standardised manner ensures that datasets are comprehensible and, in principle, reproducible, comparable and reusable. Furthermore, sharing datasets in formats designed for consumption by humans and machines will also maximize their use. The Investigation/Study/Assay (ISA) open source metadata tracking framework facilitates standards-compliant collection, curation, visualization, storage and sharing of datasets, leveraging on other platforms to enable analysis and publication. The ISA software suite includes several components used in increasingly diverse set of life science and biomedical domains; it is underpinned by a general-purpose format, ISA-Tab, and conversions exist into formats required by public repositories. While ISA-Tab works well mainly as a human readable format, we have also implemented a linked data approach to semantically define the ISA-Tab syntax. We present a semantic web representation of the ISA-Tab syntax that complements ISA-Tab's syntactic interoperability with semantic interoperability. We introduce the linkedISA conversion tool from ISA-Tab to the Resource Description Framework (RDF), supporting mappings from the ISA syntax to multiple community-defined, open ontologies and capitalising on user-provided ontology annotations in the experimental metadata. We describe insights of the implementation and how annotations can be expanded driven by the metadata. We applied the conversion tool as part of Bio-GraphIIn, a web-based application supporting integration of the semantically-rich experimental descriptions. Designed in a user-friendly manner, the Bio-GraphIIn interface hides most of the complexities to the users, exposing a familiar tabular view of the experimental description to allow seamless interaction with the RDF representation, and visualising descriptors to drive the query over the semantic representation of the experimental design. In addition, we defined queries over the linkedISA RDF representation and demonstrated its use over the linkedISA conversion of datasets from Nature' Scientific Data online publication. Our linked data approach has allowed us to: 1) make the ISA-Tab semantics explicit and machine-processable, 2) exploit the existing ontology-based annotations in the ISA-Tab experimental descriptions, 3) augment the ISA-Tab syntax with new descriptive elements, 4) visualise and query elements related to the experimental design. Reasoning over ISA-Tab metadata and associated data will facilitate data integration and knowledge discovery.

Five-year outcomes in patients with left main disease treated with either percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting in the synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with taxus and cardiac surgery trial.

PubMed

Morice, Marie-Claude; Serruys, Patrick W; Kappetein, A Pieter; Feldman, Ted E; Ståhle, Elisabeth; Colombo, Antonio; Mack, Michael J; Holmes, David R; Choi, James W; Ruzyllo, Witold; Religa, Grzegorz; Huang, Jian; Roy, Kristine; Dawkins, Keith D; Mohr, Friedrich

2014-06-10

Current guidelines recommend coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) when treating significant de novo left main coronary artery (LM) stenosis; however, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has a class IIa indication for unprotected LM disease in selected patients. This analysis compares 5-year clinical outcomes in PCI- and CABG-treated LM patients in the Synergy Between PCI With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial, the largest trial in this group to date. The SYNTAX trial randomly assigned 1800 patients with LM or 3-vessel disease to receive either PCI (with TAXUS Express paclitaxel-eluting stents) or CABG. The unprotected LM cohort (N=705) was predefined and powered. Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event rates at 5 years was 36.9% in PCI patients and 31.0% in CABG patients (hazard ratio, 1.23 [95% confidence interval, 0.95-1.59]; P=0.12). Mortality rate was 12.8% and 14.6% in PCI and CABG patients, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.88 [95% confidence interval, 0.58-1.32]; P=0.53). Stroke was significantly increased in the CABG group (PCI 1.5% versus CABG 4.3%; hazard ratio, 0.33 [95% confidence interval, 0.12-0.92]; P=0.03) and repeat revascularization in the PCI arm (26.7% versus 15.5%; hazard ratio, 1.82 [95% confidence interval, 1.28-2.57]; P<0.01). Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events were similar between arms in patients with low/intermediate SYNTAX scores but significantly increased in PCI patients with high scores (≥33). At 5 years, no difference in overall major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events was found between treatment groups. PCI-treated patients had a lower stroke but a higher revascularization rate versus CABG. These results suggest that both treatments are valid options for LM patients. The extent of disease should accounted for when choosing between surgery and PCI, because patients with high SYNTAX scores seem to benefit more from surgery compared with those in the lower tertiles. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00114972. © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.

A Double-Focused Orientation in Teaching Expository Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muhyidin, Tatang Setia

1990-01-01

Emphasizing expository writing, this paper describes the writing instruction approaches used in IKIP Bandung, an Indonesian institute. The syntax-to-rhetoric approach is discussed along with strategies to help students practice topic development with appropriate linguistic forms. (Contains three references.) (LB)

Stata companion.

PubMed

Brennan, Jennifer Sousa

2010-01-01

This chapter is an introductory reference guide highlighting some of the most common statistical topics, broken down into both command-line syntax and graphical interface point-and-click commands. This chapter serves to supplement more formal statistics lessons and expedite using Stata to compute basic analyses.

Assessment of Primary Writing in 2016

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Ros

2017-01-01

This article demonstrates the distortions arising from attempts to impose a rigid set of criteria on teacher assessment. The use of surface features of syntax and punctuation to determine grades created a situation where children's writing became artificial and lacking in interest.

THE BERBER LANGUAGES. A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

APPLEGATE, JOSEPH R.

ORGANIZED INTO TWO MAIN SECTIONS--BOOKS AND ARTICLES AND SERIAL PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLISHERS--THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BERBER LANGUAGES REPRESENTS 758 ENTRIES, SOME OF WHICH ARE ANNOTATED. SUBDIVISIONS INCLUDE GENERAL LINGUISTICS, DIALECT GEOGRAPHY, PHONOLOGY, MORPHOLOGY, SYNTAX, LEXICON, TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS, HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES,…

Minimal Reduplication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirchner, Jesse Saba

2010-01-01

This dissertation introduces Minimal Reduplication, a new theory and framework within generative grammar for analyzing reduplication in human language. I argue that reduplication is an emergent property in multiple components of the grammar. In particular, reduplication occurs independently in the phonology and syntax components, and in both cases…

Incrementally Dissociating Syntax and Semantics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brennan, Jonathan R.

2010-01-01

A basic challenge for research into the neurobiology of language is understanding how the brain combines words to make complex representations. Linguistic theory divides this task into several computations including syntactic structure building and semantic composition. The close relationship between these computations, however, poses a strong…

Economy of Command

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medeiros, David Peter

2012-01-01

This dissertation proposes a principle of "economy of command", arguing that it provides a simple and natural explanation for some well-known properties of human language syntax. The focus is on the abstract combinatorial system that constructs the hierarchical structure of linguistic expressions, with long-distance dependencies…

Which Comes First--Language or Content?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nargund-Joshi, Vanashri; Bautista, Nazan

2016-01-01

Science vocabulary can be abstract (e.g., "photosynthesis," "ecosystem") and have different meanings than in daily life (e.g., "class," "work," "power"). For this reason, understanding individual vocabulary words isn't enough for learners to be successful. The meaning is embedded in basic syntax,…

Beyond the Isogloss: Trends in Hispanic Dialectology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipski, John M.

1989-01-01

An overview of contemporary Hispanic dialectology, focusing on phonological phenomena, syntax, classification schemes, and bilingual communities, demonstrates that dialectology has long ceased to be the collection of innumerable surface deviations. It is suggested that dialectology is a theoretical discipline searching for universal principles to…

Interfaces. Working Papers in Linguistics No. 32.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zwicky, Arnold M.

The papers collected here concern the interfaces between various components of grammar (semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology) and between grammar itself and various extragrammatical domains. They include: "The OSU Random, Unorganized Collection of Speech Act Examples"; "In and Out in Phonology"; "Forestress and…

Universal Bilingualism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roeper, Thomas

1999-01-01

Suggests that a narrow kind of bilingualism exists within every language and is present whenever two properties exist in a language that are not statable within a single grammar. This theoretical bilingualism is defined in terms of the minimalist theory of syntax presented by Chomsky (1995). (Author/VWL)

Three Analogies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolinger, Dwight L.

Three examples are given of cases where differences between Spanish and English syntax and intonation patterns are taught best through direct translation. Grammatical difficulties caused by "gustar" are overcome through the use of translation using "appeal" rather than "please". Similarly, problems for native speakers of English arising with…

Global Risk Score and Clinical SYNTAX Score as Predictors of Clinical Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Unprotected Left Main Percutaneous Catheter Intervention

PubMed Central

Cuenza, Lucky; Collado, Marianne P.; Ho Khe Sui, James

2017-01-01

Background Risk stratification is an important component of left main percutaneous catheter intervention (PCI) which has emerged as a feasible alternative to cardiac surgery. We sought to compare the clinical SYNTAX score and the global risk score in predicting outcomes of patients undergoing unprotected left main PCI in our institution. Methods Clinical, angiographic and procedural characteristics of 92 patients who underwent unprotected left main PCI (mean age 62 ± 12.1 years) were analyzed. Patients were risk stratified into tertiles of high, intermediate and low risk using the global risk score (GRS) and the clinical SYNTAX score (CSS) and were prospectively followed up at 1 year for the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), defined as a composite of all cause mortality, cardiac mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary artery bypass, and target vessel revascularization. Results There were 26 (28.2%) who experienced MACEs, of which 10 (10.8%) patients died. Multivariable hazards analysis showed that the GRS (hazard ratio (HR) = 5.5, P = 0.001) and CSS (HR = 4.3, P = 0.001) were both independent predictors of MACEs. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed higher incidence of MACEs with the intermediate and higher risk categories compared to those classified as low risk. Receiver-operator characteristic analysis showed that the GRS has better discriminatory ability than the CSS in the prediction of 1 year MACEs (0.891 vs. 0.743, P = 0.007). Conclusion The GRS and CSS are predictive of outcomes after left main PCI. The GRS appears to have superior predictive and prognostic utility compared to the CSS. This study emphasizes the importance of combining both anatomic and clinical variables for optimum prognostication and management decisions in left main PCI. PMID:29317974

Epicardial fat thickness in stable coronary artery disease: its relationship with high-sensitive cardiac troponin T and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide.

PubMed

Börekçi, Abdurrezzak; Gür, Mustafa; Özaltun, Betül; Baykan, Ahmet Oytun; Harbalioğlu, Hazar; Seker, Taner; Sen, Ömer; Acele, Armağan; Gözükara, Mehmet Yavuz; Kuloğlu, Osman; Koç, Mevlüt; Çayli, Murat

2014-12-01

Epicardial adipose tissue is related to coronary atherosclerosis, left ventricle hypertrophy, myocardial dysfunction, cardiomyopathy, and inflammation, which produces a variety of cytokines that influence key pathogenic mechanisms of atherogenesis. The main goal of this study is to examine the relationship between epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and cardiovascular risk markers as well as the complexity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with stable CAD. We prospectively included 439 stable CAD patients undergoing coronary angiography in the present study (mean age: 62.2±10.7 years). Patients were divided into two groups (EFTlow and EFThigh groups) according to their median EFT values. EFT was evaluated by two-dimensional echocardiography before angiography. The SYNTAX score was calculated in all patients. N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT), uric acid, and other biochemical markers were also measured. Age, SYNTAX score, frequencies of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, NT-proBNP, hs-CRP, hs-cTnT, and uric acid levels were higher in EFThigh group compared with the EFTlow group (P<0.05 for all). EFT was associated independently with age (β=-0.102, P=0.001), diabetes (β=-0.083, P=0.011), SYNTAX score (β=0.352, P<0.001), hs-CRP level (β=0.217, P<0.001), hs-cTnT level (β=0.197, P<0.001), and NT-proBNP level (β=0.300, P<0.001) in multivariate analysis. EFT obtained by echocardiograpy may not only be an easy tool but also an important tool for early detection of increased cardiac risk as well as the extent and complexity of CAD in patients with stable CAD.

Echocardiographic measurements of epicardial adipose tissue and comparative ability to predict adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease.

PubMed

Morales-Portano, Julieta D; Peraza-Zaldivar, Juan Ángel; Suárez-Cuenca, Juan A; Aceves-Millán, Rocío; Amezcua-Gómez, Lilia; Ixcamparij-Rosales, Carlos H; Trujillo-Cortés, Rafael; Robledo-Nolasco, Rogelio; Mondragón-Terán, Paul; Pérez-Cabeza de Vaca, Rebeca; Hernández-Muñoz, Rolando; Melchor-López, Alberto; Vannan, Mani A; Rubio-Guerra, Alberto Francisco

2018-05-02

The present study aimed to compare echocardiography measurements of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness and other risk factors regarding their ability to predict adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Outcomes of 107 patients (86 males, 21 females, mean age 63.6 years old) submitted to diagnostic echocardiography and coronary angiography were prospectively analyzed. EAT (measures over the right ventricle, interventricular groove and complete bulk of EAT) and left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) were performed by echocardiography. Coronary complexity was evaluated by Syntax score. Primary endpoints were major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE's), composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, intra-stent re-stenosis and episodes of decompensate heart failure requiring hospital attention during a mean follow up of 15.94 ± 3.6 months. Mean EAT thickness was 4.6 ± 1.9 mm; and correlated with Syntax score and body mass index; negatively correlated with LVEF. Twenty-three cases of MACE's were recorded during follow up, who showed higher EAT. Diagnostic ability of EAT to discriminate MACE's was comparable to LVEF (AUROC > 0.5); but higher than Syntax score. Quartile comparison of EAT revealed that measurement of the complete bulk of EAT provided a better discrimination range for MACE's, and higher, more significant adjusted risk (cutoff 4.6 mm, RR = 3.91; 95% CI 1.01-15.08; p = 0.04) than the other risk factors. We concluded that echocardiographic measurement of EAT showed higher predicting ability for MACE's than the other markers tested, in patients with CAD. Whether location for echocardiographic measurement of EAT impacts the diagnostic performance of this method deserves further study.

Analysis of Blended Learning Implementation on Waste Treatment Subjects in Agricultural Vocational School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugiarti, Y.; Nurmayani, S.; Mujdalipah, S.

2018-02-01

Waste treatment is one of the productive subjects in vocational high school in programs of Agricultural Processing Technology which is one of the objectives learning has been assigned in graduate competency standards (SKL) of Vocational High School. Based on case studies that have been conducted in SMK Pertanian Pembangunan Negeri Lembang, waste treatment subjects had still use the lecture method or conventional method, and students are less enthusiastic in learning process. Therefore, the implementation of more interactive learning models such as blended learning with Edmodo is one of alternative models to resolve the issue. So, the purpose of this study is to formulate the appropriate learning syntax for the implementation of blended learning with Edmodo to agree the requirement characteristics of students and waste treatment subject and explain the learning outcome obtained by students in the cognitive aspects on the subjects of waste treatment. This research was conducted by the method of classroom action research (CAR) with a Mc. Tagart model. The result from this research is the implementation of blended learning with Edmodo on the subjects of waste treatment can improve student learning outcomes in the cognitive aspects with the maximum increase in the value of N-gain 0.82, as well as student learning completeness criteria reaching 100% on cycle 2. Based on the condition of subject research the formulation of appropriate learning syntax for implementation of blended learning model with Edmodo on waste treatment subject are 1) Self-paced learning, 2) Group networking, 3) Live Event- collaboration, 4) Association - communication, 5) Assessment - Performance material support. In summary, implementation of blended learning model with Edmodo on waste treatment subject can improve improve student learning outcomes in the cognitive aspects and conducted in five steps on syntax.

Predictors of Peak Troponin Level in Acute Coronary Syndromes: Prior Aspirin Use and SYNTAX Score

PubMed Central

Bhatt, Hemal A.; Sanghani, Dharmesh R.; Lee, David; Julliard, Kell N.; Fernaine, George A.

2015-01-01

The peak troponin level has been associated with cardiovascular (CV) mortality and adverse CV events. The association of peak troponin with CV risk factors and severity and complexity of coronary artery disease remains unknown. We assessed the predictors of peak troponin in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This study aims to determine the predictors of peak troponin in ACS. Cardiac catheterization (CC) reports and electronic medical records from 2010 to 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 219 patients were eligible for the study. All major CV risk factors, comorbidities, laboratory data, CC indications, and coronary lesion characteristics were included. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were done. On multivariate linear regression analysis, ST-elevation myocardial infarction (p = 0.001, β = 65.16) and increasing synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with Taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) score (p = 0.002, β = 1.15) were associated with higher peak troponin. The Pearson correlation between SYNTAX score and peak troponin was r = 0.257, p = 0.001. History of daily aspirin use was associated with lower peak troponin (p = 0.002, β = −24.32). Prior statin use (p = 0.321, β = −8.98) and the presence of CV risk factors were not associated with peak troponin. Coronary artery disease severity and complexity, urgency of CC, and prior aspirin use are associated with peak troponin levels in ACS. Our findings may help predict patient population with ACS who would be at a greater risk for short- and long-term CV morbidity and mortality due to elevated peak troponin. PMID:26900312

Relationship between extent and complexity of coronary artery disease and different left ventricular geometric patterns in patients with coronary artery disease and hypertension

PubMed Central

Uçar, Hakan; Gür, Mustafa; Börekçi, Abdürrezzak; Yıldırım, Arafat; Baykan, Ahmet Oytun; Kalkan, Gülhan Yüksel; Koç, Mevlüt; Şeker, Taner; Coşkun, Mehmet; Şen, Ömer; Çaylı, Murat

2015-01-01

Objective: The relationship between severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) and left ventricler (LV) hypertrophy in hypertensive patients is well known. However, the association between the extent and complexity of CAD assessed with SYNTAX score (SS) and different LV geometric patterns has not been investigated. We aimed to investigate the association between SYNTAX score and different LV geometric patterns in hypertensive patients. Methods: The study had been made in our clinic between January 2013 and August 2013. We studied 251 CAD patients who had hypertension and who underwent coronary angiography (147 males, 104 females; mean age 61.61±9.9 years). Coronary angiography was performed based on clinical indications. SS was determined in all patients. Echocardiographic examination was performed in all subjects. Four different geometric patterns were determined in patients according to LV mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (RWT) (Groups: NG-normal geometry, CR-concentric remodeling, EH-eccentric hypertrophy, and CH-concentric hypertrophy). Biochemical markers were measured in all participants. Results: The highest SS values were observed in the CH group compared with the NG, CR, and EH groups (p<0.05 for all). Also, the SS values of the EH group were higher than in the NG and CR groups (p<0.05 for all). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that SS was independently associated with LV geometry (β=0.316, p=0.001), as well as age (β=0.163, p=0.007) and diabetes (β=-0.134, p=0.022). Conclusion: SYNTAX score is independently related with LV geometry in hypertensive patients. This result shows that LV remodeling is parallel to the increase in the extent and complexity of CAD in our study patients. PMID:25592099

Normalized Legal Drafting and the Query Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Layman E.; Engholm, C. Rudy

1978-01-01

Normalized legal drafting, a mode of expressing ideas in legal documents so that the syntax that relates the constituent propositions is simplified and standardized, and the query method, a question-asking activity that teaches normalized drafting and provides practice, are examined. Some examples are presented. (JMD)

The Neuronal Infrastructure of Speaking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menenti, Laura; Segaert, Katrien; Hagoort, Peter

2012-01-01

Models of speaking distinguish producing meaning, words and syntax as three different linguistic components of speaking. Nevertheless, little is known about the brain's integrated neuronal infrastructure for speech production. We investigated semantic, lexical and syntactic aspects of speaking using fMRI. In a picture description task, we…

ETC 408/508: Technical Editing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charlton, Michael

2013-01-01

The course will focus on the role of the editor in organizational settings, including creating successful writer/editor collaboration. Students will gain practice in editing documents for grammar, syntax, organization, style, emphasis, document design, graphics, and user-centered design. The course will provide an introduction to technology for…

Contemplating Symbolic Literacy of First Year Mathematics Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bardini, Caroline; Pierce, Robyn; Vincent, Jill

2015-01-01

Analysis of mathematical notations must consider both syntactical aspects of symbols and the underpinning mathematical concept(s) conveyed. We argue that the construct of "syntax template" provides a theoretical framework to analyse undergraduate mathematics students' written solutions, where we have identified several types of…

Child Language Acquisition: Contrasting Theoretical Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambridge, Ben; Lieven, Elena V. M.

2011-01-01

Is children's language acquisition based on innate linguistic structures or built from cognitive and communicative skills? This book summarises the major theoretical debates in all of the core domains of child language acquisition research (phonology, word-learning, inflectional morphology, syntax and binding) and includes a complete introduction…

Semantic Fission through Dialect Fusion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linn, Michael D.

The linguistic atlas projects have provided much information on the regional distribution of pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax and have given important evidence for a greater understanding of problems involved in semantic change, particularly in pointing out transition areas where dialects become fused. In a study supplementary to that…

Factor Scores, Structure Coefficients, and Communality Coefficients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwyn, Fara

2012-01-01

This paper presents heuristic explanations of factor scores, structure coefficients, and communality coefficients. Common misconceptions regarding these topics are clarified. In addition, (a) the regression (b) Bartlett, (c) Anderson-Rubin, and (d) Thompson methods for calculating factor scores are reviewed. Syntax necessary to execute all four…

Language and Communication Development in Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Joanne E.; Price, Johanna; Malkin, Cheryl

2007-01-01

Although there is considerable variability, most individuals with Down syndrome have mental retardation and speech and language deficits, particularly in language production and syntax and poor speech intelligibility. This article describes research findings in the language and communication development of individuals with Down syndrome, first…

Semantic Information and the Syntax of Propositional Attitude Verbs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Aaron S.; Hacquard, Valentine; Lidz, Jeffrey

2018-01-01

Propositional attitude verbs, such as "think" and "want," have long held interest for both theoretical linguists and language acquisitionists because their syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties display complex interactions that have proven difficult to fully capture from either perspective. This paper explores the…

A Study on Pragmatic Failure in Cross-Cultural Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fang, Jie

2010-01-01

Through analyzing and comparing the anecdotes of pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication from the aspects of lexicon, syntax and discourse, some pragmatic strategies are suggested in intercultural communication. To improve learners' cultural awareness and communicative competence, a cultural-linguistic approach in foreign language…

Semantics and Syntax of Non-Standard Coordination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paperno, Denis

2012-01-01

This dissertation explores the diversity and unity of coordination constructions in natural language. Following the goal of bridging syntactic typology with formal semantics, it takes the typological variation in NP coordination patterns as a challenge for semantic theory. Hybrid Coordination in Russian and Comitative Coordination in…

Children's Comprehension of Plural Predicate Conjunction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tieu, Lyn; Romoli, Jacopo; Poortman, Eva; Winter, Yoad; Crain, Stephen

2018-01-01

Previous developmental studies of conjunction have focused on the syntax of phrasal and sentential coordination (Lust, 1977; de Villiers, Tager-Flusberg & Hakuta, 1977; Bloom, Lahey, Hood, Lifter & Fiess, 1980, among others). The present study examined the flexibility of children's interpretation of conjunction. Specifically, when two…

In Pursuit of Authentic School Leadership Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Begley, Paul T.

2001-01-01

Describes authentic leadership and the essential characteristics of values. Discusses concept of values and semantic difficulties related thereto. Uses onion metaphors to illustrate syntax of values terminology and seven arenas of administration. Suggests that discussion and concepts presented in onion illustrations will contribute to school…

Academic Language in Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Constantinou, Phoebe

2015-01-01

This article focuses on defining academic language in physical education and provides a step-by-step approach designed to help preservice and inservice teachers understand and incorporated academic language into their lesson planning. It provides examples of discipline-specific vocabulary, language functions, syntax, and discourse, aiming to…

Parallel Architecture, Parallel Acquisition Cross-Linguistic Evidence from Nominal and Verbal Domains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutton, Brett R.

2017-01-01

This dissertation explores parallels between Complementizer Phrase (CP) and Determiner Phrase (DP) semantics, syntax, and morphology--including similarities in case-assignment, subject-verb and possessor-possessum agreement, subject and possessor semantics, and overall syntactic structure--in first language acquisition. Applying theoretical…

No reason to expect "reading universals".

PubMed

Levy, Yonata

2012-10-01

Writing systems encode linguistic information in diverse ways, relying on cognitive procedures that are likely to be general purpose rather than specific to reading. Optimality in reading for meaning is achieved via the entire communicative act, involving, when the need arises, syntax, nonlinguistic context, and selective attention.

Data as Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolby, James L.

1984-01-01

Suggests structure based on two sets of principles for deriving meaning from data: Shannon's measure of entropy, which provides means of measuring amount of information in message; and Ranganathan's faceted classification scheme, which provides means of determining number of meaningful data. Syntax, meaning, and semantics of data are discussed.…

A Statistical Method for Syntactic Dialectometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanders, Nathan C.

2010-01-01

This dissertation establishes the utility and reliability of a statistical distance measure for syntactic dialectometry, expanding dialectometry's methods to include syntax as well as phonology and the lexicon. It establishes the measure's reliability by comparing its results to those of dialectology and phonological dialectometry on Swedish…

Arden Syntax Clinical Foundation Framework for Event Monitoring in Intensive Care Units: Report on a Pilot Study.

PubMed

de Bruin, Jeroen S; Zeckl, Julia; Adlassnig, Katharina; Blacky, Alexander; Koller, Walter; Rappelsberger, Andrea; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter

2017-01-01

The creation of clinical decision support systems has received a strong impulse over the last years, but their integration into a clinical routine has lagged behind, partly due to a lack of interoperability and trust by physicians. We report on the implementation of a clinical foundation framework in Arden Syntax, comprising knowledge units for (a) preprocessing raw clinical data, (b) the determination of single clinical concepts, and (c) more complex medical knowledge, which can be modeled through the composition and configuration of knowledge units in this framework. Thus, it can be tailored to clinical institutions or patients' caregivers. In the present version, we integrated knowledge units for several infection-related clinical concepts into the framework and developed a clinical event monitoring system over the framework that employs three different scenarios for monitoring clinical signs of bloodstream infection. The clinical event monitoring system was tested using data from intensive care units at Vienna General Hospital, Austria.

Unprotected Left Main Coronary Artery Disease: Management in the Post NOBLE and EXCEL Era

PubMed Central

Kapadia, Samir R; Ellis, Stephen G

2017-01-01

The optimal management of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease is currently a debated topic. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has seen an increased adoption for the management of ULMCA disease after numerous small-scale randomised trials and cohort studies showed equipoise with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for low complexity lesions. The recently published NOBLE and EXCEL trials are two of the largest international randomised clinical trials comparing PCI and CABG in patients with ULMCA disease. In lieu of all the available evidence, PCI appears to be equivalent to CABG in regard to mortality in patients with ULMCA disease. In non-diabetic patients with low complexity coronary disease (SYNTAX score ≤32), PCI appears to be a reasonable alternative to CABG, especially for ostial and midshaft left main coronary lesions. CABG is preferable in the presence of diabetes, multivessel coronary disease in addition to ULMCA or complex coronary lesions (SYNTAX score >33) including distal left main lesions. PMID:29588736

Unprotected Left Main Coronary Artery Disease: Management in the Post NOBLE and EXCEL Era.

PubMed

Borges, Nyal; Kapadia, Samir R; Ellis, Stephen G

2017-09-01

The optimal management of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease is currently a debated topic. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has seen an increased adoption for the management of ULMCA disease after numerous small-scale randomised trials and cohort studies showed equipoise with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for low complexity lesions. The recently published NOBLE and EXCEL trials are two of the largest international randomised clinical trials comparing PCI and CABG in patients with ULMCA disease. In lieu of all the available evidence, PCI appears to be equivalent to CABG in regard to mortality in patients with ULMCA disease. In non-diabetic patients with low complexity coronary disease (SYNTAX score ≤32), PCI appears to be a reasonable alternative to CABG, especially for ostial and midshaft left main coronary lesions. CABG is preferable in the presence of diabetes, multivessel coronary disease in addition to ULMCA or complex coronary lesions (SYNTAX score >33) including distal left main lesions.

Translation and cultural adaptation of the Aguado Syntax Test (AST) into Brazilian Portuguese.

PubMed

Baggio, Gustavo Inheta; Hage, Simone Rocha de Vasconcellos

2017-12-07

To perform the translation and cultural adaptation of the Aguado Syntax Test (AST) into Brazilian Portuguese considering the linguistic and cultural reality of the language. The AST assesses the early morphosyntactic development in children aged 3 to 7 in terms of understanding and expression of various types of structures such as sentences, pronouns, verbal voices, comparisons, prepositions and verbal desinence as to number, mode and tense. The process of translation and cultural adaptation followed four steps: 1) preparation of two translations; 2) synthesis of consensual translations; 3) backtranslation; and 4) verification of equivalence between the initial translations and backtranslations that resulted in the final translated version. The whole process of translation and cultural adaptation revealed the presence of equivalence and reconciliation of the translated items and an almost complete semantic equivalence between the two translations and the absence of consistent translation difficulties. The AST was translated and culturally adapted into Brazilian Portuguese, constituting the first step towards validation and standardization of the test.

Event-related brain potentials to violations of arithmetic syntax represented by place value structure.

PubMed

Szucs, Dénes; Soltész, Fruzsina

2010-05-01

We dissociated ERP markers of semantic (numerical distance) vs. syntactic (place value) incongruence in the domain of arithmetic. Participants verified additions with four-digit numbers. Semantic incongruencies elicited the N400 ERP effect. A centro-parietal (putative P600) effect to place value violations was not related to arithmetic syntax. Rather, this effect was an enlarged P3b reflecting different surprise values of place value vs. non-place value violations. This potential confound should be considered in numerical cognition experiments. The latency of the N400 and P3a effects were differentially affected by place value analysis. The amplitude of the P3a and that of a fronto-central positive effect (FP600) was sensitive to place value analysis and digit content. Results suggest that ERPs can index the syntactical analysis of multi-digit numbers. Both ERP and behavioral data confirmed that multi-digit numbers were decomposed into their constituent digits, rather than evaluated holistically. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The dilemma of the symbols: analogies between philosophy, biology and artificial life.

PubMed

Spadaro, Salvatore

2013-01-01

This article analyzes some analogies going from Artificial Life questions about the symbol-matter connection to Artificial Intelligence questions about symbol-grounding. It focuses on the notion of the interpretability of syntax and how the symbols are integrated in a unity ("binding problem"). Utilizing the DNA code as a model, this paper discusses how syntactic features could be defined as high-grade characteristics of the non syntactic relations in a material-dynamic structure, by using an emergentist approach. This topic furnishes the ground for a confutation of J. Searle's statement that syntax is observer-relative, as he wrote in his book "Mind: A Brief Introduction". Moreover the evolving discussion also modifies the classic symbol-processing doctrine in the mind which Searle attacks as a strong AL argument, that life could be implemented in a computational mode. Lastly, this paper furnishes a new way of support for the autonomous systems thesis in Artificial Life and Artificial Intelligence, using, inter alia, the "adaptive resonance theory" (ART).

Examining the Relationship Between Word Reading Efficiency and Oral Reading Rate in Predicting Comprehension Among Different Types of Readers

PubMed Central

Eason, Sarah H.; Sabatini, John; Goldberg, Lindsay; Bruce, Kelly; Cutting, Laurie E.

2013-01-01

To further explore contextual reading rate, an important aspect of reading fluency, we examined the relationship between word reading efficiency (WRE) and contextual oral reading rate (ORR), the degree to which they overlap across different comprehension measures, whether oral language (semantics and syntax) predicts ORR beyond contributions of word-level skills, and whether the WRE–ORR relationship varies based on different reader profiles. Assessing reading and language of average readers, poor decoders, and poor comprehenders, ages 10 to 14, ORR was the strongest predictor of comprehension across various formats; WRE contributed no unique variance after taking ORR into account. Findings indicated that semantics, not syntax, contributed to ORR. Poor comprehenders performed below average on measures of ORR, despite average WRE, expanding previous findings suggesting specific weaknesses in ORR for this group. Together, findings suggest that ORR draws upon skills beyond those captured by WRE and suggests a role for oral language (semantics) in ORR. PMID:23667307

Facilitation and practice in verb acquisition.

PubMed

Keren-Portnoy, Tamar

2006-08-01

This paper presents a model of syntax acquisition, whose main points are as follows: Syntax is acquired in an item-based manner; early learning facilitates subsequent learning--as evidenced by the accelerating rate of new verbs entering a given structure; and mastery of syntactic knowledge is typically achieved through practice--as evidenced by intensive use and common word order errors--and this slows down learning during the early stages of acquiring a structure. The facilitation and practice hypotheses were tested on naturalistic production samples of six Hebrew-acquiring children ranging from ages 1;1 to 2;7 (average ages 1;6 to 2;4 months). Results show that most structures did in fact accelerate; the notion of 'practice' is supported by the inverse correlation found between number of verbs and number of errors in the earliest productions in a given structure; and the absence of acceleration in a minority of the structures is due to the fact that they involve relatively less practice.

Separating Business Logic from Medical Knowledge in Digital Clinical Workflows Using Business Process Model and Notation and Arden Syntax.

PubMed

de Bruin, Jeroen S; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter; Leitich, Harald; Rappelsberger, Andrea

2018-01-01

Evidence-based clinical guidelines have a major positive effect on the physician's decision-making process. Computer-executable clinical guidelines allow for automated guideline marshalling during a clinical diagnostic process, thus improving the decision-making process. Implementation of a digital clinical guideline for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B as a computerized workflow, thereby separating business logic from medical knowledge and decision-making. We used the Business Process Model and Notation language system Activiti for business logic and workflow modeling. Medical decision-making was performed by an Arden-Syntax-based medical rule engine, which is part of the ARDENSUITE software. We succeeded in creating an electronic clinical workflow for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B, where institution-specific medical decision-making processes could be adapted without modifying the workflow business logic. Separation of business logic and medical decision-making results in more easily reusable electronic clinical workflows.

Subtle Implicit Language Facts Emerge from the Functions of Constructions

PubMed Central

Goldberg, Adele E.

2016-01-01

Much has been written about the unlikelihood of innate, syntax-specific, universal knowledge of language (Universal Grammar) on the grounds that it is biologically implausible, unresponsive to cross-linguistic facts, theoretically inelegant, and implausible and unnecessary from the perspective of language acquisition. While relevant, much of this discussion fails to address the sorts of facts that generative linguists often take as evidence in favor of the Universal Grammar Hypothesis: subtle, intricate, knowledge about language that speakers implicitly know without being taught. This paper revisits a few often-cited such cases and argues that, although the facts are sometimes even more complex and subtle than is generally appreciated, appeals to Universal Grammar fail to explain the phenomena. Instead, such facts are strongly motivated by the functions of the constructions involved. The following specific cases are discussed: (a) the distribution and interpretation of anaphoric one, (b) constraints on long-distance dependencies, (c) subject-auxiliary inversion, and (d) cross-linguistic linking generalizations between semantics and syntax. PMID:26858662

Syntactic Cues to Individuation in Mandarin Chinese

PubMed Central

Cheung, Pierina; Barner, David; Li, Peggy

2012-01-01

When presented with an entity (e.g., a wooden honey-dipper) labeled with a novel noun, how does a listener know that the noun refers to an instance of an object kind (honey-dipper) rather than to a substance kind (wood)? While English speakers draw upon count-mass syntax for clues to the noun’s meaning, linguists have proposed that classifier languages, which lack count-mass syntax, provide other syntactic cues. Three experiments tested Mandarin-speakers’ sensitivity to the diminutive suffix -zi and the general classifier ge when interpreting novel nouns. Experiment 1 found that -zi occurs more frequently with nouns that denote object kinds. Experiment 2 demonstrated Mandarin-speaking adults’ sensitivity to ge and -zi when inferring novel word meanings. Experiment 3 tested Mandarin three- to six-year-olds’ sensitivity to ge. We discuss differences in the developmental course of these cues relative to cues in English, and the impact of this difference to children’s understanding of individuation. PMID:23193387

The Sizing and Optimization Language, (SOL): Computer language for design problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lucas, Stephen H.; Scotti, Stephen J.

1988-01-01

The Sizing and Optimization Language, (SOL), a new high level, special purpose computer language was developed to expedite application of numerical optimization to design problems and to make the process less error prone. SOL utilizes the ADS optimization software and provides a clear, concise syntax for describing an optimization problem, the OPTIMIZE description, which closely parallels the mathematical description of the problem. SOL offers language statements which can be used to model a design mathematically, with subroutines or code logic, and with existing FORTRAN routines. In addition, SOL provides error checking and clear output of the optimization results. Because of these language features, SOL is best suited to model and optimize a design concept when the model consits of mathematical expressions written in SOL. For such cases, SOL's unique syntax and error checking can be fully utilized. SOL is presently available for DEC VAX/VMS systems. A SOL package is available which includes the SOL compiler, runtime library routines, and a SOL reference manual.

A long-term predictive validity study: can the CDI Short Form be used to predict language and early literacy skills four years later?

PubMed

Can, Dilara Deniz; Ginsburg-Block, Marika; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathryn

2013-09-01

This longitudinal study examined the predictive validity of the MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories-Short Form (CDI-SF), a parent report questionnaire about children's language development (Fenson, Pethick, Renda, Cox, Dale & Reznick, 2000). Data were first gathered from parents on the CDI-SF vocabulary scores for seventy-six children (mean age=1 ; 10). Four years later (mean age=6 ; 1), children were assessed on language outcomes (expressive vocabulary, syntax, semantics and pragmatics) and code-related skills, including phonemic awareness, word recognition and decoding skills. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that early expressive vocabulary accounted for 17% of the variance in picture vocabulary, 11% of the variance in syntax, and 7% of the variance in semantics, while not accounting for any variance in pragmatics in kindergarten. CDI-SF scores did not predict code-related skills in kindergarten. The importance of early vocabulary skills for later language development and CDI-SF as a valuable research tool are discussed.

Semantic Processing Persists despite Anomalous Syntactic Category: ERP Evidence from Chinese Passive Sentences.

PubMed

Yang, Yang; Wu, Fuyun; Zhou, Xiaolin

2015-01-01

The syntax-first model and the parallel/interactive models make different predictions regarding whether syntactic category processing has a temporal and functional primacy over semantic processing. To further resolve this issue, an event-related potential experiment was conducted on 24 Chinese speakers reading Chinese passive sentences with the passive marker BEI (NP1 + BEI + NP2 + Verb). This construction was selected because it is the most-commonly used Chinese passive and very much resembles German passives, upon which the syntax-first hypothesis was primarily based. We manipulated semantic consistency (consistent vs. inconsistent) and syntactic category (noun vs. verb) of the critical verb, yielding four conditions: CORRECT (correct sentences), SEMANTIC (semantic anomaly), SYNTACTIC (syntactic category anomaly), and COMBINED (combined anomalies). Results showed both N400 and P600 effects for sentences with semantic anomaly, with syntactic category anomaly, or with combined anomalies. Converging with recent findings of Chinese ERP studies on various constructions, our study provides further evidence that syntactic category processing does not precede semantic processing in reading Chinese.

Terminology representation guidelines for biomedical ontologies in the semantic web notations.

PubMed

Tao, Cui; Pathak, Jyotishman; Solbrig, Harold R; Wei, Wei-Qi; Chute, Christopher G

2013-02-01

Terminologies and ontologies are increasingly prevalent in healthcare and biomedicine. However they suffer from inconsistent renderings, distribution formats, and syntax that make applications through common terminologies services challenging. To address the problem, one could posit a shared representation syntax, associated schema, and tags. We identified a set of commonly-used elements in biomedical ontologies and terminologies based on our experience with the Common Terminology Services 2 (CTS2) Specification as well as the Lexical Grid (LexGrid) project. We propose guidelines for precisely such a shared terminology model, and recommend tags assembled from SKOS, OWL, Dublin Core, RDF Schema, and DCMI meta-terms. We divide these guidelines into lexical information (e.g. synonyms, and definitions) and semantic information (e.g. hierarchies). The latter we distinguish for use by informal terminologies vs. formal ontologies. We then evaluate the guidelines with a spectrum of widely used terminologies and ontologies to examine how the lexical guidelines are implemented, and whether our proposed guidelines would enhance interoperability. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Context-Sensitive Clinical Alert Packages Written in Arden Syntax.

PubMed

Zeckl, Julia; Adlassnig, Katharina; Fossler, Renate; Blacky, Alexander; de Bruin, Jeroen S; Koller, Walter; Rappelsberger, Andrea; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter

2017-01-01

An increasing body of raw patient data is generated on each day of a patient's stay at a hospital. It is of paramount importance that critical patient information be extracted from these large data volumes and presented to the patient's clinical caregivers as early as possible. Contemporary clinical alert systems attempt to provide this service with moderate success. The efficacy of the systems is limited by the fact that they are too general to fit specific patient populations or healthcare institutions. In this study we present an extendable alerting framework implemented in Arden Syntax, which can be configured to the needs and preferences of healthcare institutions and individual patient caregivers. We illustrate the potential of this alerting framework via an alert package that analyzes hematological laboratory results with data from intensive care units at the Vienna General Hospital, Austria. The results show the effectiveness of this alert package and its ability to generate key alerts while avoiding over-alerting.

Can thematic roles leave traces of their places?

PubMed

Chang, Franklin; Bock, Kathryn; Goldberg, Adele E

2003-11-01

An important question in the study of language production is the nature of the semantic information that speakers use to create syntactic structures. A common answer to this question assumes that thematic roles help to mediate the mapping from messages to syntax. However, research using structural priming has suggested that the construction of syntactic frames may be insensitive to variations in thematic roles within messages (Cognition 35 (1990) 1; Psychological Review 99 (1992) 150). Because these studies involved structural alternations whose syntax covaries with the order of thematic roles, it is difficult to assess any independent contribution that role information may make to the positioning of phrases. In this study, we primed the order of the roles without changing the syntactic structure of the sentences produced, and found that the order of the roles was influenced by the priming manipulation. This implies that thematic roles or the features that differentiate them are active within the mapping between messages and sentence structures.

HiVy automated translation of stateflow designs for model checking verification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pingree, Paula

2003-01-01

tool set enables model checking of finite state machines designs. This is acheived by translating state-chart specifications into the input language of the Spin model checker. An abstract syntax of hierarchical sequential automata (HSA) is provided as an intermediate format tool set.

The Visual Syntax of Algebra.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirshner, David

1989-01-01

A structured system of visual features is seen to parallel the propositional hierarchy of operations usually associated with the parsing of algebraic expressions. Women more than men were found to depend on these visual cues. Possible causes and consequences are discussed. Subjects were secondary and college students. (Author/DC)

Becoming Syntactic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Franklin; Dell, Gary S.; Bock, Kathryn

2006-01-01

Psycholinguistic research has shown that the influence of abstract syntactic knowledge on performance is shaped by particular sentences that have been experienced. To explore this idea, the authors applied a connectionist model of sentence production to the development and use of abstract syntax. The model makes use of (a) error-based learning to…

The Logical Syntax of Number Words: Theory, Acquisition and Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Musolino, Julien

2009-01-01

Recent work on the acquisition of number words has emphasized the importance of integrating linguistic and developmental perspectives [Musolino, J. (2004). The semantics and acquisition of number words: Integrating linguistic and developmental perspectives. "Cognition 93", 1-41; Papafragou, A., Musolino, J. (2003). Scalar implicatures: Scalar…

Incidental Exposure and L3 Learning of Morphosyntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grey, Sarah; Williams, John N.; Rebuschat, Patrick

2014-01-01

Evidence of learning following incidental exposure has been found for aspects of nonnative syntax in adults (Rebuschat & Williams, 2006, 2012; Williams & Kuribara, 2008). However, little research has tested delayed effects of learning under an incidental condition or moved beyond word order. This study investigated learning of third…

The Origins of Syntax in Discourse: A Case Study of Tok Pisin Relatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sankoff, Gillian; Brown, Penelope

1976-01-01

This article discusses the discourse functions of relativization. Relativization is seen as an instance of the application of "bracketing" devices used in the organization of information. Syntactic structure is thus seen as a component of, and derivative from, discourse structure. (CLK)

Suprasegmental Aspects of Reading Interference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westbrook, Colston R.

Information is presented in this paper regarding suprasegmental features of Black English thay may cause reading interference for some Black children. Much of the research concerning reading problems of many Afro-American students stresses the segmental differences of the phonology, the morphology, the syntax, and lexical selection between two…

Parsimonious Compositionality: Probing Syntax and Semantics with French "Propre"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charnavel, Isabelle

2012-01-01

This dissertation focuses on the French word "propre" roughly meaning "characteristic-of" and corresponding to English "own" found in "her own thesis." This adjective makes extremely varied and complex contributions to the meaning and properties of sentences it occurs in. The present work addresses the…

What Is Most Important to Know about Vocabulary?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kucan, Linda

2012-01-01

This article makes use of Perfetti's Lexical Quality Hypothesis as a perspective for thinking about vocabulary instruction in terms of semantics (meaning), phonology (pronunciation), orthography (spelling), morphology (meaningful word parts), and syntax (how words function in sentences). Examples are presented of how these aspects of vocabulary…

Information Structure, Grammar and Strategy in Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Jon

2013-01-01

This dissertation examines two information-structural phenomena, Givenness and Focus, from the perspective of both syntax and pragmatics. Evidence from English, German and other languages suggests a "split" analysis of information structure--the notions of Focus and Givenness, often thought to be closely related, exist independently at…

A Functional Syntax of German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fichtner, Edward G.

Students in intermediate language courses, especially conversational courses, can benefit from a simple set of instructions for combining words and phrases into sentences. A description of the basic concepts determining word order in German--the fundamental sequence of clause elements, the "infrastructure," and the movement rules by which the…

The Syntax of Sentential Complementation in Turkish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Predolac, Esra

2017-01-01

This dissertation examines primarily the syntactic, but also the semantic/pragmatic behavior of sentential complement clauses in Turkish and proposes a new classification of such complements. A head-final language, Turkish lacks an overt, lexical complementizer akin to English "that". The most frequent types of sentential complementation…

CONSTRAINTS ON VARIABLES IN SYNTAX.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ROSS, JOHN ROBERT

IN ATTEMPTING TO DEFINE "SYNTACTIC VARIABLE," THE AUTHOR BASES HIS DISCUSSION ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT SYNTACTIC FACTS ARE A COLLECTION OF TWO TYPES OF RULES--CONTEXT-FREE PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES (GENERATING UNDERLYING OR DEEP PHRASE MARKERS) AND GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATIONS, WHICH MAP UNDERLYING PHRASE MARKERS ONTO SUPERFICIAL (OR SURFACE) PHRASE…

Communication Profiles of Adolescents with Down Syndrome.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosin, Margaret M.; And Others

1988-01-01

The study compared communication patterns of male adolescents with Down Syndrome with males matched for chronological age and mental age. The Down Syndrome group was significantly different for mean length of utterance, comprehension of syntax, single word articulation, selected diadochokinetic tasks, and some aerodynamic tasks. (Author/JDD)

Measuring Metasyntactic Abilities: On a Classification of Metasyntactic Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simard, Daphnée; Labelle, Marie; Bergeron, Annie

2017-01-01

Researchers working on "metasyntactic abilities" (i.e., the metalinguistic ability associated with syntax) face the problem of defining and measuring them. Metasyntactic abilities is a multifaceted concept, which encompasses various types of behaviours, from being able to intentionally manipulate syntactic structures to being able to…

Adjectives That Aren't: An ERP-Theoretical Analysis of Adjectives in Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartlett, Laura B.

2013-01-01

This thesis investigates the syntactic status of adjectives in Spanish through a crossdisciplinary perspective, incorporating methodologies from both theoretical linguistics and neurolinguistics, specifically, event-related potentials (ERPs). It presents conflicting theories about the syntax of adjectives and explores the ways that the processing…

Clausal Continuations in Japanese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krekoski, Ross

2012-01-01

Recent studies illustrate cases of turn continuations that are not necessarily criterially dependent on clausal syntax (Couper-Kuhlen & Ono, 2007; Ford, Fox, & Thompson, 2002), advancing a more multidimensional construal of turn expansions, in general, which, as Auer (2007) put it, "is not a syntactic issue alone" (p. 651). This study further…

Computer Processing of Esperanto Text.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherwood, Bruce

1981-01-01

Basic aspects of computer processing of Esperanto are considered in relation to orthography and computer representation, phonetics, morphology, one-syllable and multisyllable words, lexicon, semantics, and syntax. There are 28 phonemes in Esperanto, each represented in orthography by a single letter. The PLATO system handles diacritics by using a…

The "New Oxford English Dictionary" Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fawcett, Heather

1993-01-01

Describes the conversion of the 22,000-page Oxford English Dictionary to an electronic version incorporating a modified Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) syntax. Explains that the database designers chose structured markup because it supports users' data searching needs, allows textual components to be extracted or modified, and allows…

The Anterior Midline Field: Coercion or Decision Making?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pylkkanen, Liina; Martin, Andrea E.; McElree, Brian; Smart, Andrew

2009-01-01

To study the neural bases of semantic composition in language processing without confounds from syntactic composition, recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies have investigated the processing of constructions that exhibit some type of syntax-semantics mismatch. The most studied case of such a mismatch is "complement coercion;" expressions such…

The Syntax of Inaudible Noun Phrases in Korean

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Ock-Hwan

2012-01-01

In this dissertation, I examine the interpretation of NP-ellipsis (henceforth, NPE) in Korean. Some unexpected interpretive and grammatical contrasts arise in Korean between pro-forms such as "caki" "self" and "ku" "'3.S.M" (~"he") in object position and their null counterparts in NPE…

Emergence of New Disciplines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Areekkuzhiyil, Santhosh

2017-01-01

Disciplines have contrasting substance and syntax, ways of organizing themselves and of defining rules for making arguments and claims that others will warrant. They have different ways of talking about themselves and about the problems, topics, and issues that constitute their subject matters. The evolution of a discipline begins with knowledge…

Madija Predicates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Pamela S.

This paper examines several previously-unexplained aspects of verbal morphology and syntax in Madija, an Arauan languages spoken in Peru and Brazil. These include the distribution of an auxiliary verb that occurs with some predicates but not with others and the factors that determine the choice among three different affixes marking third person…

Automatically Grading Customer Confidence in a Formal Specification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shukur, Zarina; Burke, Edmund; Foxley, Eric

1999-01-01

Describes an automatic grading system for a formal methods computer science course that is able to evaluate a formal specification written in the Z language. Quality is measured by considering first, specification correctness (syntax, semantics, and satisfaction of customer requirements), and second, specification maintainability (comparison of…

Somali Syntax,

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-01-01

they - go The Vietnamese people should be allowed the right of determining their own destiny . 174" a.- ] !- ’--- _ (373) Anaa warrameya. I/SP (baa... embryo of a form of prepositional government which is the same for verbs and nouns alike and which is developing on the basis of a spatial noun

The ABCs of Writing a Technical Glossary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Evie; Ingram, William; Bodson, Dennis

1998-01-01

Explains format, style rules, and lexicographic conventions that improve clarity and precision in a technical glossary. Discusses general rules, rules of style, rules of grammar and syntax, and rules for figures. Describes the computer display techniques and file management system used to develop such a glossary. (SR)

Relative Weighting of Semantic and Syntactic Cues in Native and Non-Native Listeners' Recognition of English Sentences.

PubMed

Shi, Lu-Feng; Koenig, Laura L

2016-01-01

Non-native listeners do not recognize English sentences as effectively as native listeners, especially in noise. It is not entirely clear to what extent such group differences arise from differences in relative weight of semantic versus syntactic cues. This study quantified the use and weighting of these contextual cues via Boothroyd and Nittrouer's j and k factors. The j represents the probability of recognizing sentences with or without context, whereas the k represents the degree to which context improves recognition performance. Four groups of 13 normal-hearing young adult listeners participated. One group consisted of native English monolingual (EMN) listeners, whereas the other three consisted of non-native listeners contrasting in their language dominance and first language: English-dominant Russian-English, Russian-dominant Russian-English, and Spanish-dominant Spanish-English bilinguals. All listeners were presented three sets of four-word sentences: high-predictability sentences included both semantic and syntactic cues, low-predictability sentences included syntactic cues only, and zero-predictability sentences included neither semantic nor syntactic cues. Sentences were presented at 65 dB SPL binaurally in the presence of speech-spectrum noise at +3 dB SNR. Listeners orally repeated each sentence and recognition was calculated for individual words as well as the sentence as a whole. Comparable j values across groups for high-predictability, low-predictability, and zero-predictability sentences suggested that all listeners, native and non-native, utilized contextual cues to recognize English sentences. Analysis of the k factor indicated that non-native listeners took advantage of syntax as effectively as EMN listeners. However, only English-dominant bilinguals utilized semantics to the same extent as EMN listeners; semantics did not provide a significant benefit for the two non-English-dominant groups. When combined, semantics and syntax benefitted EMN listeners significantly more than all three non-native groups of listeners. Language background influenced the use and weighting of semantic and syntactic cues in a complex manner. A native language advantage existed in the effective use of both cues combined. A language-dominance effect was seen in the use of semantics. No first-language effect was present for the use of either or both cues. For all non-native listeners, syntax contributed significantly more to sentence recognition than semantics, possibly due to the fact that semantics develops more gradually than syntax in second-language acquisition. The present study provides evidence that Boothroyd and Nittrouer's j and k factors can be successfully used to quantify the effectiveness of contextual cue use in clinically relevant, linguistically diverse populations.

THE STRUCTURE OF RIFF.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

APPLEGATE, JOSEPH R.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS DESCRIPTIVE STUDY IS TO DEFINE THE MAJOR STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF RIFF, A BERBER LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY THE BERBER TRIBESMEN OF THE RIF IN NORTHERN MOROCCO. THE DESCRIPTION IS PRESENTED IN THREE PARTS--PHONOLOGY, MORPHOLOGY, AND SYNTAX. THE PHONEMES ARE DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURES. PHARYNGEALIZATION AND TENSION ARE…

AN OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF KABYLE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

APPLEGATE, JOSEPH R.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS DESCRIPTIVE STUDY IS TO DEFINE THE MAJOR STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF KABYLE, A GROUP OF BERBER DIALECTS SPOKEN CHIEFLY IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALGERIA. THE DESCRIPTION IS PRESENTED IN THREE PARTS--PHONOLOGY, MORPHOLOGY, AND SYNTAX. THE PHONEMES ARE DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURES. PHARYNGEALIZATION AND GEMINATION ARE…

Re-Examining Traditional Values in Foreign Language Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahilly, Leonard J.

Not long ago, foreign languages were taught in schools and colleges not for practical use or cultural understanding, but for intellectual discipline, understanding of English grammar and syntax, vocabulary enrichment, or to allow reading of foreign literature. The space race and development of jet travel changed attitudes toward language learning…

African-American Students and Foreign Language Learning. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, James J.

The performance and attitudes of African-American students of foreign languages are discussed in this digest. Three major areas are reported: (1) Black English and foreign language learning, including theories of language deficiency, sociolinguistic research, phonology and syntax; (2) research on the performance of African-American students of…

What a Nonnative Speaker of English Needs to Learn through Listening.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohlken, Robert; Macias, Lori

Teaching nonnative speakers of English to listen for the discriminating nuances of the language is an important but neglected aspect of American English language training. A discriminating listening process follows a sequence of distinguishing phonemes, supra segmental phonemes, morphemes, and syntax. Certain phonetic differences can be noted…

Teaching Computer Science: A Problem Solving Approach that Works.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, V. H.; Kolesar, M. V.

The typical introductory programming course is not an appropriate first computer science course for many students. Initial experiences with programming are often frustrating, resulting in a low rate of successful completion, and focus on syntax rather than providing a representative picture of computer science as a discipline. The paper discusses…

Reports 1. The Yugoslav Serbo-Croatian-English Contrastive Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filipovic, Rudolf, Ed.

The first volume in this series contains 10 articles dealing with various aspects of Serbo-Croatian-English contrastive analysis. They are: "Research Guide for Project Workers. (I) Morphology and Syntax," by William Nemser and Vladimir Ivir; "Direction and Continuity in Contrastive Analysis," by Ranko Bugarski; "On Inversion in English and…

The Role of Contextual Restriction in Reference-Tracking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKenzie, Andrew Robert

2012-01-01

This dissertation explores the semantics and syntax of switch-reference (SR). It makes novel generalizations about the phenomenon based on two empirical sources: A broad, cross-linguistic survey of descriptive reports, and semantic fieldwork that narrowly targets the Kiowa language of Oklahoma. It shows that previous attempts at formalizing…

A Spanish Twilight Zone: Mood, Syntax, and Past Temporal Reference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Studeros, Leonard H.

1981-01-01

Explores the interrelationships among mood usage, syntactic contrast and past temporal reference in Spanish. Describes specific effects of varying temporal reference on mood and syntactic signaling, and employs an inventory of five subjunctive determining matrices to show that such effects are best explained by means of a…

Student Performance in Computer-Assisted Instruction in Programming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friend, Jamesine E.; And Others

A computer-assisted instructional system to teach college students the computer language, AID (Algebraic Interpretive Dialogue), two control programs, and data collected by the two control programs are described. It was found that although first response errors were often those of AID syntax, such errors were easily corrected. Secondly, while…

FROM SEMANTICS TO SYNTAX.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KAY, MARTIN

A LINGUISTIC MODEL OF HUMAN LANGUAGE MUST ACCOUNT FOR BOTH "SENTENCES" AND "MEANINGS" AS WELL AS EXPLAIN HOW SPEAKERS ARE ABLE TO TRANSLATE SENTENCES INTO MEANINGS AND VICE VERSA. THE AUTHOR DOUBTS THAT THE RULES OF A TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR WILL BE ABLE TO CONSTRUCT A TRANSDUCER CAPABLE OF TRANSLATING MEANINGS INTO…

Who Did What to Whom? The Relationship between Syntactic Aspects of Sentence Comprehension and Text Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulsen, Mads; Gravgaard, Amalie K. D.

2016-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between syntactic comprehension at the sentence level and text-level comprehension. The study isolated the specific contribution of syntax by asking whether sentence comprehension efficiency of difficult syntactic constructions explained variance in text comprehension after controlling for sentence…

The Syntax and Pragmatics of Fronting in Germanic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Light, Caitlin

2012-01-01

Across the Germanic language family, we find a type of movement traditionally termed "topicalization," which may be realized in Germanic languages which possess the so-called Verb-Second (V2) constraint, as well as those without it. I will henceforward call this phenomenon "fronting" to avoid theoretical assumptions. This…

Building Phrase Structure from Items and Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinney-Bock, Katherine S.

2013-01-01

This dissertation aims to revisit foundational issues in syntactic theory regarding cyclicity and displacement. I take narrow syntax to operate over domains ("phases") more local than in current Minimalism. To do this, I define a notion of "phase overlap" which involves the sharing of grammatical features across two independent…

The Morpho-Syntax and Pragmatics of Levantine Arabic Negation: A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alqassas, Ahmad

2012-01-01

This dissertation investigates the morphosyntax and pragmatics of Levantine Arabic negation from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. It is shown that the complex distribution of the negation morphemes "ma," "la" and "-sh" is subject to morphosyntactic and pragmatic constraints. The morphosyntactic…

The Morphosyntax of Discontinuous Exponence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Amy Melissa

2012-01-01

This thesis offers a systematic treatment of discontinuous exponence, a pattern of inflection in which a single feature or a set of features bundled in syntax is expressed by multiple, distinct morphemes. This pattern is interesting and theoretically relevant because it represents a deviation from the expected one-to-one relationship between…

Academic Language in Early Childhood Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Erica M.; Grifenhagen, Jill F.; Dickinson, David K.

2016-01-01

This article defines academic language by examining the central features of vocabulary, syntax, and discourse function. Examples of each feature are provided, as well as methods of identifying them in oral language and printed text. We describe a yearlong study that found teachers used different types of academic language based on instructional…

Swahili Sentence Structure. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harries, Lyndon

This descriptive work on Swahili syntax, influenced by (but not based on) Halliday's general concept of the "elements of structure," is intended for intermediate and advanced students who are already familiar with the grammatical categories and the system of affixes in Swahili. Chapters treat the following: (1) grammatical categories; (2)…

Pairing Words with Syntactic Frames: Syntax, Semantics, and Count-Mass Usage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raymond, William D.; Healy, Alice F.; McDonnel, Samantha J.

2011-01-01

Two experiments examined English speakers' choices of count or mass compatible frames for nouns varying in imageability (concrete, abstract) and noun class (count, mass). Pairing preferences with equative ("much/many") and non-equative ("less/fewer") constructions were compared for groups of teenagers, young adults, and older adults. Deviations…

Call Combinations in Monkeys: Compositional or Idiomatic Expressions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Kate; Zuberbuhler, Klaus

2012-01-01

Syntax is widely considered the feature that most decisively sets human language apart from other natural communication systems. Animal vocalisations are generally considered to be holistic with few examples of utterances meaning something other than the sum of their parts. Previously, we have shown that male putty-nosed monkeys produce call…

Technical Specifications of the Nihongo Tutorial System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Kei Wai; Maciejewski, Anthony A.

The Nihongo tutorial system is an intelligent tutorial system designed to use a computer to assist scientists and engineers in developing reading competence in technical Japanese. It consists of three applications: the Nihongo Tutor, which provides useful information about an article (translation, syntax, pronunciation) to help understand the text…

User's Guide for the Nihongo Tutorial System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Kei Wai; Maciejewski, Anthony A.

The Nihongo tutorial system is an intelligent tutorial system designed to use a computer to assist scientists and engineers in developing reading competence in technical Japanese. It consists of three applications: the Nihongo Tutor, which provides useful information about an article (translation, syntax, pronunciation) to help understand the text…

A COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KROEBER, KARL

FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE WERE STUDIED THROUGH SYSTEMATIC AND OBJECTIVE ANALYSES OF NOVELISTIC SYNTAX AND VOCABULARY. SAMPLE PASSAGES FROM THE MAJOR NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN, THE BRONTE SISTERS, AND GEORGE ELIOT AS WELL AS NOVELS BY 13 OTHER AUTHORS WERE ANALYZED. INFORMATION ON PASSAGE SENTENCES, CLAUSES, AND WORDS WAS…

Deficits in Thematic Integration Processes in Broca's and Wernicke's Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakano, Hiroko; Blumstein, Sheila E.

2004-01-01

This study investigated how normal subjects and Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics integrate thematic information incrementally using syntax, lexical-semantics, and pragmatics in a simple active declarative sentence. Three priming experiments were conducted using an auditory lexical decision task in which subjects made a lexical decision on a…

Using Problem Solving to Teach a Programming Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milbrandt, George

1995-01-01

Computer studies courses should incorporate as many computer concepts and programming language experiences as possible. A gradual increase in problem difficulty will help the student to understand various computer concepts, and the programming language's syntax and structure. A sidebar provides two examples of how to establish a learning…

Is There a Critical Period for Semantics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slabakova, Roumyana

2006-01-01

This article reviews recent research on the second language acquisition of meaning with a view of establishing whether there is a critical period for the acquisition of compositional semantics. It is claimed that the functional lexicon presents the most formidable challenge, while syntax and phrasal semantics pose less difficulty to learners.…

Agreement Reflexes of Emerging Optionality in Heritage Speaker Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pascual Cabo, Diego

2013-01-01

This study contributes to current trends of heritage speaker (HS) acquisition research by examining the syntax of psych-predicates in HS Spanish. Broadly defined, psych-predicates communicate states of emotions (e.g., to love) and have traditionally been categorized as belonging to one of three classes: class I--"temere" "to…

Agreement and Movement: A Syntactic Analysis of Attraction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franck, Julie; Lassi, Glenda; Frauenfelder, Ulrich H.; Rizzi, Luigi

2006-01-01

This paper links experimental psycholinguistics and theoretical syntax in the study of subject--verb agreement. Three experiments of elicited spoken production making use of specific characteristics of Italian and French are presented. They manipulate and examine its impact on the occurrence of "attraction" errors (i.e. incorrect agreement with a…

Acquisition of Multiple Questions in English, Russian, and Malayalam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grebenyova, Lydia

2011-01-01

This article presents the results of four studies exploring the acquisition of the language-specific syntactic and semantic properties of multiple interrogatives in English, Russian, and Malayalam, languages that behave differently with respect to the syntax and semantics of multiple interrogatives. A corpus analysis investigated the frequency of…

Syntactical Analysis of Economics Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, George K.

An analysis of the syntax of economics textbooks was undertaken to (1) provide real-language examples of the difficult grammatical structures being taught in an advanced economics reading course, and (2) construct a factual database of the nature of economics textbooks. Five texts representative of those typically used in introductory economics…

Language Deficits in Pre-Symptomatic Huntington's Disease: Evidence from Hungarian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nemeth, Dezso; Dye, Cristina D.; Sefcsik, Tamas; Janacsek, Karolina; Turi, Zsolt; Londe, Zsuzsa; Klivenyi, Peter; Kincses, Zsigmond Tamas; Szabo, Nikoletta; Vecsei, Laszlo; Ullman, Michael T.

2012-01-01

A limited number of studies have investigated language in Huntington's disease (HD). These have generally reported abnormalities in rule-governed (grammatical) aspects of language, in both syntax and morphology. Several studies of verbal inflectional morphology in English and French have reported evidence of over-active rule processing, such as…

Semantics Does Not Need a Processing License from Syntax in Reading Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yaxu; Yu, Jing; Boland, Julie E.

2010-01-01

Two event-related brain potential experiments were conducted to investigate whether there is a functional primacy of syntactic structure building over semantic processes during Chinese sentence reading. In both experiments, we found that semantic interpretation proceeded despite the impossibility of a well-formed syntactic analysis. In Experiment…

(In)Flexibility of Constituency in Japanese in Multi-Modal Categorial Grammar with Structured Phonology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubota, Yusuke

2010-01-01

This dissertation proposes a theory of categorial grammar called Multi-Modal Categorial Grammar with Structured Phonology. The central feature that distinguishes this theory from the majority of contemporary syntactic theories is that it decouples (without completely segregating) two aspects of syntax--hierarchical organization (reflecting…

The Role of Animate Referents in New Syntax.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lempert, Henrietta

Preschoolers' ability to understand grammatical relations in passives and to generalize was studied using animate referents. Three- to five-year-old children were taught to produce passive sentence descriptions of events in which animacy of the actor and acted-on object were varied. After pretesting to determine passive sentence comprehension, the…

La Grammaire: Lectures (Grammar: Readings).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arrive, Michel; Chevalier, Jean-Claude

A historical perspective of French grammar is developed in this chronologically arranged reader. Part One includes material on French grammar from the 16th to the 19th century: (1) the "Premiere Epoque": 1530-1660, (2) the general grammar of Port-Royal, and (3) the "philosophical grammars" treating syntax, sentence structure, and discourse…

Nativelike Right-Dislocation in Near-Native French

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Bryan

2011-01-01

Recent research on advanced and near-native second-language (L2) speakers has focused on the acquisition of interface phenomena, for example at the syntax-pragmatics interface. Proponents of the Interface Hypothesis (e.g. Sorace, 2005; Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; Tsimpli and Sorace, 2006; Sorace and Serratrice, 2009) argue that (external) interfaces…

Use of Syntactic Elaboration Techniques to Enhance Comprehensibility of EST Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahimi, Mohammad Ali; Rezaei, Amir

2011-01-01

The current study examined differential effects of two pre-modification types, syntactic elaboration and syntactic simplification (at the level of syntax and irrespective of problematic lexis), on EST students' reading comprehension. The purpose was to see whether a priori syntactic elaborative adjustment, given its advantages over simplification,…

Goals, Big and Small

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walkow, Martin

2012-01-01

This dissertation explores the interaction of syntax and morphology in the morphological realization of AGREE-relations. I present two case studies of derivational interactions of AGREE-processes where the morphological realization of the later processes are affected by the earlier ones. The two cases studied differ in the way probes and goals…

Abstract Syntax in Sentence Production: Evidence from Stem-Exchange Errors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Liane Wardlow; Ferreira, Victor S.

2010-01-01

Three experiments tested theories of syntactic representation by assessing "stem-exchange" errors ("hates the record"[right arrow]"records the hate"). Previous research has shown that in stem exchanges, speakers pronounce intended nouns ("REcord") as verbs ("reCORD"), yielding syntactically well-formed utterances. By "lexically based" theories,…

Comparing the Effects of Spelling-and Syntax-Based Interventions in Morphological Awareness on Literacy Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stark, Kerri L.

2011-01-01

Despite substantial correlational evidence of a relationship between morphological awareness and reading ability, there has been only limited intervention research conducted to document the effects of morphological awareness on various literacy outcomes, particularly reading comprehension, and almost no research comparing the relative…

Getting Answers to Natural Language Questions on the Web.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radev, Dragomir R.; Libner, Kelsey; Fan, Weiguo

2002-01-01

Describes a study that investigated the use of natural language questions on Web search engines. Highlights include query languages; differences in search engine syntax; and results of logistic regression and analysis of variance that showed aspects of questions that predicted significantly different performances, including the number of words,…

Using a Language Generation System for Second Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levison, Michael; Lessard, Greg

1996-01-01

Describes a language generation system, which, given data files describing a natural language, generates utterances of the class the user has specified. The system can exercise control over the syntax, lexicon, morphology, and semantics of the language. This article explores a range of the system's potential applications to second-language…

Teaching Popular Culture with a Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

del Pozo, Ivania

The foreign language student must experience popular culture to fully comprehend the framework in which the foreign language functions. Traditional language learning, preoccupied with words, syntax, and pronunciation, has ignored this element, leaving students unprepared to interact with individuals in the target culture. Classroom activities to…

Aspects of the Internal Structure of Nominalization: Roots, Morphology and Derivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Punske, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

This dissertation uses syntactic, semantic and morphological evidence from English nominalization to probe the interaction of event-structure and syntax, develop a typology of structural complexity within nominalization, and test hypotheses about the strict ordering of functional items. I focus on the widely assumed typology of nominalization…

On the Nature of Syntactic Irregularity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lakoff, George

This dissertation is an attempt to characterize the notion "exception to a rule of grammar" within the context of Chomsky's conception of grammar as given in "Aspects of the Theory of Syntax." This notion depends on a prior notion of "rule government"--in each phrase marker on which a transformational rule may…

Beginning EFL Teachers' Beliefs about Quality Questions and Their Questioning Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pham, Ly Ngoc Khanh; Hamid, M. Obaidul

2013-01-01

Motivated by the scarcity of research that examines the impact of teacher beliefs on their actual practices in Vietnam, this study investigated the relationship between teachers' beliefs about quality questions and their questioning behaviours in terms of questioning purposes, content focus, students' cognitive level, wording and syntax. Thirteen…

Nonbibliographic Applications of Z39.50.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kunze, John A.

1992-01-01

Describes the use of the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol as the basis for Infocal, a read-only, client/server-based campus information system. Technical considerations in adapting the protocol to nonbibliographic data, including semantic modules, dynamic attribute sets, and dynamic record syntax, are described in detail. (Contains 11…

The Syntax of Zero in African American Relative Clauses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sistrunk, Walter

2012-01-01

African American relative clauses are distinct from Standard English relative clauses in allowing zero subject relatives and zero appositive relatives. Pesetsky and Torrego's (2003) (P&T) analysis of the subject-nonsubject asymmetry in relative clauses accounts for zero object relatives while restricting zero subject relatives. P&T…

The Grammar of Mental Predicates in Japanese.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Onishi, Masayuki

1997-01-01

Examines Japanese equivalents of the six mental predicates defined as semantic universals in Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory, with special attention to syntax and semantics of complementation types. It is shown that each primitive predicate has a specific set of syntactic frames for expressing primitive meaning and that extended meanings that…

ANNUAL REPORT-AUTOMATIC INDEXING AND ABSTRACTING.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Palo Alto, CA. Electronic Sciences Lab.

THE INVESTIGATION IS CONCERNED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATIC INDEXING, ABSTRACTING, AND EXTRACTING SYSTEMS. BASIC INVESTIGATIONS IN ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY, PHONETICS, AND SYNTAX ARE PURSUED AS NECESSARY MEANS TO THIS END. IN THE FIRST SECTION THE THEORY AND DESIGN OF THE "SENTENCE DICTIONARY" EXPERIMENT IN AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION IS OUTLINED. SOME OF…

English Intonation and Computerized Speech Synthesis. Technical Report No. 287.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Arvin

This work treats some of the important issues encountered in an attempt to synthesize natural sounding English speech from arbitrary written text. Details of the systems that interact in producing speech are described. The principal systems dealt with are phonology (intonation), phonetics, syntax, semantics, and text-view (discourse). Technical…

Control and Restructuring at the Syntax-Semantics Interface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grano, Thomas Angelo

2012-01-01

Landau (2000) distinguishes between P(artial) C(ontrol) and E(xhaustive) C(ontrol): PC predicates like hope admit a subset relation between controller and controllee (e.g., "Kim hoped to gather at noon." [controllee = Kim and contextually salient others]); EC predicates like "try" do not (*"Kim tried to gather at…

The Syntax of Moving Images: Principles and Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metallinos, Nikos

This paper examines the various theories of motion relating to visual communication media, discusses the syntactic rules of moving images derived from those of still pictures, and underlines the motions employed in the construction of moving images, primarily television pictures. The following theories of motion and moving images are presented:…

Videotex--A Thousand and One Applications. Videotex in General.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of External Affairs, Ottawa (Ontario).

This promotional brochure, one of 10 in a series on videotex, explains applications of videotex and the North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS) standard system (known as Telidon in Canada) for creating, storing, and transmitting text and color graphics information on a television screen or computer terminal. The specific…

Equational Sentence Structure in Eskimo.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hofmann, Th. R.

A comparison of the syntactic characteristics of mathematical equations and Eskimo syntax is made, and a proposal that Eskimo has a level of structure similar to that of equations is described. P:t performative contrast is reanalyzed. Questions and speculations on the formal treatment of this type of structure in transformational grammar, and its…

Bean Soup Translation: Flexible, Linguistically-Motivated Syntax for Machine Translation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehay, Dennis Nolan

2012-01-01

Machine translation (MT) systems attempt to translate texts from one language into another by translating words from a "source language" and rearranging them into fluent utterances in a "target language." When the two languages organize concepts in very different ways, knowledge of their general sentence structure, or…

TESL Reporter, Vol. 10, No. 2, Winter 1977.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pack, Alice C., Ed.

This newsletter contains five articles. The first, "Discourse Structure in Reading," by Ron Shook, suggests that reading materials for the beginning ESL (English as a second language) reader often have three defects: (1) profusion of detail as question fodder; (2) an oversimplified syntax; and (3) an artificial construction that violates…

Multilinguality, Education and Harmony

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agnihotri, Rama Kant

2014-01-01

Language conceptualised as multilinguality is constitutive of being human and may be a potential site for negotiating conflict and exploring paths of harmony in education. In various domains of activity, most people would rather see "a language" as a homogeneous, pure and standard pairing of a lexicon and syntax. There is substantial…

Idiom Syntax: Idiosyncratic or Principled?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tabossi, P.; Wolf, K.; Koterle, S.

2009-01-01

An influential theory posits that the syntactic properties of idioms are idiosyncratic and encoded in the mental lexicon in "superlemmas". It follows that experience with an idiom is necessary in order to judge the acceptability of syntactic operations on that idiom. To test these claims, Experiment 1 explored the acceptability of sentences…

Conceptualization and Linguistic Expression: Using Religious Poetry in ELT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Amrita

2014-01-01

Religious poetry is, a heightened and impregnated form of expression. There is a marriage of form and sense. Linguistically speaking, religious poetry has a conceptual interface between syntax and semantics; a strong relationship between language and thought; universality and cultural specificity; the discourse context and the psychological…

Compiler writing system detail design specification. Volume 1: Language specification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arthur, W. J.

1974-01-01

Construction within the Meta language for both language and target machine specification is reported. The elements of the function language as a meaning and syntax are presented, and the structure of the target language is described which represents the target dependent object text representation of applications programs.

Assessing Language Development: The Crediton Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkinson, Andrew; And Others

This paper offers a review of methods of judging the quality of English compositions and demonstrates the need for establishing criteria to judge composition work in a developmental context. Scales of development designed to meet that need are categorized as: stylistic measures that include structure/organization, syntax, verbal competence, reader…

Bootstrapping the Syntactic Bootstrapper: Probabilistic Labeling of Prosodic Phrases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gutman, Ariel; Dautriche, Isabelle; Crabbé, Benoît; Christophe, Anne

2015-01-01

The "syntactic bootstrapping" hypothesis proposes that syntactic structure provides children with cues for learning the meaning of novel words. In this article, we address the question of how children might start acquiring some aspects of syntax before they possess a sizeable lexicon. The study presents two models of early syntax…

Anticipating Syntax during Reading: Evidence from the Boundary Change Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brothers, Trevor; Traxler, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Previous evidence suggests that grammatical constraints have a rapid influence during language comprehension, particularly at the level of word categories (noun, verb, preposition). These findings are in conflict with a recent study from Angele, Laishley, Rayner, and Liversedge (2014), in which sentential fit had no early influence on word…

Tense Usage Analysis in Verb Distribution in Brazilian Portuguese.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoge, Henry W., Comp.

This section of a four-part research project investigating the syntax of Brazilian Portuguese presents data concerning tense usage in verb distribution. The data are derived from the analysis of selected literary samples from representative and contemporary writers. The selection of authors and tabulation of data are also described. Materials…

Coercion and Compositionality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baggio, Giosue; Choma, Travis; van Lambalgen, Michiel; Hagoort, Peter

2010-01-01

Research in psycholinguistics and in the cognitive neuroscience of language has suggested that semantic and syntactic processing are associated with different neurophysiologic correlates, such as the N400 and the P600 in the ERPs. However, only a handful of studies have investigated the neural basis of the syntax-semantics interface, and even…

Young Children's Understanding of "More" and Discrimination of Number and Surface Area

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odic, Darko; Pietroski, Paul; Hunter, Tim; Lidz, Jeffrey; Halberda, Justin

2013-01-01

The psychology supporting the use of quantifier words (e.g., "some," "most," "more") is of interest to both scientists studying quantity representation (e.g., number, area) and to scientists and linguists studying the syntax and semantics of these terms. Understanding quantifiers requires both a mastery of the…

Generative Models of Disfluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Timothy A.

2010-01-01

This thesis describes a generative model for representing disfluent phenomena in human speech. This model makes use of observed syntactic structure present in disfluent speech, and uses a right-corner transform on syntax trees to model this structure in a very natural way. Specifically, the phenomenon of speech repair is modeled by explicitly…

The Language of Inquiry and the Language of Authority.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edelman, Murray

Political language employed in serious inquiry differs systematically from language employed to promote loyalty to authority in respect to syntax; grammatical completeness and complexity; proportion of nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech; and forms of qualification. Formal language entails continuous effort at verfication or falsification and…

Beyond Linear Syntax: An Image-Oriented Communication Aid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Rupal; Pilato, Sam; Roy, Deb

2004-01-01

This article presents a novel AAC communication aid based on semantic rather than syntactic schema, leading to more natural message construction. Users interact with a two-dimensional spatially organized image schema, which depicts the semantic structure and contents of the message. An overview of the interface design is presented followed by…

50 CFR Appendix E to Part 404 - Content and Syntax for Papaha

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Papahanaumokuakea Ship Reporting System Immediately upon crossing the reporting area boundary, notification should... number zero.) Q/Include details as required// R Pollution incident or goods lost overboard** Description of pollution incident or goods lost overboard within the Monument, the Reporting Area, or the U.S...

50 CFR Appendix E to Part 404 - Content and Syntax for Papaha

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Ship Reporting System Immediately upon crossing the reporting area boundary, notification should be... number zero.) Q/Include details as required// R Pollution incident or goods lost overboard** Description of pollution incident or goods lost overboard within the Monument, the Reporting Area, or the U.S...

50 CFR Appendix E to Part 404 - Content and Syntax for Papaha

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Papahanaumokuakea Ship Reporting System Immediately upon crossing the reporting area boundary, notification should... number zero.) Q/Include details as required// R Pollution incident or goods lost overboard** Description of pollution incident or goods lost overboard within the Monument, the Reporting Area, or the U.S...

50 CFR Appendix E to Part 404 - Content and Syntax for Papaha

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Papahanaumokuakea Ship Reporting System Immediately upon crossing the reporting area boundary, notification should... number zero.) Q/Include details as required// R Pollution incident or goods lost overboard** Description of pollution incident or goods lost overboard within the Monument, the Reporting Area, or the U.S...

Left Dislocation in Near-Native French

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Bryan

2011-01-01

The present study is concerned with the upper limits of SLA--specifically, mastery of the syntax-discourse interface in successful endstate learners of second-language (L2) French (near-native speakers). Left dislocation (LD) is a syntactic means of structuring spoken French discourse by marking topic. Its use requires speakers to coordinate…

Grammaticality as Evidence and as Prediction in a Galilean Linguistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riemer, N.

2009-01-01

Standard criticisms of unjustified grammaticality assignments in generative syntax are easily countered by reminders that grammaticality is a different notion from acceptability. In response, the criticisms are reformulated here in a way that interprets unjustified assignments as possible evidence of the predictive failure of current generative…

A Defense of Semantic Minimalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Su

2012-01-01

Semantic Minimalism is a position about the semantic content of declarative sentences, i.e., the content that is determined entirely by syntax. It is defined by the following two points: "Point 1": The semantic content is a complete/truth-conditional proposition. "Point 2": The semantic content is useful to a theory of…

A String Search Marketing Application Using Visual Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Jerry M.; Chin, Mary H.; Van Landuyt, Cathryn

2013-01-01

This paper demonstrates the use of programing software that provides the student programmer visual cues to construct the code to a student programming assignment. This method does not disregard or minimize the syntax or required logical constructs. The student can concentrate more on the logic and less on the language itself.

Current Work in Linguistics. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 6, Number 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Alexander, Ed.; Kaiser, Elsi, Ed.

This issue includes the following articles: "On Negative Alternative Questions" (Chung-hye Han); "A Categorical Syntax for Verbs of Perception" (Robin Clark, Gerhard Jager); "Defective Complements in Tree Adjoining Grammar" (Seth Kulick, Robert Frank, K. Vijayshanker); "The Convergence of Lexicalist Perspectives in Psycholinguistics and…

Mungbam Grammar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovegren, Jesse Stuart James

2013-01-01

This dissertation is an attempt to state what is known at present about the grammar of Mungbam (ISO 693-3 [mij]). Mungbam is a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The dissertation is a descriptive grammar, covering the phonetics, phonology morphology and syntax of the language. Source data are texts and elicited data…

Broadcast Captioning: 1979 Update.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Earley, Sharon; Lyons, Hillary Kimmel

1979-01-01

Originally part of a symposium on educational media for the deaf, the paper describes the efforts of the Caption Center at television station WGBH to caption the television production "The scarlet Letter." Among the challenges for the captioners working on the project were the complex syntax and archaic vocabulary and difficulty in the…

Semantic Elements in Deep Structures as Seen from a Modernist Definition of Clarity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemke, Alan

Typically, teachers approach ambiguity in student writing by suggesting that students focus on diction, syntax, and writing format; however, the works of modernists (including T.S. Eliot, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Marx, and Pablo Picasso) suggest the importance of conceptions of semantic clarity. Transformational models for syntactic elements in…

Language Issues in Literacy and Bilingual/Multicultural Education. Harvard Educational Review Reprint. Series No. 22.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minami, Masahiko, Ed.; Kennedy, Bruce P., Ed.

This collection of articles related to language issues and literacy and bilingual and multicultural education include the following: "Three Processes in the Child's Acquisition of Syntax" (Roger Brown and Ursula Bellugi); "Pre-School Children's Knowledge of English Phonology" (Charles Read); "Stages in Language Development and Reading Exposure"…

The ISO Edi Conceptual Model Activity and Its Relationship to OSI.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fincher, Judith A.

1990-01-01

The edi conceptual model is being developed to define common structures, services, and processes that syntax-specific standards like X12 and EDIFACT could adopt. Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) is of interest to edi because of its potential to help enable global interoperability across Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) functional groups. A…

Towards a Script-Based Representation Language for Educational Films.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkes, Alan P.

1987-01-01

Discusses aspects of the syntax and semantics of film, and presents a scenario for the use of film by intelligent computer assisted instruction (ICAI) systems. An outline of a representation language for educational films on videodisc is presented, and an appendix provides conceptual graphs that explain notations used in examples. (Author/LRW)

Actes des Journees de linguistique (Proceedings of the Linguistics Conference) (9th, 1995).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Audette, Julie, Ed.; And Others

Papers (entirely in French) presented at the conference on linguistics include these topics: language used in the legislature of New Brunswick; cohesion in the text of Arabic-speaking language learners; automatic adverb recognition; logic of machine translation in teaching revision; expansion in physics texts; discourse analysis and the syntax of…

Handbook of Child Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchie, William C., Ed.; Bhatia, Tej K., Ed.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major areas of research in the field of child language acquisition. It is divided into seven parts and 19 chapters. Part I is an introduction and overview. Part II covers central issues in the study of child language acquisition, focusing on syntax, including those of innateness, maturation, and…

Pre-Professional Students' Explicit Syntax Knowledge: Preliminary Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brimo, Danielle; Melamed, Tina

2017-01-01

Existing research concludes that educators have varying levels of language knowledge. Educators' varying levels of language knowledge may be related to the type of content knowledge they received while in school. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of pre-professional speech-language pathology (SLP) students who have taken…

Static Analysis of Programming Exercises: Fairness, Usefulness and a Method for Application

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nutbrown, Stephen; Higgins, Colin

2016-01-01

This article explores the suitability of static analysis techniques based on the abstract syntax tree (AST) for the automated assessment of early/mid degree level programming. Focus is on fairness, timeliness and consistency of grades and feedback. Following investigation into manual marking practises, including a survey of markers, the assessment…

Literacy Publications: American Annals of the Deaf 1996 to 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moores, Donald F.; Miller, Margery S.

2001-01-01

Twenty articles dealing with literacy published in the "American Annals of the Deaf" from 1996 to 2000 were reviewed. A movement away from the whole language approach to a more eclectic, analytic orientation was noted. Old problems in processing syntax continued. Questions regarding the value of captioning for deaf individuals with poor literacy…

Effects of Communication Tasks on the Grammatical Relations Marked by Second Language Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newton, Jonathan; Kennedy, Graeme

1996-01-01

Examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Results indicate that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic…

A Grammar of Buem, the Lelemi Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, Edward Jay

A detailed grammar of Buem, one of the Togo-Remnant Languages spoken in Ghana's Volta region, describes the major structures and many minor structures occurring in informal and semi-formal speech. The phonetics and much of the phonology are described in taxonomic terms, and the vowel harmony system, syntax, and morphology are described in a…

Modern Foreign Languages: A Refereed International Journal of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ying, Du, Ed; Zidong, Huang, Ed.

2000-01-01

These four issues include articles on: "The Syntax of DeP in Chinese" (Wu Gang); "Relevance in Cognition, Communication and Logic" (Xiong Xueliang); "A Survey of Chinese Learners' Use of English Verbs in Grammatical and Lexical Patterns" (Pu Jianzhong); "A Systemic Study of Projection in English Clause…

Essence and Explanation: "Idea" as a Pedagogical Tool in the Analysis Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boge, Claire L.

One of the greatest challenges of music analysis, and especially its pedagogy, is the issue of unification: the integration of detailed and sometimes disparate analytical observations within a more global explanatory context. Music theory has traditionally addressed this issue from the perspective of syntax (the most familiar approaches being…

Minimalism and Beyond: Second Language Acquisition for the Twenty-First Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balcom, Patricia A.

2001-01-01

Provides a general overview of two books--"The Second Time Around: Minimalism and Second Language Acquisition" and "Second Language Syntax: A Generative Introduction--and shows how the respond to key issues in second language acquisition, including the process of second language acquisition, access to universal grammar, the role of…

The Recipe for Success: Syntactic Features of "la chronique gastronomique."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engel, Dulcie M.

1997-01-01

Analyzes the syntactic structure of noun phrases and verb phrases in recipes and cookery articles in the French press and argues that the complexity of writing about cooking parallels the complexity of the cooking process itself, demonstrating how syntax can reflect function and meaning in a restricted text-type. (Author/MSE)

Event Semantics, Typeshifting and Passive in Swahili.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salone, S. B.

This semantic analysis assumes the overall framework of an extended standard theory of grammar, focusing on the lexicon and making a case for semantic mapping. It assumes Chomsky's (1986) theory that the projection of a verb and its arguments into syntax is determined by its lexical specifications. It further accepts the arguments of Williams…

Event Semantics, Typeshifting and Teaching the Prepositional and Causative Verbal Endings in Swahili.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salone, Sukari

2000-01-01

Assumes the overall frame work of Extended Standard Theory of grammar, with a focus on the lexicon. It assumes Chomsky's theory that the projection of a verb and its arguments onto syntax is determined by its lexical specifications. Emphasizes a lexical approach to Swahili verbal suffixes. (Author/VWL)

Instructional Implications of Listening Comprehension Research. Reading Education Report No. 39.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearson, P. David; Fielding, Linda

While listening comprehension is perhaps the most ignored area of the language arts, a review of the literature suggests that it is deserving of more classroom instructional time. Involving the simultaneous orchestration of skills in phonology, syntax, semantics, and knowledge of text structure, listening comprehension seems to be controlled by…

Brain Responses to Lexical-Semantic Priming in Children At-Risk for Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Syversen, Gro; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Moen, Inger; Lindgren, Magnus

2007-01-01

Deviances in early event-related potential (ERP) components reflecting auditory and phonological processing are well-documented in children at familial risk for dyslexia. However, little is known about brain responses which index processing in other linguistic domains such as lexicon, semantics and syntax in this group. The present study…

Mood Selection in Relative Clauses: Interfaces and Variability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borgonovo, Claudia; de Garavito, Joyce Bruhn; Prévost, Philippe

2015-01-01

There is presently a lively debate in second language (L2) acquisition research as to whether (adult) learners can acquire linguistic phenomena located at the interface between syntax and other modules, such as semantics, pragmatics, and lexical semantics, in contrast to phenomena that are purely syntactic in nature. For some researchers, the…

The Syntax-Pragmatics Interface in Language Loss: Covert Restructuring of Aspect in Heritage Russian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laleko, Oksana Vladislavovna

2010-01-01

Heritage grammars, linguistic varieties emerging in the context of intergenerational language loss, are known to diverge from the corresponding full-fledged baseline varieties in principled and systematic ways, as typically illustrated by errors made by heritage speakers in production. This dissertation examines "covert" restructuring of aspect in…

50 CFR Appendix E to Part 404 - Content and Syntax for Papaha

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... field text CORAL SHIPREP // A Ship Vessel name/call sign/flag/IMO number/Federal documentation or State..., suffixed with the letter N (indicating north), followed by a single /, and a five-digit group giving... of persons on board // W/15// Table E.1 Notes *Categories of hazardous cargoes means goods classified...

(Pea)nuts and Bolts of Visual Narrative: Structure and Meaning in Sequential Image Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohn, Neil; Paczynski, Martin; Jackendoff, Ray; Holcomb, Phillip J.; Kuperberg, Gina R.

2012-01-01

Just as syntax differentiates coherent sentences from scrambled word strings, the comprehension of sequential images must also use a cognitive system to distinguish coherent narrative sequences from random strings of images. We conducted experiments analogous to two classic studies of language processing to examine the contributions of narrative…

Individual Literacy Activities with Hearing-Impaired Children in the Preschool Period

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karasu, H. Pelin

2014-01-01

The ability to recognize sight words, phonological awareness, syntax, semantics, and pragmatic skills begins to develop during the preschool period, and is important for formal reading education. The purpose of this study was to define individualized studies that support the development of literacy skills among hearing-impaired preschool children.…

Impairment of Syntax and Lexical Semantics in a Patient with Bilateral Paramedian Thalamic Infarction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Witte, Lieve; Wilssens, Ineke; Engelborghs, Sebastian; De Deyn, Peter P.; Marien, Peter

2006-01-01

Bilateral vascular thalamic lesions are rare. Although a variety of neurobehavioral manifestations have been described, the literature is less documented with regard to accompanying linguistic disturbances. This article presents an in-depth neurolinguistic analysis of the language symptoms of a patient who incurred bilateral paramedian ischemic…

Computing Robust, Bootstrap-Adjusted Fit Indices for Use with Nonnormal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, David A.; Smith, Thomas J.

2017-01-01

Nonnormality of data presents unique challenges for researchers who wish to carry out structural equation modeling. The subsequent SPSS syntax program computes bootstrap-adjusted fit indices (comparative fit index, Tucker-Lewis index, incremental fit index, and root mean square error of approximation) that adjust for nonnormality, along with the…

The Reliability of Morphological Analyses in Language Samples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tommerdahl, Jodi; Kilpatrick, Cynthia D

2014-01-01

It is currently unclear to what extent a spontaneous language sample of a given number of utterances is representative of a child's ability in morphology and syntax. This lack of information about the regularity of children's linguistic productions and the reliability of spontaneous language samples have serious implications for language…

The Syntax of Persuasion: Two Business Letters of Request.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Limaye, Mohan R.

1983-01-01

Business letter-writers are advised to develop reader empathy and benefit before they ask a favor. The author analyzed two model 16th century letters of request to determine if similar advice was given in the past, and found that the request was subordinate to building a mutually beneficial relationship. (PD)

On Parallel Software Engineering Education Using Python

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marowka, Ami

2018-01-01

Python is gaining popularity in academia as the preferred language to teach novices serial programming. The syntax of Python is clean, easy, and simple to understand. At the same time, it is a high-level programming language that supports multi programming paradigms such as imperative, functional, and object-oriented. Therefore, by default, it is…

Studying Tonal Complexity, with a Special Reference to Mande Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konoshenko, Maria

2014-01-01

Linguists tend to believe that total complexity of human languages is invariable. In order to test this hypothesis empirically, we need to calculate the complexity in different domains of language structure: phonology, morphology, syntax, etc. In this paper I provide some guidelines for documenting tonal systems and evaluating their complexity. I…

Syntax as a Reflex: Neurophysiological Evidence for Early Automaticity of Grammatical Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pulvermuller, Friedemann; Shtyrov, Yury; Hasting, Anna S.; Carlyon, Robert P.

2008-01-01

It has been a matter of debate whether the specifically human capacity to process syntactic information draws on attentional resources or is automatic. To address this issue, we recorded neurophysiological indicators of syntactic processing to spoken sentences while subjects were distracted to different degrees from language processing. Subjects…

CATO--A General User Interface for CAS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janetzko, Hans-Dieter

2015-01-01

CATO is a new user interface, developed by the author as a response to the significant difficulties faced by scientists, engineers, and students in their usage of computer algebra (CA) systems. Their tendency to use CA systems only occasionally means that they are unfamiliar with requisite grammar and syntax these systems require. The author…

Visual Information Literacy: Reading a Documentary Photograph

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abilock, Debbie

2008-01-01

Like a printed text, an architectural blueprint, a mathematical equation, or a musical score, a visual image is its own language. Visual literacy has three components: (1) learning; (2) thinking; and (3) communicating. A "literate" person is able to decipher the basic code and syntax, interpret the signs and symbols, correctly apply terms from an…

A Contrastive Approach for Teaching English as a Second Language to Indochinese Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phap, Dam Trung

The manual concentrates on features of English and Indochinese which are dissimilar and, therefore, potential problem areas. These areas were identified through: (1) a contrastive analysis of English and Indochinese (Lao, Cambodian, Vietnamese) phonology, morphology, and syntax; (2) an analysis of Indochinese students' errors; and (3) noting the…

A Program That Acquires Language Using Positive and Negative Feedback.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brand, James

1987-01-01

Describes the language learning program "Acquire," which is a sample of grammar induction. It is a learning algorithm based on a pattern-matching scheme, using both a positive and negative network to reduce overgeneration. Language learning programs may be useful as tutorials for learning the syntax of a foreign language. (Author/LMO)

Development of Lexical and Syntactic Representations: The Acquisition of Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Verbs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gurcanli, Ozge

2013-01-01

This dissertation concerns the acquisition of the interaction between lexicosemantic properties of verbs and syntax, focusing on symmetrical and asymmetrical verbs in different syntactic structures. Based on linguistic evidence, it is shown that two conceptual categories, Mutuality and Number, interact to give rise to four event-types: Single…

Supporting Multilingual Learners: Practical Theory and Theoretical Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Sluys, Katie; Rao, Arthi

2012-01-01

To be literate in the 21st century means much more than learning to read and write; it requires advanced skills like collaboration, critical problem solving, and utilizing multiple sources and means of communication. Learning a language, an aspect of becoming literate, demands that learners not only acquire vocabulary and syntax but also use…

TEANGA: Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, Number 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

TEANGA: Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, 1985

1985-01-01

Articles in this issue of a journal on applied linguistics include: "Multilingualism as a Relaxed Affair: The Case of the Western Canadian Halfbreeds" (Patrick C. Douaud); "Testing a Group of Bilingual Children with the Bilingual Syntax Measure" (Christine Helot); "Two Years On: A Sample of Mother Child Interaction in a…

A debugger-interpreter with setup facilities for assembly programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dolinskii, I.S.; Zisel`man, I.M.; Belotskii, S.L.

1995-11-01

In this paper a software program allowing one to introduce and debug the descriptions of the von Nuemann architecture processors and their assemblers, efficiently debug assembly programs, and investigate the instruction sets of the described processors is considered. For a description of the processor sematics and assembler syntax, a metassembly language is suggested.

On-Line Syntax: Thoughts on the Temporality of Spoken Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Auer, Peter

2009-01-01

One fundamental difference between spoken and written language has to do with the "linearity" of speaking in time, in that the temporal structure of speaking is inherently the outcome of an interactive process between speaker and listener. But despite the status of "linearity" as one of Saussure's fundamental principles, in practice little more…

Protein linguistics - a grammar for modular protein assembly?

PubMed

Gimona, Mario

2006-01-01

The correspondence between biology and linguistics at the level of sequence and lexical inventories, and of structure and syntax, has fuelled attempts to describe genome structure by the rules of formal linguistics. But how can we define protein linguistic rules? And how could compositional semantics improve our understanding of protein organization and functional plasticity?

Neural Responses to the Production and Comprehension of Syntax in Identical Utterances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Indefrey, Peter; Hellwig, Frauke; Herzog, Hans; Seitz, Rudiger J.; Hagoort, Peter

2004-01-01

Following up on an earlier positron emission tomography (PET) experiment (Indefrey et al., 2001), we used a scene description paradigm to investigate whether a posterior inferior frontal region subserving syntactic encoding for speaking is also involved in syntactic parsing during listening. In the language production part of the experiment,…

The Effects of Receptive and Productive Learning of Word Pairs on Vocabulary Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Stuart

2009-01-01

English as a foreign language students in Japan learned target words in word pairs receptively and productively. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, association, syntax, grammatical functions, and meaning and form--were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word…

Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Learning: The Effects of Reading and Writing on Word Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Stuart

2005-01-01

This study investigates the effects of receptive and productive vocabulary learning on word knowledge. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language learned target words in three glossed sentences and in a sentence production task in two experiments. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, syntax, association, grammatical…

A Cybernetic Approach To Study the Learnability of the LOGO Turtle World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ippel, Martin J.; Meulemans, Caroline J. M.

1998-01-01

This study of second- and third-grade students in the Netherlands tests the hypothesis that simplification of the semantic structure will facilitate semantic understanding and acquisition of syntax knowledge within the LOGO Turtle World. Two microworlds were designed applying the theory of automata and abstract languages. (Author/LRW)

Spanish? What Spanish? The Search for a 'Caribbean Standard.'

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollingsworth, C.

1978-01-01

Variations in lexicon, phonology, morphology, and syntax of Spanish as spoken in Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, and Castile have led to a diversity in the types of Spanish taught in Caribbean schools. The Programa Interamericano de Linguistica y Ensenanza de Idiomas is conducting a survey which will provide authoritative standards for Spanish teachers.…

On the Syntax/Semantics of Korean Nominal Particles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Han-Byul

2016-01-01

In this dissertation, I investigate the structural positions of "i/ka"-marked DPs and "un/nun"-marked DPs in the light of Kratzer (1988; 1995) and Diesing (1990; 1992). In Korean, unlike German (and English in part), vP-external subjects and vP-internal subjects are not distinguishable at the surface. However, by adopting…

The Old Order Changeth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stokes, Anne M.

That the English language has changed greatly over the centuries is an accepted fact; the fact that the movement hasn't stopped should also be accepted. Examples of analogic changes which are taking place in syntax and morphology illustrate the state of flux of English. However, many teachers of English still believe that it is their duty to guard…

Deriving Silence through Dependent Reference: Focus on Pronouns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Livitz, Inna G.

2014-01-01

The starting point of this dissertation is the observation that pronouns that are obligatorily dependent on a sufficiently local antecedent are persistently silent. The classical hypothesis has been that silence is a lexical property of such elements. The central claim of this dissertation is that silence is instead a product of syntax--of the way…

Loss of Infinitival Complementation in Romanian Diachronic Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jordan, Maria

2009-01-01

For the most part, my study is a descriptive analysis of infinitival complement clauses and the corresponding subjunctive clauses in Romanian, that is, obligatory control (OC) structures. OC is a relation of obligatory coreferentiality between a matrix argument (controller) and the null subject of the subordinate (controlee) of the same sentence.…

The Language of Children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus: Meeting Task Demands and Mastering Syntax.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrne, Karen; And Others

1990-01-01

Linguistic performance of 7 children (mean age=68 months) with spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and average intelligence was evaluated. Subjects dealt with the semantic-pragmatic requirements of linguistically posed problems in an age-appropriate manner. Performance declined as task demands increased but no more than performance of nondisabled…

Peer Commentaries on Roeper's "Universal Bilingualism."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayoun, Dalila; Haider, Hubert; Hawkins, Roger; Hulk, Aafke; Meechan, Marjory; O'Neil, Wayne; Yang, Charles D.

1999-01-01

Seven peer commentaries are included in response to an article on the notion that a narrow kind of bilingualism exists within every language and is present whenever two properties exist in a language that are not statable within a single grammar. This theoretical bilingualism is defined in terms of the minimalist theory of syntax presented by…

A Semiotic Analysis of Icons on the World Wide Web.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ma, Yan

The World Wide Web allows users to interact with a graphic interface to search information in a hypermedia and multimedia environment. Graphics serve as reference points on the World Wide Web for searching and retrieving information. This study analyzed the culturally constructed syntax patterns, or codes, embedded in the icons of library…

Linguistic Features of Pidgin Arabic in Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salem, Ashraf Atta M. S.

2013-01-01

This paper sheds the light on Asian pidgin Arabic, particularly linguistic features of pidgin Arabic in Kuwait. The phonology, syntax and lexicon of the language are described on the basis of interviews conducted with forty Asian informants. The data are discussed in its relation to other studies. Also, the researcher discussed the implication of…

Processing Flexible Form-to-Meaning Mappings: Evidence for Enriched Composition as Opposed to Indeterminacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roehm, Dietmar; Sorace, Antonella; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina

2013-01-01

Sometimes, the relationship between form and meaning in language is not one-to-one. Here, we used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to illuminate the neural correlates of such flexible syntax-semantics mappings during sentence comprehension by examining split-intransitivity. While some ("rigid") verbs consistently select one…

The Learning Syntax through Edmodo in the Beginners Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sugito; Mulyani Endang Susilowati, Sri; Hartono; Supartono

2017-01-01

Integrating ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in the learning process is a necessity for a teacher in welcoming the 21st century. Knowledge and modern technology require teachers to learn how to use the technology in their teaching. Edmodo application is a very useful technology product in the learning process. Successful use of…

Serbo-Croatian. SC-15A. Part 3. Advanced Grammar and Syntax,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

mislili smo, (mi) The second person designates the person whom the speaker is addressing. Sg. govoris, pevas , pises, pevao si (ti) PI. govorite, pevate...one who is addressed. Sg. govori (on or ona), peva , pise, je pevao (la) PI. govore, pevau, pisu, su pevali(le) (one, oni) II. Aspect Predicates: There

The Syntactic Structure of K'ichee' Mayan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan, Lachlan

2010-01-01

Linguistic research on the Mayan languages up to the mid 1980s was almost exclusively descriptive in nature. At best, analyses were speculative and pre-theoretical. Since then, research based on contemporary theories of syntax have begun to emerge. In adopting the formal architecture of OT-LFG, I argue that my dissertation can be included amongst…

Comparing Two Theories of Grammatical Knowledge Assessment: A Bifactor-MIRT Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cai, Yuyang

2014-01-01

This study compares two approaches to grammatical knowledge in language assessment: the structural view that regards grammatical knowledge as vocabulary and syntax (Bachman 1990), and the communicative view that perceives it as the binary combination of grammatical form and meaning (Purpura 2004). 1,491 second-year nursing students from eight…

Say It like You Mean It: Mothers' Use of Prosody to Convey Word Meaning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herold, Debora S.; Nygaard, Lynne C.; Namy, Laura L.

2012-01-01

Prosody plays a variety of roles in infants' communicative development, aiding in attention modulation, speech segmentation, and syntax acquisition. This study investigates the extent to which parents also spontaneously modulate prosodic aspects of infant directed speech in ways that distinguish semantic aspects of language. Fourteen mothers of…

A Materials Index--Its Storage, Retrieval, and Display

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Carol Z.

1973-01-01

An experimental procedure for indexing physical materials based on simple syntactical rules was tested by encoding the materials in the journal, Applied Physics Letters,'' to produce a materials index. The syntax and numerous examples together with an indication of the method by which retrieval can be effected are presented. (5 references)…

Nominal Modifiers in Mandarin Chinese.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hou, John Y.

In the surface structure of Chinese nominal modifiers (quantifiers, determiners, adjectives, measure phrase, relative clause, etc.) may occur either before or after a modified noun. In most of the transformational studies of Chinese syntax (e.g. Cheng 1966; Hashimoto 1966; Mei 1972; Tai 1973; Teng 1974), it has been assumed that such NP's have the…

L'analyse structurale en traduction poetique (Structural Analysis in Poetic Translation)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larose, Robert; Slote, Daniel

1978-01-01

Mallarme's translation of the third stanza of Poe's "Israfel" is used to illustrate this method, based on that of Jacobsen and Levi-Strauss. The categories for analysis are divided into formal and semantic properties, each of which is subdivided into phonology, morphology, lexicology and syntax. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Sentence Repetition in Adolescents with Specific Language Impairments and Autism: An Investigation of Complex Syntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riches, N. G.; Loucas, T.; Baird, G.; Charman, T.; Simonoff, E.

2010-01-01

Background: Recent studies have indicated that many children with autism spectrum disorders present with language difficulties that are similar to those of children with specific language impairments, leading some to argue for similar structural deficits in these two disorders. Aims: Repetition of sentences involving long-distance dependencies was…

A CURRICULUM FOR ENGLISH, TEACHER PACKET, GRADE 9.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nebraska Univ., Lincoln. Curriculum Development Center.

THE NEBRASKA ENGLISH CURRICULUM FOR GRADE NINE FOCUSES ON THE CONCEPT OF GENRE AND ACCOMPANYING LITERARY ATTITUDES AND DEVICES. SATIRE, COMEDY, AND THE EPIC ARE THE SUBJECTS OF THE LITERARY PROGRAM. LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION STUDIES, BUILDING UPON EIGHTH-GRADE LANGUAGE HISTORY AND SYNTAX UNITS, CENTER ON GEOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL DIALECTS, PHONOLOGY,…

Cinque's Functional Verbs in French

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowlett, Paul

2007-01-01

This article focuses on the syntax of a number of subcategories of verb in French which are compatible with a following bare infinitive and which express various kinds of grammatical tense, mood, modality, aspect and voice, as well as such (more lexical?) notions as perception, causation and locomotion. The article starts by cataloguing a number…