Comparison of a special hearing aid with a conventional aid for detection and discrimination of high-frequency phonemes

This paper is a review of a study to determine if a special hearing aid, the Transposer, can supply high frequency information to profoundly deaf children.

The discrimination of auditory and visual number

This study compares the discrimination of successive visual number and successive auditory number using the same stimulus durations and presentation rates for both stimuli. The accuracy of the discrimination of successive number decreased as the presentation rate increased and the number in a series increased.

The effects of earmuffs and hearing impairment on word discrimination in noise

This paper discusses a study to determine selection of hearing protective devices to ensure optimum speech discrimination.

Integration of duration and frequency in discrimination between pure tones

This dissertation investigates discrimination between pure tones. Three questions were investigated: can listeners integrate frequency and duration information in the discrimination of pure tones; how does the discriminability of duration-frequency compounds relate to the discriminability of the changes in the individual dimensions; and how is the integration of these two dimensions affected by the parameters of the stimuli in which the changes in duration and frequency are introduced.

Speech perception by the chinchilla: discrimination of /I/ and /A/ in various consonantal contexts

This paper discusses a study done with chinchillas and their ability to organize speech sounds into auditory concepts.

Threshold adaptation, temporal integration and frequency discrimination-learning in hearing impaired children

This paper is a review of a study to evaluate the usefulness of a laboratory approach to auditory training with hearing impaired children.

The southern sotho speech identification/discrimination test construction

This paper contains a speech discrimination test in Southern Sotho language (an African language spoken in Southern Africa).

Velocity discrimination of angular motion at different frequencies in individuals with normal vestibular function

The purpose of this study was to evaluate discrimination of angular velocity in individuals with normal vestibular function using a newly developed adaptive psychophysical measure. Vestibular psychophysical testing may complement existing clinical measures in diagnosing and treating patients with imbalance.

Poéticas del silencio: el Color de lo blanco, de Alvaro Rodríguez y Sacra, de Alexis Naranjo

La presente disertación constituye un breve acercamiento a las poéticas del silencio, constitutivas de El color de lo blanco del poeta colombiano Álvaro Rodríguez Torres y de Sacra del poeta ecuatoriano Alexis Naranjo. Para la aproximación teórica a los textos poéticos, he aplicado ciertas categorías fundamentales de la hermenéutica de Paul Ricoeur. El aporte del pensador francés es interpretar los poemas como un escenario de convergencia entre los niveles semántico, morfosintáctico y fonológico. Así, tras un capítulo introductoria, donde marco la orientación teórica y metodológica de la tesis, he procedido a revisar cada texto de los libros. Dicho estudio lo realicé bajo la premisa de encontrar los distintos elementos compositivos que caracterizan –o caracterizarían- a una determinada poética del silencio. Como parte de las conclusiones preliminares y finales, he propuesto una clasificación de las poéticas del silencio: el despojamiento y la contención. Debo apuntar, además, que las imágenes míticas presentes en cada uno de los textos han sido estudiadas con el propósito de evitar cualquier tipo de digresiones.

El color de la razón y del pensamiento crítico en las Américas

El color de la razón y del pensamiento crítico en las Américas, ha requerido de búsquedas encaminadas a explicar el porqué del color y sus matices. La modernidad europea y latinoamericana, constituyen el escenario en donde hemos visualizado la actuación de imágenes conceptuales que enfatizan el “color” de cada actor y acción. Para el efecto, analizamos “ciertos” aspectos de las propuestas de algunos pensadores, en tres momentos: En el primero a Leopoldo Zea, quien enfatiza la articulación entre la dialéctica del colonialismo y la dependencia, mediada por la dialéctica hegeliana y marxista; y, a Bolívar Echeverría, en lo referente a la relación que se da en América Latina entre modernidad, capitalismo y mestizaje (barroco) o apartheid. En el segundo, la intersección mediada clase/raza manifiesta en las tesis de Aimé Césaire y Frantz Fanon. En el tercero, la “crítica negativa” del paradigma modernidad/colonialidad, elaborada por Aníbal Quijano, Enrique Dussel, Walter Mignolo y Nelson Maldonado, entre otros. La elaboración teórica y la re-construcción de los momentos históricos, simultáneamente concebidos, nos han permitido descifrar el “color” de la razón, como momento necesario para establecer las condiciones que posibilitan un diálogo filosófico intercultural.

Dos textualidades diferentes que rememoran la escena esclavista: color, cuerpo y raza en la novela Jonatás y Manuela de la escritora Argentina Chiriboga y en el video Ecuatoriano Freddy Quiñones, detenido por cruzar con luz roja en Chile

El presente trabajo pretende contribuir en la ampliación de un corpus de estudio sobre la imagen del afrodescendiente. Se trata del análisis de la novela Jonatás y Manuela, de la afroecuatoriana Luz Argentina Chiriboga y del video Ecuatoriano Freddy Quiñones, detenido por cruzar con luz roja en Chile. En ambas narrativas se muestra la subyugación a la que son sometidos los cuerpos de los afrodescendientes. Con este propósito se procura rastrear cómo la percepción del color, asociada a las marcas étnicas y racistas heredadas de los discursos coloniales del siglo XVI al XVIII y los nacionalistas del XIX, se resemantiza en el siglo XX exponiendo las tensiones entre etnia/territorio/cultura a través de sujetos sociales que tradicionalmente han carecido de espacios de visibilidad para su propia representación, como agentes históricos y de acción política. Con esta intención, vale entonces emprender nuestro recorrido junto a las reflexiones de Hering, Cunin, Ariza, Chaves, Ramos, Montelongo, Miranda y Handelsman, quienes exploran las continuidades y discontinuidades que los diferentes discursos canónicos han sustentado alrededor de la percepción del color de piel en relación a la “raza” y a la identidad latinoamericana. Además, de manera simultánea, se analizarán los escenarios de subyugación desde la enunciación, los conceptos de utopía y heterotopía –de Michael Focuault-. De este modo, por razones de organización del corpus de estudio, tanto la novela como el video serán estudiados en cada uno de tres capítulos que componen el presente trabajo desde la configuración del color y del cuerpo en distintos escenarios: primero, el de subyugación que produce perspectivas indicadas.

Predation in Ground-Nesting Birds: an Experimental Study Using Natural Egg-Color Variation

We tested the hypothesis that cryptically colored eggs would suffer less predation than conspicuous eggs in the ground-nesting red-legged partridge, Alectoris rufa. We used A. rufa as a model species because it has a wide range of natural egg colors, the eggs are widely available from breeding farms, and nests are easily mimicked because they are scrapes containing no vegetation. The study was conducted in the spring of 2001 in forest and fallow fields of central Spain in Castilla La Mancha, Ciudad Real. We used 384 clutches of natural eggs that were white, white spotted, brown, or brown spotted. Within clutches, eggs were consistent in color and size; among clutches, color differences were distributed across habitats. Clutches were checked once after 2 wk of exposure. Cryptic coloration had a survival advantage that was dependent on the local suite of predators. Rodent predation was nonselective with respect to clutch color; however, avian predation was significantly higher for conspicuous clutches. In addition, there was an interaction of landscape and egg color for avian predation. In forest landscapes, the clutches with highest survival were brown spotted, whereas in fallow landscapes, brown and brown spotted clutches had higher survival than white and white potted clutches. Thus, both the predator suite and the landscape had significant effects on the value of cryptic egg coloration. Our study is relevant for conservationists and managers in charge of restocking programs in hunting areas. The release of other partridge species or their hybrids could result in hybridization with wild partridges, potentially leading to nonoptimal clutch pigmentation and reduced survival of the native species. We therefore recommend that local authorities, managers, and conservationists be cautious with the use of alien species and hybrids and release only autochthonous species of partridges within their natural ranges.

Heritage property, tourism and the UK Disability Discrimination Act

Heritage tourism depends on a physical resource based primarily on listed buildings and scheduled monuments. Visiting or staying in a historic building provides a rich tourism experience, but historic environments date from eras when access for disabled people was not a consideration. Current UK Government policy now promotes social inclusion via an array of equal opportunities, widening participation and anti-discrimination policies. Historic environments enjoy considerable legislative protection from adverse change, but now need to balance conservation with public access for all. This paper discusses the basis of research being undertaken by The College of Estate Management funded by the Mercers Company of London and the Harold Samuel Trust. It assesses how the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act has changed the legal obligations of owners/operators in managing access to listed buildings in tourism use. It also examines the key stakeholders and power structures in the management of historic buildings and distinguishes other important players in the management process.

Modeling infant speech sound discrimination using simple associative networks

Infants' responses in speech sound discrimination tasks can be nonmonotonic over time. Stager and Werker (1997) reported such data in a bimodal habituation task. In this task, 8-month-old infants were capable of discriminations that involved minimal contrast pairs, whereas 14-month-old infants were not. It was argued that the older infants' attenuated performance was linked to their processing of the stimuli for meaning. The authors suggested that these data are diagnostic of a qualitative shift in infant cognition. We describe an associative connectionist model showing a similar decrement in discrimination without any qualitative shift in processing. The model suggests that responses to phonemic contrasts may be a nonmonotonic function of experience with language. The implications of this idea are discussed. The model also provides a formal framework for studying habituation-dishabituation behaviors in infancy.