The effects of phonological and morphological training on speech perception scores and grammatical judgments in deaf and hard-of-hearing children

Seventeen primary school deaf and hard-of-hearing children were given two types of training for 9 weeks each. Phonological training involved practice of /s, z, t, d/ in word final position in monomorphemic words. Morphological training involved learning and practicing the rules for forming third-person singular, present tense, past tense, and plurals. The words used in the two training types were different (monomorphemic or polymorphemic) but both involved word final /s, z, t, d/. Grammatical judgments were tested before and after training using short sentences that were read aloud by the child (or by the presenter if the child was unable to read them). Perception was tested with 150 key words in sentences using the trained morphemes and phonemes in word final position. Grammatical judgments for sentences involving the trained morphemes improved significantly after each type of training. Both types of training needed to be completed before a significant improvement was found for speech perception scores. The results suggest that both phonological and morphological training are beneficial in improving speech perception and grammatical performance of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and that both types of training were required to obtain the maximum benefit.

Separating the contributions of hearing, lexical knowledge and speech production to speech perception scores in children with hearing impairments.

Open-set word and sentence speech-perception test scores are commonly used as a measure of hearing abilities in children and adults using cochlear implants and/or hearing aids. These tests are usually presented auditorily with a verbal response. In the case of children, scores are typically lower and more variable than for adults with hearing impairments using similar devices. It is difficult to interpret children's speech-perception scores without considering the effects of lexical knowledge and speech-production abilities on their responses. This study postulated a simple mathematical model to describe the effects of hearing, lexical knowledge, and speech production on the perception test scores for monosyllabic words by children with impaired hearing. Thirty-three primary-school children with impaired hearing, fitted with hearing aids and/or cochlear implants, were evaluated using speech-perception, reading-aloud, speech-production, and language measures. These various measures were incorporated in the mathematical model, which revealed that performance in an open-set word-perception test in the auditory-alone mode is strongly dependent on residual hearing levels, lexical knowledge, and speech-production abilities. Further applications of the model provided an estimate of the effect of each component on the overall speech-perception score for each child.

Scores on the dietary guideline index for children and adolescents are associated with nutrient intake and socio-economic position but not adiposity 1-3

Diet quality indices reflect overall dietary patterns better than single nutrients or food groups. The study aims were to develop a measure of adherence with dietary guidelines applicable to child and adolescent populations in Australia and determine the association between index scores and food and nutrient intake, socio-demographic characteristics, and measures of adiposity. Data were analyzed from 4- to 16-y-old participants of the 2007 Australian Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (n = 3416). The Dietary Guideline Index for Children and Adolescents (DGI-CA) comprises 11 components: 5 core food groups, wholegrain bread, reduced-fat dairy foods, extra foods (nutrient poor and high in fat, salt, and added sugar), healthy fats/oils, water, and diet variety (possible score of 100). The index criteria were age specific. The mean DGI-CA score was low (53.6 ± 0.4), similar between boys and girls, and differed by age; the youngest children scored higher than the oldest children (P < 0.0001). Higher DGI-CA scores were associated with lower energy intake, energy density, total and saturated fat, and sugar intake; higher protein, carbohydrate, fiber, calcium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, folate, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, and iodine intakes; and a higher polyunsaturated:saturated fat ratio (P < 0.0001). DGI-CA scores were associated with socio-economic characteristics and measures of family circumstance. Weak positive associations were observed between DGI-CA score and BMI or waist circumference Z-scores in the 4- to 10-y and 12- to 16-y age groups only. This index is the first validated index in Australia and one of the few international indices to describe the diet quality of children and adolescents.

Sharing good NEWS across the world: developing comparable scores across 12 countries for the neighborhood environment walkability scale (NEWS)

Background: The IPEN (International Physical Activity and Environment Network) Adult project seeks to conduct pooled analyses of associations of perceived neighborhood environment, as measured by the neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) and its abbreviated version (NEWS-A), with physical activity using data from 12 countries. As IPEN countries used adapted versions of the NEWS/NEWS-A, this paper aimed to develop scoring protocols that maximize cross-country comparability in responses. This information is also highly relevant to non-IPEN studies employing the NEWS/NEWS-A, which is one of the most popular measures of perceived environment globally.
Methods: The following countries participated in the IPEN Adult study: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants (N = 14,305) were recruited from neighborhoods varying in walkability and socio-economic status. Countries collected data on the perceived environment using a self- or interviewer-administered version of the NEWS/NEWS-A. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to derive comparable country-specific measurement models of the NEWS/NEWS-A. The level of correspondence between standard and alternative versions of the NEWS/NEWS-A factor-analyzable subscales was determined by estimating the correlations and mean standardized difference (Cohen’s d) between them using data from countries that had included items from both standard and alternative versions of the subscales.
Results: Final country-specific measurement models of the NEWS/NEWS-A provided acceptable levels of fit to the data and shared the same factorial structure with six latent factors and two single items. The correspondence between the standard and alternative versions of subscales of Land use mix – access, Infrastructure and safety for walking/cycling, and Aesthetics was high. The Brazilian version of the Traffic safety subscale was highly, while the Australian and Belgian versions were marginally, comparable to the standard version. Single-item versions of the Street connectivity subscale used in Australia and Belgium showed marginally acceptable correspondence to the standard version.
Conclusions: We have proposed country-specific modifications to the original scoring protocol of the NEWS/NEWS-A that enhance inter-country comparability. These modifications have yielded sufficiently equivalent measurement models of the NEWS/NEWS-A. Some inter-country discrepancies remain. These need to be considered when interpreting findings from different countries.

Changes in test scores distribution for students of the fourth grade in Brazil: a relative distribution analysis for the years 1997 to 2005

To assess the quality of school education, much of educational research is concerned with comparisons of test scores means or medians. In this paper, we shift this focus and explore test scores data by addressing some often neglected questions. In the case of Brazil, the mean of test scores in Math for students of the fourth grade has declined approximately 0,2 standard deviation in the late 1990s. But what about changes in the distribution of scores? It is unclear whether the decline was caused by deterioration in student performance in upper and/or lower tails of the distribution. To answer this question, we propose the use of the relative distribution method developed by Handcock and Morris (1999). The advantage of this methodology is that it compares two distributions of test scores data through a single distribution and synthesizes all the differences between them. Moreover, it is possible to decompose the total difference between two distributions in a level effect (changes in median) and shape effect (changes in shape of the distribution). We find that the decline of average-test scores is mainly caused by a worsening in the position of all students throughout the distribution of scores and is not only specific to any quantile of distribution.

The impact of daycare attendance on math test scores for a cohort of 4th graders in Brazil

We estimate the impact of having attended center-based daycare institutions during early childhood on Math test scores at the 4th grade of elementary school. Because enrollment in daycare centers may depend on unobservable character-istics of the family and the child, we build and estimate a structural model of endogeneous choice of school to deal with the selectivity problem. We nd that attendance to daycare institutions is associated with a gain of approximately 0,04 standard deviation in Math test scores. This result is important to the extent our OLS results as well as most of the studies for Brazil nd no e¤ect associated to daycare attendance, suggesting selectivity may play a role on this finding.

Does money in schools matter? evaluating the effects of FUNDEF on wages and test scores in Brazil

In this paper we investigate the effects of the 1998 reform in the funding of fundamental education in Brazil (FUNDEF) on the relative wages of public school teachers and on the relative proficiency of public school pupils. The evidence suggests that, on average, FUNDEF raised the public school teachers’ relative wages and improved the relative proficiency of the public school students. Some indirect evidence was presented that showed that the effect of FUNDEF on proficiency seems to be related to its effect on wages and on school characteristics. The effect on proficiency seems to be concentrated in the municipal schools in the Northeast of the country.

Estimates of genetic parameters for visual scores and their correlation with production and reproductive traits in Brahman cattle

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Estimates of genetic parameters for visual scores and daily weight gain in Brangus animals

(Co) variance components were estimated for visual scores of conformation (CY), early finishing (PY) and muscling (MY) at 550 days of age (yearling), average daily gain from weaning to yearling (GWY), conformation (CW), early finishing (PW) and muscling (MW) scores at weaning, and average daily gain from birth to weaning (GBW) in animals forming the Brazilian Brangus breed born between 1986 and 2002 from the livestock files of GenSys Consultants Associados S/C Ltda. The data set contained 53 683; 45 136; 52 937; 56 471; 24 531; 21 166; 24 006 and 25 419 records for CW, PW, MW, GBW, CY, PY, MY and GWY, respectively. Data were analyzed by the restricted maximum likelihood method using single-and two-trait animal models. Direct heritability estimates obtained by single-trait analysis were 0.12, 0.14, 0.13 and 0.14 for CY, PY and MY scores and GWY, respectively. A positive association was observed between the same visual scores at weaning and yearling, with correlations ranging from 0.64 to 0.94. Estimated correlations between GBW and weaning and yearling scores ranged from 0.60 to 0.77. The genetic correlation between GBW and GWY was low (0.10), whereas correlations of 0.55, 0.37 and 0.47 were observed between GWY and CY, PY and MY, respectively. Moreover, GWY showed a weak correlation with CW (0.10), PW (-0.08) and MW (-0.03) scores. These results indicate that selection of the traits that was studied would result in a small response. In addition, selection based on average daily gain may have an indirect effect on visual scores as the correlations between GWY and visual scores were generally strong.

Genetic associations of visual scores with subsequent rebreeding and days to first calving in Nellore cattle

Records of Nellore animals born from 1990 to 2006 were used to estimate genetic correlations of visual scores at yearling (conformation, C; finishing precocity, P; and muscling, M) with primiparous subsequent rebreeding (SR) and days to first calving (DC), because the magnitude of these associations is still unknown. Genetic parameters were estimated by multiple-traits Bayesian analysis, using a nonlinear (threshold) animal models for visual scores and SR and a linear animal models for weaning weight (WW) and DC. WW was included in the analysis to account for the effects of sequential selection. The posterior means of heritabilities estimated for C, P, M, SR and DC were 0.24 +/- 0.01, 0.31 +/- 0.01, 0.30 +/- 0.01, 0.18 +/- 0.02 and 0.06 +/- 0.02, respectively. The posterior means of genetic correlations estimated between SR and visual scores were low and positive, with values of 0.09 +/- 0.02 (C), 0.19 +/- 0.03 (P) and 0.18 +/- 0.05 (M). on the other hand, negative genetic correlations were found between DC and C (-0.11 +/- 0.09), P (-0.19 +/- 0.09) and M (-0.16 +/- 0.09). The primiparous rebreeding trait has genetic variability in Nellore cattle. The genetic correlations between visual scores, and SR and DC were low and favourable. The genetic changes in C, P and M were 0.02, 0.03 and 0.03/year, respectively. For SR and DC, genetic trends were 0.01/year and -0.01 days/year, respectively, indicating that the increase in genetic merit for reproductive traits was small over time. Direct selection for visual scores together with female reproductive traits is recommended to increase the fertility of beef cows.

Genetic associations of sexual precocity with growth traits and visual scores of conformation, finishing, and muscling in Nelore cattle

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)