Effect of tissue Doppler on the accuracy of novice and expert interpreters of Dobutamine echocardiography

The subjective interpretation of dobutamine echocardiography (DBE) makes the accuracy of this technique dependent on the experience of the observer, and also poses problems of concordance between observers. Myocardial tissue Doppler velocity (MDV) may offer a quantitative technique for identification of coronary artery disease, but it is unclear whether this parameter could improve the results of less expert readers and in segments with low interobserver concordance. The aim of this study was to find whether MDV improved the accuracy of wall motion scoring in novice readers, experienced echocardiographers, and experts in stress echocardiography, and to identify the optimal means of integrating these tissue Doppler data in 77 patients who underwent DBE and angiography. New or worsening abnormalities were identified as ischemia and abnormalities seen at rest as scarring. Segmental MDV was measured independently and previously derived cutoffs were applied to categorize segments as normal or ab normal. Five strategies were used to combine MDV and wall motion score, and the results of each reader using each strategy were compared with quantitative coronary angiography. The accuracy of wall motion scoring by novice (68 +/- 3%) and experienced echocardiographers (71 +/- 3%) was less than experts in stress echocardiography (88 +/- 3%, p < 0.001). Various strategies for integration with MDV significantly improved the accuracy of wall motion scoring by novices from 75 +/- 2% to 77 +/- 5% (p < 0.01). Among the experienced group, accuracy improved from 74 +/- 2% to 77 +/- 5% (p < 0.05), but in the experts, no improvement was seen from their baseline accuracy. Integration with MDV also improved discordance related to the basal segments. Thus, use of MDV in all segments or MDV in all segments with wall motion scoring in the apex offers an improvement in sensitivity and accuracy with minimal compromise in specificity. (C) 2001 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.

Emerging narratives of conference interpreters’ training: a case study of ad hoc training in Babels and the Social Forum

Desde una perspectiva narrativa, este artículo explora cómo la práctica y la formación en interpretación de conferenciasse han percibido en la disciplina, en la profesión y en diferentescolectivos de traductores e interpretes comprometid@s como ECOSy Babels. Sostiene que estas distintas maneras de percibir la interpretación no son meramente opuestas sino que su potencial confluencia es clave para hacer posible una interpretación de conferencias más comprometida políticamente y más socio-crítica en un mundo de desigualdades cada vez más acentuadas y de mercantilización creciente de todos los aspectos de la vida. El artículo lleva a cabo un estudio de caso sobre la formación ad hoc de intérpretes en el Foro Social, en particular el Foro Social Europeo de Londres, y analiza cómo el trabajo colectivo entre instituciones educativas y sociedad civil tanto local como global ha dado luz a prácticas transformadoras hacia una metodología de formación mássocio-critica y con mayor consciencia ética.

Interpreters’ perception of linguistic and non linguistic factors affecting quality: a survey through the World Wide Web

This paper will present and discuss the results of an empirical study on perception of quality in interpretation carried out on a sample of 286 interpreters across five continents. Since the 1980’s the field of Interpreting Studies has been witnessing an ever growing interest in the issue of quality in interpretation both in academia and in professional circles, but research undertaken so far is surprisingly lacking in methodological rigour. This survey is an attempt to revise previous studies on interpreters’ perception of quality through the implementation of new Information Technology which allowed us to administer a traditional research tool such as a questionnaire, in a highly innovative way; i.e., through the World Wide Web. Using multidimensional scaling, a perceptual map based upon the results of the manner in which interpreters ranked a list of linguistic and nonlinguistic criteria according to their perception of importance in the interpretative process,was devised.

Self-identification of problems in the process of listening to English in pre-service interpreters

Questa tesi ha come oggetto di studio i problemi riscontrati nelle trascrizioni di testi orali in lingua inglese prodotte da 39 studenti della laurea magistrale in Interpretazione. Nel Capitolo 1 viene presentato l’ascolto, che viene definito prima da un punto di vista storico, poi analizzato come processo composto da quattro fasi, come sostiene Michael Rost (2011). Il capitolo si conclude con l’ascolto nell’ambito dell’interpretazione. Nel Capitolo 2 viene analizzato in maniera contrastiva l’apprendimento dell’ascolto nella prima e nella seconda lingua. I primi due capitoli forniscono le basi per comprendere il caso di studio. Il Capitolo 3 concerne la metodologia dello studio. Vengono presentati il metodo di analisi delle trascrizioni, la categorizzazione dei problemi riscontrati e il processo di creazione del sistema di analisi utilizzato. Nel Capitolo 4 vengono presentati i dati ottenuti seguendo il metodo esposto nel Capitolo 3. Si presentano i problemi riscontrati, che vengono suddivisi in categorie in base a ciò che può averli causati. Il Capitolo 5 è dedicato alle conclusioni. Qui vengono suggerite possibili strategie mirate ad aiutare gli studenti di Interpretazione a migliorare le proprie capacità di ascolto in lingua inglese. Esta tesis quiere analizar los problemas encontrados en transcripciones de textos orales en inglés hechas por 39 estudiantes del máster en Interpretación. En el Capítulo 1 se presenta la escucha, que se define primero desde una perspectiva histórica, y luego como un proceso formado por cuatro fases, como argumenta Michael Rost (2011). El capítulo se cierra con la escucha en el ámbito de la interpretación. En el Capítulo 2 se analizan de forma contrastiva el aprendizaje de la escucha en la primera y segunda lengua. Los primeros dos capítulos constituyen la base para comprender el caso de estudio. El Capítulo 3 atañe a la metodología del estudio. Se presentan el método de análisis de las transcripciones, la categorización de los problemas encontrados y el proceso de creación del sistema de análisis que se ha empleado. En el Capítulo 4 se proporcionan los datos obtenidos gracias al método presentado en el Capítulo 3. Se presentan los problemas encontrados, que han sido divididos en categorías según qué puede haberlos ocasionado. El Capítulo 5 está dedicado a las conclusiones. Aquí se sugieren posibles estrategias cuyo objetivo es ayudar a los estudiantes de Interpretación a mejorar sus capacidades de escucha en inglés.

Pinocchio: Bringing Reflection to Life with First-Class Interpreters

To support development tools like debuggers, runtime systems need to provide a meta-programming interface to alter their semantics and access internal data. Reflective capabilities are typically fixed by the Virtual Machine (VM). Unanticipated reflective features must either be simulated by complex program transformations, or they require the development of a specially tailored VM. We propose a novel approach to behavioral reflection that eliminates the barrier between applications and the VM by manipulating an explicit tower of first-class interpreters. Pinocchio is a proof-of-concept implementation of our approach which enables radical changes to the interpretation of programs by explicitly instantiating subclasses of the base interpreter. We illustrate the design of Pinocchio through non-trivial examples that extend runtime semantics to support debugging, parallel debugging, and back-in-time object-flow debugging. Although performance is not yet addressed, we also discuss numerous opportunities for optimization, which we believe will lead to a practical approach to behavioral reflection.