• Title/Summary/Keyword: current

Search Result 76,659, Processing Time 0.094 seconds

A Study of Segmental and Syllabic Intervals of Canonical Babbling and Early Speech

  • Chen, Xiaoxiang;Xiao, Yunnan
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
    • /
    • v.28
    • /
    • pp.115-139
    • /
    • 2012
  • Interval or duration of segments, syllables, words and phrases is an important acoustic feature which influences the naturalness of speech. A number of cross-sectional studies regarding acoustic characteristics of children's speech development found that intervals of segments, syllables, words and phrases tend to change with the growing age. One hypothesis assumed that decreases in intervals would be greater when children were younger and smaller decreases in intervals when older (Thelen,1991), it has been supported by quite a number of researches on the basis of cross-sectional studies (Tingley & Allen,1975; Kent & Forner,1980; Chermak & Schneiderman, 1986), but the other hypothesis predicted that decreases in intervals would be smaller when children were younger and greater decreases in intervals when older (Smith, Kenney & Hussain, 1996). Researchers seem to come up with conflicting postulations and inconsistent results about the change trends concerning intervals of segments, syllables, words and phrases, leaving it as an issue unresolved. Most acoustic investigations of children's speech production have been conducted via cross-sectional designs, which involves studying several groups of children. So far, there are only a few longitudinal studies. This issue needs more longitudinal investigations; moreover, the acoustic measures of the intervals of child speech are hardly available. All former studies focus on word stages excluding the babbling stages especially the canonical babbling stage, but we need to find out when concrete changes of intervals begin to occur and what causes the changes. Therefore, we conducted an acoustic study of interval characteristics of segments and words concerning Canonical Babble ( CB) and early speech in an infant aged from 0;9 to 2;4 acquiring Mandarin Chinese. The current research addresses the following two questions: 1. Whether decreases in interval would be greater when children were younger and smaller when they were older or vice versa? 2. Whether the child speech concerning the acoustic features of interval drifts in the direction of the language they are exposed to? The female infant whose L1 was Southern Mandarin living in Changsha was audio- and video-taped at her home for about one hour almost on a weekly basis during her age range from 0;9 to 2;4 under natural observation by us investigators. The recordings were digitized. Parts of the digitized material were labeled. All the repetitions were excluded. The utterances were extracted from 44 sessions ranging from 30 minutes to one hour. The utterances were divided into segments as well as syllable-sized units. Age stages are 0;9-1;0,1;1-1;5, 1;6-2;0, 2;1-2;4. The subject was a monolingual normal child from parents with a good education. The infant was audio-and video-taped in her home almost every week. The data were digitized, segments and syllables from 44 sessions spanning the transition from babble to speech were transcribed in narrow IPA and coded for analysis. Babble was coded from age 0;9-1;0, and words were coded from 1;0 to 2;4, the data has been checked by two professionally trained persons who majored in phonetics. The present investigation is a longitudinal analysis of some temporal characteristics of the child speech during the age periods of 0;9-1;0, 1;1-1;5, 1;6-2;0, 2;1-2;4. The answer to Research Question 1 is that our results are in agreement with neither of the hypotheses. One hypothesis assumed that decreases in intervals would be greater when children were younger and smaller decreases in intervals when older (Thelen,1991); but the other hypothesis predicted that decreases in intervals would be smaller when children were younger and greater decreases in intervals when older (Smith, Kenney & Hussain, 1996). On the whole, there is a tendency of decrease in segmental and syllabic duration with the growing age, but the changes are not drastic and abrupt. For example, /a/ after /k/ in Table 1 has greater decrease during 1;1-1;5, while /a/ after /p/, /t/ and /w/ has greater decrease during 2;1-2;4. /ka/ has greater decrease during 1;1-1;5, while /ta/ and /na/ has greater decrease during 2;1-2;4.Across the age periods, interval change experiences lots of fluctuation all the time. The answer to Research Question 2 is yes. Babbling stage is a period in which the children's acoustic features of intervals of segments, syllables, words and phrases is shifted in the direction of the language to be learned, babbling and children's speech emergence is greatly influenced by ambient language. The phonetic changes in terms of duration would go on until as late as 10-12 years of age before reaching adult-like levels. Definitely, with the increase of exposure to ambient language, the variation would be less and less until they attain the adult-like competence. Via the analysis of the SPSS 15.0, the decrease of segmental and syllabic intervals across the four age periods proves to be of no significant difference (p>0.05). It means that the change of segmental and syllabic intervals is continuous. It reveals that the process of child speech development is gradual and cumulative.

Investigation of Intertidal Zone using TerraSAR-X (TerraSAR-X를 이용한 조간대 관측)

  • Park, Jeong-Won;Lee, Yoon-Kyung;Won, Joong-Sun
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
    • /
    • v.25 no.4
    • /
    • pp.383-389
    • /
    • 2009
  • The main objective of the research is a feasibility study on the intertidal zone using a X-band radar satellite, TerraSAR-X. The TerraSAR-X data have been acquired in the west coast of Korea where large tidal flats, Ganghwa and Yeongjong tidal flats, are developed. Investigations include: 1) waterline and backscattering characteristics of the high resolution X-band images in tidal flats; 2) polarimetric signature of halophytes (or salt marsh plants), specifically Suaeda japonica; and 3) phase and coherence of interferometric pairs. Waterlines from TerraSAR-X data satisfy the requirement of horizontal accuracy of 60 m that corresponds to 20 cm in average height difference while current other spaceborne SAR systems could not meet the requirement. HH-polarization was the best for extraction of waterline, and its geometric position is reliable due to the short wavelength and accurate orbit control of the TerraSAR-X. A halophyte or salt marsh plant, Suaeda japonica, is an indicator of local sea level change. From X-band ground radar measurements, a dual polarization of VV/VH-pol. is anticipated to be the best for detection of the plant with about 9 dB difference at 35 degree incidence angle. However, TerraSAR-X HH/TV dual polarization was turned to be more effective for salt marsh monitoring. The HH-HV value was the maximum of about 7.9 dB at 31.6 degree incidence angle, which is fairly consistent with the results of X-band ground radar measurement. The boundary of salt marsh is effectively traceable specifically by TerraSAR-X cross-polarization data. While interferometric phase is not coherent within normal tidal flat, areas of salt marsh where the landization is preceded show coherent interferometric phases regardless of seasons or tide conditions. Although TerraSAR-X interferometry may not be effective to directly measure height or changes in tidal flat surface, TanDEM-X or other future X-band SAR tandem missions within one-day interval would be useful for mapping tidal flat topography.

The Late Quaternary Pollen Analysis of Gokgyo River Basin in Asan-City, Korea - Focused on Vegetation and Climate Environment between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Glacial - (충남 아산 곡교천 유역의 제4기 후기 화분분석 - 최종빙기 최성기~만빙기 식생 및 기후환경에 주목하여 -)

  • PARK, Ji-Hoon;KIM, Sung-Tae
    • Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
    • /
    • v.20 no.1
    • /
    • pp.11-20
    • /
    • 2013
  • The pollen analysis was performed targeting the valley plain alluvium of Jangjae-ri, Asan area in order to clarify the climate and vegetation environment of the Last glacial maximum and the Late glacial in terms of Gokgyo River Watershed In Asan-City, Korea. The sample collection point gets included in the current deciduous broadleaf forest zone (south cool temperate zone). The results are as follows. (1) The vegetation environment of about 19,300-14,100yrB.P. at the investigation area is mainly classified into YJ-I period and YJ-II period while YJ-Ia period is classified once again into YJ-Ia period and YJ-Ib period. YJ-Ia period (19,300-17,500yrB.P.) is correlated with the Last Glacial Maximum while the vegetation at the time has relatively a little wide distribution area of grassland compared to the forest and the forest vegetation of this time period is the mixed conifer and deciduous broad-leaved forest. YJ-Ib period (15,400-14,750yrB.P.) is correlated with the Late glacial (or the Last Glacial Maximum) and the distribution area of grassland became wider compared to the forest. While the forest vegetation of this time period is the mixed conifer and deciduous broad-leaved forest, a difference exists in terms of the dominant tree species. YJ-II period (about 14,650-14,100yrB.P.) is correlated with the Last glacial while the distribution area of grassland became even wider than the forest compared to the YJ-Ib in case of the vegetation at the time and the forest vegetation of this time period is the coniferous forest. (2) Both YJ-I period and YJ-II period were relatively cold and dry compared the End of Late Glacial (about 12,000-10,000yrB.P.)~Early Holocene (10,000-8,500yrB.P.), Also, YJ-II period was relatively colder than the YJ-I period and the YJ-Ib period was relatively more humid than the YJ-Ia period.

Classification of Estuaries based on Morphological Convergence (형태적 수렴 특성을 이용한 하구 분류)

  • SHIN, Hyun-jung;RHEW, Hosahng;LEE, Guan-hong
    • Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
    • /
    • v.19 no.3
    • /
    • pp.1-22
    • /
    • 2012
  • The classification scheme of estuaries can be divided into two categories: qualitative classification based on geomorphic characteristics and quantitative classification based upon the physical properties of water body. While simple and intuitive scheme of the former is difficult to quantify, the latter is not easy to apply due to the lack of data. A classification scheme based on morphological convergence is very promising because it only requires easily accessible data such as width and depth of channels, as well as it can characterize estuaries in terms of tidal propagation. Thus, this paper examines the classification scheme based on estuarine morphological convergence using depth and width data obtained from 19 major Korean estuaries. Morphological convergence for each estuary was estimated with the estuarine length, width and depth data to get the convergence parameters, which includes the degree of funneling ${\nu}$ and the dimensionless estuarine length $y_0$. The transfer function ${\xi}({\nu},ky)$ is then deduced analytically from 1D depth-integrated hydrodynamic momentum equation and continuity equation for estuarine shapes. Tidal response of each estuary is finally calculated using ${\nu}$, $y_0$ and ${\xi}({\nu},ky)$ for comparison and classification. The 19 Korean estuaries were classified into three groups: tidal amplitude-dominated estuaries with standing wave-like tidal response (group 1), current-dominated estuaries with progressive wave-like tidal response (group 2), and the intermediate group (group 3) between groups 1 and 2. The sensitivity analysis revealed that uncertainties in determining the estuarine length can have a critical effect upon the results of classification, which indicates that the reasonable determination of the estuarine length is of critical importance. Once the estuarine length is feasibly determined, depth-convergence can be neglected without any negative effect on the classification scheme, which has an important ramification on the wide applicability of the classification scheme.

Current Development of Company Law in the European Union (유럽주식회사법의 최근 동향에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Yo-Sop
    • Journal of Legislation Research
    • /
    • no.41
    • /
    • pp.229-260
    • /
    • 2011
  • European Union (EU) law has been a complex but at the same time fascinating subject of study due to its dynamic evolution. In particular, the Lisbon Treaty which entered into force in December 2009 represents the culmination of a decade of attempts at Treaty reform and harmonisation in diverse sectors. Amongst the EU private law fields, company law harmonisation has been one of the hotly debated issues with regards to the freedom of establishment in the internal market. Due to the significant differences between national provisions on company law, it seemed somewhat difficult to harmonise company law. However, Council Regulation 2157/2001 was legislated in 2001 and now provides the basis for the Statute for a European Company (or Societas Europaea: SE). The Statute is also supplemented by the Council Directive 2001/86 on the involvement of employees. The SE Statute is a legal measure in order to contribute to the internal market, and provides a choice for companies that wish to merge, create a joint subsidiary or convert a subsidiary into an SE. Through this option, the SE became a corporate form which is only available to existing companies incorporated in different Member States in the EU. The important question on the meaning of the SE Statute is whether the distinctive characteristics of the SE make it an attractive option to ensure significant numbers of SE registration. In fact, the outcome that has been made through the SE Statute is an example of regulatory competition. The traditional regulatory competition in the freedom of establishment has been the one between national statutes between Member States. However, this time is not a competition between Member States, which means that the Union has joined the area in competition between legal orders and is now in competition with the systems of company law of the Member States.Key Words : European Union, EU Company Law, Societas Europaea, SE Statute, One-tier System, Two-tier System, Race to the Bottom A quite number of scholars expect that the number of SE will increase significantly. Of course, there is no evidence of regulatory competition that Korea faces currently. However, because of the increasing volume of international trade and expansion of regional economic bloc, it is necessary to consider the example of development of EU company law. Addition to the existing SE Statute, the EU Commission has also proposed a new corporate form, Societas Private Europaea (private limited liable company). All of this development in European company law will help firms make their best choice for company establishment. The Delaware-style development in the EU will foster the race to the bottom, thereby improving the contents of company law. To conclude, the study on the development of European company law becomes important to understand the evolution of company law and harmonisation efforts in the EU.

An exploratory study on practice-oriented reconceptualization of self-sufficiency : Service providers' reflections on their own experiences from the field (현장의 시각으로부터 구조화된 자활 개념 탐색 연구 : 자활사업 실무자의 이해를 중심으로)

  • Choi, Sangmi;Hong, Song-Iee
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
    • /
    • v.49 no.3
    • /
    • pp.5-33
    • /
    • 2018
  • A self-sufficiency service has worked as a typical workfare policy combined with public assistance in Korea since 2000. Despite of its long history, three core pillars in administrating the self-sufficiency service, policy, research, and practice, have respectively understood the meaning of self-sufficiency in terms of their own interests. As a result, the self-sufficiency service has recently faced with its own identity issues by showing failures to its environmental changes. The current situation makes it necessary to reconceptualize the definition of self-sufficiency by exploring its in-depth understanding perceived by service providers. Specifically, we analyzed practical reflections on 35 service providers' experiences which were collected via focus group interviews for two hours. The study findings presented that service providers had two antithetical approaches towards self-sufficiency. While a dominant approach to self-sufficiency has been concentrated on improving clients' economic outcomes such as employment, job retention, the escape from welfare trap, and increasing earnings and assets, the other approach has been extended to empower clients and achieve their well-being and quality of life. Yet, these contrary perspectives have led to suffer from their role confusions and identity crisis between the work-ready process and the employment-oriented outcomes. Specifically, they described self-sufficiency in terms of psychological, social, and integrated aspects. The psychological aspect included a process of developing inner strengths, intensifying job motivation, and coping with barriers of employment. The social aspect meant a path toward social integration through recovering human relationships. The integrated aspect covered more comprehensive support for their recovery of daily life and autonomy to make a decision for their own life. In conclusion, the study findings suggest that self-sufficiency should be more extensively considered as a stepwise process towards work-ready preparations beyond ultimate economic outcomes. Such an extended concept of self-sufficiency could contribute to restructuring the whole practice of self-sufficiency including organizational and program changes in the fields.

The Labeling Effect and the Politics of hostile Exclusion in Korean Society - Centered on 'Pro-North Korean leftist Forces'/'Pro-Japanese Dictatorship Forces' - (한국사회에서의 낙인효과와 적대적 배제 정치 - '종북좌파'/'친일독재 세력'을 중심으로 -)

  • Sunwoo, Hyun
    • Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
    • /
    • v.145
    • /
    • pp.271-296
    • /
    • 2018
  • In this article, I intend to reveal critically both the intrinsic crux and main problems of the politics of hostile exclusion based on the effect of labeling which was designed precisely as an impure political technique and has been operated for too long in Korean society by the conservative ruling class that centered on various negative ideological labels like 'pro-North Korean leftist forces.' Firstly, what is called the 'conservative ruling class' in Korean society is in itself an antinationalistic and antidemocratic pro-Japanese dictatorship group. Secondly, the conservative ruling class as a pro-Japanese dictatorship group has utilized politically the labeling effect which regards antigovernment Korean members as pro-North Korean or rebellious persons. This group's hostile politics, based on the ideological labelling effect, deprives antigovernment persons and groups of the qualification of Korean citizenship, in order to hold and retain their supreme power in Korean society. Thirdly, the conservative ruling class has attempted to stigmatize the citizens who participate in a movement for democracy as a pro-North Korean leftist force, but such a politically impure manner is typically completely unjustified groundless labeling. Fourthly, the attempt to define the conservative ruling class as a pro-Japanese dictatorship force is normatively justified and resonably appraised insofar as such a definition has been proved to be worthy of confidence. Finally, the trial to consider Roh's regime and pro-Roh (pro-Moon) groups as a kind of Yeongnam hegemonism by several critical intellectuals and current politicians from Honam region is not only merely a groundless and unconvincing labelling, but also the failed outcome of the attempt to systemize logically their emotional antipathy and repulsion toward Roh and pro-Roh (pro-Moon) groups.

Employment Support for the Low-income Elderly in the OECD Countries: Implications for Senior Employment Policy (OECD 국가의 저소득 고령자 고용지원정책 : 노인일자리사업에 주는 함의)

  • Ji, Eun Jeong
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
    • /
    • v.44 no.3
    • /
    • pp.177-206
    • /
    • 2013
  • The Korean government has implemented the senior employment policy as a direct job creation policy since 2004. A realistic discussion of policy alternatives and orientation for this has been given little attention even though senior employment policy has been carried out for the last 10 years and it will be expanded next year. This study tries to examine active labor market policy especially focusing on direct job creation programs and policies for the disadvantaged low-income elderly in OECD countries, and then it suggests some developmental alternatives for senior employment policy based on the study's results. The main results from this analysis are summarized in two points. Firstly, except pension policies, employment policy for older workers in the OECD countries is highly proportional to the tackling of objective factors reducing the demand for older workers (wage subsidies, reduced social security contribution rate etc). And the strategies of improving employability have not been relatively important and direct job creation policy has been marginal. Secondly, employment support policies for the low-income elderly can be divided into three types: support for the low-income elderly, alleviating early retirement and support for full employment according to the criteria which are determined by policy objectives and the social economic index. Korea's employment support policies belong to the type of direct job creation among them. This seems to be due to the fact that the rate of elderly poverty is extremely high and an income security system has not been developed in Korea. However, the policy objective is still uncertain. Therefore, this policy needs to set up clear objectives and establish a proper system for the achievement of its goals. If we focus on the strength of its employment characteristics, we need to modify the policy's plan in the perspective of labor market policy. But if we intend to keep both of the current objectives, it is better for this policy to be divided into two parts: social participation and income supplements. Or it also may be a solution to transform the system into an employment service, a training system which supports participants to move into unsubsidized jobs such as SCSEP in the U. S.

Establishment Method of the Regulatory Framework for Communications Reflecting the Ecosystem Elements (생태계 요소를 반영한 방송통신 규제체계의 정립 방안)

  • Hong, Dae-Sik;Choe, Dong-Uk
    • Journal of Legislation Research
    • /
    • no.41
    • /
    • pp.401-434
    • /
    • 2011
  • The discussion on the adoption of the horizontal regulatory framework is underway to overcome the problems regarding the vertical regulatory framework resulting from a convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications services. Recently, however, the horizontal regulatory framework shows its limitation to regulate the ecosystem established mainly by Google and Apple. The existing horizontal regulatory framework does not fully reflect the characteristics of the two-sided market and the change in the competition structure in the broadcasting and telecommunications sector. What is important to note is that if the existing horizontal regulatory framework is simply applied to the ecosystem, a regulatory imbalance can be caused among ecosystems. The existing horizontal regulatory framework, which is subject to a value chain structure, categorizes business entities into either contents layer or transmission layer and applies the same regulation to all business entities in the same category. However, in the ecosystem, a keystone-player can be categorized into different layers depending on its strategy. Therefore, if the existing horizontal regulatory framework is applied as it is, the regulatory imbalance between keystone-players located in less regulated areas and keystone-players located in more regulated areas occurs resulting in a distortion of competition. There are two possible ways to establish a new regulatory framework to prevent the distortion of competition likely to be caused by the adoption of a horizontal regulatory system. First, a new ecosystem regulatory framework different from the existing one can be established. Second, the horizontal regulatory framework can be modified to reflect the ecosystem elements. The first approach is hard to adopt given the current situation as the approach requires the analysis of all broadcasting and telecommunications ecosystems including mobile and wired services; currently research and study on the competition conditions in the ecosystems is not enough. Therefore, this paper supports the second approach proposing a modified horizontal regulatory framework through the improvement of institutions and remedies suitable for accommodating the ecosystem elements. This paper intends to propose a way to regulate broadcasting and telecommunications ecosystems taking into consideration the ecosystem elements on top of the Telecommunications Business Act, Broadcasting Act, IPTV Act, the competition condition evaluation system of the Basic Act on Broadcasting and Telecommunications Development, and regulation on common carriers under the Telecommunications Business Act.

Analysis and Prospect of North Korean Legislation System - Focused on the 'Legislation Law' of North Korea - (북한의 법제정(입법) 체계의 분석 및 전망 - '법제정법'을 중심으로 -)

  • Park, Jeong-Won
    • Journal of Legislation Research
    • /
    • no.53
    • /
    • pp.9-59
    • /
    • 2017
  • Recently, the aspect of regulating the legal system in North Korea has increased in quantity and shows the improvement of the evaluation of the lack of systematic consistency in the past. North Korean legislation has been negatively criticized for its lack of function and role of the legislative body and ambiguity of the legal system. In particular, the newly adopted "Legislation Law" in relation to the revision of the legislative system of North Korea contains important and clear contents to understand the legislative system and procedures of North Korea. The contents of the "Legislation Law" can be found a glimpse of the process by which the framework and procedures of the North Korean legislative process are organized more systematically. The North Korean legislation provides legal and institutional grounds for promoting internal and external policies under the Kim jong-un's regime. North Korea is focused on the nuclear issue, so there is limited information on other areas. In light of this, the purpose of this study is to examine the legislative theory and system of North Korea, and outline the theoretical basis of North Korea's emphasis on strengthening socialist judicial life, the socialist legal system, and the state theory of socialist rule of law. In addition, it can be analysed the content of actual legal reform in light of North Korea's legislative theory and system. In the study, it will examine the legislative system of North Korea and its characteristics by examining the legislative process and legislative process of North Korea. Moreover, it can be compared the contents of the Legislative Law of China with the legislative process of the DPRK and examine its characteristics. We will look at the challenges to the legislative system in North Korea and look into the future direction of the legislation. Kim jong-un's announcement of the revised legislation until recently through the publication of the 2016 Supplementary Codes is an important data for the current state of the North Korean legislation. This is because it confirms the content of the laws and regulations already known through "Democratic Chosun(a newspaper issued by North Korea Cabinet)'s statutory interpretation." However, in the case of laws and regulations related to the North Korean political system, it is still a remnant of the lagging legislation that the announcement is delayed, or it remains undisclosed or confidential. North Korean laws are developed and changed according to the changes of the times. In particular, the contents of the maintenance of foreign investment and the foreign economic law system and related internal legal system are found to change in accordance with the development direction of the socioeconomic system. If the direction of Kim jong-un's regime is to be expanded to the path of reform and opening up in the economic sector, the revision of the related laws and regulations will accelerate. Securing the transparency and objectivity of the North Korean legislative process and procedures will help to broaden the understanding of the inter-Korean legal system and to seek institutional measures for inter-Korean integration. In the future, in-depth research on the North Korean legal system will be emphasized as a basis for ultimately forming a unified Korea's legal system.