Due to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, millions of people had to leave their home country. As a neighbor of Ukraine, Hungary is highly affected by this crisis and thousands of volunteers help refugees in this difficult situation. As their role is central in emergency response, the health and wellbeing of volunteers are of high importance. The aim of this study was to examine the sense of coherence among Hungarian volunteers working with Ukrainian refugees. Sense of coherence is a core concept in Aaron Antonovsky’s salutogenic model (1979), and reflects on the psychological, social and cultural resources which help people to cope with everyday stressors. In order to explore how this theory can be applied in the context of volunteering, 6 semi-structured interviews were conducted and a deductive qualitative analysis was made with the sense of coherence theory as a framework. It resulted in three predetermined categories based on the three dimensions of sense of coherence: (1) Comprehensibility, (2) Manageability and (3) Meaningfulness. The analysis of qualitative data resulted in a total of twelve themes within the three categories (e.g. Effective communication and information flow are important to me.; Supportive team spirit and collaboration are important to me.; A strong sense of service gives me strength.; I believe helping others is its own reward.). The findings suggest that the concept of sense of coherence can be applied in the context of volunteering, revealing key aspects of comprehending, managing and making sense of volunteer work. Therefore, interventions based on this salutogenic approach would improve the mental health and well-being of volunteers through enabling them to cope with the challenges of volunteer work.

This is a study of Mandarin third tone (T3) sandhi produced by learners learning Mandarin as a second language, third language, or heritage language. I investigate factors affecting learners’ Mandarin T3 sandhi performance measured by two constructs, comprehensibility and accentedness. T3 sandhi in Mandarin is a phonological property that learners of Mandarin need to acquire on top of the four lexical tones (i.e., Tone 1 high level, Tone 2 rising tone, Tone 3 dipping tone, and Tone 4 falling tone). T3 sandhi is a process that which lexical tones alternate categorically, changing from the underlying tone sequence of T3T3 to T2T3. This process is motivated by the underlying trochaic feet of Mandarin (Qu, 2013). 67 Chinese learners passed the screening test (i.e., reading monosyllabic words with satisfactory tone production) to ensure that they could produce basic lexical tones before their tone sandhi production was evaluated. The eligible learners’ reading of the experimental wordlist that consists of 40 disyllabic words (i.e., 20 sandhi words and 20 non-sandhi words) was judged by 20 native speakers of Chinese in terms of comprehensibility and accentedness on a scale of 1 to 9 (e.g., Munro & Derwing, 1995; Saito, Trofimovich & Isaacs, 2017). The primary findings of the study are 1) Comprehensibility and accentedness were confirmed to be two distinct constructs as learners were found to perform significantly differently on these two constructs (both p < .05). 2) Previously learned foot structure, either from first or second language (L1footness or L2footness), were found significantly predict L3 comprehensibility and accentedness. L1footness was correlated with better performance: higher comprehensibility and lower accentedness ratings. The finding of L2footness’ correlation with worse performance in comprehensibility and accentedness was confounding but caused by low exposure to the target language Mandarin. 3) Exposure to the target language, measured by total learning length, the number of Chinese courses taken and total time spent in China, was found significantly influence comprehensibility and accentedness. This shows the importance of teasing apart effects of exposure and language transfer in L3 acquisition studies, which echoes with Puig-Mayenco and Rothman (2020). 4) Heritage learners were not found to have any acquisitional advantages over non-heritage learners as there were no significant differences between heritage versus non-heritage learners. Furthermore, Cantonese learners were found to perform worse than L2 learners on T3 sandhi words (where T3 sandhi rules need to apply) but not on non-sandhi words due to their lack of foot structure in their heritage language Cantonese. This suggests the heterogeneous nature of the Chinese heritage learner population, and Cantonese heritage learners and Mandarin heritage learners should be distinguished at least for prosodic feature acquisition. / Graduate

The present study examined the ability of 4th year students of Russian as a second language to use intonation to form intelligible questions. 25 speakers were recorded asking a question in which they were supposed to stress one word in the question using intonation, as is standard in Russian. They then received an intelligibility score based on whether the native Russian raters correctly understood that they were asking a question and what they were asking a question about. Additionally, native speakers rated the speech samples on accentedness, meaning how much the speech deviated from native norms and comprehensibility, meaning how difficult it was to understand the speaker. Both of these last two constructs, i.e., comprehensibility and accentedness were rated using a Likert scale. It was then examined whether there was correlation between intelligibility, comprehensibility and accentedness. This study found the L2 speakers of Russian were correctly understood as asking a question 89% of the time, but what the question was about was only correctly understood at a rate of 39%. Correlation was found between accentedness and comprehensibility, meaning that speakers with better accentedness also received higher comprehensibility scores. But no correlation was found between intelligibility and accentedness nor with comprehensibility. The study concludes with suggestions of why intonation is, in fact, important in communication and suggests areas for improvement in pedagogical settings as well as directions for future research which would include context-based dialogues and the use of Praat in judging statements.

No description available.

Software developers spend more time on reading than writingcode. Comprehensible code therefore has the potential tosignificantly improve software development andmaintenance by lowering the time needed for understandingexisting code. Previous research suggest that the choice ofProgramming paradigm may affect code comprehension. Thepresent study evaluates if a positive effect of ReactiveProgramming on comprehension can be attested incomparison to Procedural Programming. We let human testsubjects solve bugs in code-snippets of commonfunctionalities implemented either according to ReactiveProgramming or Procedural Programming in the Javalanguage and RxJava, its ReactiveX implementation. Thecomprehensibility of the code is measured by the test subjects’time consumption, with lower values indicating highercomprehensibility and higher values lowercomprehensibility.Within this study we also study the effect of prior knowledgeof reactive programming, and background in programming,on the results, by having test subjects from two groups: (1)software students with experience in Reactive Programming,and (2) experienced software developers and engineers withless experience in Reactive Programming.All tests took part in a tool of our design, the CodeComparator.Our results show that reactive puzzles are solved faster,suggesting higher comprehensibility, although highdispersion in solvability time, especially for the proceduralsolutions, make it difficult to assess the validity of this timedifference. The positive effect is notable in the student groupwhereas we cannot conclude if the other group solves reactiveor procedural puzzles faster

Nesta dissertação, foi desenvolvida uma análise linguística contrastiva de bulas de medicamento brasileiras e alemãs. O principal objetivo dessa análise era identificar o grau de compreensibilidade de cada um dos textos, segundo as dimensões do modelo de Karlsruhe: Concisão, Correção, Motivação, Estrutura, Simplicidade e Perceptibilidade. Para isso, foram retomados conceitos da Linguística Textual e procedimentos da Textologia Contrastiva, como as definições de texto e gênero textual, o método de comparação de textos paralelos e o estabelecimento de um termo de comparação. De maneira geral, os resultados da análise contrastiva indicaram que termos técnicos (no âmbito da simplicidade) e fonte pequena (no âmbito da perceptibilidade) não são as principais causas de incompreensão na leitura das bulas, como se supôs inicialmente. O estudo evidenciou que desvios na estrutura e na concisão das bulas podem ter um impacto tão ou mais negativo na compreensão desses textos do que os aspectos anteriormente citados. Além disso, foi possível constatar que cada uma das dimensões possui um peso diferente na compreensibilidade das bulas analisadas devido a diferenças linguísticas e culturais entre os pares alemão/português e Alemanha/Brasil. / In this research, a contrastive linguistic analysis of German and Brazilian package inserts was developed. The main aim of this analysis was to identify the degree of comprehensibility in each text, according to the Karlsruhe model dimensions: concision, correctness, motivation, structure, simplicity and perceptibility. To achieve this aim, it was necessary to review some concepts of the Textual Linguistics and procedures of the Contrastive Textology, such as the definitions of text and textual genre, the method of comparing parallel texts and the establishment of a point of comparison. In general, the results of the contrastive analysis have shown that technical terms (in the scope of simplicity) and small font (perceptibility) are not the main causes of misunderstanding of package inserts, as it was supposed initially. The study has highlighted that deviances in the structure and in the concision of package inserts may have an impact in the comprehension of these texts as negative as the aspects forementioned, if not more. Moreover, it was possible to notice that each dimension has a different weight in the comprehensibility of the analyzed package inserts because of the linguistic and cultural differences between German/Portuguese and Germany/Brazil.

Nesta dissertação, foi desenvolvida uma análise linguística contrastiva de bulas de medicamento brasileiras e alemãs. O principal objetivo dessa análise era identificar o grau de compreensibilidade de cada um dos textos, segundo as dimensões do modelo de Karlsruhe: Concisão, Correção, Motivação, Estrutura, Simplicidade e Perceptibilidade. Para isso, foram retomados conceitos da Linguística Textual e procedimentos da Textologia Contrastiva, como as definições de texto e gênero textual, o método de comparação de textos paralelos e o estabelecimento de um termo de comparação. De maneira geral, os resultados da análise contrastiva indicaram que termos técnicos (no âmbito da simplicidade) e fonte pequena (no âmbito da perceptibilidade) não são as principais causas de incompreensão na leitura das bulas, como se supôs inicialmente. O estudo evidenciou que desvios na estrutura e na concisão das bulas podem ter um impacto tão ou mais negativo na compreensão desses textos do que os aspectos anteriormente citados. Além disso, foi possível constatar que cada uma das dimensões possui um peso diferente na compreensibilidade das bulas analisadas devido a diferenças linguísticas e culturais entre os pares alemão/português e Alemanha/Brasil. / In this research, a contrastive linguistic analysis of German and Brazilian package inserts was developed. The main aim of this analysis was to identify the degree of comprehensibility in each text, according to the Karlsruhe model dimensions: concision, correctness, motivation, structure, simplicity and perceptibility. To achieve this aim, it was necessary to review some concepts of the Textual Linguistics and procedures of the Contrastive Textology, such as the definitions of text and textual genre, the method of comparing parallel texts and the establishment of a point of comparison. In general, the results of the contrastive analysis have shown that technical terms (in the scope of simplicity) and small font (perceptibility) are not the main causes of misunderstanding of package inserts, as it was supposed initially. The study has highlighted that deviances in the structure and in the concision of package inserts may have an impact in the comprehension of these texts as negative as the aspects forementioned, if not more. Moreover, it was possible to notice that each dimension has a different weight in the comprehensibility of the analyzed package inserts because of the linguistic and cultural differences between German/Portuguese and Germany/Brazil.

<p>Avhandling för teknologie doktorsexamen i datavetenskap, som kommer att försvaras offentligt tisdagen den 11 mars 2014 kl. 13.15, M404, Högskolan i Borås. Opponent: docent Niklas Lavesson, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Karlskrona.</p>

Hälsoutveckling i Sverige går framåt, men den självskattade hälsan är låg. Självskattning är ett mått som baseras på individens egen uppfattning av sin hälsa. Hälsa är en subjektiv uppskattning där varje individ har sin syn på upplevelse av hälsa. Autonomi, social gemenskap och begriplighet är olika dimensioner av hälsobegreppet som baseras på patienters upplevelse av hälsa. Många mätinstrument inom sjukvården idag har för avsikt att mäta hälsa genom frånvaro av symtom. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur patienter på en allmänpsykiatrisk öppenvårdsmottagning självskattar sin hälsa utifrån dimensionerna autonomi, social gemenskap och begriplighet. Metoden som användes var en tvärsnittsstudie med kvantitativ ansats. En enkätundersökning utfördes under tre veckor. Resultatet baseras på 49 stycken enkäter. Resultatet visar att autonomidimensionen skattades lägst medelvärde samt att deltagarna skattade högst medelvärde på påståendet ”kan bry mig om andra”. Slutsatsen i denna studie visar att det låga värdet inom dimensionen autonomi kan bero på sjuksköterskornas arbetsklimat och medicinska synsätt. Implikationer i vården som fynden kan medföra kan vara en ökad medvetenhet kring självskattad hälsa både hos patienter och hos sjuksköterskor. / Health development in Sweden is advancing, but the self-rated health is low. Self-assessment is a measure based on the individual's own perception of their health. Health is a subjective estimate where each individual has his views on the experience of health. Autonomy, social community and understandability are different dimensions of the concept of health based on the patients' experience of health. Many measuring devices in healthcare today intends to measure  health by the absence of symptoms. The purpose of this study was to ask how patients in a general psychiatric outpatient clinic self-rate their health on the basis of the dimensions of autonomy, social community and comprehensibility. The method used was a cross-sectional study with quantitative approach. A survey was conducted over three weeks. The result is based on 49 questionnaires. The result shows that the autonomy dimension were estimated lowest average and that the participants estimated highest average on the claim "can care about others." The conclusion of this study is that one reason to low value in the dimension autonomy may depend on the nurses' working environment and medical approaches. Implications of care is that the findings may lead to an increased awareness of self-rated health among both patients and nurses.

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