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Children who hear large amounts of diverse speech learn language more quickly than children who do not. However, high correlations between the amount and the diversity of the input in speech samples makes it difficult to isolate the influence of each. We overcame this problem by controlling the input to a computational model so that amount of exposure to linguistic input (quantity) and the quality of that input (lexical diversity) were independently manipulated. Sublexical, lexical, and multi-word knowledge were charted across development (Study 1), showing that while input quantity may be important early in learning, lexical diversity is ultimately more crucial, a prediction confirmed against children’s data (Study 2). The model trained on a lexically diverse input also performed better on nonword repetition and sentence recall tests (Study 3) and was quicker to learn new words over time (Study 4). A language input that is rich in lexical diversity outperforms equivalent richness in quantity for learned sublexical and lexical knowledge, for well-established language tests, and for acquiring words that have never been encountered before.

I was pleased to see the RCN inviting applications for the credentialing scheme (news, 31 May). I note the piece indicated that credentialing will provide formal recognition of high quality advanced-level nursing practice.

This study examines the production of consonant clusters in simultaneous Polish–English bilingual children and in language-matched English monolinguals (aged 7;01–8;11). Selection of the language pair was based on the fact that Polish allows a greater range of consonant clusters than English. A nonword repetition task was devised in order to examine clusters of different types (obstruent-liquid vs. s + obstruent) and in different word positions (initial vs. medial), two factors that play a significant role in repetition accuracy in monolingual acquisition (e.g., Kirk & Demuth, 2005). Our findings show that bilingual children outperformed monolingual controls in the word initial s + obstruent condition. These results indicate that exposure to complex word initial clusters (in Polish) can accelerate the development of less phonologically complex clusters (in English). This constitutes significant new evidence that the facilitatory effects of bilingual acquisition extend to structural phonological domains. The implications that these results have on competing views of phonological organisation and phonological complexity are also discussed.

The synthesis and characterization of [3H2]T0901317 and a structural isomer are described. The structural assignments of the closely related labeled compounds were primarily accomplished via 19F NMR analyses of the corresponding ethanolic compound dispersions.

The nine-dot problem is often used to demonstrate and explain mental impasse, creativity, and out of the box thinking. The present study investigated the interplay of a restricted initial search space, the likelihood of invoking a representational change, and the subsequent constraining of an unrestricted search space. In three experimental conditions, participants worked on different versions of the nine-dot problem that hinted at removing particular sources of difficulty from the standard problem. The hints were incremental such that the first suggested a possible route for a solution attempt; the second additionally indicated the dot at which lines meet on the solution path; and the final condition also provided non-dot locations that appear in the solution path. The results showed that in the experimental conditions, representational change is encountered more quickly and problems are solved more often than for the control group. We propose a cognitive model that focuses on general problem-solving heuristics and representational change to explain problem difficulty.

Purpose In this study, the authors examined the role of syllabic structure in nonword repetition performance in typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method Eighteen children with SLI (5;7–6;7 [years;months]) and 18 TD children matched for chronological age were tested on their ability to repeat phonemes in different positions within syllable structure (onset, nucleus, coda). The test involved 2 separate nonword repetition tasks differing in lexicality (high vs. low). High-lexicality nonwords contained subparts that are morphemes of the language (i.e., subparts were “lexical”), whereas nonlexical nonwords did not. Results Repetition performance across the 3 syllabic positions showed a significant effect for both populations and on both tasks. However, although on the high-lexicality task the direction of the effect revealed the onset as the most error-prone constituent (onset > coda > nucleus), on the low-lexicality task, it was the coda that attracted most errors (coda > onset > nucleus). Conclusions Results suggest that the procedures involved in computing syllabic structure are qualitatively similar in the 2 populations. We take these results to support the view that different syllabic positions involve different levels of phonological complexity and that tests that control for lexicality are crucial in illuminating these differences.

I was saddened, but not surprised, to read that an Institute for Employment Studies survey found healthcare workers are being forbidden to share ideas outside their organisation (news and editorial, August 25).

Sir Stephen Moss recently commented that problems at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust had been '20-plus years in the making' (features March 14).

The 8-coin insight problem requires the problem solver to move 2 coins so that each coin touches exactly 3 others. Ormerod, MacGregor, and Chronicle (2002) explained differences in task performance across different versions of the 8-coin problem using the availability of particular moves in a 2-dimensional search space. We explored 2 further explanations by developing 6 new versions of the 8-coin problem in order to investigate the influence of grouping and self-imposed constraints on solutions. The results identified 2 sources of problem difficulty: first, the necessity to overcome the constraint that a solution can be found in 2-dimensional space and, second, the necessity to decompose perceptual groupings. A detailed move analysis suggested that the selection of moves was driven by the established representation rather than the application of the appropriate heuristics. Both results support the assumptions of representational change theory (Ohlsson, 1992).

I am pleased to see that the seeds I sowed at the RCN Emergency Care Association conference last year are now beginning to develop and that Clare Picton's editorial in the March issue of Emergency Nurse has brought my questions to a wider audience.

After reading the article,'Heart to heart' (Features May 15) I congratulate Andrew Mooraby and his colleagues for demonstrating how the nurse's role can be developed to enhance patient care.

I'd like to see a doorman at every emergency department to support often distraught people on arrival. It is about making people's lives easier and would also help lower aggression and violence against staff.

Nonword repetition tasks (NWRTs) are employed widely in various studies on language development and are often relied upon as diagnostic tools. However, the mechanisms that underlie children's performance in NWRTs are very little understood. In this paper we present NWRT data from typically developing 5- to 6-year-olds (5:4–6:8) and examine the pattern of their phonological errors within the syllabic domain. We show that the children display a strong tendency for errors at the syllable onset, with fewer errors in coda position. We then show how the same pattern can be simulated by a computer model, thus shedding some light on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie specific error patterns as well as general phonological development.

BACKGROUND: Pest resurgence following a pesticide application may occur owing to a stimulatory (hormetic) response to sublethal insecticide concentrations. The objective of the present study was to examine the potential for a greenhouse-derived red clone of Myzus persicae to exhibit resurgence owing to a hormetic response following a systemic imidacloprid treatment in a bell pepper greenhouse. RESULTS: No differences in mortality and fecundity were observed among apterous adults exposed to sublethal imidacloprid concentrations on excised pepper leaves fed aqueous solutions of imidacloprid. Survival of first-generation progeny was negatively affected by imidacloprid exposure, yet surviving progeny exhibited no differences in development rates or fecundity from progeny of adults unexposed to imidacloprid. Aphid mortality declined most rapidly in clip cages on pepper leaves at the top of the pepper canopy as compared with leaves present at the middle or bottom of the pepper canopy. CONCLUSION: Imidacloprid decays rapidly in mature pepper plants, resulting in sublethal concentrations in the upper canopy in as little as 4 weeks. Sublethal insecticide concentrations have been implicated in the resurgence of pest populations; however, exposure to sublethal doses of imidacloprid are unlikely to result in pesticide-induced resurgence of the M. persicae aphid clone examined in this study. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry

This article describes the evaluation of the ACE club, a service for younger people with dementia in North Wales. The evaluation was conducted by the ACE club members and conducted through a relationship‐centred approach expressed through the Senses Framework (achievement, belonging, continuity, purpose, security, significance) (Nolan et al, 2006). Members of the ACE club found the sense of significance to be the most important and meaningful ‘sense’ in helping to structure their evaluation and use of the ACE club. The clinical interventions outline is shared within the text to help provide a grounded and inductively generated practice structure. The funding of ‘normalising’ activities for younger people with dementia is an area of dementia care that needs urgent attention.

A series of experiments were conducted with greenhouse cucumber and pepper plants to determine the effects of oxygen enrichment of the irrigation water on yield and fruit shelf-life. The experiments were carried out in soilless culture in research greenhouses. Depending on the experiment, treatments included sub-ambient (2 mg L−1), ambient (5–6 mg L−1), medium (16 mg L−1) and high (30–40 mg L−1) levels of oxygen in the supply tank. Cucumber plants were grown in yellow cedar sawdust and pepper plants in either sawdust or perlite. Oxygen enrichment resulted in a promotion of cucumber yield in only one experiment; in two other experiments, none of the oxygen treatments, including those at sub-ambient levels, had an effect. There were no effects of oxygen enrichment on pepper yield. However, in both cucumber and pepper, fruit shelf-life was extended in oxygen-enriched treatments. In terms of system efficacy, oxygen levels in the irrigation water were measured at the dripper and found to decrease by 20–67% of initial values compared to the supply tank values, depending on the initial oxygen concentration and on the experiment. Oxygen concentrations decreased even further to virtually ambient levels when measured in the drain water or in the substrate reservoir. Cucumber plant growth was promoted under conditions which facilitated consistently high oxygen in the root zone, achieved through heavy irrigation (1 min in two) with oxygen-enriched nutrient solution of plants grown in saturated substrate (pumice). However, those extreme irrigation rates would not be practical for commercial cucumber or pepper production. Overall, this study demonstrates that oxygen enrichment of porous substrates under typical hydroponic conditions is difficult and possibly because of this, effects on yield are infrequent. However, fruit shelf-life may be improved.

The nonword repetition (NWR) test has been shown to be a good predictor of children's vocabulary size. NWR performance has been explained using phonological working memory, which is seen as a critical component in the learning of new words. However, no detailed specification of the link between phonological working memory and long-term memory (LTM) has been proposed. In this paper, we present a computational model of children's vocabulary acquisition (EPAM-VOC) that specifies how phonological working memory and LTM interact. The model learns phoneme sequences, which are stored in LTM and mediate how much information can be held in working memory. The model's behaviour is compared with that of children in a new study of NWR, conducted in order to ensure the same nonword stimuli and methodology across ages. EPAM-VOC shows a pattern of results similar to that of children: performance is better for shorter nonwords and for wordlike nonwords, and performance improves with age. EPAM-VOC also simulates the superior performance for single consonant nonwords over clustered consonant nonwords found in previous NWR studies. EPAM-VOC provides a simple and elegant computational account of some of the key processes involved in the learning of new words: it specifies how phonological working memory and LTM interact; makes testable predictions; and suggests that developmental changes in NWR performance may reflect differences in the amount of information that has been encoded in LTM rather than developmental changes in working memory capacity.

This chapter reviews the major literature on youth vulnerability to HIV in the urban slum and explores the key dynamic of gender and gender relations.

This chapter provides a synthesis of the major literature concerning human rights, health and wellbeing and, especially, sexual and reproductive health among young people in a rapidly urbanising world. Key aspects relating to the structural determinants of health in urban slum settings and the major theories which have sought to explain it are described.

This chapter examines the universe of risk and resilience and focuses on sexual and reproductive health among the growing number of young migrants taking up residence in the urban slum.

HIV remains a major threat to life and livelihood and increasingly in urban contexts. This chapter presents the case of AIDS, globally, and the nature of vulnerability, risk and resilience against HIV in the urban spaces of Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa and describes the key populations most affected and infected by the virus.

Traditional accounts of verbal short-term memory explain differences in performance for different types of verbal material by reference to inherent characteristics of the verbal items making up memory sequences. The role of previous experience with sequences of different types is ostensibly controlled for either by deliberate exclusion or by presenting multiple trials constructed from different random permutations. We cast doubt on this general approach in a detailed analysis of the basis for the robust finding that short-term memory for digit sequences is superior to that for other sequences of verbal material. Specifically, we show across four experiments that this advantage is not due to inherent characteristics of digits as verbal items, nor are individual digits within sequences better remembered than other types of individual verbal items. Rather, the advantage for digit sequences stems from the increased frequency, compared to other verbal material, with which digits appear in random sequences in natural language, and furthermore, relatively frequent digit sequences support better short-term serial recall than less frequent ones. We also provide corpus-based computational support for the argument that performance in a short-term memory setting is a function of basic associative learning processes operating on the linguistic experience of the rememberer. The experimental and computational results raise questions not only about the role played by measurement of digit span in cognition generally, but also about the way in which long-term memory processes impact on short-term memory functioning.

One of the most striking features of children’s early multi-word speech is their tendency to produce non-finite verb forms in contexts in which a finite verb form is required (Optional Infinitive [OI] errors, Wexler, 1994). MOSAIC is a computational model of language learning that simulates developmental changes in the rate of OI errors across several different languages by learning compound finite constructions from the right edge of the utterance (Freudenthal, Pine, Aguado-Orea, & Gobet, 2007; Freudenthal, Pine, & Gobet, 2006a, 2009). However, MOSAIC currently only simulates the pattern of OI errors in declaratives, and there are important differences in the cross-linguistic patterning of OI errors in declaratives and Wh- questions. In the present study, we describe a new version of MOSAIC that learns from both the right and left edges of the utterance. Our simulations demonstrate that this new version of the model is able to capture the cross-linguistic patterning of OI errors in declaratives in English, Dutch, German and Spanish by learning from declarative input, and the cross-linguistic patterning of OI errors in Wh- questions in English, German and Spanish by learning from interrogative input. These results show that MOSAIC is able to provide an integrated account of the cross-linguistic patterning of OI errors in declaratives and Wh- questions, and provide further support for the view, instantiated in MOSAIC, that OI errors are compound-finite utterances with missing modals or auxiliaries.

The Jones Dependency Tool can be used in emergency departments to improve patient care and identify the required staffing and skill mix. Using the tool, the nurse can accurately identify a patient's specific nursing needs. The dependency tool is used to evaluate patients' needs in six areas: communication; airway, breathing and circulation; mobility; eating, drinking, elimination and personal care; environmental safety, health and social needs; and triage. Appropriate nursing care can be tailored to the dependency level, depending on whether the dependency level is low, moderate, high or total dependency.

In the conventional approach of interpreting stacked seismic data, it is quite common to rotate the phase of the data to match synthetic correlations and/or to get isolated reflections in the data as close as possible to zero phase. Understanding the phase of the data is extremely important in the interpretation workflow and has significant implications for the final interpretation and drilling of wells. This functionality is available on most interpretation systems today. What is not routine in the normal interpretation process is to phase rotate gathers to determine how this affects the final stacked volume, the analysis of the prestack data, and ultimately the final interpretation of the prospect.

Understanding polymer degradation phenomena is of critical importance for material reliability. A novel dual stage chemiluminescence detection system has been developed and applied to probe for material interaction effects during polymer degradation. Evidence is presented for the first time that in an oxidizing environment a degrading polymer A (in this case polypropylene, PP) is capable of infecting a different polymer B (in this case polybutadiene, HTPB) over a relatively large distance. In the presence of the degrading material A, the thermal degradation of polymer B is observed over a significantly shorter time period. Infectious intermediate volatiles from material A are able to initiate and shorten the degradation processes in material B. This observation documents infectious behavior that will have significant consequences for materials interactions, understanding material degradation processes and long-term aging effects in combined material exposures.

The causes of anaphylactic shock and presenting features are not clearly understood. In addition, the treatment of people suffering from anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions has not always been effectively provided. This article aims to rectify some of the current areas of concern, especially highlighting the recent work carried out by the Resuscitation Council (UK) on this subject (Resuscitation Council UK 1999/2001). After reading this article you should be able to: Explain the circulation of the blood and changes that occur during an anaphylactic reaction. Summarise the antigen/antibody mechanism especially in relation to allergic reactions. Describe the difference between anaphylactic and anaphylactoid reactions. Recognise the presenting signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis and shock. Describe the assessment and appropriate intervention for a patient suffering from an anaphylactic reaction. Explain what prevention/support services are available to suffers.

Hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) from mice nullizygous at the Fanconi anemia (FA) group C locus and children with Fanconi anemia group C (FA-C) are hypersensitive to interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α. This hypersensitivity results, in part, from the capacity of these cytokines to prime the fas pathway. Because fas-mediated programmed cell death in many cells involves sequential activation of specific caspases, we tested the hypothesis that programmed cell death in FA HPC involves the ordered activation of specific caspase molecules. Lysates from lymphoblasts treated with both agonistic anti-fas antibody and IFN-γ contained activated caspase 3 family members (caspases 3, 6, and 7), as well as caspase 8, whereas activation of caspases 1, 2, 4, 9, and 10 was not detected. The apoptotic effects of fas agonists in IFN-γ-treated human and murine FA-C cells were blocked when pretreated with inhibitors (ac-DEVD-cho, CP-DEVD-cho, Z-DEVD-FMK) of the caspase 3 protease. Inhibitors (ac-YVAD-cho, CP-YVAD-cho, Z-YVAD-FMK) of caspase 1 did not block apoptosis or caspase 3 activation. Treatment of FA cells with the fluoromethyl ketone tetrapeptide caspase 8 inhibitor (ac-IETD-FMK) did suppress caspase 3 activation. A 4-fold greater fraction of IFN-induced FA-C cells expressed caspase 3 than FA-C cells complemented by retroviral-mediated transfer of FANCC. Therefore fas-induced apoptosis in Fanconi anemia cells of the C type involves the activation of caspase 8, which controls activation of caspase 3 family members and one direct or indirect function of the FANCC protein is to suppress apoptotic responses to IFN-γ upstream of caspase 3 activation.

Adult red drum ( Sciaenops ocellatus ) from a wild, autumn (fall) spawning population were studied over a 1-year period to evaluate seasonal changes in body composition in comparison with cultured red drum. Each month, female and male fish were captured and blood sampled. Standard length and weight were measured, and gonads, liver, intraperitoneal fat (IPF), and a sample of muscle tissue were collected from each fish. Gonadosomatic index (GSI), hepatosomatic index (HSI), IPF ratio, protein and lipid composition of muscle and liver tissues, and lipid class composition of liver samples were determined for each fish. All tissue indices exhibited a similar seasonal cycle in both sexes, with highest HSI in spring (March–April) and maximal IPF ratio in May, followed in September and October by minimal values for HSI and IPF ratio. Whereas GSI was low, gonadal histology demonstrated activation of spermatogenesis and oocyte development in July and August. Liver composition varied dramatically throughout the year. Liver lipid content ranged from 7.4% of wet weight in November to 30.2% in August, with triglycerides (TG) being the most abundant component at all times. Liver protein was more stable, ranging from 11.5% in August to 16.3% in September. Muscle composition was relatively constant, with muscle crude protein ranging from 20.5% to 25.6% of wet weight and muscle lipid ranging from 0.4% to 2.2% of wet weight. These data indicate that red drum utilize the liver as a major depot for lipid. Depletion of maximal lipid reserves from liver and IPF in late summer indicates that lipid stored during active spring and summer feeding supplies energy for reproduction which is mobilized rapidly (within 1 month) in this fall-spawning species. Body composition of wild fish is similar to that of laboratory cultured red drum.

Instead of using citations or marketing academics™ perceptual ranking of journals, this article examines the ranking of marketing journals using Australian university library holdings, in either hard copy or full-text electronic format. This measure was used as a proxy for broad-based accessibility of marketing journals. The study found that the accessibility rankings differed significantly from the most recent U.S. perceptual rankings, and it is suggested that in some situations, the accessibility ranking may be a more appropriate measure than other approaches. An examination of journal characteristics and their relationship to holdings in Australian university libraries was also undertaken. It was found that the year in which the journal started publication and its perceived importance within the United States (i.e., perceptual ranking) had a statistical impact on the proportion of Australian university libraries holding the journal.