Search

Background: This study examined how children's ability to understand what they read on screens is impacted by two specific digital features: hovering hyperlinks and scrolling. Methods: The participants were 75 English-speaking children (M = 9.90 years, SD = 0.90 years) in Grades 3 to 5 who participated in an online research study. Using a within-participants design, children read standardised passages from the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (MacGinitie et al., 2000) and answered multiple-choice comprehension questions. In one condition, passages were presented without digital features referred to as the clicking condition; in another, children had to scroll to navigate through the passages, in a third, there were hyperlinks that provided a word definition when a participant hovered their cursor over a blue and underlined word, and a final condition included both scrolling and hyperlinks. Results: As expected, there was a significant main effect of grade on children's ability to understand what they read, with better performance for children in Grade 5 than 3. Critically, there was a significant main effect of condition on children's performance on the reading comprehension questions, with higher scores for the condition with no digital features compared with the conditions with hovering hyperlinks and both scrolling and hovering hyperlinks. Performance was similar between the clicking and scrolling conditions. There was no significant interaction between grade and condition, showing consistency in effects across the upper elementary school years. Conclusions: These findings could inform the optimal design of digital texts by identifying digital features that do and do not interfere with reading comprehension, with hyperlinks providing word level information interfering and scrolling having no negative impacts.

It is well established that children's reading comprehension is driven, at least in part, by their awareness of morphemes, or the smallest units of meaning in language. The question of how it does so is largely open; this mechanistic knowledge would specify theories of reading comprehension and guide effective classroom instruction. We report here on a longitudinal study designed to test two candidate mechanisms by which morphological awareness might support the development of reading comprehension: use of morphemes to read words and to understand words, known as morphological decoding and analysis, respectively. We tracked the development of 221 children on key measures from Grades 3 to 5. These three-wave longitudinal data enabled us to test morphological decoding and analysis as mediators connecting morphological awareness to gains in reading comprehension over time. Structural equation modeling showed that morphological awareness contributed to gains in both morphological decoding and analysis. Critically, only morphological analysis mediated the contribution of morphological awareness to gains in reading comprehension between Grades 3 and 5. These findings elaborate predictions of the morphological pathways framework. Specifically, longitudinal modeling shows how morphological awareness supports children's developing reading comprehension: by enabling the use of morphemes to read and understand words, with effects on the understanding of words supporting children's growing skill in understanding texts. Evidence supporting these two specific mechanisms inspires the design of targeted teaching on morphemes toward the development of strong reading comprehension.

Background: Shared reading is an important opportunity for parents and children to connect and learn, which can support later independent reading skills. Much of the research to date has examined shared reading as parents read physical print books with their children. This research has demonstrated that parents tend to engage in more activities that emphasise the meaning of the stories over the code (i.e., print). Here, we examine the focus of shared reading when parents are reading with their children on paper versus on a digital device and whether this differs across the preschool years. Methods: A total of 253 parents of children aged 0-5 years completed an online self-report questionnaire. Parents reported on the frequency of engaging in meaning- versus code-related activities during shared book reading on paper and on screen with their youngest child. We conducted a linear regression analysis contrasting code- versus meaning-related activities on paper versus screen modality with age as a continuous variable. Results: Key to our objectives, parents reported engaging in meaning-related activities more frequently during shared reading on paper versus on screens and in code-related activities more frequently during shared reading on screens than on paper. These effects did not differ across age, although overall, parents reported engaging slightly more frequently in shared reading activities in general when their child was older. Conclusions: The findings show that parents are engaging with their children differently as they read together on paper versus screens. Consistent with prior research, we found that activities emphasising the meaning of stories dominate shared paper book reading experiences in the preschool years. Critically shared reading on screens tips this balance, with parents reporting more code-related activities. These patterns identify the learning opportunities enabled by the affordances of shared reading on screens.

The University of Edinburgh holds a substantial collection of manuscripts in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and South Asian languages, formerly known as the “Oriental Manuscript Collection”. This article reports recent steps taken to make this collection, which consists largely of manuscripts collected by Scottish East India Company officials between the late 18th and mid 19th centuries C.E, relevant to the present day global audience, and to widen access to it. This includes its renaming as "Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia", and the creation of a digitally searchable catalogue on the ArchivesSpace platform, largely through the use of “legacy data” from a 1925 printed catalogue, yet with a focus on making provenance information readily available. We discuss the challenges involved in renaming, and indeed reinterpreting, a historical collection whilst adhering to the principles of archival and library science. We share the methodology used to create our digitally searchable catalogue, a relatively simple model that may well prove useful for those curating similar collections.

Prominent theories of reading development have separately emphasized the relevance of children's skill in learning (Share, 2008) and lexical representations (Perfetti & Hart, 2002). Integrating these ideas, we examined whether skill in learning lexical representations is a mechanism that might explain children's reading development. To do so we conducted a longitudinal study, following 139 children from Grades 3 to 5. In Grade 3, children completed measures of word reading and reading comprehension and again at Grade 5. In Grade 4, children read short stories containing novel words; they were later tested on their memory for the spellings and meanings of these new words, capturing orthographic and semantic learning, respectively. Using multiple-mediation path analysis, we tested whether children's skill in learning orthographic and semantic dimensions of new words was a mediator of individual differences in each of word reading and reading comprehension. In models controlling for nonverbal ability, working memory, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, we found two clear effects: individual differences in orthographic learning at Grade 4 mediated the gains that children made in word reading between Grades 3 and 5 and individual differences in semantic learning at Grade 4 mediated gains in reading comprehension over the same time period. These findings suggest that children's ability to learn lexical representations is a mechanism in reading development, with orthographic effects on word reading and semantic effects on reading comprehension. These findings show the power and the specificity of children's capacity to learn in determining their progress in learning to read.

Purpose: Shared reading provides preschool-age children with the opportunity to learn novel, low-frequency words. Abundant empirical evidence demonstrates that children can learn the meanings of such words during shared reading, referred to as "semantic learning." However, less is known about whether children learn the spellings of words during shared reading, referred to as "orthographic learning," and whether this learning is related to early word reading. The present study tested relations between individual differences in 4- to 6-year-old children's semantic and, critically, orthographic learning during shared reading and their early word reading skill. Method: In an adaptation of the self-teaching paradigm, children listened to a storybook about novel inventions referred to with nonword names. Children then completed orthographic and semantic choice tests, as well as standardized measures of early word reading and phonological awareness. Results: Individual differences in orthographic, but not semantic, learning during shared reading were related to early word reading, after controls for age and phonological awareness. Conclusions: This study provides a novel test of learning during shared reading, helping to specify the relation between orthographic and semantic learning and early word reading skill. These findings hold implications for theoretical perspectives on relations between learning during shared reading and early word reading, as well as implications for educational practice.

Background: Young children clearly know quite a bit about the conventions of written language; for instance, 5-year-old children are sensitive to the fact that words tend to include both consonants and vowels, rather than just one or the other. The core theoretical debate lies in whether this understanding of sub-lexical orthographic regularities predicts children's reading development. To provide empirical data on this question, we examined whether individual differences in sub-lexical orthographic knowledge were related to gains in word reading over a year. Methods: We measured sub-lexical orthographic knowledge in Grade 1 by asking children to choose which of two letter-strings looked most word-like--one containing vowels and consonants and one containing all consonants or all vowels (e.g., "vack" vs "vgck" or "uaie," respectively). Children completed control measures of phonological awareness, vocabulary and nonverbal ability in Grade 1. Word reading was measured in both Grades 1 and 2. Results: Linear regression analyses identified a small but significant and unique contribution of sub-lexical orthographic knowledge in Grade 1 to word reading in Grade 2, after controls for the above measures as well as age, parental education and the auto-regressor of Grade 1 word reading. Conclusions: This finding suggests a role for knowledge of sub-lexical orthographic regularities in children's gains in word reading.

ABSTRACT: Shortening the dry period has a negative effect on milk production of the following lactation. One possible explanation is that a period of low prolactin (PRL) concentration is necessary to restore mammary gland milk production capacity. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of lowering blood PRL level on subsequent lactation milk production. In this experiment, quinagolide was used to inhibit PRL secretion during the dry period. Thirty Holstein cows were randomly assigned one of 3 dry period managements: a conventional (60 d) dry period (CD) and 2 short (35 d) dry period treatments (SDP). Short dry period cows received either water (SDwater) or quinagolide (2 mg, SDquin) injections twice daily from dry-off until 14 d before calving. Cows were followed during the first 20 wk of the subsequent lactation. When CD cows were dry but SDP cows were lactating, concentration of PRL was lower in the CD cows than in the SDP cows. During the injection period, PRL of SDquin cows was lower than that of the other treatments and was greater in the blood of SDwater than in that of CD cows. After the injection period until calving, no difference in PRL concentration was observed between treatments. After calving, PRL concentration of the SDquin cows was greater than those of CD and SDwater cows. During the first 20 wk of lactation, ECM was lower in SDwater cows than in CD and SDquin cows. The ECM of the latter groups were not different. During the same period, mammary expression of genes related to milk synthesis, pro-apoptotic genes, as well as the expression of the short and long isoforms of the PRLR genes were not affected; however, the expression of SOCS3 gene tended to be lower for the SDquin than the SDwater cows. Lowering the PRL level during short dry period restored milk production to the level normally observed after a conventional dry period, which suggests that higher PRL levels during short dry period are the cause of the lower milk production after a short dry period. Ultimately, strategies to lower blood PRL level may help the adoption of short dry period.

This article examines 29 Psalters of the 13th–16th centuries in the context of Old Russian liturgical writing: horologions, liturgical collections, etc., as well as the old-printed Psalter. Prayers for Cathismata 6–10 have been studied and compared. Usually, each Cathisma has one prayer, less often two. The analysis of the set of prayers suggests the existence in ancient Russia of a certain “basic tradition” of the arrangement of prayers, which is most likely of a South Slavic origin. In relation to this tradition, three groups of Psalters can be distinguished. 14 manuscripts have a set of prayers that mostly (or even completely) correspond to this tradition. 7 manuscripts show partial correspondence, mainly it is limited to the prayers after the initial Cathismata, and for the rest Cathismata manifests itself sporadically. The 8 remaining manuscripts do not depend on this tradition, and there may be only some partial correspondences. For 6–10 Cathismata, one can single out “priority” prayers (i. e. those belonging to the “main tradition”). They are presented in 5–13 manuscripts, so their share never reaches half (unlike prayers of 1–5 Cathismata). Many prayers are of Byzantine origin and known from Greek manuscripts. Thus, 4 prayers are taken from the conversations of the Holy Fathers (John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Rev. Antiochus). There are also biblical prayers (the prayer of Manasseh). Other prayers may have a Slavic origin. For example, 4 prayers belong to St. Kirill of Turov, and some more prayers show a distinct resemblance to his language. Most of these prayers become an item of the past, but some of them nowadays are used as cell prayers (Evening prayers 2 and 9, prayers after the 6th and 7th Cathismata, prayer against desecration) or in worship services (prayers of Martyr Mardari and King Manasseh). The text of the 8 prayers, which have not yet been published, is given in this article. Especially interesting are the F.п.I.2 prayers after the 9th Cathismata (which has a didactic character and actively quotes rare books of the Old Testament) and after the 10th Cathismata (a lengthy penitential hymn).

The article is devoted to the formation and final formalization of the ideology of the “Union of Church Revival” in the context of the development of the Renovationist schism in the Russian Orthodox Church in the first half of the 1920s. The work examines the process of formation of the “Union of Church Revival” as an independent church grouping, the circumstances of its separation from the “Living Church” in 1922, as well as the joint actions of the leader of the “Union”, “metropolitan” Antonin (Granovsky) with representatives of other renovationist groups within the framework of collegial Higher Church administration in the context of the preparation and conduct of the Renovationist II Local Council at the end of 1922 — the first months of 1923. The reasons for the final rupture of the “metropolitan” Antonin with the main renovation in the summer of 1923 are indicated. The main attention is paid to the work of the first All-Russian Congress of the “Union of Church Revival” in 1924, the circumstances of its convocation and key resolutions. The composition of the congress is being investigated, as well as the course of its work. The greatest attention is paid to the adopted resolutions on the attitude towards other church groups, on liturgical reforms and on the political position of the “Union of Church Revival”. The article examines the attitude of this church grouping to the results of the Renovationist II Local Council and the revision of a number of its decisions in the context of its own ideological course. It is noted that by the middle of 1924, the Union of Church Revival finally expressed its rejection of the canonical reforms of the II Local Council, primarily related to the married “hierarchy”. The total rejection of this innovation led to the fact that even the Patriarchal Church of this group had a much softer attitude than the lobbying of the “married episcopate” of the “Living Church” and the Renovationist Holy Synod, which preserved this practice. At the same time, the Union of Church Revival defended numerous liturgical reforms. It is concluded that the ideology of this church grouping combined liturgical reformism with canonical conservatism.

Reaction of thorium(IV) nitrate with 2-[(4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)methyl]pyridine (L) yielded (LH)2[Th(NO3)6] or (C14H13N4)2[Th(NO3)6] (1), instead of the expected mixed-ligand complex [Th(NO3)4L2], which was detected in the mass spectrum of 1. In the structure, the [Th(NO3)6]2− anions display an icosahedral coordination geometry and are connected by LH+ cations through C—H...O hydrogen bonds. The LH+ cations interact via N—H...N hydrogen bonds. Hirshfeld surface analysis indicates that the most important interactions are O...H/H...O hydrogen-bonding interactions, which represent a 55.2% contribution.

Background: Oral language has long been acknowledged as a prominent influence on children's reading development. Here, we examine the intersecting contribution of two prominent aspects of oral language - phonology and morphology. We explore this interface by examining contributions from the two dimensions of phonology - phonemic and prosodic - of morphological awareness on children's reading development. Methods: In a longitudinal study, we track the word reading and reading comprehension development of 175 children in Grades 3 and 4 (Time 1) over the course of 11 months into Grades 4 and 5 (Time 2), respectively. At Time 1, children also completed a measure of morphological awareness with items varying across the two intersecting phonological dimensions: phonemic and prosodic changes. Results: We found two unique effects accounting for gains in reading skill over 1 year after controlling for vocabulary, phonological awareness and nonverbal ability, and the appropriate auto-regressor. Gains in word reading skill were predicted by performance on morphological awareness items with phonemic changes. Gains in reading comprehension skill were predicted by performance on morphological awareness items with both phonemic and prosodic changes. Conclusions: These findings point to key differences in the oral language skills that drive the development of word reading versus reading comprehension and encourage us to consider the rich intersection between features of oral language in understanding children's reading development.

We report on a school-based randomized control trial study comparing two morphological interventions with untaught controls: one focusing on direct instruction targeting print morphological decoding (direct decoding condition) and the other on inquiry-focused pedagogy using oral morphological analysis (inquiry-analysis condition). We identified 63 Grade 3 children with below-average morphological awareness following screening (from N = 163). This sub-sample showed average pseudoword decoding but poor language and word reading abilities. Following a 13-week supplemental intervention randomized within the 63 children, results showed a statistically significant main effect of intervention on standardized reading vocabulary measures at immediate post-test in the direct decoding condition. Pre-test morphological awareness moderated reading vocabulary effects for the untaught control group. Statistically significant moderation of growth in sentence comprehension at post- by pre-test morphological awareness was also evident in the inquiry-analysis condition. Universal screening for below-average morphological awareness followed by inquiry-based or direct instruction interventions focusing on the meaning dimensions of morphemes may be modestly efficacious for supporting reading vocabulary and sentence comprehension in such at risk learners, potentially aiding school-wide literacy improvement.

Given the increase in students with learning disabilities entering university, we investigated a broader group--students with a history of reading difficulties (HRD)--who are known to be at risk of academic struggles. We identified the self-reported reading challenges and strategies of university students with HRD (n = 49) and those with no history of reading difficulties (NRD; n = 88) and examined group differences and relations with first-year grade point average (GPA). Students with HRD reported more difficulties with perceived reading comprehension, concentration, and reading speed than students with NRD. Groups differed in use of reading strategies: Students with HRD were descriptively more likely to reduce reading volume by using alternative materials and chose to read based on text length and availability of alternative materials. For both groups, reading completion and concentration strategies were positively related to GPA, while perceived difficulty with reading comprehension and choosing to read based on interest were negatively related to GPA. Some strategies were negatively associated with GPA for students with NRD, but not for students with HRD. Findings revealed the challenges that students with HRD experience with reading in university and identified strategies, potentially adaptive or maladaptive, that they used to manage their academic reading load.

We examined whether and how the degree of meaning overlap between morphologically related words influences sentence plausibility judgment in children. In two separate studies with kindergarten and second-graders, English-speaking and French-speaking children judged the plausibility of sentences that included two paired target words. Some of these word pairs were morphologically related, across three conditions with differing levels of meaning overlap: low (wait-waiter), moderate (fold-folder) and high (farm-farmer). In another two conditions, word pairs were related only by phonology (rock-rocket) or semantics (car-automobile). Children in both ages and languages demonstrated higher plausibility scores as meaning overlap increased between morphologically related words. Further, kindergarten children rated sentences that included word pairs with phonological overlap as more plausible than second-grade children, while second-grade children rated those with high meaning overlap as more plausible than kindergarten children. We interpret these findings in light of current models of morphological development.

We show how distinct terminally disposed self-organizing processes can be linked together so that they collectively suppress each other's self-undermining tendency despite also potentiating it to occur in a restricted way. In this way, each process produces the supportive and limiting boundary conditions for the other. The production of boundary conditions requires dynamical processes that decrease local entropy and increase local constraints. Only the far-from-equilibrium dissipative dynamics of self-organized processes produce these effects. When two such complementary self-organizing processes are linked by a shared substrate-the waste product of one that is the necessary ingredient for the other-the co-dependent structure that results develops toward a self-sustaining target state that avoids the termination of the whole, and any of its component processes. The result is a perfectly naturalized model of teleological causation that both escapes the threat of backward influences and does not reduce teleology to selection, chemistry or chance. This article is part of the theme issue 'Thermodynamics 2.0: Bridging the natural and social sciences (Part 1)'.

The Chilean degu (Octodon degus) is a medium sized, long-lived rodent with traits that make them a natural model for neuroscience research. Their social behaviors, diurnality, and extended developmental time course, when compared to other rodents, make them useful for social behavioral, chronobiology, and developmental research. Lab-kept degus have a long lifespan (5–8 years) and may naturally develop age-related diseases that resemble Alzheimer’s disease. While there is significant interest in using the Octodon degus for neuroscience research, including aging and Alzheimer’s disease studies, laboratory management and methods for degus research are currently not standardized. This lack of standardization potentially impacts study reproducibility and makes it difficult to compare results between different laboratories. Degus require species-specific housing and handling methods that reflect their ecology, life history, and group-living characteristics. Here we introduce major principles and ethological considerations of colony management and husbandry. We provide clear instructions on laboratory practices necessary for maintaining a healthy and robust colony of degus for Alzheimer’s disease neuroscience research towards conducting reproducible studies. We also report detailed procedures and methodical information for degu Apoe genotyping and ethologically relevant burrowing behavioral tasks in laboratory settings.