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In conflict tasks, such as the Simon, Eriksen flanker, or Stroop task, the congruency effect is often reduced after an incongruent compared to a congruent trial: the congruency sequence effect (CSE). It was suggested that the CSE may reflect increased processing of task-relevant information and/or suppression of task-irrelevant information after experiencing an incongruent relative to a congruent trial. In the present study, we contribute to this discussion by applying the Diffusion Model for Conflict tasks (DMC) framework in the context of CSEs to flanker and Simon tasks. We argue that DMC independently models the task-relevant and task-irrelevant information and thus is a first good candidate for disentangling their unique contributions. As a first approach, we fitted DMC conjointly or separately to previously congruent or incongruent trials, using four empirical flanker and two Simon data sets. For the flanker task, we fitted the classical DMC version. For the Simon task, we fitted a generalized DMC version which allows the task-irrelevant information to undershoot when swinging back to zero. After considering the model fits, we present a second approach, where we implemented a cognitive control mechanism to simulate the influence of increased processing of task-relevant information or increased suppression of task-irrelevant information. Both approaches demonstrate that the suppression of task-irrelevant information is essential to create the typical CSE pattern. Increased processing of task-relevant information, however, could rarely describe the CSE accurately.

Feature Inheritance (Richards 2007) entails that uninterpretable features originate on the phase head C or v* and are then transferred to the associated Agree head, T or V. In the present article, it is argued that the French que–qui alternation is the locus of a Case contrast, implying that nominative Case originates on the complementiser and only becomes associated with T as a consequence of feature transfer. Que–qui thus provides new, Case-based empirical support for the theory of Feature Inheritance. The article also suggests that the que–qui alternation has an important implication for Chomsky's recent application of dynamic antisymmetry, reinterpreted in terms of labelling, to the issue of subject extraction failure. Specifically, the alternation appears to indicate that Case-matching is required, in addition to phi-feature agreement, in order for extraction to be blocked by labelling.

INTRODUCTION: We created global rating scoring rules for the CDR® plus NACC FTLD to detect and track early frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and to conduct clinical trials in FTLD. METHODS: The CDR plus NACC FTLD rating was applied to 970 sporadic and familial participants from the baseline visit of Advancing Research and Treatment in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ARTFL)/Longitudinal Evaluation of Familial Frontotemporal Dementia Subjects (LEFFTDS). Each of the eight domains of the CDR plus NACC FTLD was equally weighed in determining the global score. An interrater reliability study was completed for 40 participants. RESULTS: The CDR plus NACC FTLD showed very good interrater reliability. It was especially useful in detecting clinical features of mild non‐fluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia participants. DISCUSSION: The global CDR plus NACC FTLD score could be an attractive outcome measure for clinical trials in symptomatic FTLD, and may be useful in natural history studies and clinical trials in FTLD spectrum disorders.

There is a growing perception that English used as a lingua franca does not need to resemble English as a native language, but can include a great deal of lexicogrammatical variation. However, a more fundamental matter is whether research articles written in English need to conform to the dominant linear, deductive, ‘Anglo’ pattern of text organization, or whether non-native English speakers should be free to transfer rhetorical patterns from their L1s into English, such as, e.g., an inductive, indirect, end-weighted form of argumentation, perhaps with a less-assertive conclusion. Hinds (1987) describes the latter style of writing as “reader-responsible,” as opposed to the “writer-responsible” Anglo-American style, arguing that it requires a great deal more inferential work on the part of the reader. Yet from a relevance theory perspective it appears unlikely that a culture would choose to impose unnecessary additional processing effort on readers. The perception of difficulty is an etic perspective: analysts from “writer-responsible” cultures imagine the processing effort that would be necessary in their culture to make sense of “reader-responsible” texts. Indirect, inductive rhetorical styles do not cause problems for readers accustomed to them. Given that most academic writing in English is for an international audience, non-native English-speaking researchers – and indeed native English speakers too – should be free to adopt a range of styles, or some sort of heterogeneous hybrid, depending on their perceptions of their readers’ expectations. A further issue is whether researchers who have reservations about ‘Anglo’ styles of writing, e.g. in the social sciences or literary and cultural theory, should encourage non-native English speakers to imitate the noun-heavy, nominalized, passivized, syntactically-complex style dominant in these fields.

UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are classified into three subfamilies in mice: Ugt1a, 2b, and 2a. In the Ugt1a subfamily, Ugt1a1 and 1a6 appear to correspond to human UGT1A1 and 1A6 The mouse is an important animal for its use in investigations, but the substrate specificities of Ugt isoforms belonging to the 2b subfamily in mice remain largely unknown. To address this issue, we characterized the substrate specificity of all isoforms of the Ugt2b subfamily expressed in the mouse liver. The cDNAs of Ugt1a1, Ugt2a3, and all the Ugt2b isoforms expressed in the liver were reverse-transcribed from the total RNA of male FVB-mouse livers and then amplified. A baculovirus-Sf9 cell system for expressing each Ugt was established. Of all the Ugts examined, Ugt2b34, 2b36, and 2b37 exhibited the ability to glucuronidate morphine with Ugt2b36, the most active in this regard. Ugt1a1, but also Ugt2b34, 2b36, and 2b37 to a lesser extent, preferentially catalyzed the glucuronidation of 17β-estradiol on the 3-hydroxyl group (E3G). With these isoforms, E3G formation by Ugt1a1 was efficient; however, Ugt2b5 exhibited a preference for the 17β-hydroxyl group (E17G). Ugt2b1 and Ugt2a3 formed comparable levels of E3G and E17G. Ugt2b1 and 2b5 were the only isoforms involved in chloramphenicol glucuronidation. As Ugt2b36 is highly expressed in the liver, it is most likely that Ugt2b36 is a major morphine Ugt in mouse liver. Regarding E3G formation, Ugt1a1, like the human homolog, seems to play an important role in the liver.

The diachronic trajectory of weak pronoun placement in infinitival clauses that follow a preposition has the up-and-down profile of what Gertjan Postma has termed a ‘failed change’. Proclitic placement increases in frequency throughout the late Middle Ages but then declines, disappearing altogether in the early modern period. The present article reports the results of a detailed quantitative survey which tracks this diachronic event for approximately 350 years at the decadal level. The findings reveal with some precision the quantitative curve described by this failed change and enable a number of hypotheses to be constructed in relation to the event’s nature, as well as its place within developments in the infinitival subsystem overall. In addition, the case study presented here suggests that failed changes are not necessarily capable of being modelled as a single Hubbert curve, as Postma proposes. Instead, a model involving two independent but abutting S-curves may be more appropriate.

This chapter draws together the book’s principal themes and findings. One important conclusion to be drawn is that while Old Spanish had its fair share of failed changes, the data point strongly towards an accidental model of failure rather than the ‘inherent’ model advanced by Gertjan Postma. In addition, the case studies provide robust evidence for the existence of cross-contextual uniformity in the rate of change, although such uniformity appears to disappear if contexts are too narrowly defined. Some of the major syntactic differences highlighted in the literature between Old Spanish and the modern language turn out to be superficial rather profound. Conversely, important points of structural divergence can be identified in previously unsuspected areas.

The chapter starts from the assumption that items like subjects and objects are DPs, or phrases headed by determiners. Old Spanish is analysed as having allowed multiple determiners, stacked to the left of the relevant noun. This operation gave rise to an array of structures which have since disappeared from the language. In particular, we find compound possessives that are reminiscent of modern Italian, as well as double articulation structures that are analogous to the modern French superlative. The loss of the syntax that enabled such structures to be generated provides an interesting illustration of contextual time separation, the phenomenon whereby a constant rate of change applied to different initial values produces a staggered effect in synchronic time.

This introductory chapter prepares the reader by defining and explaining certain core concepts. First, the term ‘Old Spanish’ is deconstructed and placed in its proper historical context. As part of this, illustrations are given of the Spanish of the so-called epoca de origenes or ‘origins period’. Secondly, the basic techniques for measuring the rate of linguistic change are explained, with particular reference to logistic and exponential growth and decay. This section also introduces the concept of a failed change, which often occurs as the by-product of a successful change. Finally, the structure of the main corpus is specified, as well as the sources of the electronic versions of the relevant manuscripts used for data mining.

This chapter examines the emblematic complement-first word order of Old Spanish, from a broadly Minimalist perspective. On the basis of detailed examination of the early manuscripts, the structures are analysed as involving movement to the clausal left periphery, motivated by discourse-pragmatic considerations; quantitative data are adduced to support the analysis. The preverbal focus position in Old Spanish is shown to correlate with affective focus rather than new-information focus. Verb-second effects in the medieval language are analysed as being restricted rather than generalized. Moreover, the quantitative data point to the emergence of a vogue for constituent fronting at the end of the Middle Ages, driven largely by stylistic factors or expressive requirements.

The chapter looks at the relationship between the successful advance of pronominal proclisis in the context of finite main clauses and its failed advance in nonfinite and positive imperative contexts. The striking reversal of the advance in the context of infinitival clauses that follow a preposition is linked to the availability of clitic climbing, suggesting that the diachronic pattern found in Spanish is likely to be replicated in other languages. The case studies support the notion that diachronic reversals arise by chance rather than being due to an incompatibility between the innovation and general principles of syntax. The transition from the medieval system to the modern one is conceptualized in terms of competition between an older, Tobler-Mussafia clitic and a newer, inherently proclitic one.

Although the negation patterns of Old Spanish are superficially rather distinct from those which are found in modern Spanish, deeper inspection, supported by quantitative data, points towards a considerable degree of continuity. In terms of Longobardi’s three core dimensions of parametrization, there has been no significant change: the locus of clausal negation has remained constant, as has the capability for the negation morpheme to express logical negation and the basic status of the negative quantifying words. The chapter proposes that the most visible change, viz. the loss of preverbal “negative concord”, is in reality a context-specific instance of the more general decline of expletive negation, itself analysed as being little more than linguistic clutter.

This chapter highlights the importance within the Old Spanish wh-system of free relative structures, as opposed to the familiar ‘headed’ type of relative clause. The Old Spanish system was transformed in two ways. First, wh-expressions occurring in free relatives in which the complementizer was spelled out overtly were reanalysed as free choice quantifiers, analogous to English any. Secondly, the possibility for determiners to be recursively stacked led to the emergence of compound relative pronouns, in which the initial element was originally a form of the definite article. The rise and decline of one of these items illustrates how stylistic shifts may interact with major structural changes to deliver a failed change of the accidental variety.

Estimates of population air pollution exposure typically rely on the outdoor component only, and rarely account for populations spending the majority of their time indoors. Housing is an important modifier of air pollution exposure due to outdoor pollution infiltrating indoors, and the removal of indoor-sourced pollution through active or passive ventilation. Here, we describe the application of an indoor air pollution modelling tool to a spatially distributed housing stock model for England and Wales, developed from Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data and containing information for approximately 11.5 million dwellings. First, we estimate indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios and total indoor concentrations of outdoor air pollution for PM(2.5) and NO(2) for all EPC dwellings in London. The potential to estimate concentration from both indoor and outdoor sources is then demonstrated by modelling indoor background CO levels for England and Wales pre- and post-energy efficient adaptation, including heating, cooking, and smoking as internal sources. In London, we predict a median I/O ratio of 0.60 (99% CIs; 0.53–0.73) for outdoor PM(2.5) and 0.41 (99%CIs; 0.34–0.59) for outdoor NO(2); Pearson correlation analysis indicates a greater spatial modification of PM(2.5) exposure by housing (ρ = 0.81) than NO(2) (ρ = 0.88). For the demonstrative CO model, concentrations ranged from 0.4–9.9 ppm (99%CIs)(median = 3.0 ppm) in kitchens and 0.3–25.6 ppm (median = 6.4 ppm) in living rooms. Clusters of elevated indoor concentration are found in urban areas due to higher outdoor concentrations and smaller dwellings with reduced ventilation potential, with an estimated 17.6% increase in the number of living rooms and 63% increase in the number of kitchens exceeding recommended exposure levels following retrofit without additional ventilation. The model has the potential to rapidly calculate indoor pollution exposure across large housing stocks and estimate changes to exposure under different pollution or housing policy scenarios.

Contemporary linguistics, preoccupied with syntax, has neglected the lexicon. Yet languages in general may diverge more fundamentally in respect to the lexicon than they do on the level of syntax. Such lexical divergences may result in real differences in the way distinct human groups think. When lexicosemantic divergence between two languages leads to a situation where a concept expressed in one language cannot be translated into another, we have a case of absolute untranslatability. Speakers of the two languages necessarily conceive the world in different ways. A new corpus of data collected from the Penan nomads of Borneo provides instances of absolute untranslatability between their language and English. The extinction of languages like Penan is a tragedy for science: not only are their lexicons the repositories of enormous amounts of cultural data, but their dissolution results in the loss of information that may shed light on the nature of the language faculty and human cognition in general.

High-resolution and accurate air quality concentration data are needed for detailed exposure and health effects calculations. Simulating such data numerically requires realistic treatment of both local emissions and background concentrations transported from further afield. This study combines regional and urban scale modelling and uses adjusted emission factors for NOx and NO2 and non-exhaust emission rates of PM10 and PM2.5 to reflect real-world emissions more accurately. Three modelling approaches have been used to simulate air quality in 2012 across London: a regional chemistry-climate model with 5 km horizontal resolution and gridded emissions; a local dispersion and chemistry model with explicit road source emissions; and a coupled regional-to-local modelling system combining the two individual models. The performance of each of the models is assessed against measurements from background and near-road sites in London in terms of annual averages, high hourly average concentrations and diurnal cycles. The regional model shows good agreement compared to measurements for background sites for these metrics but under-predicts concentrations of all pollutants except O3 at near-road sites due to the low resolution of input emissions and calculations. The urban model, using measured concentrations as regional background, and the coupled model show similarly good agreement for most pollutants at both background and near-road sites. Using the coupled model, it is estimated that 13 % of the area of London exceeded the EU limit value of 40 µg m−3 for annual average NO2 in 2012.

Our study of the London Olympics 2012 construction programme showed that systems integration is one of the major challenges involved in delivery of a complex - "system of systems" or array - project. Organizations cope with complexity by decomposing a project into different levels of systems integration with clearly-defined interfaces and buffers between levels and individual component subsystems. At the "meta systems integration" level, an organization has to be established with the capabilities to understand the total system of systems, manage external interfaces with the multiple stakeholder sand coordinate the integration of its component parts. At the "system integration" level, efforts are made to manage each individual system as a loosely-coupled, relatively self-contained subsystem with defined interfaces to coordinate interdependencies with other parts of overall array. Establishing processes to maintain stability whilst responding dynamically to uncertain and changing conditions is one of the most challenging aspects of systems integration. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Despite the importance of vision in accurately modelling and assessing pedestrian behavior, simulation software packages do not typically enable users to evaluate the vision of people. This paper describes a high efficiency method for evaluating the visibility of environmental geometry in a three dimensional (3D) pedestrian micro-simulation and proposes a geometric definition for the cone of vision to be used in these evaluations. Finally, the paper will provide a set of demonstrations of this approach to pedestrian vision evaluation using the commercially available 3D crowd simulator MassMotion.

This paper looks at the stigmatized use of impersonal se with a plural verb and the prepositional accusative. While this pattern occurs commonly in speech and many forms of writing, it has to all intents been airbrushed from academic consideration of Spanish. On the one hand, the normative authorities dismiss it as an error and on the other it is studiously ignored by professional linguists. Given the pattern's de facto productivity, it is argued in this paper that its exclusion from the standard corpus is essentially arbitrary, the result of a priori assumptions about what should be possible in grammar rather than detached scientific consideration of what actually occurs. More specifically, both prescriptive grammar and theoretical linguistics take it as axiomatic that (in languages like Spanish) number agreement on the finite verb is determined by the subject and never by the object. The pattern discussed here is irreconcilable with that view and, accordingly, has come to be treated as a non-legitimate ...

A B S T R A C T Objectives: To identify by type and sensitivity to drugs the bacteria found in ears of school-going children with chronic otitis media in Garissa district. Methods: Study design: This was a descriptive prevalence study of CSOM bacterial flora in eligible ears conducted among a cohort of children attending public and private primary as well as Islamic religious schools, screened for chronic ear discharge in Garissa district, Kenya. Procedure and bacteriological techniques: We used sterile swab-sticks to collect a specimen of the discharge from eligible ears of consenting pupils at the induction stage of the zinc supplementation trial for treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media conducted between January and July 2010. All pupils below 18 years present on day of visit were eligible. Both aerobic and anaerobic bacterial cultures were done to identify clinically and epidemiologically important bacteria. Sensitivity tests were based on disc diffusion methods. Results are presented as frequencies and proportions. Results: Of the pupils seen, 61% were still in pre- or lower primary school. Majority were aged 13 and 14 years. Of the 261 ear swab samples processed, 336 isolates – either in mixed or pure flora – were identified, being almost exclusively aerobes. Proteus spp., Enterococcus, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas spp. were isolated in 32.7%, 28.6%, 12.8% and 11.3% respectively. Proteus was susceptible to majority of the antibiotics tested for, while Enterococcus was poorly susceptible. Conclusions: Aerobic bacteria were most prevalent in this study. Several of the bacteria identified are known to require iron for their growth. This may be important for CSOM treatment if biofilm formation is involved in pathogenesis. Majority of the isolates were susceptible to basic antibiotics compared to Enterococcus bacteria. This portends an important consideration for clinical management and therapeutic decision-making. Additionally, given the prevalence of Enterococcus bacteria, which is an indicator of faecal contamination of the environment, there is need to consider relevant public health components in managing childhood CSOM besides the clinical ones alone.

Firms producing multi-technology, multi-component systems are increasingly outsourcing selected components to achieve both reduced cost and enhanced innovation benefits. Given typical interdependence between innovation at the system and component levels, an important challenge for the system firm is to align innovation trajectories, priorities and pacing between the system and component firms and sustain overall system-level innovation over the longer term. We present two longitudinal case studies, drawn from the IT industry, which provide contrasting examples of outsourcing strategies in terms of the number of suppliers per component and the inter-firm arrangements that a system firm puts in place to align innovation. These cases help us to identify the range of outsourcing strategies that system firms could pursue and the factors which appear to influence which one is most appropriate.

Summary Background Iodine deficiency during pregnancy might be associated with reduced intelligence quotient (IQ) score in offspring. We assessed the effect of iodine supplementation in mildly iodine-deficient pregnant women on neurodevelopment of their offspring in areas where schoolchildren were iodine sufficient. Methods In this randomised, placebo-controlled trial, pregnant women in Bangalore, India, and Bangkok, Thailand, were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive 200 μg iodine orally once a day or placebo until delivery. Randomisation was done with a computer-generated sequence and stratified by site. Co-primary outcomes were verbal and performance IQ scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Third Edition (WPPSI-III) and the global executive composite score from the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) in the children at age 5–6 years. The trial was double-blinded; some unmasking took place at age 2 years for an interim analysis, but participants and nearly all investigators remained masked to group assignment until age 5–6 years. Analysis was by intention to treat using mixed-effects models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00791466. Findings Between Nov 18, 2008, and March 12, 2011, 832 women entered the trial at a mean gestational age of 10·7 weeks (SD 2·7); median urinary iodine concentration was 131 μg/L (IQR 81–213). Mean compliance with supplementation was 87%, assessed by monthly tablet counts. 313 children (iodine group, n=159; placebo group, n=154) were analysed for verbal and performance IQ with WPPSI-III and 315 (iodine group, n=159; placebo group, n=156) for overall executive function with BRIEF-P. Mean WPPSI-III scores for verbal IQ were 89·5 (SD 9·8) in the iodine group and 90·2 (9·8) in the placebo group (difference −0·7, 95% CI −2·9 to 1·5; p=0·77), and for performance IQ were 97·5 (12·5) in the iodine group and 99·1 (13·4) in the placebo group (difference −1·6, −4·5 to 1·3; p=0·44). The mean BRIEF-P global executive composite score was 90·6 (26·2) in the iodine group and 91·5 (27·0) in the placebo group (difference −0·9, −6·8 to 5·0; p=0·74). The frequency of adverse events did not differ between groups during gestation or at delivery: 24 women in the iodine group and 28 in the placebo group reported adverse events (iodine group: abortion, n=20; blighted ovum, and n=2; intrauterine death, n=2; placebo group: abortion, n=22; blighted ovum, n=1; intrauterine death, n=2; early neonatal death, n=1; and neonatal death, n=2). Interpretation Daily iodine supplementation in mildly iodine-deficient pregnant women had no effect on child neurodevelopment at age 5–6 years. Funding Swiss National Science Foundation, Nestle Foundation, Wageningen University and Research, and ETH Zurich.