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[In Press] Tracking the acquisition and retention of novel word representations : an ERP study
No full textThe event-related N400 provides a measure of lexical-semantic processing, indexing the encoding strength of newly learned words. We examined N400 modulations following associative learning of novel written words paired with novel object pictures from early to later stages of acquisition. During the initial learning session, novel picture-word pairs accompanied by semantic attributes were presented as stimuli for learning at multiple timepoints. Following learning at each of these timepoints, we examined behavioural and neural effects for recognition of familiar and novel words, as well as at a follow-up session several days later. Rapid behavioural learning was accompanied by N400 congruity effects for novel words, displaying a similar neurophysiological profile to familiar words. These behavioural and neural effects were largely sustained several days later in the follow-up session. Our findings indicate that explicit learning of novel object-word associations leads to the rapid formation and longer-term retention of new word memory traces
Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally
No full textGlobally, solar projects are being rapidly built or planned, particularly in high solar potential regions with high energy demand. However, their energy generation potential is highly related to the weather condition. Here we use state-of-the-art Earth system model simulations to investigate how large photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara Desert could impact the global cloud cover and solar generation potential through disturbed atmospheric teleconnections. The results indicate negative impacts on solar potential in North Africa (locally), Middle East, Southern Europe, India, Eastern China, Japan, Eastern Australia, and Southwestern US, and positive impacts in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern US, Scandinavia and South Africa, reaching a magnitude of ±5% in remote regions seasonally. Diagnostics suggest that large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are responsible for the global impacts. International cooperation is essential to mitigate the potential risks of future large-scale solar projects in drylands, which could impact energy production
[In Press] The perceived complexity of learning tasks influences students' collaborative interactions in immersive virtual reality
No full textThis study investigated how different learning tasks influence students’ collaborative interactions in immersive Virtual Reality (iVR). A set of chemistry learning activities was designed with iVR, and 35 pairs of undergraduate students went through the activities. Videos of students’ interactions were analysed to identify patterns in students’ physical, conceptual, and social interactions. When students were manipulating conceptually familiar virtual objects (several water molecules), they perceived the tasks as a simple extension of prior knowledge and did not attempt to explore the 3D visualisation much. They did not move around to take different perspectives, and conceptual discussions were brief. Their prior power relations (leader–follower) carried over in iVR environments. In contrast, when conceptually unfamiliar chemical structures (protein enzyme) were displayed, students perceived the tasks as complex, demanding a new mode of learning. They spontaneously moved around to explore and appreciate the 3D visualisation of iVR. Walking to different positions to observe the virtual objects from multiple angles, students engaged in more collaborative, exploratory conceptual discussions. As the perceived complexity of learning tasks or virtual objects triggers different collaborative interactions amongst students, careful considerations need to be placed on the design of iVR tasks to encourage productive collaborative learning
Outcomes in people with eating disorders : a transdiagnostic and disorder-specific systematic review, meta-analysis and multivariable meta-regression analysis
No full textEating disorders (EDs) are known to be associated with high mortality and often chronic and severe course, but a recent comprehensive systematic review of their outcomes is currently missing. In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, we examined cohort studies and clinical trials published between 1980 and 2021 that reported, for DSM/ICD-defined EDs, overall ED outcomes (i.e., recovery, improvement and relapse, all-cause and ED-related hospitalization, and chronicity); the same outcomes related to purging, binge eating and body weight status; as well as mortality. We included 415 studies (N=88,372, mean age: 25.7±6.9 years, females: 72.4%, mean follow-up: 38.3±76.5 months), conducted in persons with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED), and/or mixed EDs, from all continents except Africa. In all EDs pooled together, overall recovery occurred in 46% of patients (95% CI: 44-49, n=283, mean follow-up: 44.9±62.8 months, no significant ED-group difference). The recovery rate was 42% at <2 years, 43% at 2 to <4 years, 54% at 4 to <6 years, 59% at 6 to <8 years, 64% at 8 to <10 years, and 67% at ≥10 years. Overall chronicity occurred in 25% of patients (95% CI: 23-29, n=170, mean follow-up: 59.3±71.2 months, no significant ED-group difference). The chronicity rate was 33% at <2 years, 40% at 2 to <4 years, 23% at 4 to <6 years, 25% at 6 to <8 years, 12% at 8 to <10 years, and 18% at ≥10 years. Mortality occurred in 0.4% of patients (95% CI: 0.2-0.7, n=214, mean follow-up: 72.2±117.7 months, no significant ED-group difference). Considering observational studies, the mortality rate was 5.2 deaths/1,000 person-years (95% CI: 4.4-6.1, n=167, mean follow-up: 88.7±120.5 months; significant difference among EDs: p<0.01, range: from 8.2 for mixed ED to 3.4 for BN). Hospitalization occurred in 26% of patients (95% CI: 18-36, n=18, mean follow-up: 43.2±41.6 months; significant difference among EDs: p<0.001, range: from 32% for AN to 4% for BN). Regarding diagnostic migration, 8% of patients with AN migrated to BN and 16% to OSFED; 2% of patients with BN migrated to AN, 5% to BED, and 19% to OSFED; 9% of patients with BED migrated to BN and 19% to OSFED; 7% of patients with OSFED migrated to AN and 10% to BN. Children/adolescents had more favorable outcomes across and within EDs than adults. Self-injurious behaviors were associated with lower recovery rates in pooled EDs. A higher socio-demographic index moderated lower recovery and higher chronicity in AN across countries. Specific treatments associated with higher recovery rates were family-based therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, and nutritional interventions for AN; self-help, CBT, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), psychodynamic therapy, nutritional and pharmacological treatments for BN; CBT, nutritional and pharmacological interventions, and DBT for BED; and CBT and psychodynamic therapy for OSFED. In AN, pharmacological treatment was associated with lower recovery, and waiting list with higher mortality. These results should inform future research, clinical practice and health service organization for persons with EDs
[In Press] Barriers and enablers of diabetes self-management strategies among Arabic-speaking immigrants living with type 2 diabetes in high-income western countries : a systematic review
No full textThe aim of this review is to investigate barriers and enablers of diabetes self-management strategies among migrant Arabic-speaking background [ASB] individuals living with type 2 diabetes in high-income Western countries. Despite living in high-income Western countries, individuals from ASB are perceived to have difficulties adopting self-management strategies and this necessitates gaining an understanding of factors that may impact the uptake of these strategies. Ten studies are included in this review: five quantitative and five qualitative. Quality assessment was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal and Hawker tools. The findings of the quantitative studies were descriptively analysed, while thematic analysis was performed for the qualitative studies. The results indicate that individuals from ASB are perceived to have low levels of adherence to diabetes self-management. It is also suggested that participants who did not complete high school have poorer glycaemic control compared to those with a high school qualification (30 vs. 16%). Regular exercise was reported to be less likely to be adopted by ASBs homemakers, and those who were unemployed, by 82% and 70%, respectively, compared to those employed (homemakers: OR = 0.187, P = 0.006; 95% CI = 056–0.620), (unemployed OR = 0.30, P = 0.046; 95% CI = 0.093–0.980). Cultural, social, religious beliefs, lack of knowledge and language barriers are some of the factors identified that impact self-management among ASB individuals. It is suggested that diabetes self-management education program (DSME) tailored to ASB immigrants culture may be an effective way to encourage them to uptake self-management strategies
Correlation of soil conditions with seismic damage of structures in Craiova, Romania
No full textThis study is focused on an evaluation of the correlation between the soil conditions and the seismic damage observed after the Vrancea March 4, 1977 intermediate-depth earthquake in Craiova, Romania. A significant number of existing studies in the literature have focused on the evaluation of damage for Bucharest, but the effects of the 1977 earthquake in Craiova have been very rarely discussed and presented. Craiova was the second city in Romania after Bucharest in terms of building damage and casualties as a result of the 1977 Vrancea seismic event, even though it is situated at a considerable distance (more than 250 km) from the epicenter. The 1977 event affected old low-rise masonry structures located in the central part of the city, as well as low-rise unreinforced masonry structures built after 1950. The soil conditions are evaluated based on a recently compiled collection of geological, geotechnical, and ground motion data from the study area. No correlation between the earthquake observed damage and the number of standard penetration test (SPT) blows at a depth of 6 m or the soil layer at a depth of 3 m can be inferred from the available data. Moreover, the analyses show practically no influence of the terrain slope on the ground motion amplitudes for Craiova, which is situated on the left bank of Jiu River. The vulnerability characteristics of unreinforced masonry structures from Craiova and other cities are also evaluated in this study. The relative frequencies of unreinforced masonry structures having increased damage degrees is significantly larger for the Iasi and Craiova data sets. Finally, an estimation of the peak ground accelerations in four cities in Romania is evaluated based on the damage of unreinforced masonry structures
Rapid polarization variations in the O4 supergiant ζ Puppis
No full textWe present time-series linear-polarization observations of the bright O4 supergiant ζ Puppis. The star is found to show polarization variation on time-scales of around an hour and longer. Many of the observations were obtained contemporaneously with Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry. We find that the polarization varies on similar time-scales to those seen in the TESS light curve. The previously reported 1.78-d photometric periodicity is seen in both the TESS and polarization data. The amplitude ratio of photometry to polarization is ∼9 for the periodic component and the polarization variation is oriented along position angle ∼70◦–160◦. Higher frequency stochastic variability is also seen in both data sets with an amplitude ratio of ∼19 and no preferred direction. We model the polarization expected for a rotating star with bright photospheric spots and find that models that fit the photometric variation produce too little polarization variation to explain the observations. We suggest that the variable polarization is more likely the result of scattering from the wind, with corotating interaction regions producing the periodic variation and a clumpy outflow producing the stochastic component. The Hα emission line strength was seen to increase by 10 per cent in 2021 with subsequent observations showing a return to the pre-2018 level
Double or Nothing?: The Great Sydney Tax Divide
No full textNew analysis of Stage 3 tax cuts reveals they will have little impact on areas in Western Sydney hardest hit by cost-of-living pressures, again showing it is where you live that matters. The Centre for Western Sydney's research shows the Albanese Government's revamped tax cuts in Tuesday's federal budget further entrench inequity between Sydney's east and west. Under the changes to begin on 1 July this year, workers living in Western Sydney will receive an extra 29 a week – compared to an additional 39 a week – for earners in the Rest of Sydney
Infants' lexical processing : independent contributions of attentional and clarity cues
No full textThere is a long-standing debate in the literature about the benefits that acoustic components of Infant Directed Speech (IDS) might have for infants’ language acquisition. One of the highly contested features is vowel space expansion, which refers to the enlargement of the acoustic space between the corner vowels /i, u, a/ in IDS compared to Adult Directed Speech (ADS). Some evidence indicates that vowel space expansion in IDS facilitates infants’ speech perception, thus promoting language development, whereas other studies have questioned these benefits and have proposed that any processing benefits of IDS are due to its other prosodic features such as exaggerated and variable pitch. This study aimed to tease apart the effects of vowel space expansion and prosodic exaggeration in IDS on 18-month-old infants’ speech processing. Using a looking-while-listening paradigm, two between-subjects conditions were compared: Exaggerated Pitch (with exaggerated pitch height and range, but without vowel space expansion) and Expanded Vowel Space (with vowel space expansion, but no exaggeration in pitch height and range). Our results showed that infants recognized the meanings of the words more accurately in the Expanded Vowel Space compared to the Exaggerated Pitch condition. This suggests that vowel space expansion in IDS facilitates infants’ lexical processing even when it does not cooccur with the prosodic exaggeration typical of IDS
Long-term performance of steel-concrete composite wall panels under axial compression
No full textInnovative steel-concrete composite (SCC) walls are increasingly becoming a popular choice in low-to-high-rise buildings due to their high load-bearing capacity and convenience of construction. The long-term behaviour of these walls is therefore of great significance to the serviceability behaviour and this paper attempts to address this important issue. The paper firstly discusses the scarcity of experimental investigations on the long-term behaviour of SCC walls, and then presents an experimental program for both plain concrete and SCC wall panels under sustained axial loading, with a 20% axial load ratio for the concrete. The ultimate axial strength test is conducted after the long-term tests of SCC wall panels featuring headed studs of different configurations. The long-term outcomes correspond well with the ACI209 predictive model, providing information on assessing creep and shrinkage effects over extended durations. It is noted that SCC specimens without headed studs demonstrate a considerable reduction in both final shrinkage strains and creep coefficients relative to plain concrete specimens, and the presence of headed studs leads to further reductions. In addition, this paper explores the effect of different types of headed stud arrangements on the creep and shrinkage behaviour. However, no significant influence is observed from staggered arrangements versus parallel arrangements. The ultimate axial strength test shows a reduction in the ultimate axial strength in the loaded specimens compared with the unloaded specimens, while the failure modes are similar among different specimens, which are local buckling of steel faceplates. This paper concludes with a comparative analysis, comprising both long-term and ultimate axial strength test results against prevailing building standards, providing valuable insights for future design and construction of SCC walls