79297 research outputs found
Sort by
EXPLORING THE VALIDITY OF VOCABULARY ASSESSMENTS IN RACIALLY, DIALECTICALLY, AND SOCIOECONOMICALLY DIVERSE PRESCHOOL POPULATIONS
Get PDFRecent research has advocated for interactive assessments of vocabulary over more traditional, static assessments, as interactive assessments are more sensitive to linguistic and cultural diversity. Static vocabulary assessments, such as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), probe existing knowledge, while interactive assessments, such as the Quick Interactive Language Screener (QUILS), examines a child’s language in a wholistic manner by assessing previously learned vocabulary knowledge, syntactic knowledge, and processing when learning a new concept. It remains unclear which assessment more accurately captures children\u27s vocabulary knowledge throughout the Deep South—a region characterized by its unique cultural and linguistic environment, which includes the use of Southern White English and African American English. The current study examines whether static or interactive vocabulary assessments are more sensitive to diverse children’s actual language use on a basis of SES, race, and dialect density. To test this, 50 families (children ages 3-5) from the Deep South completed the PPVT, QUILS, and participated in a 15-minute recorded play session. Using SALT, the play sessions were transcribed and analyzed to measure the moving-average type token ratio (MATTR) produced by the child. Based on SES, there was a moderately significant difference in fail rates between groups at the -1 SD threshold, but not at the -1.5 SD threshold: 17.65% of lower SES children fell below the -1 SD threshold on the PPVT-5, which was significantly higher than any other group (X = 5.66, p = 0.05). There was a significant relationship between the QUILS overall score and child MATTR (r = 0.32, p = 0.03), but no significant relationship between the PPVT score and child MATTR (r = 0.08, p = 0.58). We suggest the interactive nature of the QUILS vocabulary assessment is more representative of actual vocabulary knowledge than the PPVT among a culturally and linguistically diverse sample
Measuring the Impact on Landscape and Sediment Transport of Climate and Anthropogenic Influence in the Mississippi River Since 2000 BCE
No full textUnderstanding river dynamics is crucial to being able to interpret the geological history preserved in sediment deposited on continental margins, deltas, and alluvial plains. Sediment buffering can be a key control on the sediment flux to the ocean and involves sediment storage and recycling in flood plains. The efficiency of the transport varies depending on climatic and more recently anthropogenic influences. Sediment moving through meandering streams may be temporarily deposited in a point bar on the convex side of a meandering river. Meanders are sometimes cut off, creating an oxbow lake and filled in. The area of study, False River, is an oxbow lake and point bar of the Mississippi River located north of Baton Rouge, while Lake St. John is an oxbow lake located 120 km further north. Another core was collected close to the Mississippi south of New Orleans. Together these represent an archive of the composition of Mississippi River sediment spanning more than 3000 years. The sediments were collected and analyzed for major elements, Sr and Nd isotopes, as well as detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology. Grain size is a major influence in controlling provenance because suspended sediment is transported rapidly through the river compared to coarse-grained material which travels more slowly as bedload. Grain size also controls major element geochemistry as well as Sr isotopes. Chemical weathering shows a positive correlation with sediment alteration through time, but little correlation between the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) proxy and Sr isotopes. εNd values are minimally affected by chemical weathering, with notable variations in the past 100 years linked to human activity, indicative of a loss of strong recycling in the lower reaches. This study highlights the changing composition of the river, showing some variability before levee construction which suggests that levees may suppress sediment dilution. The provenance of the river was found to have a long-term change in erosion patterns with a growing influence on older basement sources like the Superior Province. Despite some variations during the Roman and Medieval Warm periods and the Little Ice Age, this indicates there is little recycling and buffering due to the construction of levees. However, there was limited evidence of stronger buffering prior to anthropogenic influences
“VASALLOS DE SU MAGESTAD”: COLOCACIONES, CORTESÍA Y CONTACTO EN DOCUMENTOS COLONIALES EN ESPAÑOL DEL SIGLO 18 EN BOLIVIA
No full textThe present study analyzes Spanish collocations and keywords used in politeness strategies found in colonial documents from the late 18th century in the provinces of Moxos and Chiquitos, in eastern Bolivia. The focus of attention is a portion of the archival material used where a denunciation translated from Movima to Spanish by interpreters and sent between Spanish officers on mission is found. Through the analysis of the corpus, sociopragmatic patterns were identified that could constitute evidence of the translinguistic contact and the situation of social asymmetry that presumably took place between Spanish officers and members of the Movima community. In particular, the use of collocations as forms of address was observed, proposing that these elements function as politeness strategies and vocatives in the context of the corpus under study
Corrigendum to: “Transcriptome responses to single and combined stressors in seagrass populations from pristine and impacted sites reveal local adaptive features and core stress-response genes” [Sci. Total Environ. 987 (2025) 179623] (Science of the Total Environment (2025) 987, (S0048969725012641), (10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179623))
No full textTomás Azcárate García was mistakenly added to the Acknowledgements section. The authors apologize for any inconvenience. The correct acknowledgement is as follows: This work was funded by The Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), Israeli-Italian Binational Grant Number 3-15152 (G Winters, PB-C), ICA in Israel, Grant 03-16-06a (G Winters), and the Goldinger Trust Jewish Fund for the Future (SB). This work was also financed by the SEANARIOS project (SEAgrass SCENARIOS under thermal and nutrient stress: FKZ 03F0826A), an Israeli-German Scientific Cooperation, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), jointly with the SEASTRESS project, an Israeli-Italian Scientific Cooperation, funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Israel (MOST). HMN was supported by Israel Science Foundation (ISF) grant no. 1015/21 (G Winters, SB) and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Jacob Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation. GP was supported by the European Union - NextGenerationEU (National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4, Project Code: CN00000033
Explosion of goby fish diversity at the Eocene-Oligocene transition
No full textA rapid drop of sea level at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT; 34–33 Ma) triggered a marine mass extinction event and the turnover of terrestrial fauna, but its influence on the diversification of nearshore marine fish communities is unclear. Goby fishes (Acanthomorpha: Percomorpha: Gobiiformes) provide an ideal system to investigate the hypothesis that ecological opportunity at the EOT triggered the proliferation of coastal marine fishes. However, despite more than 30 years of molecular evolutionary research, divergence time estimates for gobies are widely variable, incomplete with respect to sampling of taxonomic families and sub-familial lineages, and far older than evident by the modest fossil record. Here we use 1,314 ultraconserved element (UCE) sequences sampled from 121 species, including all gobiiform families and sub-familial goby lineages, to infer phylogeny and node ages under species tree and relaxed molecular clock models. Our time-calibrated phylogenomic hypothesis reconciles molecular clock- and fossil-based estimates for gobiiform diversification, dating the origin of Apogonidae and Gobioidei to the uppermost Late Cretaceous, with lower to middle Paleogene divergence of the gobioid backbone and an explosion of goby lineages at the EOT. Our results support a remarkably recent evolutionary origin of goby families and stimulate new questions on the seemingly exceptional diversity of the group
Spatial neophobia is still not correlated with object neophobia in wild-caught house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
No full textNeophobia, aversive behaviour towards novel objects, foods and environments, is a trait that affects the ability of animals to adapt to new environments and exploit novel resources. Our previous work demonstrated that individual responses of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to object neophobia trials were not correlated with time spent in or latency to enter a novel environment. However, because no positive stimulus was present in the novel environment, this study may have measured spatial neophilia. In the present study, we placed familiar food dishes in a novel environment and assessed whether an individual\u27s willingness to enter and feed was significantly correlated with its willingness to feed from a familiar dish containing a novel object in the home cage. We exposed house sparrows (n = 26) to a novel environment and measured their latency to enter and feed, total time spent in the novel environment and total feeding time. Sparrows were also assessed for object neophobia in their home cage. Results indicated that there were no correlations between any of the measured behaviours in the novel environment and individual responses to novel object trials, suggesting that even with food as a common motivator, spatial neophobia and object neophobia represent two distinct traits
Modifications in FLAP\u27s second cytosolic loop influence 5-LOX interaction, inhibitor binding, and leukotriene formation
No full textLeukotrienes, synthesized via the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) pathway in the arachidonic acid cascade, are critical in inflammation. Effective leukotriene production requires interaction between 5-LOX and 5-LOX-activating protein (FLAP) at the nuclear membrane. This study used site-directed mutagenesis to explore amino acid residues in FLAP\u27s inhibitor binding pocket and cytosolic loops, assessing their impact on 5-LOX product formation, the FLAP inhibitor MK886\u27s efficacy, 5-LOX translocation, and 5-LOX/FLAP complex formation. Mutations in the second cytosolic loop, especially at residue S108, reduced MK886 potency and disrupted 5-LOX/FLAP complex formation. These results highlight the second cytosolic loop of FLAP in the 5-LOX/FLAP interaction and proper leukotriene formation and suggest that targeting this region could aid in the development of new FLAP inhibitors with improved pharmacokinetics
The Zintl pnictides Yb10CdSb9 and Yb14CdSb11: New candidate thermoelectric materials
Get PDFThe synthesis of new materials is the lifeline of solid-state science, and it continues to offer us unique opportunities for testing various theoretical formulations and models on a practical material. Such an avenue, therefore, provides a breeding ground for technological innovations and advancements that can completely revolutionize our world. Here, we report the results of our exploratory syntheses in the Yb-Cd-Sb compositional space that lead to the identification of two new Zintl antimonides, namely, Yb10CdSb9 and Yb14CdSb11. Their crystal structures were established via single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods; the basic electronic and transport properties of the new materials were also characterized. Yb10CdSb9 crystallizes in a disordered variant of the tetragonal Ca10LiMgSb9 structure type with unit cell parameters a = 11.8473(8) Å and c = 17.1302(12) Å (space group P42/mnm). Yb14CdSb11 crystallizes in the tetragonal Ca14AlSb11 structure type with unit cell parameters: a = 16.605(3) Å and c = 12.144(7) Å (space group I41/acd). Although the structures of both compounds can be rationalized within the framework of the Zintl formalism, based on the partitioning of the valence electrons in the much disordered Yb10CdSb9 phase, the charge is indicative of a slightly electron-rich composition. Electronic structure calculations in both cases support the notion of intrinsic semiconductor behavior, as expected for a Zintl phase. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of a single crystal of Yb10CdSb9 is in line with that, and the evolution of the Seebeck coefficient indicates an electron-dominated transport mechanism, and a respectable power factor of 0.71 μW/cm K2 at 460 K can be calculated for Yb10CdSb9. The electrical resistivity of Yb14CdSb11, however, evolves in a semimetallic manner, which could suggest an overdoped sample or degenerate semiconducting behavior
Methods and Devices for Sample Capture Using Gas-Pulse Nanoparticle Displacement
Get PDFThe present disclosure provides for sampling instruments and methods of collecting sample particles. The sampling instrument can include a high-pressure pulsed valve coupled to a gas flow system to displace a sample from a surface. Also included can be a voltage supply coupled to a voltage switch, a suction device, a sample collector, and a collection filter. To collect a sample, extractive particles can be deposited onto a sample present on a substrate. At least a portion of the sample becomes coupled to a portion of the extractive particles to form sample particles. High-pressure gas can be discharged at the sample, thereby aerosolizing a portion of the sample particles to disperse aerosolized sample particles. A portion of the aerosolized sample particles can be collected onto a collection filter to form a collected sample
Gamma irradiation effects on physical and electronic properties of monolayer CVD grown graphene
Get PDFTwo-dimensional material graphene has proven to have remarkable electrical and photonic properties, opening the door to a wide range of uses, including employment under the harsh conditions of space. The creation of graphene on various substrate types is known to be possible via a number of approaches, including direct deposition and the substrate transfer process. In this work, we used an argon plasma, methane as a carbon source, and a nanoCVD-8G graphene reactor to deposit monolayer graphene (MLG) on transition metal substrates for studying the effects of gamma irradiation on the physical and electronic properties. Graphene\u27s crystalline structure is investigated utilizing Raman and X-ray Photo Electron Spectroscopy (XPS) techniques before and after gamma irradiation. The results show that point defects predominate in the damage following gamma irradiation. The defective structure and electronic properties are connected in light of density functional theory (DFT) simulations of pristine and defective graphene