197,891 research outputs found
A leftward bias negatively correlated with performance is selectively displayed by domestic chicks during rule reversal (not acquisition)
No full textIn order to face a constantly changing environment, animals need to be able to update their knowledge of the world on the basis of new information. Often, this means to inhibit a previously acquired response and flexibly change their behaviour to produce a new response. Here, we measured such abilities in young domestic chicks, employing a Colour Reversal Learning Task. During the acquisition phase, 17 one-week-old male chicks had to learn to peck on one of two coloured boxes to obtain a food reward. After reaching criterion, chicks underwent a reversal phase in which the previously learned colour-reward contingency was swapped. As expected from the literature, chicks performed better in the acquisition phase with respect to the reversal phase. Results moreover highlighted the presence of a lateralized bias selectively during reversal: chicks performed better if the stimulus rewarded was located in the left hemispace (processed by the right hemisphere). Interestingly, the bias correlated with the individual difficulty, i.e., it was stronger in those chicks which needed more trials to complete the reversal session. The present study contributes evidence in support of behavioural flexibility in young chicks, along with a novel perspective on lateralized mechanisms that might underlie such ability
Orthography-Induced Length Contrasts in the Second Language Phonological Systems of L2 Speakers of English: Evidence from Minimal Pairs
No full textResearch shows that the orthographic forms (“spellings”) of second language (L2) words affect speech production in L2 speakers. This study investigated whether English orthographic forms lead L2 speakers to produce English homophonic word pairs as phonological minimal pairs. Targets were 33 orthographic minimal pairs, that is to say homophonic words that would be pronounced as phonological minimal pairs if orthography affects pronunciation. Word pairs contained the same target sound spelled with one letter or two, such as the /n/ in finish and Finnish (both /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ in Standard British English). To test for effects of length and type of L2 exposure, we compared Italian instructed learners of English, Italian-English late bilinguals with lengthy naturalistic exposure, and English natives. A reading-aloud task revealed that Italian speakers of EnglishL2 produce two English homophonic words as a minimal pair distinguished by different consonant or vowel length, for instance producing the target /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ with a short [n] or a long [nː] to reflect the number of consonant letters in the spelling of the words finish and Finnish. Similar effects were found on the pronunciation of vowels, for instance in the orthographic pair scene-seen (both /siːn/). Naturalistic exposure did not reduce orthographic effects, as effects were found both in learners and in late bilinguals living in an English-speaking environment. It appears that the orthographic form of L2 words can result in the establishment of a phonological contrast that does not exist in the target language. Results have implications for models of L2 phonological development
Effects of L1 orthography and L1 phonology on L2 english pronunciation
No full textRecent research has revealed the effects of orthography on the pronunciation of consonant durations in the L2 English of L1 Italian speakers (e.g. the [p] in floppy being pronounced as longer than in copy). In this paper we compared this orthographic effect with an orthography-independent effect of L1 phonology, namely VOT. We measured closure durations and VOT for plosives produced by 30 learners of L2 English in Italy, 30 Italian late bilingual speakers of L2 English living in the UK, and 30 native English speakers. While VOT values produced by late bilinguals differed significantly from those produced by learners, closure durations were similar across the two groups. Additionally, L1 Italian VOT values proved that late bilinguals adapted VOT in L2 English by a larger extent than learners. It appears that the effects of orthography on L2 consonant duration can be more resistant to naturalistic L2 exposure than orthography-independent effects of L1 phonology
Retrospective descriptive analysis of 1,176 patients with failed hypospadias repair.
No full textAbstract
PURPOSE: To our knowledge epidemiological data on the incidence of failed hypospadias repair and the number of patients seeking further surgical treatment remain unknown. We report an observational, descriptive survey of patients who were evaluated and treated for urethral stricture disease and/or penile defects after primary hypospadias repair.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective observational chart analysis of patients evaluated and treated for urethral stricture disease and/or penile defects at 2 tertiary European centers from January 1998 to December 2007. In each case we investigated the primary abnormal meatal site, the number of operations needed to repair primary hypospadias and complications of this primary repair. Patients were offered surgical repair for previous failed hypospadias treatment. After surgery evaluation was scheduled at 3, 6 and 9 months. Success was defined as a functional urethra without fistula, stricture or residual chordee and a cosmetically acceptable glanular meatus after the completion of all secondary procedures.
RESULTS: A total of 1,176 patients with a mean age of 31 years were evaluated and treated. To treat failed hypospadias repair 760 (64.6%) and 416 patients (35.4%) underwent 1-stage and staged repair, respectively. Mean followup was 60.4 months. Of 1,176 cases 1,036 (88.1%) were classified as successful and 140 (11.9%) were considered failures.
CONCLUSIONS: Failed hypospadias repair may be corrected by multiple and complex surgeries. Its effects are experienced during the lifetime of the patient and parents.
PMID: 19913825 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
Genetic variation of Greek maple (Acer heldreichii Orph.) populations in the Western Balkan region
No full textMinistry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia [31041
Genetic variation of Greek maple (Acer heldreichii Orph.) populations in the Western Balkan region
No full textMinistry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia [31041
Dr. Duane M. Jackson, Morehouse College, July 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. Duane M. Jackson. Dr. Jackson talks about his paper, "Recall and the Serial Position Effect: The Role of Primacy and Recency on Accounting Students' Performance." Jackie Daniel, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
"Reflections on the subject of Emigration from Europe with a view to Settlement in the United States" By M. Carey.
No full text"Reflections on the subject of Emigration from Europe with a view to Settlement in the United States: containing bried sketches of the moral and political character of those states.
By M. Carey, member of the American philosophical, and of the American Antiquarian Society, and author of The Olive Branch, Cindiciae Hibernicae, essays on banking, on political economy, and on internal improvement.
To which are now added the English editor's comments on the subject; together with Important Advice to Emigrants, and Cautions Against Impositions Practiced in the Outports
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Dr. Glendon Swarthout
No full textHosted by Roger M. Busfield, MSU Assistant Professor of Speech and Theater, Meet the Author is designed to introduce a general audience to a contemporary author and their work through in-depth interviews. This episode features a conversation between Dr. Glendon Swarthout, prolific author and English professor at MSU, and assistant professors Sam S. Baskett and Theodore B. Strandness
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