Comparing two naturalistic pragmatic assessments: The celf-5 pragmatic activities and the Yale in vivo pragmatic protocol (yipp)

Pragmatics, or the social use of language, is a dimension of communication skills that is very difficult to assess due to its dependence on cultural norms, situational context, and speaker differences. Of the current methods for evaluating pragmatic language skills in children, the literature most frequently recommends naturalistic assessment because it allows the clinician to most closely simulate a real-life interaction. Despite these recommendations, limited information exists to guide clinicians in making decisions about which activities yield the most representative pragmatic language sample. This preliminary study compared two naturalistic pragmatic assessments, the Pragmatic Activities from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Fifth Edition (CELF-5) and the Yale in Vivo Pragmatic Protocol (YiPP), to answer two research questions 1.) Which of the two naturalistic assessments, yielded more child utterances, response to questions, and longer mean turn length? and 2.) Did these naturalistic assessments identify the pragmatic concerns reported by caregivers? Assessments were administered to six participants, three children with pragmatic language concerns, and three age-matched peers. This study found that the number of child utterances, response to questions, and mean turn length varied greatly across participants although subtle differences emerged across activities. On average, the Yale in Vivo Pragmatic Protocol (YiPP) elicited a longer mean turn length and a higher number of utterances per minute. In regard to the second research question, the CELF-5 pragmatic activities checklist matched up more closely with the pragmatic concerns identified by caregivers than the YiPP error/cue scores. The results of this study support use of the Pragmatic Activities Checklist as one assessment tool to confirm parent-identified pragmatic concerns in school-age children

Cutting Edge : Failure of Antigen-Specific CD4+ T Cell Recruitment to the Kidney during Systemic Candidiasis

Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Acknowledgments We thank E. Bolton and H. Bagavant for reagents and advice. We also acknowledge the staff of the Medical Research Facility at the University of Aberdeen for care of the animals used in this study. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A mechanism for bentonite buffer erosion in a fracture with a naturally varying aperture

In the deep geological disposal of nuclear waste in crystalline rock, erosion of the bentonite buffer may occur during periods of glaciation. Previous researchers have examined the mechanism and rates of extrusion and erosion for purified montmorillonite samples in smooth planar fractures. In this paper, we investigate the influence of using as delivered MX-80 material (i.e. including accessory minerals) and a naturally varying aperture on bentonite erosion. A bespoke fracture flow cell was constructed for this purpose and flow through conducted with deionised water. Throughout the experiment, gravimetric analysis was undertaken on the effluent and the swelling pressure of the bentonite monitored. Quantitative image analysis of the extrusion process was also undertaken. When the swelling pressure data was analysed, alongside both the oscillations in erosion rate and the area of the accessory mineral ring, a two-stage mechanism governing the erosion process became apparent. Once an accessory mineral ring had formed at the edge of the extruded material, further increases in swelling pressure resulted in a breach in the accessory mineral ring, triggering an erosive period. During which, the mineral ring was supplemented with additional minerals. The cycle repeated until the ring was sufficiently strong that it remained intact. This observed process results in erosion rates one order of magnitude less than those currently used in long-term safety case calculations

Unexpected Modes of Gendered Inheritance: How Royal Women Bequeathed Knowledge and Power in Sixteenth Century Europe through Letters, Translations, and Memoirs

During the sixteenth century, western European women were rarely able to inherit property, money, or titles. Even for noble women privileged with education, monarchies favored male heirs, and women rarely ruled as regents. It was even more rare for a woman to inherit from another woman. Such restrictions required women to work within rigid gender roles and develop more unconventional modes of inheritance. Rather than passing on material goods or a title, women could pass on certain social inheritances, such as personality traits or religious and educational teachings to their daughters. In order to examine these social inheritances, I have turned to the writings of royal women during the sixteenth century to determine what these social inheritances were and how they were passed from generation to generation. The writing of letters amongst royal women convey that education and religion were important social inheritances that women could transmit through letter writing. Translations and memoirs are two other genres of interest that could connect women across time and geographic region to either transfer or reveal social inheritances. Sixteenth century western Europe, despite aforementioned restrictions, was a place where many women rose to power and were often related through blood relation or marriage. By examining the relationships between these women through the lens of social inheritance, this project seeks to place them in direct conversation with one another in a way the history books have often failed to do

Interpersonal violence in peacetime Malawi.

Background: The contribution of interpersonal violence (IPV) to trauma burden varies greatly by region. The high rates of IPV in sub-Saharan Africa are thought to relate in part to the high rates of collective violence. Malawi, a country with no history of internal collective violence, provides an excellent setting to evaluate whether collective violence drives the high rates of IPV in this region. Methods: This is a retrospective review of a prospective trauma registry from 2009 through 2016 at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Adult (\u3e16 years) victims of IPV were compared with non-intentional trauma victims. Log binomial regression determined factors associated with increased risk of mortality for victims of IPV. Results: Of 72 488 trauma patients, 25 008 (34.5%) suffered IPV. Victims of IPV were more often male (80.2% vs. 74.8%; p Discussion: Even in a sub-Saharan country that never experienced internal collective violence, IPV injury rates are high. Public health efforts to measure and address alcohol use, and studies to determine the role of mob justice, poverty, and intimate partner violence in IPV, in Malawi are needed. Level of evidence: Level III

Hydrogen-atom Attack on Phenol and Toluene is \u3cem\u3eortho\u3c/em\u3e-directed

The reaction of H + phenol and H/D + toluene has been studied in a supersonic expansion after electric discharge. The (1 + 1′) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectra of the reaction products, at m/z = parent + 1, or parent + 2 amu, were measured by scanning the first (resonance) laser. The resulting spectra are highly structured. Ionization energies were measured by scanning the second (ionization) laser, while the first laser was tuned to a specific transition. Theoretical calculations, benchmarked to the well-studied H + benzene → cyclohexadienyl radical reaction, were performed. The spectrum arising from the reaction of H + phenol is attributed solely to the ortho-hydroxy-cyclohexadienyl radical, which was found in two conformers (syn and anti). Similarly, the reaction of H/D + toluene formed solely the ortho isomer. The preference for the ortho isomer at 100–200 K in the molecular beam is attributed to kinetic, not thermodynamic effects, caused by an entrance channel barrier that is ∼5 kJ mol−1 lower for ortho than for other isomers. Based on these results, we predict that the reaction of H + phenol and H + toluene should still favour the ortho isomer under elevated temperature conditions in the early stages of combustion (200–400 °C)

Building Institutional Research Knowledge and Skills Through Communities of Practice Networks

The demands on and expectations of Institutional Research (IR) departments at colleges and universities have continued to expand over the years, yet there have been no studies on cost effective ways to develop and maintain the knowledge and skills needed by professionals in the field. Using a survey and social network analysis, this study explored the impact of participating in an Institutional Research (IR) affinity group on the development of the three tiers of organizational intelligence and the strength and nature of the social network that exists among the participants. The findings suggest that communities of practice, such as the IR affinity group, can aid the development and maintenance of some of the skills and knowledge related to the three tiers of organizational intelligence in the field of IR. The study also highlights how social network analysis can be used to explore communities of practice and approaches for professional development

Postfledging Survival, Movements, and Dispersal of Ring Ouzels (Turdus torquatus)

We thank Invercauld Estate for cooperation with access to Glen Clunie. S. Redpath, J. Wilson, and S. Roos provided valuable comments on the manuscript. This study was funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority. J.L.L. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council.Peer reviewedPublisher PD