The relation between handedness for reaching and unimanual handedness from 6 to 14 months

Unimanual hand preference is a behavior in which one hand is used more often than the other when single-handedly manipulating objects. The progressive lateralization theory (Michel, 2002) of handedness proposes that handedness gradually concatenates during infancy as a cascade from initially a preference for contacting objects to acquiring them, to their unimanual manipulation, to the eventual emergence of a hand preference for role-differentiated bimanual manipulation (RDBM). Together, these behaviors represent the individual's handedness expressed across most manual skills. Thus, the theory posits that an early hand preference for object acquisition will predict a later preference for single-handed object manipulations. This proposal was examined by describing the development of hand-use preferences for unimanual manipulation of objects for 90 infants (57 males) tested monthly from 6 to 14 months. These 90 infants were obtained from a larger sample of 380 infants: 30 infants from a group of 45 with left hand-use preferences for acquiring objects were matched for sex and development of locomotion skills with 30 infants with a right hand-use preference and 30 with no hand preference for acquiring objects. Results showed that the frequency of unimanual manipulations is stable during the 6-14 month period. Multilevel modeling of unimanual manipulation trajectories for the three acquisition hand-preference groups revealed that hand-use preferences for unimanual manipulation become more prominent with age and the preference is predicted by the hand-use preference for object acquisition. Also, infants with a right-hand preference for object acquisition develop a hand-use preference for unimanual manipulation sooner than those with a left preference and infants without a preference for acquisition remain without a preference for manipulation

Ant Species Assembly in Constructed Grasslands

1. Agri-environmental incentive programmes encourage conversionof marginal agricultural land to grasslands to reduce soil erosion and supportbiodiversity of native flora and fauna. Most grassland animals colonise theseconstructed habitats as propagules from the surrounding landscape. Ants areslow to colonise and rely on resources within the patch, making them valuableas indicators of disturbance and recovery.2. We studied how ant species diversity and composition are structured bypatch and landscape variation of grasslands in Ohio, USA. Ant communitieswere collected from 23 constructed grasslands differing in area, age, vegetation,soils, management and surrounding land cover. We analysed trap frequency for14 species that varied in habitat specialisation to identify species responses topatch- and landscape-level predictors.3. Grassland age and soil texture determined ant species richness and communitycomposition. Trap frequency analysis showed contrasting speciesresponses to patch and landscape characteristics: habitat specialists were moreabundant in older, larger patches with more surrounding grassland, while disturbance-tolerantspecies were more frequent in younger patches surrounded byintensive agriculture. Habitat generalists and open habitat species included avariety of patch- and landscape-level factors in best models.4. Ant community assembly in constructed grasslands is shaped by time andphysical characteristics at the patch-level, but the surrounding landscape acts asa filter for the colonising community. Our findings support the use of ants asecosystem recovery indicators following disturbance in agricultural landscapes,but show that shifts in species composition are better indicators of grasslandhabitat variation than ant richness

The financing and completion of a group of shell homes

Many American families are unable to purchase adequate housing or improve their present housing situation primarily because of low income. The problem of supplying adequate housing for groups of various income levels becomes pressing since in recent years the costs of residential construction have been increasing more rapidly than other consumer costs.1 There have been numerous attempts to make adequate housing available. A partial list of these attempts includes prefabrication, public housing, insured loans from the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration, and, more recently, the shell house

Solving the Uncapacitated Single Allocation p-Hub Median Problem on GPU

A parallel genetic algorithm (GA) implemented on GPU clusters is proposed to solve the Uncapacitated Single Allocation p-Hub Median problem. The GA uses binary and integer encoding and genetic operators adapted to this problem. Our GA is improved by generated initial solution with hubs located at middle nodes. The obtained experimental results are compared with the best known solutions on all benchmarks on instances up to 1000 nodes. Furthermore, we solve our own randomly generated instances up to 6000 nodes. Our approach outperforms most well-known heuristics in terms of solution quality and time execution and it allows hitherto unsolved problems to be solved

An evaluation study of the dining area in thirty families

One of the most debated subjects in house planning in recent years has been the question of the importance of a separate room which is devoted only to dining purposes. While the kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathrooms apparently are indispensable, the dining room has been omitted entirely or combined with other rooms in many homes which have been built recently. One can hardly justify a room which is used only one to two hours a day or just when company is present if economy is to be considered. Because of the flexibility of the furniture used, the dining area, whether it be a separate room in the house or an alcove off the living room or the kitchen, can be one of the most important rooms for family living. In many families today mealtime is about the only time when family members are together. For other than dining purposes, many families have found that the table can be used by Johnnie to work on his school lessons or stamp collection, for Mother to cut out a dress, or for Father to prepare his business reports. Group activities such as playing games, parties and children's play can be successfully carried on in this area. With a sofa bed in this room, the dining area can double as a second living room or as a guest room

An Analysis of Employment at Will and Its Effect on the Discharge Policies of Industries in Bladen and Robeson Counties

Discharge is a sensitive issue and one of great importance to the employee in question, the employer, and society as a whole. A discharged employee will have to bear a number of hardships as a result of his dismissal, including a loss of income of social problems such as alcoholism or divorce resulting from a sense of failure and an inability to provide for loved ones. A discharge is expensive for the employer as well; there are costs of locating and training a replacement and a loss of the investment made in training of the previous employee. society may also have a burden to bear. It is responsible for providing unemployment and welfare compensation for the discharged employee. Therefore, employment-at-will poses an important social and economic problem which affects a great number of people and demands immediate attention

Philosophical and legal bases for resolving student absenteeism

Student absenteeism is one of the major concerns of school administrators today. The purpose of this study was an investigation of philosophical and legal rationales covering laws and local school board policies treating student absenteeism and its resolution. This research included an examination of compulsory attendance laws in all fifty states, from the inception of these laws to present day statutes. The review of current statutes focused on states which have amended statutes to allow academic sanctions to be used for student nonattendance. In addition to examining state action to mandate attendance requirements, the researcher examined selected programs originating at the local level which were designed to improve attendance. The researcher examined the legality of attendance policies which impose academic sanctions for student nonattendance. The cases reviewed were a result of a detailed examination of opinions of state and federal courts of record which have been reported in any of the fifty states between 1970 and 1986

Political friendship in early America

During the turbulent decades that encompassed the transition of the North American colonies into a Republic, America became the setting for a transformation in the context of political friendship. Traditionally the alliances established between elite, white, Protestant males have been most studied. These former studies provide the foundation for this work to examine the inclusion of ¨Dothers¡€ -- political relationships formed with and by women, persons of diverse ethnicities and races, and numerous religious persuasions -- in political activity. From the outset this analysis demonstrates the establishment of an uniquely American concept of political friendship theory which embraced ideologies and rationalism. Perhaps most importantly, the work presents criteria for determining early American political friendship apart from other relationships. The central key in producing this manuscript was creating and applying the criteria for identifying political alliances. This study incorporates a cross-discipline approach, including philosophy, psychology, literature, religion, and political science with history to hone a conception of political friendship as understood by the Founding Generation. The arguments are supported by case studies drawn from a wide variety of primary documents. The result is a fresh perspective and a new approach for the study of eighteenth century American history