Informants’ Race And Accent Influence Preschoolers’ Uptake Of Irregular Nouns And Verbs

When young children are learning the structure of the English language, they learn rules like “add –s if there is more than one of something.” However, as a more experienced speaker would quickly point out, not all words abide by these simple principles; after all it is women not womans. Before children master each of the exceptions to the general guidelines, they apply morphological rules even when not necessary; an error known as overregularization. Research shows that preschoolers struggle to resist the incorrect, overregularized forms of words (i.e. “childs”) over the correct, irregular forms (i.e. “children”), even when a previously accurate informant provides the correct form. In this study, previous accuracy was stacked with information about race and accent, which have both been shown to influence learning preferences. White four-year-old children were presented with a choice between an out-group member (i.e., black, foreign accent) who says the incorrect, over-regularized form of a word against an in-group member (i.e., white, native accent) who says the irregular, correct form. Children’s social goals led them to trust the in-group, those of the same race and native accent, and endorse unexpected, irregular words

The shoemaker's holiday : a study in technique and significance

Although Thomas Dekker is accused of being a "hack without ideas," a man whose talent was chiefly journalistic, his contributions to Elizabethan drama through The Shoemaker's Holiday (1599) cannot be ignored. This play is usually classified as a romantic comedy; but the Shoemaker's Holiday is not so lacking in serious thought as many critics propose. On the surface this play is simple in theme, purpose, and construction, but it is really a piece of subtly designed dramatic fiction. Dekker's method involves the principles of romantic comedy, but his play is set against a verifiable background. Characters come from chronicles, records, legends, and contemporary London; landmarks in the play were outstanding in Dekker's day; situations and events arose from customs and life in the early seventeenth century. Above all The Shoemaker's Holiday reveals particular strength in the authenticity of characterization. Dekker had special ability in portraying convincingly the many sides of man's nature and the various forms of his personality

Influenza Vaccinations: Should They Be Mandatory for Nurses?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that certain priority groups, such as healthcare providers, receive the influenza vaccine each year, and it is becoming more common that healthcare institutions mandate that nurses employed in direct patient care settings receive annual influenza immunizations. I strongly support the position that all nurses involved in direct patient care should be required to receive the annual immunization

Leadership practices that build a positive school culture

Serving as an elementary school principal has given me the unique opportunity to shape the culture of our school. Serving as a woman in a school leadership role has also made me curious about how other women lead to improve school culture. Are they investing in a positive school culture and seeing the benefits in student achievement? Typically, human capital management is not a focus offered to principals when they are asked to consider different avenues to improve student outcomes. We know carrot-and-stick accountability plans are not working and not motivating anyone. Focusing more attention on school culture could be one way to alter this trend. In this basic qualitative research study, I used data from interviews with five female elementary school principals nominated for their strengths in building school culture and analysis of artifacts to examine their experiences in shaping the cultures of the schools they lead. I also examined the role gender played in creating this kind of supportive and caring school environment. I identify and report the specific strategies and practices that these principals are using to impact culture related to trust, professional development, communication, collaboration, care, and celebration. Additionally, I report the specific areas related to gender that presented a challenge to these leaders as they worked to build and maintain a positive school culture. I also include advice for future leaders and what needs to change in the way women are leading for them to continue to experience success. Finally, I share recommendations for superintendents, district level administrators, and universities/colleges about what it is important to help other future leaders and specifically the support women aspiring to be school leaders need to be successful. The results indicate that current female leaders are doing amazing work despite the challenges they face and the little support they receive

Equilibrium configurations of two charged masses in General Relativity

An asymptotically flat static solution of Einstein-Maxwell equations which describes the field of two non-extreme Reissner - Nordstr\"om sources in equilibrium is presented. It is expressed in terms of physical parameters of the sources (their masses, charges and separating distance). Very simple analytical forms were found for the solution as well as for the equilibrium condition which guarantees the absence of any struts on the symmetry axis. This condition shows that the equilibrium is not possible for two black holes or for two naked singularities. However, in the case when one of the sources is a black hole and another one is a naked singularity, the equilibrium is possible at some distance separating the sources. It is interesting that for appropriately chosen parameters even a Schwarzschild black hole together with a naked singularity can be "suspended" freely in the superposition of their fields.Comment: 4 pages; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Next-generation transcriptome sequencing of the premenopausal breast epithelium using specimens from a normal human breast tissue bank

Introduction Our efforts to prevent and treat breast cancer are significantly impeded by a lack of knowledge of the biology and developmental genetics of the normal mammary gland. In order to provide the specimens that will facilitate such an understanding, The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center (KTB) was established. The KTB is, to our knowledge, the only biorepository in the world prospectively established to collect normal, healthy breast tissue from volunteer donors. As a first initiative toward a molecular understanding of the biology and developmental genetics of the normal mammary gland, the effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptives on DNA expression in the normal breast epithelium was examined. Methods Using normal breast tissue from 20 premenopausal donors to KTB, the changes in the mRNA of the normal breast epithelium as a function of phase of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraception were assayed using next-generation whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq). Results In total, 255 genes representing 1.4% of all genes were deemed to have statistically significant differential expression between the two phases of the menstrual cycle. The overwhelming majority (221; 87%) of the genes have higher expression during the luteal phase. These data provide important insights into the processes occurring during each phase of the menstrual cycle. There was only a single gene significantly differentially expressed when comparing the epithelium of women using hormonal contraception to those in the luteal phase. Conclusions We have taken advantage of a unique research resource, the KTB, to complete the first-ever next-generation transcriptome sequencing of the epithelial compartment of 20 normal human breast specimens. This work has produced a comprehensive catalog of the differences in the expression of protein-coding genes as a function of the phase of the menstrual cycle. These data constitute the beginning of a reference data set of the normal mammary gland, which can be consulted for comparison with data developed from malignant specimens, or to mine the effects of the hormonal flux that occurs during the menstrual cycle

Patterns of eye-movements when Male and Female observers judge female attractiveness, body fat and waist-to-hip ratio

Behavioural studies of the perceptual cues for female physical attractiveness have suggested two potentially important features; body fat distribution (the waist-to-hip ratio or WHR) and overall body fat (often estimated by the body mass index or BMI). However none of these studies tell us directly which regions of the stimulus images inform observers’ judgments. Therefore, we recorded the eye-movements of 3 groups of 10 male observers and 3 groups of 10 female observers, when they rated a set of 46 photographs of female bodies. The first sets of observers rated the images for attractiveness, the second sets rated for body fat and the third sets for WHR. If either WHR and/or body fat are used to judge attractiveness, then observers rating attractiveness should look at those areas of the body which allow assessment of these features, and they should look in the same areas when they are directly asked to estimate WHR and body fat. So we are able to compare the fixation patterns for the explicit judgments with those for attractiveness judgments, and infer which features were used for attractiveness. Prior to group analysis of the eye-movement data, the locations of individual eye fixations were transformed into a common reference space to permit comparisons of fixation density at high resolution across all stimuli. This manipulation allowed us to use spatial statistical analysis techniques to show: 1) Observers’ fixations for attractiveness and body fat clustered in the central and upper abdomen and chest, but not the pelvic or hip areas, consistent with the finding that WHR had little influence over attractiveness judgments. 2) The pattern of fixations for attractiveness ratings was very similar to the fixation patterns for body fat judgments. 3) The fixations for WHR ratings were significantly different from those for attractiveness and body fat

Ginseng and ginkgo biloba effects on cognition as modulated by cardiovascular reactivity: a randomised trial

Background There is some evidence to suggest that ginseng and Ginkgo biloba can improve cognitive performance, however, very little is known about the mechanisms associated with such improvement. Here, we tested whether cardiovascular reactivity to a task is associated with cognitive improvement. Methodology/Principal findings Using a double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover design, participants (N = 24) received two doses of Panax Ginseng (500, 1000 mg) or Ginkgo Biloba (120, 240 mg) (N = 24), and underwent a series of cognitive tests while systolic, diastolic, and heart rate readings were taken. Ginkgo Biloba improved aspects of executive functioning (Stroop and Berg tasks) in females but not in males. Ginseng had no effect on cognition. Ginkgo biloba in females reversed the initial (i.e. placebo) increase in cardiovascular reactivity (systolic and diastolic readings increased compared to baseline) to cognitive tasks. This effect (reversal) was most notable after those tasks (Stroop and Iowa) that elicited the greatest cardiovascular reactivity during placebo. In males, although ginkgo also decreased cardiovascular readings, it did so from an initial (placebo) blunted response (i.e. decrease or no change from baseline) to cognitive tasks. Ginseng, on the contrary, increased cardiovascular readings compared to placebo. Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that cardiovascular reactivity may be a mechanism by which ginkgo but not ginseng, in females is associated with certain forms of cognitive improvement