The interaction of images and text during comprehension of garden-path sentences: is integration better than good enough?

One of the main goals of reading is to construct a discourse representation. However, when information in the discourse is confusing or ambiguous, readers are often not able to create a fluid, accurate understanding of the text. Decades of research on temporarily ambiguous garden-path sentences have given the field of psycholinguistics a comprehensive understanding of how readers process, and often misinterpret, garden-path sentences. Both online and offline data demonstrate that when reading garden-path sentences (e.g., As the guard and officer wrestled the thief that was fleeing fell down the stairs), readers may not arrive at the correct, syntactically-licensed interpretation (i.e., that the guard and officer are wrestling each other) despite apparent reanalysis. The garden-path sentence processing model claims that readers often parse sentences by developing only shallow representations of the structure, and thus never return from "down the garden path" to arrive at the correct, syntactically licensed interpretation (Ferreira, Ferraro, & Bailey, 2002; Ferreira & Patson, 2007). In this dissertation, I seek to test the bounds of the garden-path model of sentence processing by investigating contextual influences on language processing. Specifically, how are reading processes are affected by the presence of extralinguistic information (e.g., imagery) with garden-path sentences. If readers are able to properly make use of linguistic (words) and nonlinguistic (pictorial) information, does it help them avoid inaccurate interpretation? For means of comparison, a related question is the role of imagery on linguistic disambiguation for less proficient readers who might rely more on the nonlinguistic code (e.g., nonnative speakers). I approach the issue of visual and linguistic (multimedia) processing by investigating specifically whether or not nonnative speakers of English, compared to native speakers, rely differently on non-linguistic information to parse and understand ambiguous, garden-path sentences

Mental health related determinants of parenting stress among urban mothers of young children – results from a birth-cohort study in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire

Background There are limited data on the parenting stress (PS) levels in sub-Saharan African mothers and on the association between ante- and postnatal depression and anxiety on PS. Methods A longitudinal birth cohort of 577 women from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire was followed from the 3rd trimester in pregnancy to 2 years postpartum between 2010 and 2013. Depression and anxiety were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire depression module (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) at baseline, 3 month, 12 month and 24 month postpartum. PS was measured using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) at 3, 12 and 24 month. The mean total PS score and the subscale scores were compared among depressed vs. non-depressed and among anxious vs. non-anxious mothers at 3, 12 and 24 month postpartum. The proportions of clinical PS (PSI-SF raw score > 90) in depressed vs. non-depressed and anxious vs. non-anxious mothers were also compared. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach was used to estimate population-averaged associations between women’s depression/anxiety and PS adjusting for age, child sex, women’s anemia, education, occupation, spouse’s education, and number of sick child visits. Results A total of 577, 531 and 264 women completed the PS assessment at 3 month, 12 month and 24 month postpartum across the two sites and the prevalences of clinical PS at each time point was 33.1%, 24.4% and 14.9% in Ghana and 30.2%, 33.5% and 22.6% in Côte d’Ivoire, respectively. At all three time points, the PS scores were significantly higher among depressed mothers vs. non-depressed mothers. In the multivariate regression analyses, antepartum and postpartum depression were consistently associated with PS after adjusting for other variables. Conclusions Parenting stress is frequent and levels are high compared with previous studies from high-income countries. Antepartum and postpartum depression were both associated with PS, while antepartum and postpartum anxiety were not after adjusting for confounders. More quantitative and qualitative data are needed in sub-Saharan African populations to assess the burden of PS and understand associated mechanisms. Should our findings be replicated, it appears prudent to design and subsequently evaluate intervention strategies

Longitudinal Molecular Trajectories of Diffuse Glioma in Adults

The evolutionary processes that drive universal therapeutic resistance in adult patients with diffuse glioma remain unclear ¹² . Here we analysed temporally separated DNA-sequencing data and matched clinical annotation from 222 adult patients with glioma. By analysing mutations and copy numbers across the three major subtypes of difuse glioma, we found that driver genes detected at the initial stage of disease were retained at recurrence, whereas there was little evidence of recurrence-specifc gene alterations. Treatment with alkylating agents resulted in a hypermutator phenotype at diferent rates across the glioma subtypes, and hypermutation was not associated with diferences in overall survival. Acquired aneuploidy was frequently detected in recurrent gliomas and was characterized by IDH mutation but without co-deletion of chromosome arms 1p/19q, and further converged with acquired alterations in the cell cycle and poor outcomes. The clonal architecture of each tumour remained similar over time, but the presence of subclonal selection was associated with decreased survival. Finally, there were no differences in the levels of immunoediting between initial and recurrent gliomas. Collectively, our results suggest that the strongest selective pressures occur during early glioma development and that current therapies shape this evolution in a largely stochastic manner

Glioma Through the Looking GLASS: Molecular Evolution of Diffuse Gliomas and the Glioma Longitudinal AnalySiS Consortium

Adult diffuse gliomas are a diverse group of brain neoplasms that inflict a high emotional toll on patients and their families. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and similar projects have provided a comprehensive understanding of the somatic alterations and molecular subtypes of glioma at diagnosis. However, gliomas undergo significant cellular and molecular evolution during disease progression. We review the current knowledge on the genomic and epigenetic abnormalities in primary tumors and after disease recurrence, highlight the gaps in the literature, and elaborate on the need for a new multi-institutional effort to bridge these knowledge gaps and how the Glioma Longitudinal AnalySiS Consortium (GLASS) aims to systemically catalog the longitudinal changes in gliomas. The GLASS initiative will provide essential insights into the evolution of glioma toward a lethal phenotype, with the potential to reveal targetable vulnerabilities, and ultimately, improved outcomes for a patient population in need

Meta-analysis of industry sector transformation strategies in German, European and global deep decarbonisation scenarios

This paper analyses and compares industry sector transformation strategies as envisioned in recent German, European and global deep decarbonisation scenarios. The first part of the paper identifies and categorises ten key strategies for deep emission reductions in the industry sector. These ten key strategies are energy efficiency, direct electrification, use of climateneutral hydrogen and/or synthetic fuels, use of biomass, use of CCS, use of CCU, increases in material efficiency, circular economy, material substitution and end-use demand reductions. The second part of the paper presents a meta-analysis of selected scenarios, focusing on the question of which scenario relies to what extent on the respective mitigation strategies. The key findings of the meta-analysis are discussed, with an emphasis on identifying those strategies that are commonly pursued in all or the vast majority of the scenarios and those strategies that are only pursued in a limited number of the scenarios. Possible reasons for differences in the choice of strategies are investigated. The paper concludes by deriving key insights from the analysis, including identifying the main uncertainties that are still apparent with regard to the future steps necessary to achieve deep emission reductions in the industry sector and how future research can address these uncertainties

Evaluating soft measures : potential impacts of a web-based information tool about energy efficient products

The overall objective of the web-based consumer information tool Euro-Topten is to promote the market transformation towards energy efficient products. Euro-Topten informs consumers about the most energy efficient products in various categories and thereby aims to directly influence the purchasing decisions of individuals or professional buyers. Providers of internet-based information tools are confronted with the problem, that there is no bidirectional interaction with the users. Hence, it is difficult to evaluate if the specific needs of users are addressed, if and how the user processes this information and to what extent the information influences the user's decision making process. To study these questions, a web-based survey was conducted in two consecutive rounds. In the first round the survey focused on the assessment of the information tool itself and the motivation for using the Euro-Topten websites. This survey was online on all active Euro-Topten partner websites from October to December 2012. In total, 1791 users completed the survey. In the second round, a subset of the survey population was queried again. 1,043 participants agreed to take part in a more comprehensive follow up survey, 383 completed the second survey between May and July 2013. The second survey concentrated on the question how Euro-Topten has influenced the purchasing behaviour of the survey participants. This gave significant insights on how the information on the Euro-Topten websites has affected purchasing decisions of the surveyed users. Based on a comparison of performance indicators of the most efficient products recommended on the Euro-Topten websites with performance indicators of a base case product available on the market, avoided energy demand could be estimated for those users, who bought products from the Euro-Topten list. Based on these results, two impacts of Euro-Topten could be estimated: The influence of Euro-Topten on purchasing decision of users and the associated reductions in energy demand and CO2-emissions

Bestrafung wegen Vollrauschs trotz Rücktritts von der versuchten Rauschtat?

Obgleich beim Vollrauschtatbestand (§ 323 a StGB) die dem Täter zur Last gelegte Handlung die Herbeiführung des Rausches und nicht die im Rauschzustand begangene rechtswidrige Tat (Rauschtat) ist, welche lediglich eine objektive Bedingung der Strafbarkeit darstellt, wendet die ständige Rechtsprechung die Bestimmungen über den strafbefreienden Rücktritt unmittelbar oder zumindest entsprechend an, wenn der Täter freiwillig die weitere Ausführung seiner Rauschtat aufgibt oder deren Vollendung verhindert.Der Verfasser zeigt nach Darstellung und Analyse der Rechtsprechung zunächst zahlreiche Friktionen dieser auch vom überwiegenden Schrifttum befürworteten Gesetzesanwendung mit der Dogmatik des Vollrauschtatbestandes als einem (abstrakten oder konkreten) Gefährdungsdelikt und dem Wesen des Rücktritts auf, die im wesentlichen darin begründet liegen, daß sich der Rücktritt auf die versuchte Rauschtat, seine möglichen Folgen jedoch auf den - zudem bereits vollendeten! - Vollrauschtatbestand beziehen (sollen). Das Ergebnis der h. M. wird auch nach einer Auseinandersetzung mit den im Schrifttum vertretenen unterschiedlichen Begründungen in Frage gestellt. An Hand der klassischen Auslegungsmethoden überprüft der Autor sodann die Vereinbarkeit eines strafbefreienden (bzw. zumindest -mildernden) Rücktritts von der versuchten Rauschtat mit dem Vollrauschtatbestand. Hierbei wird die actio libera in causa als eine dem Vollrauschtatbestand strukturell verwandte und diesen - wie die Entstehungsgeschichte der Norm zeigt - begrenzende Rechtsfigur stets ebenso in die Überlegungen mit einbezogen wie die zahlreichen zu Rechtsnatur und Normcharakter des § 323 a StGB und der Funktion der Rauschtat vertretenen Ansichten, welche in einem Überblick dargestellt werden. Nachdem eine unmittelbare Anwendung der Rücktrittsvorschriften auf die Rauschtat aus verschiedenen Gründen de lege lata abgelehnt wird, setzt sich der Verfasser zuletzt ausführlich mit der Möglichkeit und den Grenzen der ana