Individual differences in adult handwritten spelling-to-dictation

We report an investigation of individual differences in handwriting latencies and number of errors in a spelling-to-dictation task. Eighty adult participants wrote a list of 164 spoken words (presented in two sessions). The participants were also evaluated on a vocabulary test (Deltour, 1993). Various multiple regression analyses were performed (on both writing latency and errors). The analysis of the item means showed that the reliable predictors of spelling latencies were acoustic duration, cumulative word frequency, phonology-to-orthographic (PO) consistency, the number of letters in the word and the interaction between cumulative word frequency, PO consistency and imageability. (Error rates were also predicted by frequency, consistency, length and the interaction between cumulative word frequency, PO consistency and imageability.) The analysis of the participant means (and trials) showed that (1) there was both within- and between-session reliability across the sets of items, (2) there was no trade-off between the utilization of lexical and non-lexical information, and (3) participants with high vocabulary knowledge were more accurate (and somewhat faster), and had a differential sensitivity to certain stimulus characteristics, than those with low vocabulary knowledge. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of orthographic word production

Enjeux et stratégies d'éducation relative à l'environnement en milieu collégial : le cas du Cégep Sorel-Tracy au regard de la problématique des contaminants dans la région du Lac Saint-Pierre

Depuis longtemps, l'éducation relative à l'environnement (ERE) est reconnue comme une stratégie de résolution des problèmes environnementaux. Mais au-delà de cette vision pragmatique, l'ERE doit aussi être envisagée comme un processus de développement des personnes et des groupes sociaux. Cette recherche vise à intégrer l'ERE dans le curriculum scolaire des étudiant(e)s du collégial. Nos buts sont de 1) contribuer à intégrer l'ERE comme dimension de la formation fondamentale des étudiant(e)s du collégial (volet intervention) et de 2) contribuer au développement théorique du domaine de l'ERE en milieu collégial (volet recherche). Pour ce faire, nous avons entrepris une recherche-action collaborative avec la direction et les enseignant(e)s du Cégep de Sorel-Tracy (2002-2004). Nous avons adopté une stratégie d'accompagnement des enseignant(e)s basée sur un partenariat université-collégial pour le développement de projets pédagogiques dans différents cours et programmes. Nos interventions ont été centrées sur la contamination de l'environnement par le mercure comme porte d'entrée pour une appréhension écosystémique de l'environnement. Notre recherche-action a comporté treize projets. Chaque projet a donné lieu à une recherche-action spécifique qui s'est inscrite dans notre démarche globale de recherche-action. Trois des treize projets développés ont fait l'objet d'une étude approfondie. La stratégie d'accompagnement que nous avons adoptée a présenté plusieurs avantages: stimuler l'innovation pédagogique chez les enseignant(e)s, faciliter l'accès à une expertise environnementale, créer un contexte d'intervention interdisciplinaire, motiver les étudiant(e)s à participer à des activités d'apprentissages portant sur l'environnement et la santé, etc. Notre projet s'est toutefois confronté à certaines limites dont l'appréhension d'une surcharge de travail pour les enseignant(e)s, des difficultés à intégrer les activités au plan de cours, un besoin de financement pour la réalisation de certaines activités, etc. Ce mémoire identifie également des enjeux reliés au contexte institutionnel et des enjeux pédagogiques pour l'intégration de l'ERE au curriculum du collégial. Finalement, cette recherche a permis d'identifier des avenues structurantes pour l'intégration de l'ERE au collégial dont 1) la reconnaissance de l'ERE par les instances gouvemementales, 2) la prise en compte de l'ERE lors de l'établissement des plans d'études, 3) l'intégration de l'ERE dans les plans cadre et 4) la prise en compte de l'ERE lors de la détermination des compétences à atteindre. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Éducation relative à l'environnement, Éducation relative à la santé environnementale, Mercure, Contaminants, Enseignement collégial

Comparing Word Processing Times in Naming, Lexical Decision, and Progressive Demasking: Evidence from Chronolex

We report performance measures for lexical decision (LD), word naming (NMG), and progressive demasking (PDM) for a large sample of monosyllabic monomorphemic French words (N = 1,482). We compare the tasks and also examine the impact of word length, word frequency, initial phoneme, orthographic and phonological distance to neighbors, age-of-acquisition, and subjective frequency. Our results show that objective word frequency is by far the most important variable to predict reaction times in LD. For word naming, it is the first phoneme. PDM was more influenced by a semantic variable (word imageability) than LD, but was also affected to a much greater extent by perceptual variables (word length, first phoneme/letters). This may reduce its usefulness as a psycholinguistic word recognition task

MEGALEX:A megastudy of visual and auditory word recognition

Using the megastudy approach, we report a new database (MEGALEX) of visual and auditory lexical decision times and accuracy rates for tens of thousands of words. We collected visual lexical decision data for 28,466 French words and the same number of pseudowords, and auditory lexical decision data for 17,876 French words and the same number of pseudowords (synthesized tokens were used for the auditory modality). This constitutes the first large-scale database for auditory lexical decision, and the first database to enable a direct comparison of word recognition in different modalities. Different regression analyses were conducted to illustrate potential ways to exploit this megastudy database. First, we compared the proportions of variance accounted for by five word frequency measures. Second, we conducted item-level regression analyses to examine the relative importance of the lexical variables influencing performance in the different modalities (visual and auditory). Finally, we compared the similarities and differences between the two modalities. All data are freely available on our website ( https://sedufau.shinyapps.io/megalex/ ) and are searchable at www.lexique.org , inside the Open Lexique search engine

ASIME 2018 White Paper. In-Space Utilisation of Asteroids: Asteroid Composition -- Answers to Questions from the Asteroid Miners

In keeping with the Luxembourg government's initiative to support the future use of space resources, ASIME 2018 was held in Belval, Luxembourg on April 16-17, 2018. The goal of ASIME 2018: Asteroid Intersections with Mine Engineering, was to focus on asteroid composition for advancing the asteroid in-space resource utilisation domain. What do we know about asteroid composition from remote-sensing observations? What are the potential caveats in the interpretation of Earth-based spectral observations? What are the next steps to improve our knowledge on asteroid composition by means of ground-based and space-based observations and asteroid rendez-vous and sample return missions? How can asteroid mining companies use this knowledge? ASIME 2018 was a two-day workshop of almost 70 scientists and engineers in the context of the engineering needs of space missions with in-space asteroid utilisation. The 21 Questions from the asteroid mining companies were sorted into the four asteroid science themes: 1) Potential Targets, 2) Asteroid-Meteorite Links, 3) In-Situ Measurements and 4) Laboratory Measurements. The Answers to those Questions were provided by the scientists with their conference presentations and collected by A. Graps or edited directly into an open-access collaborative Google document or inserted by A. Graps using additional reference materials. During the ASIME 2018, first day and second day Wrap-Ups, the answers to the questions were discussed further. New readers to the asteroid mining topic may find the Conversation boxes and the Mission Design discussions especially interesting.Comment: Outcome from the ASIME 2018: Asteroid Intersections with Mine Engineering, Luxembourg. April 16-17, 2018. 65 Pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1612.0070

The CC-Bio Project: Studying the Effects of Climate Change on Quebec Biodiversity

Anticipating the effects of climate change on biodiversity is now critical for managing wild species and ecosystems. Climate change is a global driver and thus affects biodiversity globally. However, land-use planners and natural resource managers need regional or even local predictions. This provides scientists with formidable challenges given the poor documentation of biodiversity and its complex relationships with climate. We are approaching this problem in Quebec, Canada, through the CC-Bio Project (http://cc‑bio.uqar.ca/), using a boundary organization as a catalyst for team work involving climate modelers, biologists, naturalists, and biodiversity managers. In this paper we present the CC-Bio Project and its general approach, some preliminary results, the emerging hypothesis of the northern biodiversity paradox (a potential increase of biodiversity in northern ecosystems due to climate change), and an early assessment of the conservation implications generated by our team work

In-Space Utilisation of Asteroids::“Answers to Questions from the Asteroid Miners”

The aim of the Asteroid Science Intersections with In-­Space Mine Engineering (ASIME) 2016 conference on September 21-­‐22, 2016 in Luxembourg City wasto provide an environment for the detailed discussion of the specific properties of asteroids, with the engineering needs of space missions that utilize asteroids.The ASIME 2016 Conference produced a layered record of discussions from theasteroid scientists and the asteroid miners to understand each other’s key concerns and to address key scientific questions from the asteroid mining companies: Planetary Resources, Deep Space Industries and TransAstra. These Questions were the focus of the two day conference, were addressed byscientists inside and outside of the ASIME Conference and are the focus ofthis White Paper.The Questions from the asteroid mining companies have been sorted into the three asteroid science themes: 1) survey, 2) surface and 3) subsurface and 4)Other. The answers to those Questions have been provided by the scientists with their conference presentations or edited directly into an early open-­‐access collaborative Google document (August 2016-­‐October 2016), or inserted byA. Graps using additional reference materials. During the ASIME 2016 last two-­‐hours, the scientists turned the Questions from the Asteroid Miners around by presenting their own key concerns: Questions from the Asteroid Scientists. These answers in this White Paper will point to the Science Knowledge Gaps (SKGs) for advancing the asteroid in-­‐space resource utilisation domain