"The Predication Semantics Model: The Role of Predicate: Class in Text Comprehension and Recall"

This paper presents and tests the predication semantics model, a computational model of text comprehension. It goes beyond previous case grammar approaches to text comprehension in employing a propositional rather than a rigid hierarchical tree notion, attempting to maintain a coherent set of propositions in working memory. The authors' assertion is that predicate class contains semantic information that readers use to make generally accurate predictions of a given proposition. Thus, the main purpose of the model-which works as a series of input and reduction cycles-is to explore the extent to which predicate categories play a role in reading comprehension and recall. In the reduction phase of the model, the propositions entered into the memory during the input phase are decreased while coherence is maintained among them. In an examination of the working memory at the end of each cycle, the computational model maintained coherence for 70% of cycles. The model appeared prone to serial dependence in errors: the coherence problem appears to occur because (unlike real readers) the simulation docs not reread when necessary. Overall, the experiment suggested that the predication semantics model is robust. The results suggested that the model emulates a primary process in text comprehension: predicate categories provide semantic information that helps to initiate and control automatic processes in reading, and allows people to grasp the gist of a text even when they have only minimal background knowledge. While needing refinement in several areas presenting minor problems-for example, the lack of a sufficiently complex memory to ensure that when the simulation of the model goes wrong it does not, as at present, stay wrong for successive intervals-the success of the model even at the current restrictive level of detail demonstrates the importance of the semantic information in predicate categories.

The Exploration of Body-Worn Video to Accelerate the Decision-Making Skills of Police Officers within an Experiential Learning Environment

Previous research has highlighted benefits of body-worn video (BWV) to support the work of police officers. The daily demands of policing require officers to make highly pressurized decisions (with associated rapid action) in unpredictable changing environments. It is important that new officers learn techniques of decision-making in a safe and controlled way, which minimizes the risk and harm to all parties while at the same time facilitating effective learning. While the benefits of experiential and immersive learning characterized by active participation have long been used in related professional disciplines, the application to police education has been under-explored. BWV can be used to identify decision-making cues from the environment and nurture pattern recognition, essential to the development of mental models within the officer’s decision-making process. The article will therefore explore the application of BWV in the context of experiential immersive learning to accelerate police officers’ decision-making

Respiratory muscle deoxygenation during exercise in patients with heart failure demonstrated with near-infrared spectroscopy

AbstractExertional dyspnea in patients with heart failure may be due, in part, to respiratory muscle underperfusion. Near-infrared spectroscopy is a new technique that permits noninvasive assessment of skeletal muscle oxygenation by monitoring changes in nearinfrared light absorption. With use of near-infrared spectroscopy, serratus anterior muscle oxygenation during maximal bicycle exercise was compared in 10 patients with heart failure (ejection fraction 16 ± 5%) and 7 age-matched normal subjects. Oxygen consumption (VO2), minute ventilation (VE) and arterial saturation were also measured. Changes in difference in absorption between 760 and 800 nm, expressed in arbitrary units, were used to detect muscle deoxygenation.Minimal change in this difference in absorption occurred in normal subjects during exercise, whereas patients with heart failure exhibited progressive changes throughout exercise consistent with respiratory muscle deoxygenation (peak exercise: normal 3 ± 6, heart failure 12 ± 4 near-infrared arbitrary units, p < 0.001). At comparable work loads patiente with heart failure had significantly greater minute ventilation and respiratory rate but similar tidal volume when contrasted with normal subjects. However, at peak exercise normal subjects achieved significantly greater minute ventilation and tidal volume with a comparable respiratory rate. No significant arterial desaturation occurred during exercise in either group.These findings indicate that respiratory muscle deoxygenation occurs in patients with heart failure during exercise. This deoxygenation may contribute to the exertional dyspnea experienced by such patients

Pneumococcal carriage, serotype distribution, and antimicrobial susceptibility in Papua New Guinean children vaccinated with PCV10 or PCV13 in a head-to-head trial

Background: Children in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are at high risk of pneumococcal infections. We investigated pneumococcal carriage rates, serotype distribution, and antimicrobial susceptibility in PNG children after vaccination with 10-valent or 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV10; PCV13). Methods: Infants (N = 262) were randomized to receive 3 doses of PCV10 or PCV13 at 1-2-3 months of age, followed by pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination (PPV) or no PPV at 9 months of age. Nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) collected at ages 1, 4, 9, 10, 23 and 24 months were cultured using standard bacteriological procedures. Morphologically distinct Streptococcus pneumoniae colonies were serotyped by the Quellung reaction. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Results: S. pneumoniae was isolated from 883/1063 NPS collected at 1–23 months of age, including 820 serotypeable (64 different serotypes) and 144 non-serotypeable isolates. At age 23 months, 93.6% (95%CI 86.6–97.6%) of PCV10 recipients and 88.6% (95%CI 80.1–94.4%) of PCV13 recipients were pneumococcal carriers, with higher carriage of PCV10 serotypes by PCV10 recipients (19.8%, 95%CI 12.2–29.5) than PCV13 recipients (9.3%, 95%CI 4.1–17.3) (p = 0.049). There were no other statistically significant differences between PCV10 and PCV13 recipients and children receiving PPV or no PPV. Nearly half (45.6%) of carried pneumococci were non-susceptible to penicillin based on the meningitis breakpoint (MI

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Exile Vol. XXXI No. 1

Drawing by Chris Bradley 1 How Goes the Wombat, Prithee by Jennie Benford 3 Holy Shit (for Mary) by Stephanie Athey 4-5 ..... blues by Britton R. Creelman 6 Photograph (anonymous) 7 Prose by Leigh Walton 9-12 San Jacinto by Petersen S. Thomas 13 Rebuttal by Betsy Oster 15 Running Alone by Ann Townsend McMullen 16 Windows in Florence by Michael Parr 17 Rangers by Caroline Palmer 19 Salamapo by Mary Deborah Clark 20-21 Funeral by J. K. Rand 22 Deeds Give No Title by Douglas Jones 23 Be Careful, There\u27s a Straight Bar Next Door by Karen J. Hall 25 The Rivers of Saigon by Alex Dickson 26 2 Sketches by Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson 27 Upon the Occasion of Reading 236 sonnets at One Sitting by Jeff Masten 28 I just believe in Me by Rob Jackson 29 Close by Stephanie Athey 31 Teller by Katherine Fox Reynolds 32 Woman in Greece by Michael Parr 33 Part of the Job by Joan DeWitt 35-44 Contributor Notes 46 Editorial decision is shared equally among the seven member editorial board. -title page Polymorphous: Cover Lithograph by Aimee Creelman - title pag

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Genetic variation in human NPY expression affects stress response and emotion

Understanding inter- individual differences in stress response requires the explanation of genetic influences at multiple phenotypic levels, including complex behaviours and the metabolic responses of brain regions to emotional stimuli. Neuropeptide Y ( NPY) is anxiolytic(1,2) and its release is induced by stress(3). NPY is abundantly expressed in regions of the limbic system that are implicated in arousal and in the assignment of emotional valences to stimuli and memories(4-6). Here we show that haplotype- driven NPY expression predicts brain responses to emotional and stress challenges and also inversely correlates with trait anxiety. NPY haplotypes predicted levels of NPY messenger RNA in postmortem brain and lymphoblasts, and levels of plasma NPY. Lower haplotype- driven NPY expression predicted higher emotion- induced activation of the amygdala, as well as diminished resiliency as assessed by pain/ stress- induced activations of endogenous opioid neurotransmission in various brain regions. A single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP rs16147) located in the promoter region alters NPY expression in vitro and seems to account for more than half of the variation in expression in vivo. These convergent findings are consistent with the function of NPY as an anxiolytic peptide and help to explain inter- individual variation in resiliency to stress, a risk factor for many diseases.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62768/1/nature06858.pd