Investigating the role of language in children's early educational outcomes

Most children develop speech and language skills effortlessly, but some are slow to develop these skills and then go on to struggle with literacy and academic skills throughout their schooling. It is the first few years of life that are critical to their subsequent performance.\ud This project looks at what we know about the early communication environment in a child’s first two years of life, and the role this plays in preparing children for school using data from a large longitudinal survey of young people (ALSPAC - the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children).\ud It examines the characteristics of the environment in which children learn to communicate (such as activities undertaken with children, the mother’s attitude towards her baby, and the wider support available to the family) and the extent to which this affects a child’s readiness for school entry (defined as their early language, reading, writing, and maths skills that they need in school).\ud \ud Key Findings:\ud •\ud There is a strong association between a child’s social background and their readiness for school as measured by their scores on school entry assessments covering language, reading, maths and writing.\ud •\ud Language development at the age of 2 years predicts children’s performance on entry to primary school. Children’s understanding and use of vocabulary and their use of two or three word sentences at 2 years is very strongly associated with their performance on entering primary school.\ud •\ud The children’s communication environment influences language development. The number of books available to the child, the frequency of visits to the library, parents teaching a range of activities, the number of toys available, and attendance at pre-school, are all important predictors of the child’s expressive vocabulary at 2 years. The amount of television on in the home is also a predictor; as this time increased, so the child’s score at school entry decreased.\ud •\ud The communication environment is a more dominant predictor of early language than social background. In the early stages of language development, it is the particular aspects of a child’s communication environment that are associated with language acquisition rather than the broader socio-economic context of the family.\ud •\ud The child’s language and their communication environment influence the child’s performance at school entry in addition to their social background. Children’s success at school is governed not only by their social background; the child’s communication environment\ud before their second birthday and their language at the age of two years also have a strong influence

Antiprotozoals based on the inhibition of N-Myristoyltransferase

The research performed a protozoal structure activity investigation based on the transition state of N-Myristoyltransferase. This initial investigation synthesised a simplified transition state mimetic based from myristic acid and included alkene and phenoxy variation of the myristoyl chain. A series of Inhibitors were developed using a coenzyme-A fragment. Structures were targeted that were based on the statins (HMG-CoA inhibitors). Some of the compounds developed showed micro molar activities towards T. brucei and P. falciparum

Comparative study of the pelvic ganglion in adult and in developing, male and female rats

The development and comparison of structural features of the pelvic ganglion in male and female rats was investigated with morphometric and histochemical techniques in light and electron microscopes. Pelvic ganglia from adult rats were sexually dimorphic in volume (approximately 0.3mm³ in the male and 0.18mm³ in the female), neuron number (12,506 ± 668 neurons in the male and 6,845 ± 717 in the female) and average neuron size. At three weeks of age ganglion volume and neuron number were similar to the adult and were, therefore, already distinctly sexually dimorphic, although the smaller average neuron size showed no gender difference. In contrast, at birth pelvic ganglia revealed no gender-related differences in either volume, neuron number or size. Whereas ganglion volume and neuronal size were less than in the older animal groups, neuron numbers in newborn ganglia from both sexes were similar to those in adult male rats. Ganglia from adult males that had been castrated before puberty, were similar in volume and neuron number to unoperated animals, although neuronal size was significantly reduced. Neuronal death was observed in ganglia from newborn rats at similar extents in both sexes. Apoptotic neurons were also present in ganglia from 7-day old rats, when the extent of cell loss appeared greater in the female than in the male. It is concluded that the main features of the sexual dimorphism in the pelvic ganglion become established after birth and before puberty. Increasing testosterone levels in the early post-natal period probably influence the ontogeny of the pelvic ganglion, acting either directly on the neurons, or indirectly via trophic factors released from developing pelvic organs. Evidence suggests that target-derived factors, effected by hormone or not, play a role in neuronal survival and neuronal growth in the pelvic ganglion

Structural elaboration of the surprising ortho-zincation of benzyl methyl ether

Breaking with convention, the reaction of the sodium zincate, [(TMEDA)Na(μ-TMP)(μ-tBu)Zn(tBu)] with benzyl methyl ether (PhCH2OMe) produces exclusively an ortho-zincated intermediate [(TMEDA)Na(μ-TMP)(μ-C6H4CH2OMe)Zn(tBu)] instead of the expected 'thermodynamic' α-metallated product

Modelling the ecology and evolution of microorganisms

Theoretical models in microbiology have a relative short but successful history. Research presented in this thesis explores the evolutionary origin of aging and the methods used to quantify syntrophic cooperation between microbial species that are distantly related. The mathematical and computational tools used in doing so are developed and discussed in detail. Microorganisms were long thought to be capable of immortality until recent evidence demonstrated otherwise. Theoretical models suggest that aging strategies sacrificing repair for segregation of damage have highest evolutionary fitness, but this is not reflected in nature. The model developed here corrects this view of aging through more realistic assumptions regarding repair. Many estimates of the rate of interspecies metabolite transfer are based on spatial point pattern statistics and assumptions regarding cell surface concentrations. These are shown to be very inaccurate, but proposed alternatives required greater parameterisation. The system is sensitive to difficulties in determining consumption affinity constants, an issue also raised by previous authors

The Role of Individual Differences in Executive Attentional Networks and Switching Choices in Multi-Task Management

Individual differences in cognitive processing relate to critical performance differences in real-world environments. Task switching is required for many of them and especially for task management during overload. Research exploring individual differences related to switching behavior (both frequency, and adherence to optimal switch times) is, however, sparse. We examined these relationships here, using the attentional network task to index executive control, and an ongoing tracking task (within a larger suite of concurrent task demands) to examine switching behavior. The results failed to support a general relationship between executive control and frequency in a complex, heterogeneous multi-task environment. However, higher executive control participants more successfully exploited optimal switching times, highlighting the varying role of individual differences in task management, when choice is unconstrained