Phonological Priming In Young Children Who Stutter: Holistic Versus Incremental Processing

Purpose: To investigate the holistic versus incremental phonological encoding processes of young children who stutter (CWS; N = 26) and age- and gender-matched children who do not stutter (CWNS; N = 26) via a picture-naming auditory priming paradigm. Method: Children named pictures during 3 auditory priming conditions: neutral, holistic, and incremental. Speech reaction time (SRT) was measured from the onset of picture presentation to the onset of participant response. Results: CWNS shifted from being significantly faster in the holistic priming condition to being significantly faster in the incremental priming condition from 3 to 5 years of age. In contrast, the majority of 3- and 5-year-old CWS continued to exhibit faster SRT in the holistic than the incremental condition. Conclusion: CWS are delayed in making the developmental shift in phonological encoding from holistic to incremental processing, a delay that may contribute to their difficulties establishing fluent speech.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Bioplastic Production in Cyanobacteria and Consensus Degenerate PCR Probe Design

Cyanobacteria show much promise in reducing biodegradable thermoplastic production costs; however, most currently characterized strains are ill-equipped to do so. The result of Objective I produced a high-throughput assay designed to discover existing cyanobacterial strains and rapidly characterize them as PHA-producers or potential PHA-producers. This assay will play an instrumental role in the attainment of a novel cyanobacteria environmental isolate capable of accumulating high levels of PHA naturally. Objective II produced an open source computer program which dramatically speeds the design of similar assays for any arbitrary genetic screening purpose. The program is not limited to this implementation alone. In fact, there are as many uses for this program as there are consensus and/or degenerate oligonucleotide probe applications. The project was released as open source in order to provide a means of constant growth and development by those who need it most. The case studies investigated during the preliminary research of Objective III provided key insights into the complex mechanisms involved in in vitro PHA synthase polymerization kinetics. Additionally, multiple hypothetical physical phenomena are proposed, as inferred from data from literature, which are capable of explaining the kinetic model behavior. All difficulties encountered during the course of Objective III, namely the recombinant protein expression and purification failures, are detailed so that the methods used may be avoided in future experiments. Even though Objective III was completed using an impure PHA synthase sample, it was still found conclusively that the conserved cyanobacteria-specific insertion of the model cyanobacterium PHA synthase is required for proper functionality. This conclusion is significant because it is evidence that the PHA synthase of cyanobacteria may possess a unique catalytic mechanism or method of interaction for multimerization

RWU Hosts 250 Fourth-Graders for Lesson on Wind Energy

Nearly 250 fourth-graders from the Bristol-Warren Regional School District built wind turbines as part of the KidWind project and came to Roger Williams University on Friday to test their pint-sized turbines in wind tunnels

Whose Rights Are They, Anyway?

The authors discuss sovereignty and the history behind a nation’s prerogative to intercede in the affairs of other nations to protect human rights

Two Catullian questions

1. Catullus’ technique of the ‘motto’ (Catull. 40 and 56 ~ Archil. frs. 172 and 168 W.; Catull. 1 ~ Mel. AP 4.1; Catull. 46 ~ Leon. AP 10.1; Catull. 70 ~ Call. AP 5.6; Catull. 32 ~ Laev. fr. 28 Morel). 2. On the reasons why Catullus at 64.37 places the wedding of Peleus and Thetis at Pharsalus rather than in Chiron’s cave on Mt. Pelion

Tum and tunc

Remarks on the transformation of tum into tunc before a guttural consonant

The dating of Ilias Latina

Discussion on the relationship between the Ilias Latina and Seneca’s tragedies. The chronological order is: Oedipus, Ilias, Troades. The formular connection of a patronimic ending with -ius + heros (the same one as in Laus Pisonis 134 and 137) allows to establish a terminus ante quem for the Ilias at 65 AD, the year of Piso’s death

Problems in two translations

1. Cicero and Aratus. Critical observations on Arat. Phaen. 242-243 and Cic. Arat. 14-16; Arat. Phaen. 338-340 and Cic. Arat. 123-124;2. Catullus and Callimachus. Critical observations on Callim. fr. 110.52 Pf. and Catull. 66.52-53 and 66; Callim. fr. 110.75-78 Pf. and Catull. 66.75-78

Establishment of Charter Schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Virginia is facing significant challenges related to public education such as decreased funding for public education, decreased teacher salaries, and overcrowded classrooms. Senate Joint Resolution 6 was a bill proposed in 2016 that sought to grant the Board of Education authority, subject to criteria and conditions prescribed by the General Assembly, to establish charter schools within the school divisions of the Commonwealth. There are racial implications related to the creation and authorization of charter schools and this report details those impacts and creates a set of recommendations to eliminate racial implementations when determining who authorizes charter schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia