An Exploration of the Dynamic Relationship between Health and Cognitive Development in Adolescence

This paper is an empirical exploration of the dynamic relationship between health and cognitive development in a longitudinal data set compiled from two nationally representative cross-sections of children. Our results indicate that there is feedback both from health to cognitive development and from cognitive development to health, but the latter of these relationships is stronger. They also indicate that estimates of family background effects taken from the dynamic model -- which can be assumed to be less influenced by genetic factors are smaller than their cross-sectional counterparts, but some still remain statistically significant. The first finding calls attention to the existence of a continuing inter-action between health and cognitive development over the life cycle. The second finding suggests that nurture "matters" in cognitive development and health outcomes.

Examples of tectonic mechanisms for local contraction and exhumation of the leading edge of India. Southern Tibet (28--29 degrees N; 89--91 degrees E) and Nanga Parbat, Pakistan

In Gonto La valley, southern Tibet, a continuous, planar, ∼10°N dipping detachment horizon juxtaposes Tethyan slates over a footwall of leucogranite that intrudes a S-dipping injection complex layer that I regard as a rotated Southern Tibet Detachment System (STDS) horizon. This is deformed & partially cut by the leucogranite which forms a pluton extending throughout Khula Kangri massif. In collaboration, 208Pb-232Th measurements on 12 monazite grains of the leucogranite gave a crystallization age of 12.5 ± 0.4 Ma. Integrated estimates of magnitude, and rate, of detachment displacement suggest that STDS displacement continued after granite crystallisation for 1–3 m.y. Therefore N-S extension in southern Tibet continued into the Late Miocene. A new geologic map of the Khula Kangri and Kanga Punzum-Monlakarchung High Nimalayan ranges is presented using field, satellite & topographic data. These define a fork in the High Himalaya that results in a repetition of the main geological section. The STDS can be traced around both ranges and is a continuous surface. A simple model of post detachment, scissor faulting and block rotation is proposed. In SE Nanga Parbat Haramosh Massif (NPHM), Pakistan, field and microstructural analysis of strain and sense of shear trends indicate that several km of metasedimentary schists and gneisses are Himalayan Main Mantle Thrust (MMT) footwall rocks rotated to vertical due to NW-SE directed shortening. Near the NPHM summit region, several km of non-coaxially sheared granitic orthogneiss show W over E displacement structures. Although deformation mechanisms appear lower temperature than in the MMT footwall rocks, a major “uplift” structure (the Rupal Chichi shear zone - RCSZ) is proposed. To the SW, an E-over W shear zone (the Diamir Shear Zone - DSZ) that coincides with a syn-kinematically intruded granite (the Jalhari Granite) is recognised. In collaboration, 208Pb-232 Th measurements on monazite grains of the Jalhari indicate displacement has continued from ∼9 to Raikot-DSZ, together with the RCSZ define a conjugate pair that is interpreted to mark a pop-up structure, allowing the skywards displacement of NPHM

Improved Pseudofermion Approach for All-Point Propagators

Quark propagators with arbitrary sources and sinks can be obtained more efficiently using a pseudofermion method with a mode-shifted action. Mode-shifting solves the problem of critical slowing down (for light quarks) induced by low eigenmodes of the Dirac operator. The method allows the full physical content of every gauge configuration to be extracted, and should be especially helpful for unquenched QCD calculations. The method can be applied for all the conventional quark actions: Wilson, Sheikoleslami-Wohlert, Kogut-Susskind, as well as Ginsparg-Wilson compliant overlap actions. The statistical properties of the method are examined and examples of physical processes under study are presented.Comment: LateX, 26 pages, 10 eps figure

An Examination of the Process, Outcomes and Attitudes of Counselor-Trainees Participating in an Experiential Group: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory study attempts to examine the impact of experiential group work training on counselor-trainees. Survey data about group process, attitudes and outcomes were gathered from 15 counselor-trainees who were enrolled in a group-counseling course and participated in an experiential group. Correlations revealed statistically significant relationships between pre-group process variables and post-group outcome and attitude variables. The non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test indicated significant differences between pre-group and post-group measures for the group process. Implications for future research are presented

Compiling Esterel into Static Discrete-Event Code

Executing concurrent specifications on sequential hardware is important for both simulation of systems that are eventually implemented on concurrent hardware and for those most conveniently described as a set of concurrent processes. As with most forms of simulation, this is easy to do correctly but difficult to do efficiently. Solutions such as preemptive operating systems and discrete-event simulators present significant overhead. In this paper, we present a technique for compiling the concurrent language Esterel into very efficient C code. Our technique minimizes runtime overhead by making most scheduling decisions at compile time and using a very simple linked-list-based event queue at runtime. While these techniques work particularly well for Esterel with its high-level concurrent semantics, the same technique could also be applied to efficiently execute other concurrent specifications

Richness of primary producers and consumer abundance mediate epiphyte loads in a tropical seagrass system

Consumer communities play an important role in maintaining ecosystem structure and function. In seagrass systems, algal regulation by mesograzers provides a critical maintenance function which promotes seagrass productivity. Consumer communities also represent a key link in trophic energy transfer and buffer negative effects to seagrasses associated with eutrophication. Such interactions are well documented in the literature regarding temperate systems, however, it is not clear if the same relationships exist in tropical systems. This study aimed to identify if the invertebrate communities within a tropical, multispecies seagrass meadow moderated epiphyte abundance under natural conditions by comparing algal abundance across two sites at Green Island, Australia. At each site, paired plots were established where invertebrate assemblages were perturbed via insecticide manipulation and compared to unmanipulated plots. An 89% increase in epiphyte abundance was seen after six weeks of experimental invertebrate reductions within the system. Using generalised linear mixed-effect models and path analysis, we found that the abundance of invertebrates was negatively correlated with epiphyte load on seagrass leaves. Habitat species richness was seen to be positively correlated with invertebrate abundance. These findings mirrored those of temperate systems, suggesting this mechanism operates similarly across latitudinal gradients