Reduced vowel production in American English among Spanish-English bilinguals

Prominent views in second language acquisition suggest that the age of L2 learning is inversely correlated with native-like pronunciation (Scovel, 1988; Birdsong, 1999). The relationship has been defined in terms of the Critical Period Hypothesis, whereby various aspects of neural cognition simultaneously occur near the onset of puberty, thus inhibiting L2 phonological acquisition. The current study tests this claim of a chronological decline in pronunciation aptitude through the examination of a key trait of American English – reduced vowels, or “schwas.” Groups of monolingual, early bilingual, and late bilingual participants were directly compared across a variety of environments phonologically conditioned for vowel reduction. Results indicate that late bilinguals have greater degrees of difficulty in producing schwas, as expected. Results further suggest that the degree of differentiation between schwa is larger than previously identified and that these subtle differences may likely be a contributive factor to the perception of a foreign accent in bilingual speakers

A new conceptualization of mega sports event legacy delivery: Wicked problems and critical realist solution

The authors present a new conceptualization of mega sport event legacy delivery, which accounts for the problematic nature of legacy by viewing it as a wicked problem. Research on mega sport event legacy has focused on establishing typologies of legacy, investigating outcomes, and consequences, with limited attention to legacy delivery. The conceptualization of legacy delivery has largely relied on a positive, utopian legacy rhetoric. In contrast, the authors advance the understanding of legacy by proposing a conceptual approach of the legacy delivery process, to enable empirical studies in different contexts to be conducted. Specifically, the authors examine the wicked problem of mega sport event legacy delivery from a Critical Realist perspective, which serves to give meaning and order to this complex process. This conceptualization reveals that legacy delivery is inclusive of deep social structures which underpin different stakeholders’ interpretations and interactions, which produce or limit legacy delivery. The role of social, generative structures as causal mechanisms has not been considered as a way to understand legacy delivery previously. Implications for teaching, research, and practice are discussed to demonstrate the value of this new approach. Importantly, this conceptualization focuses on processes rather than outcomes and encourages the identification of unexpected or unanticipated components of legacy delivery beyond the formal policies and plans designed to create or leverage legacy

“I Ran to Make a Point”: Predicting and Preventing Youth Runaway from Foster Care

Youth who run away from foster care experience danger to health and safety and increased risk of adverse child welfare outcomes. By applying a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of runaway risk that used a person-centered lens and amplified youth voices. Collectively, this approach can inform service innovations to support youth placed in out-of-home care. Working with a foster care agency in Kansas, data sources comprised administrative data for youth ages 12 + in care, and interview data with 20 youth, 12 + in care. Quantitative analyses involved latent class analysis followed by multinomial logistic regression to investigate whether the population of youth in care was comprised of subpopulations with differential runaway risk and whether subpopulations would predict runaway behaviors. Qualitative analyses applied modified analytic inductive thematic analysis to explore critical life experiences that may act as risk or protective factors of running away from care. Results revealed four sub-populations which were characterized by their previous family and system experiences. Additionally, class membership, gender, number of siblings, and age were statistically significant predictors of runway behaviors. Youth interviews revealed five key themes on life experiences that mitigate or exacerbate youths’ runaway behaviors. Recommendations resulting from this study were provided in three key areas: (1) improving family visitation and maintaining youth connections with self-identified family and non-relative kin; (2) supporting service approaches for youth that honor and amplify their voices, choices, and family connections; and (3) improving placement quality and individualization of services

Koinonia

Best Practice FeaturesLife on Life Learning: Steps Towards Authentic Mentoring, Brian Jensen The Heart of the Honor Code: I am My Brother\u27s Keeper, Emily J. Darnell Spotlight FeaturesOld People are Whole Persons, Too: Why Understanding Heritage is a Foundational Component of College Student Development, Philip Byers Ministry and Learning in Residence Life, Josh Arnold Shepherding in an Age of Edupunks, Drew Moser The Gap in the Curtain: Seeing Pieces of a Residential Community\u27s Future, David Johnstone InterviewsA Conversation with Juana Bordas, conducted by Rob Pepper Looking Into the Future: Two Educators\u27 Perspectives on Christian Higher Education, by Kim Stave and Ken Heffner (edited by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma) Book ReviewsThe Unlikely Disciple (by Kevin Roose), reviewed by Christopher Bohle ReflectionsSeven Greek Words that Mean the World to Me, Bob Crow FeaturesThe President\u27s Corner Editor\u27s Deskhttps://pillars.taylor.edu/acsd_koinonia/1013/thumbnail.jp

The Clean Power Plan: Issues to Watch

Although the Clean Air Act is an imperfect tool for addressing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is the only available federal mechanism for directly addressing power plant carbon emissions. The Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, published in final form in August 2015, tackles the challenge. This paper from the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) compiles 13 separately authored essays from 11 CPR Member Scholars, each addressing a different topic related to the Clean Power Plan, and each representing the expertise and views of its individual author(s). Published in July 2015, just before the release of the final rule, the essays tee up key questions about the rule’s legality, implications for the energy sector, and a series of discrete implementation questions, including the role of cap-and-trade (and offsets), the nature and distribution of state targets, and implications for environmental justice

The Clean Power Plan: Issues to Watch

Although the Clean Air Act is an imperfect tool for addressing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is the only available federal mechanism for directly addressing power plant carbon emissions. The Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, published in final form in August 2015, tackles the challenge. This paper from the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) compiles 13 separately authored essays from 11 CPR Member Scholars, each addressing a different topic related to the Clean Power Plan, and each representing the expertise and views of its individual author(s). Published in July 2015, just before the release of the final rule, the essays tee up key questions about the rule’s legality, implications for the energy sector, and a series of discrete implementation questions, including the role of cap-and-trade (and offsets), the nature and distribution of state targets, and implications for environmental justice

Actionable, Pathogenic Incidental Findings in 1,000 Participants’ Exomes

The incorporation of genomics into medicine is stimulating interest on the return of incidental findings (IFs) from exome and genome sequencing. However, no large-scale study has yet estimated the number of expected actionable findings per individual; therefore, we classified actionable pathogenic single-nucleotide variants in 500 European- and 500 African-descent participants randomly selected from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Exome Sequencing Project. The 1,000 individuals were screened for variants in 114 genes selected by an expert panel for their association with medically actionable genetic conditions possibly undiagnosed in adults. Among the 1,000 participants, 585 instances of 239 unique variants were identified as disease causing in the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD). The primary literature supporting the variants’ pathogenicity was reviewed. Of the identified IFs, only 16 unique autosomal-dominant variants in 17 individuals were assessed to be pathogenic or likely pathogenic, and one participant had two pathogenic variants for an autosomal-recessive disease. Furthermore, one pathogenic and four likely pathogenic variants not listed as disease causing in HGMD were identified. These data can provide an estimate of the frequency (∼3.4% for European descent and ∼1.2% for African descent) of the high-penetrance actionable pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in adults. The 23 participants with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants were disproportionately of European (17) versus African (6) descent. The process of classifying these variants underscores the need for a more comprehensive and diverse centralized resource to provide curated information on pathogenicity for clinical use to minimize health disparities in genomic medicine

Brr6 drives the Schizosaccharomyces pombe spindle pole body nuclear envelope insertion/extrusion cycle

Insertion into and release of the cytoplasmic domain of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe spindle pole body from a nuclear envelope fenestra during mitosis requires Brr6

Foliar water uptake: a common water acquisition strategy for plants of the redwood forest

Evaluations of plant water use in ecosystems around the world reveal a shared capacity by many different species to absorb rain, dew, or fog water directly into their leaves or plant crowns. This mode of water uptake provides an important water subsidy that relieves foliar water stress. Our study provides the first comparative evaluation of foliar uptake capacity among the dominant plant taxa from the coast redwood ecosystem of California where crown-wetting events by summertime fog frequently occur during an otherwise drought-prone season. Previous research demonstrated that the dominant overstory tree species, Sequoia sempervirens, takes up fog water by both its roots (via drip from the crown to the soil) and directly through its leaf surfaces. The present study adds to these early findings and shows that 80% of the dominant species from the redwood forest exhibit this foliar uptake water acquisition strategy. The plants studied include canopy trees, understory ferns, and shrubs. Our results also show that foliar uptake provides direct hydration to leaves, increasing leaf water content by 2–11%. In addition, 60% of redwood forest species investigated demonstrate nocturnal stomatal conductance to water vapor. Such findings indicate that even species unable to absorb water directly into their foliage may still receive indirect benefits from nocturnal leaf wetting through suppressed transpiration. For these species, leaf-wetting events enhance the efficacy of nighttime re-equilibration with available soil water and therefore also increase pre-dawn leaf water potentials

Dietary Fiber and Saturated Fat Intake Associations with Cardiovascular Disease Differ by Sex in the Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort: A Prospective Study

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine associations between intake of macronutrients and dietary fiber and incident ischemic cardiovascular disease (iCVD) in men and women. METHODS: We used data from 8,139 male and 12,535 female participants (aged 44-73 y) of the Swedish population-based Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort. The participants were without history of CVD and diabetes mellitus, and had reported stable dietary habits in the study questionnaire. Diet was assessed by a validated modified diet history method, combining a 7-d registration of cooked meals and cold beverages, a 168-item food questionnaire (covering other foods and meal patterns), and a 1-hour diet interview. Sociodemographic and lifestyle data were collected by questionnaire. iCVD cases, which included coronary events (myocardial infarctions or deaths from chronic ischemic heart disease) and ischemic strokes, were ascertained via national and local registries. Nutrient-disease associations were examined by multivariate Cox regressions. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 13.5 years, we identified 1,089 male and 687 female iCVD cases. High fiber intakes were associated with lower incidence rates of iCVD in women and of ischemic stroke in men. In post-hoc analysis, we discovered statistically significant interactions between intake of fiber and saturated fat; these interactions also differed between men and women (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this well-defined population, a high fiber intake was associated with lower risk of iCVD, but there were no robust associations between other macronutrients and iCVD risk. Judging from this study, gender-specific nutrient analysis may be preferable in epidemiology