Exploring the effects of demonstration and enactment in facilitating recall of instructions in working memory

Across the lifespan the ability to follow instructions is essential for the successful completion of a multitude of daily activities. This ability will often rely on the storage and processing of information in working memory, and previous research in this domain has found that self-enactment at encoding or observing other-enactment at encoding (demonstration) improves performance at recall. However, no working memory research has directly compared these manipulations. Experiment 1 explored the effects of both self-enactment and demonstration on young adults’ (N=48) recall of action-object instruction sequences (e.g. ‘spin the circle, tap the square’). Both manipulations improved recall, with demonstration providing relatively larger boosts to performance across conditions. More detailed analyses suggested that this improvement was driven by improving the representations of actions, rather than objects, in these action-object sequences. Experiment 2 (N=24) explored this further, removing the objects from the physical environment and comparing partial demonstration (i.e. action-only or object-only) with no or full demonstration. The results showed that partial demonstration only benefitted features that were demonstrated, while full demonstration improved memory for actions, objects and their pairings. Overall these experiments indicate how self-enactment, and particularly demonstration, can benefit verbal recall of instruction sequences through the engagement of visuo-motor processes that provide additional forms of coding to support working memory performance

What Does GPA in an Urban High School Actually Mean?

The purpose of this researcher-school collaborative study was to examine factors which might be intervenable by urban high school counselors in assisting at-risk students. There were two primary objectives. The first was to examine the degree to which urban adolescents’ academic competence predicts cumulative GPA

Measuring coverage in MNCH: indicators for global tracking of newborn care.

Neonatal mortality accounts for 43% of under-five mortality. Consequently, improving newborn survival is a global priority. However, although there is increasing consensus on the packages and specific interventions that need to be scaled up to reduce neonatal mortality, there is a lack of clarity on the indicators needed to measure progress. In 2008, in an effort to improve newborn survival, the Newborn Indicators Technical Working Group (TWG) was convened by the Saving Newborn Lives program at Save the Children to provide a forum to develop the indicators and standard measurement tools that are needed to measure coverage of key newborn interventions. The TWG, which included evaluation and measurement experts, researchers, individuals from United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, and donors, prioritized improved consistency of measurement of postnatal care for women and newborns and of immediate care behaviors and practices for newborns. In addition, the TWG promoted increased data availability through inclusion of additional questions in nationally representative surveys, such as the United States Agency for International Development-supported Demographic and Health Surveys and the United Nations Children's Fund-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. Several studies have been undertaken that have informed revisions of indicators and survey tools, and global postnatal care coverage indicators have been finalized. Consensus has been achieved on three additional indicators for care of the newborn after birth (drying, delayed bathing, and cutting the cord with a clean instrument), and on testing two further indicators (immediate skin-to-skin care and applications to the umbilical cord). Finally, important measurement gaps have been identified regarding coverage data for evidence-based interventions, such as Kangaroo Mother Care and care seeking for newborn infection

Stress dependent thermal pressurization of a fluid-saturated rock

Temperature increase in saturated porous materials under undrained conditions leads to thermal pressurization of the pore fluid due to the discrepancy between the thermal expansion coefficients of the pore fluid and of the solid matrix. This increase in the pore fluid pressure induces a reduction of the effective mean stress and can lead to shear failure or hydraulic fracturing. The equations governing the phenomenon of thermal pressurization are presented and this phenomenon is studied experimentally for a saturated granular rock in an undrained heating test under constant isotropic stress. Careful analysis of the effect of mechanical and thermal deformation of the drainage and pressure measurement system is performed and a correction of the measured pore pressure is introduced. The test results are modelled using a non-linear thermo-poro-elastic constitutive model of the granular rock with emphasis on the stress-dependent character of the rock compressibility. The effects of stress and temperature on thermal pressurization observed in the tests are correctly reproduced by the model

Starting School: a large-scale start of school assessment within the ‘Born in Bradford’ longitudinal cohort [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]

The Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort of 13,776 children born between 2007-2011 and their parents provides a rich data resource for researchers exploring protective and risk factors influencing long-term developmental and health outcomes. Educational attainment is a critical factor related to later health. Literacy and communication, fine motor skills and social and emotional health are key ‘early’ predictors of educational attainment and can be used to identify children in need of additional support. We describe our BiB ‘Starting School’ data collection protocol which assessed literacy and communication, fine motor skills and social and emotional health on 3,444 BiB children aged 4-5 years old. These measures supplement the existing dataset, and complement the routine educational, health and social care data available for the cohort

CR1 Knops blood group alleles are not associated with severe malaria in the Gambia

The Knops blood group antigen erythrocyte polymorphisms have been associated with reduced falciparum malaria-based in vitro rosette formation (putative malaria virulence factor). Having previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human complement receptor 1 (CR1/CD35) gene underlying the Knops antithetical antigens Sl1/Sl2 and McC(a)/McC(b), we have now performed genotype comparisons to test associations between these two molecular variants and severe malaria in West African children living in the Gambia. While SNPs associated with Sl:2 and McC(b+) were equally distributed among malaria-infected children with severe malaria and control children not infected with malaria parasites, high allele frequencies for Sl 2 (0.800, 1,365/1,706) and McC(b) (0.385, 658/1706) were observed. Further, when compared to the Sl 1/McC(a) allele observed in all populations, the African Sl 2/McC(b) allele appears to have evolved as a result of positive selection (modified Nei-Gojobori test Ka-Ks/s.e.=1.77, P-value <0.05). Given the role of CR1 in host defense, our findings suggest that Sl 2 and McC(b) have arisen to confer a selective advantage against infectious disease that, in view of these case-control study data, was not solely Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Factors underlying the lack of association between Sl 2 and McC(b) with severe malaria may involve variation in CR1 expression levels

Coherent coupling between radio frequency, optical, and acoustic waves in piezo-optomechanical circuits

The interaction of optical and mechanical modes in nanoscale optomechanical systems has been widely studied for applications ranging from sensing to quantum information science. Here, we develop a platform for cavity optomechanical circuits in which localized and interacting 1550 nm photons and 2.4 GHz phonons are combined with photonic and phononic waveguides. Working in GaAs facilitates manipulation of the localized mechanical mode either with a radio frequency field through the piezo-electric effect, or optically through the strong photoelastic effect. We use this to demonstrate a novel acoustic wave interference effect, analogous to coherent population trapping in atomic systems, in which the coherent mechanical motion induced by the electrical drive can be completely cancelled out by the optically-driven motion. The ability to manipulate cavity optomechanical systems with equal facility through either photonic or phononic channels enables new device and system architectures for signal transduction between the optical, electrical, and mechanical domains

The Risk Factors and Clinical Outcomes of Upper Extremity Deep Vein Thrombosis

The prevalence of upper extremity deep vein thrombosis (UEDVT) has shown a dramatic increase with the use of central venous catheters (CVCs) for patient care. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors and clinical outcomes in patients diagnosed with UEDVT at an academic medical center over a 1-year period. Medical records of 373 consecutive patients who underwent upper extremity venous duplex ultrasound (VDU) examination were retrospectively reviewed. A quarter of the patients screened by VDU (94 of 373) had acute UEDVT; 63% presented with arm swelling or arm pain; 48% had cancer; and 93% had indwelling CVCs. Cancer patients with CVCs were more likely to develop UEDVT (48%). Of the 94 UEDVTs, 16% had concurrent lower extremity DVT. The incidence of objectively confirmed pulmonary embolism (PE) was 9% (8 of 94 patients), and the 1-month mortality rate was 6.4%. The majority of patients (80%) with UEDVT received anticoagulation therapy and 20% were not treated. The most common risk factors for UEDVT were indwelling CVCs and a diagnosis of cancer. The incidence rate of PE and mortality rate from UEDVT were not insignificant at 9% and 6%, respectively. There were no institutional screening protocols for patients at risk of UEDVT associated with CVCs. Future research should focus on risk assessment and management protocols for patients at risk of UEDVT. In addition, a comparison of clinical outcomes associated with the type, size, and duration of catheter placement should be conducted in patients at risk of or diagnosed with UEDVT

Two-dimensional elastoplastic analysis of cylindrical cavity problems in Tresca materials

This paper presents analytical elastic-plastic solutions for static stress loading analysis and quasi-static expansion analysis of a cylindrical cavity in Tresca materials, considering biaxial far-field stresses and shear stresses along the inner cavity wall. The two-dimensional static stress solution is obtained by assuming that the plastic zone is statically determinate and using the complex variable theory in the elastic analysis. A rigorous conformal mapping function is constructed, which predicts that the elastic-plastic boundary is in an elliptic shape under biaxial in situ stresses, and the range of the plastic zone extends with increasing internal shear stresses. The major axis of the elliptical elastic-plastic boundary coincides with the direction of the maximum far-field compression stress. Furthermore, considering the internal shear stresses, an analytical large-strain displacement solution is derived for continuous cavity expansion analysis in a hydrostatic initial stress filed. Based on the derived analytical stress and displacement solutions, the influence of the internal shear stresses on the quasi-static cavity expansion process is studied. It is shown that additional shear stresses could reduce the required normal expansion pressure to a certain degree, which partly explains the great reduction of the axial soil resistance due to rotations in rotating cone penetration tests. In addition, through additionally considering the potential influences of biaxial in situ stresses and shear stresses generated around the borehole during drillings, an improved cavity expansion approach for estimating the maximum allowable mud pressure of horizontal directional drillings (HDDs) in undrained clays is proposed and validated