ANALOG-DIGITAL DEVICES FOR PARAMATER ESTIMATION OF THE TRANSFER FUNCTION

In this paper comparatively simple method is presented for identifying linear and nonlinear dynamic units. It is based on the analysis of steady-state response and makes use of the sequential integrating procedure. Analog-digital devices needed for realizing this method are described. It is shown that use of the microprocessor made it possible to continuously contol the elements in the function control systems

Large-scale replication study reveals a limit on probabilistic prediction in language comprehension

Do people routinely pre-activate the meaning and even the phonological form of upcoming words? The most acclaimed evidence for phonological prediction comes from a 2005 Nature Neuroscience publication by DeLong, Urbach and Kutas, who observed a graded modulation of electrical brain potentials (N400) to nouns and preceding articles by the probability that people use a word to continue the sentence fragment (‘cloze’). In our direct replication study spanning 9 laboratories (N=334), pre-registered replication-analyses and exploratory Bayes factor analyses successfully replicated the noun-results but, crucially, not the article-results. Pre-registered single-trial analyses also yielded a statistically significant effect for the nouns but not the articles. Exploratory Bayesian single-trial analyses showed that the article-effect may be non-zero but is likely far smaller than originally reported and too small to observe without very large sample sizes. Our results do not support the view that readers routinely pre-activate the phonological form of predictable words

Contrastive prosody and the subsequent mention of alternatives during discourse processing

Linguistic research has long viewed prosody as an important indicator of information structure in intonationally rich languages like English. Correspondingly, numerous psycholinguistic studies have shown significant effects of prosody, particularly with respect to the immediate processing of a prosodically prominent phrase. Although co-reference resolution is known to be influenced by information structure, it has been less clear whether prosodic prominence can affect decisions about next mention in a discourse, and if so, how. We present results from an open-ended story continuation task, conducted as part of a series of experiments that examine how prosody influences the anticipation and resolution of co-reference. Overall results from the project suggest that prosodic prominence can increase or decrease reference to a saliently pitch-accented phrase, depending on additional circumstances of the referential decision. We argue that an adequate account of prosody’s role in co-reference requires consideration of how the processing system interfaces with multiple levels of linguistic representation

Genetic and metabolic predictors of chemosensitivity in oligodendroglial neoplasms

The −1p/−19q genotype predicts chemosensitivity in oligodendroglial neoplasms, but some with intact 1p/19q also respond and not all with 1p/19q loss derive durable benefit from chemotherapy. We have evaluated the predictive and prognostic significance of pretherapy 201Tl and 18F-FDG SPECT and genotype in 38 primary and 10 recurrent oligodendroglial neoplasms following PCV chemotherapy. 1p/19q loss was seen in 8/15 OII, 6/15 OAII, 7/7 OIII, 3/11 OAIII and was associated with response (Fisher-Exact: P=0.000) and prolonged progression-free (log-rank: P=0.002) and overall survival (OS) (log-rank: P=0.0048). Response was unrelated to metabolism, with tumours with high or low metabolism showing response. Increased 18F-FDG or 201Tl uptake predicted shorter progression-free survival (PFS) in the series (log-rank: 201Tl P=0.0097, 18F-FDG P=0.0170) and in cases with or without the −1p/−19q genotype. Elevated metabolism was associated with shorter OS in cases with intact 1p/19q (log-rank: 18F-FDG P=0.0077; 201Tl P=0.0004) and shorter PFS in responders (log-rank: 18F-FDG P=0.005; 201Tl P=0.0132). 201Tl uptake and 1p/19q loss were independent predictors of survival in multivariate analysis. In this initial study, 201Tl and 18F-FDG uptake did not predict response to PCV, but may be associated with poor survival following therapy irrespective of genotype. This may be clinically useful warranting further study

Ethnic-Racial Socialization in Early Childhood: The Implications of Color-Consciousness and Colorblindness for Prejudice Development

This chapter outlines how early childhood teachers can bring children into conversations surrounding race and racism by drawing on literature on how parents of color discuss these topics. Although educators’ practices surrounding race and racism remain largely unexplored, decades of developmental psychological research indicate that parents of color engage in ethnic-racial socialization practices that are beneficial for children (Hughes et al., 2006). The established dimensions of parental ethnic-racial socialization include (1) cultural socialization, or teaching children about their ethnic heritage and instilling ethnic pride; (2) preparation for bias, or teaching children about racism and preparing them to face discrimination; (3) promotion of mistrust, or warning children about the need to distance themselves from other racial groups; and (4) egalitarianism, or emphasizing the similarities between and equality of all races (Hughes et al. 2006). One consideration to take into account from a developmental perspective is that children’s level of cognitive development impacts how they interpret messages about race. This chapter draws a link between parental ethnic-racial socialization and extends this body of work to school settings, with a focus on teachers. The ideologies of colorblindness and color-consciousness are discussed throughout

Speaking of death

As a human-specific trait, language offers a unique window on human cognition. Grammatical constraints on thewayswe speak about events, for instance, have long been thought to reveal the representational formats that our minds impose on the ways that we think about events. In recent research, verbs that name events of death have stood out as key counterexamples to standard theories of the grammatical constraints on possible verbs. The special status of these thanatological verbs raises two important questions: why, given the vast number of verbs in any language, is it that verbs of death hold this special status, and what do they tell us about the restrictions on the representational format for possible verbs? This paper reexamines the evidence coming from verbs of death, confirming that they are counterexamples to standard theories, but that their behaviour suggests a more revealing constraint on our mental representations—that our minds impose strict restrictions on the format of asserted meaning. Thus, the constraints on linguistic representation and the human mind offer a unique perspective on the mental representations of thanatological phenomena

Stages of individuals and the composition of states

Whether a stative predicate licenses an existential interpretation of its subject (EIS) depends in part on the type of object it has. While previous theories have related this to the object's ability to function as a topic, this paper presents evidence that the quantized/homogeneous distinction between objects better captures EIS and proposes an event composition analysis of EIS for (transitive) stative predicates. This analysis points to the aspectual nature of EIS and also illuminates other aspectual behaviors of stage-level/individual-level states

Stages of individuals and the composition of states

Whether a stative predicate licenses an existential interpretation of its subject (EIS) depends in part on the type of object it has. While previous theories have related this to the object's ability to function as a topic, this paper presents evidence that the quantized/homogeneous distinction between objects better captures EIS and proposes an event composition analysis of EIS for (transitive) stative predicates. This analysis points to the aspectual nature of EIS and also illuminates other aspectual behaviors of stage-level/individual-level states

Speaking of death

As a human-specific trait, language offers a unique window on human cognition. Grammatical constraints on thewayswe speak about events, for instance, have long been thought to reveal the representational formats that our minds impose on the ways that we think about events. In recent research, verbs that name events of death have stood out as key counterexamples to standard theories of the grammatical constraints on possible verbs. The special status of these thanatological verbs raises two important questions: why, given the vast number of verbs in any language, is it that verbs of death hold this special status, and what do they tell us about the restrictions on the representational format for possible verbs? This paper reexamines the evidence coming from verbs of death, confirming that they are counterexamples to standard theories, but that their behaviour suggests a more revealing constraint on our mental representations—that our minds impose strict restrictions on the format of asserted meaning. Thus, the constraints on linguistic representation and the human mind offer a unique perspective on the mental representations of thanatological phenomena