The role of word frequency and morpho-orthography in agreement processing

Agreement attraction in comprehension (when an ungrammatical verb is read quickly if preceded by a feature-matching local noun) is well described by a cue-based retrieval framework. This suggests a role for lexical retrieval in attraction. To examine this, we manipulated two probabilistic factors known to affect lexical retrieval: local noun word frequency and morpho-orthography (agreement morphology realised with or without –s endings) in a self-paced reading study. Noun number and word frequency affected noun and verb region reading times, with higher-frequency words not eliciting attraction. Morpho-orthography impacted verb processing but not attraction: atypical plurals led to slower verb reading times regardless of verb number. Exploratory individual difference analyses further underscore the importance of lexical retrieval dynamics in sentence processing. This provides evidence that agreement operates via a cue-based retrieval mechanism over lexical representations that vary in their strength and association to number features

Combined Assessment of Arterial and Venous Anatomy in Lower Limb Ischaemia Using a Single Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Scan

AbstractContrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography (CE-MRA) is a non-invasive investigative modality for patients with lower limb arterial insufficiency. When infra-inguinal arterial reconstruction is indicated autologous great saphenous vein is the conduit of choice and adequacy of the vein is often assessed by an additional Duplex ultrasound.We evaluated whether single, high-resolution steady state MR imaging with blood pool contrast agent could generate a sufficiently informative assessment of both venous and arterial anatomy to plan surgery potentially avoiding the need for an additional venous duplex.There was good correlation between CE-MRA, venous duplex and subsequent operative findings

The Benefits of Executive Control Training and the Implications for Language Processing

Recent psycholinguistics research suggests that the executive function (EF) skill known as conflict resolution – the ability to adjust behavior in the service of resolving among incompatible representations – is important for several language processing tasks such as lexical and syntactic ambiguity resolution, verbal fluency, and common-ground assessment. Here, we discuss work showing that various EF skills can be enhanced through consistent practice with working-memory tasks that tap these EFs, and, moreover, that improvements on the training tasks transfer across domains to novel tasks that may rely on shared underlying EFs. These findings have implications for language processing and could launch new research exploring if EF training, within a “process-specific” framework, could be used as a remediation tool for improving general language use. Indeed, work in our lab demonstrates that EF training that increases conflict-resolution processes has selective benefits on an untrained sentence-processing task requiring syntactic ambiguity resolution, which relies on shared conflict-resolution functions. Given claims that conflict-resolution abilities contribute to a range of linguistic skills, EF training targeting this process could theoretically yield wider performance gains beyond garden-path recovery. We offer some hypotheses on the potential benefits of EF training as a component of interventions to mitigate general difficulties in language processing. However, there are caveats to consider as well, which we also address

Evolution of the Level lnterfluvial Divides on the Kansan Till Plain in Iowa and Missouri

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and evaluate various alternative hypotheses concerning the evolution of the level interfluvial divides on the Kansan Till plain in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. About four-fifths of the plain is dissected (3), but the undissected remnants have an almost flat surface. In contrast to this the undissected portion of the much younger surfaces of the Mankato and Cary till plains have an undulating topography with numerous closed depressions and isolated low knolls

Thrombolysis for acute graft occlusion during elective endovascular aortic aneurysm repair.

A 65-year-old man developed acute arterial thrombosis with stent graft occlusion, during elective endovascular aneurysm repair, with bilateral acute lower limb ischaemia. We describe successful endovascular and pharmacological management using a combination of mechanical disruption of the thrombus (using the access sheaths) followed by intra-arterial thrombolysis (Actilyse) infusion. Within 4-h the endograft had completely re-canalized. The patient made an uncomplicated recovery and was discharged on the second post-operative day

Problems Associated with Soils Stabilization. in the Vicinity of Point Barrow, Alaska

Point Barrow is located in the northernmost extremity of the Arctic Coastal Plain (Figure 1). The coastal plain is an undulating surface of low relief, the major relief being in the vicinity of the major northflowing rivers. The general lack of relief is largely due to the fact that the area is a recently elevated segment of the continental shelf, and thus, it has the low relief characteristics of most recently emerged coastal plains

Observation of numerous E2 mode phonon replicas in the room temperature photoluminescence spectra of ZnO nanowires: Evidence of strong deformation potential electron-phonon coupling

The authors report the observation of numerous (\u3e20)phonon replica peaks in the room temperature photoluminescence spectrum of ZnOnanowires embedded in 50nm diameter pores of an anodic alumina film. The peaks are spaced in energy by ∼54meV, which is the energy of a nonpolar phonon with symmetry E2 in ZnO. These peaks are possibly caused by resonant phonon-assisted decay of photoexcited electrons to an impurity band, followed by radiative recombination. These results suggest that even though ZnO is strongly polar, deformation potential coupling to a nonpolar phonon mode may be stronger than Fröhlich coupling to polar phonon modes