3,977 research outputs found
Infant contributions to joint attention predict vocabulary development
Joint attention has long been accepted as constituting a privileged circumstance in which word learning prospers. Consequently research has investigated the role that maternal responsiveness to infant attention plays in predicting language outcomes. However there has been a recent expansion in research implicating similar predictive effects from individual differences in infant behaviours. Emerging from the foundations of such work comes an interesting question: do the relative contributions of the mother and infant to joint attention episodes impact upon language learning? In an attempt to address this, two joint attention behaviours were assessed as predictors of vocabulary attainment (as measured by OCDI Production Scores). These predictors were: mothers encouraging attention to an object given their infant was already attending to an object (maternal follow-in); and infants looking to an object given their mothers encouragement of attention to an object (infant follow-in). In a sample of 14-month old children (N=36) we compared the predictive power of these maternal and infant follow-in variables on concurrent and later language performance. Results using Growth Curve Analysis provided evidence that while both maternal follow-in and infant follow-in variables contributed to production scores, infant follow-in was a stronger predictor. Consequently it does appear to matter whose final contribution establishes joint attention episodes. Infants who more often follow-in into their mothersâ encouragement of attention have larger, and faster growing vocabularies between 14 and 18-months of age
Selective and faithful imitation at 12 and 15 months
Research on imitation in infancy has primarily focused on what and when infants imitate. More recently, however, the question why infants imitate has received renewed attention, partly motivated by the finding that infants sometimes selectively imitate the actions of others and sometimes faithfully imitate, or overimitate, the actions of others. The present study evaluates the hypothesis that this varying imitative behavior is related to infants' social traits. To do so, we assessed faithful and selective imitation longitudinally at 12 and 15 months, and extraversion at 15 months. At both ages, selective imitation was dependent on the causal structure of the act. From 12 to 15 months, selective imitation decreased while faithful imitation increased. Furthermore, infants high in extraversion were more faithful imitators than infants low in extraversion. These results demonstrate that the onset of faithful imitation is earlier than previously thought, but later than the onset of selective imitation. The observed relation between extraversion and faithful imitation supports the hypothesis that faithful imitation is driven by the social motivations of the infant. We call this relation the King Louie Effect: like the orangutan King Louie in The Jungle Book, infants imitate faithfully due to a growing interest in the interpersonal nature of interactions
CUE: The continuous unified electronic diary method
In the present article, we introduce the continuous unified electronic (CUE) diary method, a longitudinal, event-based, electronic parent report method that allows real-time recording of infant and child behavior in natural contexts. Thirty-nine expectant mothers were trained to identify and record target behaviors into programmed handheld computers. From birth to 18 months, maternal reporters recorded the initial, second, and third occurrences of seven target motor behaviors: palmar grasp, rolls from side to back, reaching when sitting, pincer grip, crawling, walking, and climbing stairs. Compliance was assessed as two valid entries per behavior: 97 % of maternal reporters met compliance criteria. Reliability was assessed by comparing diary entries with researcher assessments for three of the motor behaviors: palmar grasp, pincer grip and walking. A total of 81 % of maternal reporters met reliability criteria. For those three target behaviors, age of emergence was compared across data from the CUE diary method and researcher assessments. The CUE diary method was found to detect behaviors earlier and with greater sensitivity to individual differences. The CUE diary method is shown to be a reliable methodological tool for studying processes of change in human development
Physics in the Real Universe: Time and Spacetime
The Block Universe idea, representing spacetime as a fixed whole, suggests
the flow of time is an illusion: the entire universe just is, with no special
meaning attached to the present time. This view is however based on
time-reversible microphysical laws and does not represent macro-physical
behaviour and the development of emergent complex systems, including life,
which do indeed exist in the real universe. When these are taken into account,
the unchanging block universe view of spacetime is best replaced by an evolving
block universe which extends as time evolves, with the potential of the future
continually becoming the certainty of the past. However this time evolution is
not related to any preferred surfaces in spacetime; rather it is associated
with the evolution of proper time along families of world linesComment: 28 pages, including 9 Figures. Major revision in response to referee
comment
A Precision Calculation of the Next-to-Leading Order Energy-Energy Correlation Function
The O(alpha_s^2) contribution to the Energy-Energy Correlation function (EEC)
of e+e- -> hadrons is calculated to high precision and the results are shown to
be larger than previously reported. The consistency with the leading logarithm
approximation and the accurate cancellation of infrared singularities exhibited
by the new calculation suggest that it is reliable. We offer evidence that the
source of the disagreement with previous results lies in the regulation of
double singularities.Comment: 6 pages, uuencoded LaTeX and one eps figure appended Complete paper
as PostScript file (125 kB) available at:
http://www.phys.washington.edu/~clay/eecpaper1/paper.htm
Role of the nonperturbative input in QCD resummed Drell-Yan -distributions
We analyze the role of the nonperturbative input in the Collins, Soper, and
Sterman (CSS)'s -space QCD resummation formalism for Drell-Yan transverse
momentum () distributions, and investigate the predictive power of the CSS
formalism. We find that the predictive power of the CSS formalism has a strong
dependence on the collision energy in addition to its well-known
dependence, and the dependence improves the predictive power
at collider energies. We show that a reliable extrapolation from perturbatively
resummed -space distributions to the nonperturbative large region is
necessary to ensure the correct distributions. By adding power
corrections to the renormalization group equations in the CSS formalism, we
derive a new extrapolation formalism. We demonstrate that at collider energies,
the CSS resummation formalism plus our extrapolation has an excellent
predictive power for and production at all transverse momenta . We also show that the -space resummed distributions provide a good
description of Drell-Yan data at fixed target energies.Comment: Latex, 43 pages including 15 figures; typos were correcte
Nuclear Effects on Heavy Boson Production at RHIC and LHC
We predict W and Z transverse momentum distributions from proton-proton and
nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC. A resummation formalism with power
corrections to the renormalization group equations is used. The dependence of
the resummed QCD results on the non-perturbative input is very weak for the
systems considered. Shadowing effects are discussed and found to be unimportant
at RHIC, but important for LHC. We study the enhancement of power corrections
due to multiple scattering in nuclear collisions and numerically illustrate the
weak effects of the dependence on the nuclear mass.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
Where do graduates Develop their Enterprise Skills? The Value of the Contribution of Higher Education Institutionsâ Context
This study investigates the value of the contribution of HEIsâ context in developing graduates enterprise skills. HEIs are under pressure to develop more enterprising graduates, particularly with the increasing numbers of graduates seeking employment and the growing dissatisfaction of employers. This study explores where graduates develop enterprise skills through investigating the impact of HE and employment contexts on their development. The paper draws on a qualitative study in the social constructionist paradigm within the pharmacy context, where interviews were conducted with pharmacy academics and employers. Results show that ability to demonstrate skills in one context does not necessarily mean ability to demonstrate them in another since the development and demonstration of enterprise skills is impacted by the contexts in which they are developed and demonstrated. The study adds value by highlighting the significant role of both HE and employment contexts in developing enterprise skills, while emphasising that these skills become more transferable through exposure to more contexts
Non-adiabatic-like accelerated expansion of the late universe in entropic cosmology
In `entropic cosmology', instead of a cosmological constant , an
extra driving term is added to the Friedmann equation and the acceleration
equation, taking into account the entropy and the temperature on the horizon of
the universe. By means of the modified Friedmann and acceleration equations, we
examine a non-adiabatic-like accelerated expansion of the universe in entropic
cosmology. In this study, we consider a homogeneous, isotropic, and spatially
flat universe, focusing on the single-fluid (single-component) dominated
universe at late-times. To examine the properties of the late universe, we
solve the modified Friedmann and acceleration equations, neglecting high-order
corrections for the early universe. We derive the continuity (conservation)
equation from the first law of thermodynamics, assuming non-adiabatic expansion
caused by the entropy and temperature on the horizon. Using the continuity
equation, we formulate the generalized Friedmann and acceleration equations,
and propose a simple model. Through the luminosity distance, it is demonstrated
that the simple model agrees well with both the observed accelerated expansion
of the universe and a fine-tuned standard CDM (lambda cold dark
matter) model. However, we find that the increase of the entropy for the simple
model is likely uniform, while the increase of the entropy for the standard
CDM model tends to be gradually slow especially after the present
time. In other words, the simple model predicts that the present time is not a
special time, unlike for the prediction of the standard CDM model.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, revised. Appendices and References were added
and revise
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