Elucidating an implicit learning network in healthy adults during artificial grammar tasks

Implicit learning is the unconscious extraction of rules governing complex stimuli, measured through experiments such as artificial grammar tasks, and is directly related to natural language learning. While several theories address the underlying framework for implicit learning, few studies have shed light on a consensus neural network involved in implicit learning. The short-term goal of this thesis is to further elucidate the brain regions involved in implicit learning of linguistic stimuli. The long-range goal of this research program is to understand how implicit learning and the brain regions associated with it relate to language learning and treatment outcomes in individuals with aphasia. A coordinate-based meta-analysis of 25 studies using implicit language learning tasks was completed. Activation likelihood estimate (ALE) results show significant activation in the bilateral inferior frontal gyri, bilateral insula, left supplemental motor area, right precentral gyrus, right middle cingulate, right middle occipital gyrus, and right inferior parietal lobule. The inferior frontal gyrus is discussed as a general rule-processing and error detection mechanism, and other regional activations are discussed related to their involvement in a cognitive control network. Cognitive control may be seen as an underlying mechanism for successful implicit learning and may be clinically relevant as a target for language intervention to scaffold syntax comprehension

Music as a mirror?: popular music lyrics and the COVID-19 health pandemic

Research on the relationship between significant global, socioeconomic developments and lyrical themes in pop music have indicated that deteriorating conditions are associated with an increase in negative emotional content and reproductive themes. The present research considers the presence of lyrical themes in charting pop music during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesise that top-ranked weekly singles on the USA, UK and Australian charts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic would contain more negatively valenced lyrics than the charting songs during corresponding periods in previous years. Diction 7.0 software, a text analysis program designed to analyse content of a wide variety of social discourse, was used to analyse the song lyrics. A dataset was created based on the song lyrics of the top 5 weekly songs in the USA, UK and Australia from March-August 2020 and the songs charting between March-August of 2015-2019. Results from statistical analyses that consider the hypotheses will be discussed in the presentation. The findings are expected to broaden our understanding of the relationship between significant global events (i.e., health pandemics) and trends in popular music. Moreover, implications concerning how people use music as a comforting tool will be considered

Visual literacy for libraries: A practical, standards-based guide

When we step back and think about how to situate visual literacy into a library context, the word critical keeps coming up: critical thinking, critical viewing, critical using, critical making, and the list goes on. To understand our approach, start with your own practice, add images, and see where it takes you. Do you encourage students to think critically as they research? How can you extend this experience to images? Do you embrace critical information literacy? Can you bring visual content to enrich that experience? Do you teach students to critically evaluate sources? How can you expand that practice to images? You’ll see a lot of questions in this book, because our approach is inquiry- driven. This is not to say that we don’t cover the basics of image content. Curious about color? Covered. Not sure where to find great images? We’ll show you. Wondering what makes a good presentation? We talk about that too. But what we really want you to get out of this book is a new understanding of how images fit into our critical (there it is again) practice as librarians and how we can advance student learning with our own visual literacy. This book grounds visual literacy in your everyday practice—connecting it to what you know and do as a librarian who engages in reflective practice. Heidi Jacobs put it well when she argued that, for information literacy pedagogy, “one of the best ways for us to encourage students to be engaged learners is for us to become engaged learners, delve deeply into our own problem posing, and embody the kind of engagement we want to see in our students” (Jacobs 2008). We extend this viewpoint to visual literacy pedagogy and provide many opportunities for you to embody the kind of visual literacy that you want to develop in your learners

Popular music lyrics and the COVID-19 pandemic

A limited amount of previous research suggests that deteriorating socioeconomic conditions may be associated with greater popularity of music lyrics featuring negative emotional content and references to relationships. The present research considered this in charting popular music before and during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. A dataset based on the song lyrics of the top-5 charting weekly songs in the UK and USA from January 1999 to August 2020 was computer-analysed for interpersonal variables, such as satisfaction and human interest, and positive and negative emotional valence. Results indicated lower satisfaction and human interest in lyrics in the USA and UK in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the lyrics in charting songs in 2015-2019. The USA charting songs in 2020 also saw higher leveling and negative emotional content; and, when considering monthly data from 1999-2020, there was a positive association between economic misery and the number of negatively-valenced words. The findings broaden our understanding of the relationship between significant global events and trends in popular music

Machine-Stitched E-Textile Stretch Sensors

Wearable, garment-integrated sensing is a distinct challenge for many reasons. Significant among these reasons is the challenge of fabricating sensors that are unobtrusive and comfortable for longterm daily wear. Here, we present a novel method for fabricating e-textile stretch sensors using industrial sewing machinery. The resulting sensors are perceptually similar to existing stitches used in garment fabrication, offering improvements in comfort and ease of manufacture compared to other types of sensors

Veteran and Provider Satisfaction with a Home-Based Telerehabilitation Assessment for Wheelchair Seating and Mobility

The objective of this project was to measure Veteran and provider satisfaction with a home-based telerehabilitation assessment for wheelchair seating and mobility. Forty-three Veterans were seen remotely at their place of residence by a provider, using a VA Video Connect synchronous videoconferencing system. Veteran and provider satisfaction were collected using the Telerehabilitation Questionnaire (TRQ). Mean individual TRQ scores for both Veterans and providers were significantly higher than the scale midpoint of 3.5. Veterans had higher scores than providers for five individual items on the TRQ. Higher scores by Veterans on the technology and quality and clarity of the video and audio likely correspond to the differences in environmental settings in which the visit occurred for the Veteran compared with the provider. High satisfaction scores with the telerehabilitation assessments are likely attributed to the positive working relationship between the provider and the rehabilitation technician, who provided in-person technical support to the Veteran in the home during the wheeled mobility evaluation. Overall, the results indicate a high level of Veteran and provider satisfaction using telerehabilitation for wheelchair seating and mobility evaluations

Spatial variations of ionospheric conductivity and radar auroral amplitude in the eastward electrojet region during pre-substorm conditions

The dependence of auroral backscatter amplitude on different ionospheric parameters (conductivity, current density, electric field) is studied by means of data recorded by STARE (Scandinavian Twin Auroral Radar Experiment), the two-dimensional Scandinavian Magnetometer Array (SMA), and auroral all-sky cameras. The observations were made on 16 March 1978 during pre-substorm conditions in the region of the eastward polar electrojet. The paper shows that in this event the auroral backscatter amplitudes in the 140 MHz frequency band were controlled mainly by spatial variations in the electron density or conductivity inside the back-scatter volume. To a certain extent also a linear relationship between backscatter amplitude and ionospheric current density was found but it is regarded as a special case of a more general relationship between electron density and backscatter amplitude. A stable discontinuity in the Hall conductivity over the most equatorward auroral arc was deduced from the data: On the equatorward side the conductivity was 3-5 times higher than on the nearby poleward side. Our conclusions are discussed in the light of some previously published results on the same subject.           ARK: https://n2t.net/ark:/88439/y000016 Permalink: https://geophysicsjournal.com/article/262 &nbsp

Pharmacotherapeutic targeting of cation-chloride cotransporters in neonatal seizures

Seizures are a common manifestation of acute neurologic insults in neonates and are often resistant to the standard antiepileptic drugs that are efficacious in children and adults. The paucity of evidence-based treatment guidelines, coupled with a rudimentary understanding of disease pathogenesis, has made the current treatment of neonatal seizures empiric and often ineffective, highlighting the need for novel therapies. Key developmental differences in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurotransmission between the immature and mature brain, and trauma-induced alterations in the function of the cation-chloride cotransporters (CCCs) NKCC1 and KCC2, probably contribute to the poor efficacy of standard antiepileptic drugs used in the treatment of neonatal seizures. Although CCCs are attractive drug targets, bumetanide and other existing CCC inhibitors are suboptimal because of pharmacokinetic constraints and lack of target specificity. Newer approaches including isoform-specific NKCC1 inhibitors with increased central nervous system penetration, and direct and indirect strategies to enhance KCC2-mediated neuronal chloride extrusion, might allow therapeutic modulation of the GABAergic system for neonatal seizure treatment.Peer reviewe