The past tense inflection project (PTIP): speeded past tense inflections, imageability ratings, and past tense consistency measures for 2,200 verbs

Abstract The processes involved in past tense verb generation have been central to models of inflectional morphology. However, the empirical support for such models has often been based on studies of accuracy in past tense verb formation on a relatively small set of items. We present the first largescale study of past tense inflection (the Past Tense Inflection Project, or PTIP) that affords response time, accuracy, and error analyses in the generation of the past tense form from the present tense form for over 2,000 verbs. In addition to standard lexical variables (such as word frequency, length, and orthographic and phonological neighborhood), we have also developed new measures of past tense neighborhood consistency and verb imageability for these stimuli, and via regression analyses we demonstrate the utility of these new measures in predicting past tense verb generation. The PTIP can be used to further evaluate existing models, to provide well controlled stimuli for new studies, and to uncover novel theoretical principles in past tense morphology. Keywords Verb processing . Megastudy . Past tense inflection . Item-level variance . Verb consistency . Verb imageability A long-standing question in language acquisition and inflectional morphology is how individuals produce the past tense form of a verb. Past tense inflection (PTI), like spelling-to-sound conversion in English, is quasiregular, meaning that a set of generally applicable descriptive rules are useful for most verbs (e.g., add -ed to the stem form), but there are also some irregular forms (e.g., dodid) and subregularities (as in the eep-ept past tense family: sleep-slept, weep-wept, keep-kept, etc.). Indeed, past tense inflection has been a central focus of the debate between parallel distributed models Although there has been extensive theoretical work in the area of past tense verb generation, experimental work examining response times (RTs) has been relatively limited. For example, in the stem inflection task, participants are asked to produce the past tense (real or hypothetical) of a target verb or novel nonword (e.g., Only a few previous studies of past tense verb inflection have used RT as a dependent variable: Joanisse and Seidenberg One way to address the discrepancies among previous studies, as well as the limitations associated with factorial designs employing relatively few stimuli, is to sample a much larger set of items from the language. Megastudies include stimuli on the order of thousands, rather than 50 to 100, and allow for the effects of variables to be modeled continuously rather than categorically (see In addition to providing a large database of response latencies and accuracies for past tense verb inflection, we also developed two new measures that are important to consider in past tense inflection, consistency and imageability. Similar to the spelling-to-sound consistency measure that has been well-studied in visual word recognition research The second variable that we measured was imageability. Imageability is a variable that reflects the extent to which 152 Behav Res (2013) 45:151-159 one is able to form a mental image of a word, and indeed many imageability norms are already available (e.g., The present study is based on 89 participants' accuracy and RTs for a past tense inflection task with 2,200 verbs. Each participant produced responses to 888 items. For each verb in the PTIP database, we included measures of RT, accuracy, and regularization errors (e.g., saying GRINDED for GRIND), along with the new imageability and consistency measures described above. The PTIP database is useful in examining the specific effects of predictor variables on RT and accuracy and allows for detailed item-level predictions. It is available as supplementary materials with this article for researchers who plan to examine other theoretical questions about past tense inflection, or are hoping to select well-controlled and well-examined stimuli for new studies. These data will serve as both a reference and an impetus for further research in the domain of past tense inflection. Experiment 1 The first experiment was conducted in order to collect imageability rating norms for the verbs in the PTIP database. Method Participants A group of 218 participants were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT; see Materials The 2,200 words from the PTIP database (see below), plus another 112 words for use in another study, were divided into eight lists of 289 items each. The eight lists were presented as separate jobs in AMT. Procedure Each participant completed one list of the rating task, which was presented in Adobe Flash and appeared after a consent screen in the AMT job description. The instructions were the same as those used in Results The ratings were aggregated across participants for each item (excluding "do not know" responses), so that one mean imageability value was calculated for each verb. These values were used in Experiment 2 (see below). The mean rating across all verbs was 4.28 (SD 0 0.92), and the mean RT across all verbs was 3,191 ms (SD 0 1,695). The overall split-half reliability was r 0 .80, p < .001. Experiment 2 Method Participants A group of 113 native English-speaking college students from the Washington University subject pool participated in Behav Res (2013) 45:151-159 153 the study. After eliminating extreme outliers (less than 80 % accuracy overall; four participants) or participants whose data were subject to recording error (missing sound files from which to code accuracy-20 participants), 89 participants contributed to the final database

Static and vibration analysis of functionally graded beams using refined shear deformation theory

Static and vibration analysis of functionally graded beams using refined shear deformation theory is presented. The developed theory, which does not require shear correction factor, accounts for shear deformation effect and coupling coming from the material anisotropy. Governing equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton's principle. The resulting coupling is referred to as triply coupled axial-flexural response. A two-noded Hermite-cubic element with five degree-of-freedom per node is developed to solve the problem. Numerical results are obtained for functionally graded beams with simply-supported, cantilever-free and clamped-clamped boundary conditions to investigate effects of the power-law exponent and modulus ratio on the displacements, natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes

Novel compound heterozygous STN1 variants are associated with Coats Plus syndrome

Funder: WellcomeAbstract: Aim: Coats plus syndrome (CP) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, characterised by retinal telangiectasia exudates (Coats disease), leukodystrophy, distinctive intracranial calcification and cysts, as well as extra‐neurological features including abnormal vasculature of the gastrointestinal tract, portal hypertension and osteopenia with a tendency to fractures. CP most frequently occurs due to loss‐of‐function mutations in CTC1. The encoded protein CTC1 constitutes part of the CST (CTC1‐STN1‐TEN1) complex, and three patients have been described with CP due to biallelic mutations in STN1. Together with the identification of homozygosity for a specific loss‐of‐function mutation in POT1 in a sibling pair, these observations highlight a defect in the maintenance of telomere integrity as the cause of CP, although the precise mechanism leading to the micro‐vasculopathy seen at a pathological level remains unclear. Here, we present the investigation of a fourth child who presented to us with retinal exudates, intracranial calcifications and developmental delay, in keeping with a diagnosis of CP, and later went on to develop pancytopenia and gastrointestinal bleeding. Genome sequencing revealed compound heterozygous variants in STN1 as the likely genetic cause of CP in this present case. Methods: We assessed the phenotype to be CP and undertook targeted sequencing. Results: Whilst sequencing of CTC1 and POT1 was normal, we identified novel compound heterozygous variants in STN1 (previous gene symbol OBFC1): one loss‐of‐function––c.894dup (p.(Asp299Argfs*58)); and one missense––c.707T>C (p.(Leu236Pro)). Conclusion: Given the clinical phenotype and identified variants we suggest that this is only the fourth patient reported to date with CP due to mutations in STN1

Provider Attitudes and Practice Patterns for Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background & Aims: Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are effective against hepatitis C virus and sustained virologic response is associated with reduced incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there is controversy over the use of DAAs in patients with active or treated HCC and uncertainty about optimal management of these patients. We aimed to characterize attitudes and practice patterns of hepatology practitioners in the United States regarding the use of DAAs in patients with HCC. Methods: We conducted a survey of hepatology providers at 47 tertiary care centers in 25 states. Surveys were sent to 476 providers and we received 279 responses (58.6%). Results: Provider beliefs about risk of HCC recurrence after DAA therapy varied: 48% responded that DAAs reduce risk, 36% responded that DAAs do not change risk, and 16% responded that DAAs increase risk of HCC recurrence. However, most providers believed DAAs to be beneficial to and reduce mortality of patients with complete response to HCC treatment. Accordingly, nearly all providers (94.9%) reported recommending DAA therapy to patients with early-stage HCC who received curative treatment. However, fewer providers recommended DAA therapy for patients with intermediate (72.9%) or advanced (57.5%) HCC undergoing palliative therapies. Timing of DAA initiation varied among providers based on HCC treatment modality: 49.1% of providers reported they would initiate DAA therapy within 3 months of surgical resection whereas 45.9% and 5.0% would delay DAA initiation for 3–12 months and >1 year post-surgery, respectively. For patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), 42.0% of providers would provide DAAs within 3 months of the procedure, 46.7% would delay DAAs until 3–12 months afterward, and 11.3% would delay DAAs more than 1 year after TACE. Conclusions: Based on a survey sent to hepatology providers, there is variation in provider attitudes and practice patterns regarding use and timing of DAAs for patients with HCC. Further studies are needed to characterize the risks and benefits of DAA therapy in this patient population

Performance Management and the Police Response to Women in India

Crimes against women have critical implications, not only for victims but also for overall community health and safety. Communities entrust law enforcement agencies with the responsibility to safeguard vulnerable people through effective and efficient policing approaches that provide a safe environment. Enhancing and improving the efficiency and performance of the police is an important part of preventing and reducing crimes against women. One approach to addressing specific performance targets is to adopt a performance management strategy. This paper examines survey data from 310 police officials in northern India about one such strategy: the balanced scorecard (BSC). Our analysis illuminates police perspectives about the perceived benefits of a generalized performance management strategy such as the BSC for improving police performance in addressing crimes against women and the needs of female citizens. Our findings reveal that respondents’ assessments of all four dimensions of the balanced scorecard are associated with their degree of optimism that performance measurement can improve the police response to crimes against women

Performance Management and the Police Response to Women in India

Crimes against women have critical implications, not only for victims but also for overall community health and safety. Communities entrust law enforcement agencies with the responsibility to safeguard vulnerable people through effective and efficient policing approaches that provide a safe environment. Enhancing and improving the efficiency and performance of the police is an important part of preventing and reducing crimes against women. One approach to addressing specific performance targets is to adopt a performance management strategy. This paper examines survey data from 310 police officials in northern India about one such strategy: the balanced scorecard (BSC). Our analysis illuminates police perspectives about the perceived benefits of a generalized performance management strategy such as the BSC for improving police performance in addressing crimes against women and the needs of female citizens. Our findings reveal that respondents’ assessments of all four dimensions of the balanced scorecard are associated with their degree of optimism that performance measurement can improve the police response to crimes against women