Early production of the passive in two Eastern Bantu languages

The passive construction is acquired relatively late by children learning to speak many languages, with verbal passives not fully acquired till age 6 in English. In other languages it appears earlier, around age 3 or before. Use of passive construction in young children was examined in two Eastern Bantu languages spoken in Kenya (Kiswahili and Kigiriama), both with frequent use of passive. The passive was used productively very early (2;1) in these languages, regardless of the method used to measure productivity. In addition non-actional passives, particularly rare in English and some other European languages, were seen at these early ages. The proportion of verbs that were passive varied between individuals, both in children's speech and in the input to children. Pragmatic and grammatical features of the passive in some languages have previously been suggested to drive early passive acquisition, but these features are not found consistently in the two languages studied here. Findings suggest that the relatively high frequency of input found in these languages is the most plausible reason for early productive use of the passive

Experiment in open peer review for books suggests increased fairness and transparency in feedback process.

Over two-thirds of Palgrave Macmillan authors thought academic publishers should be experimenting with alternative peer review methods. Hazel Newton, the Head of Digital Publishing at Palgrave Macmillan describes their current peer review pilot investigating how open feedback functions in monograph publishing, from the initial proposal to the finished result. Reflections from Katherine Cartmell and Shepard Masocha, a reviewer and an author in this pilot, are also provided below

Systematic reviews of occupational therapy interventions: summarizing research evidence and highlighting the gaps

As services are commissioned based on effectiveness, occupational therapists are under pressure to demonstrate the efficacy of their interventions. Occupational therapists also need to know that the interventions they are providing are effective. Robertson et al (2013) demonstrated that the occupational therapy literature is important for clinicians and is an essential part of their practice. However, as more research is published, it can be increasingly time-consuming and confusing for clinicians to keep abreast of the current literature. Occupational therapy-related research may be published in different forms, in a range of locations, and be of varying methodological quality. Furthermore, readily available published studies that investigate occupational therapy efficacy may not be sufficiently powered, or may lack external validity, when applied to different clinical settings. When well conducted, systematic reviews provide a useful way of synthesizing and evaluating the evidence on a particular topic and, to some extent, provide a solution to this problem. This paper focuses upon reviews of randomized controlled trials, as these provide the highest quality of evidence on the question of a particular intervention’s effectiveness. The merits of reviews of qualitative studies are also considered, together with the possibility of combining more than one type of review

Children's resiliency, adjustment, and coping: cancer-related, family context, and within-child factors

This study identifies variables that influence childhood psychosocial adjustment to cancer diagnosis and treatment by examining the illness-related factors of physical functionality, severity of illness, relapse status, and stage in treatment; family context factors of parenting stress and family psychosocial risk; and within-child factors of personal resiliency. These factors were assessed among 37 children with leukemia or lymphoma, one of their caretakers (29 mothers, 7 fathers, 1 grandmother), and one of their medical care providers (14 physicians, 22 nurse practitioners, 1 physician’s assistant) through a one-time completion of questionnaires. Results revealed that several significant associations were found between child adjustment and independent variables. Specifically, the child’s age at the time of diagnosis, the time since his/her diagnosis, his/her gender, the caregiver’s stress related to parenting an ill child, and the child’s personal resiliency were each identified as factors related to child psychosocial adjustment. Directionally, children who are diagnosed at a younger age, or who have been in treatment for a longer period of time may be at risk for psychosocial adjustment difficulties. Female gender and increased frequency and difficulty of parenting stress may also be risk factors associated with maladjustment. Personal child resiliency, as measured by presence of social and emotional strengths, can be protective in terms of preventing adjustment difficulties

European Decision Could Have Killed Investment Treaties, Affecting Arbitration and Investments

A dramatic upheaval in investor-state arbitration last year recently led to the apparent demise of investment treaties throughout Europe and could have broad implications for both international arbitration and foreign investments in the European Union. In May 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union found in Achmea v. Slovak Republic that the bilateral investment treaty between the Netherlands and the Slovak Republic (a so-called intra-EU BIT) contained an arbitration clause that was incompatible with European law

A SWOT Analysis of Invasive Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus) Management in Alberta and Budapest to Guide Broader Directions

Managing invasive species is vital to preserving native species and maintaining the integrity of environments and ecological roles. Rats are one of the most prolific and intrusive invasive species that have successfully cohabitated with humans over centuries as we have expanded and advanced our societies. Thus, rats have historically been intimately tied with people, much to our chagrin. Understanding rats in all contexts, both positive and negative, is paramount for creating successful approaches to mitigation. This analysis investigates the case of the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), an intensely researched and managed species, by detailing our vast knowledge of their historically complicated relationship with people, unique characteristics, and management techniques. Despite this level of information, managers fail to eradicate R. norvegicus time and time again, with two notable land-locked exceptions: Alberta, Canada and Budapest, Hungary. These programs have been uniquely successful because their thoughtful and well-informed approaches have been effective for decades. A SWOT analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) is used to break down how these programs accomplished the impossible while providing ways for improvement. While there is plenty of information to gain and future directions to follow, it is advised that other programs take heed of Alberta and Budapest’s intricate and strongly enforced methods if they are to achieve similar levels of R. norvegicus control

Low-Mach-number turbulence in interstellar gas revealed by radio polarization gradients

The interstellar medium of the Milky Way is multi-phase, magnetized and turbulent. Turbulence in the interstellar medium produces a global cascade of random gas motions, spanning scales ranging from 100 parsecs to 1000 kilometres. Fundamental parameters of interstellar turbulence such as the sonic Mach number (the speed of sound) have been difficult to determine because observations have lacked the sensitivity and resolution to directly image the small-scale structure associated with turbulent motion. Observations of linear polarization and Faraday rotation in radio emission from the Milky Way have identified unusual polarized structures that often have no counterparts in the total radiation intensity or at other wavelengths, and whose physical significance has been unclear. Here we report that the gradient of the Stokes vector (Q,U), where Q and U are parameters describing the polarization state of radiation, provides an image of magnetized turbulence in diffuse ionized gas, manifested as a complex filamentary web of discontinuities in gas density and magnetic field. Through comparison with simulations, we demonstrate that turbulence in the warm ionized medium has a relatively low sonic Mach number, M_s <~ 2. The development of statistical tools for the analysis of polarization gradients will allow accurate determinations of the Mach number, Reynolds number and magnetic field strength in interstellar turbulence over a wide range of conditions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published in Nature on 13 Oct 201

The caregiving perspective in heart failure: a population based study

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a frequent condition in the elderly and mortality is high. This study sought to describe the profile of those providing care in the community and their needs. Methods: The South Australian Health Omnibus is an annual, random, face-to-face, cross sectional survey conducted within the state. Having standardized data to the whole population, the study describes the subset of the population who identify that they actively cared for someone at the end of life with HF in the five years before survey administration

A systematic review of non-pharmacological interventions for primary Sjögren’s syndrome

The objective of this systematic review was to assess the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for the management of primary Sjögren’s syndrome. We searched the following databases from inception to September 2014; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Medline; Embase; PsychINFO; Cinahl and clinical trials registers. We included randomised controlled trials of any non-pharmacological interventions. Two review authors independently reviewed titles and abstracts against the inclusion/exclusion criteria and independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. 1463 studies were identified of which 17 full text articles were screened and 5 studies were included in the review with a total of 130 participants randomised. The included studies investigated effectiveness of an oral lubricating device for dry mouth, acupuncture for dry mouth, lacrimal punctum plugs for dry eyes and psychodynamic group therapy for coping with symptoms. Overall the studies were of low quality and at high risk of bias. Although one study showed punctum plugs to improve dry eyes it was too small for the findings to be conclusive. Overall we identified no evidence to support any non-pharmacological interventions to improve PSS. The area needs quality large randomised controlled trials that are reported according to CONSORT guidelines and address important issues to patients