An efficient communication analysis of morpho-syntactic grammatical features

Grammatical features vary widely across languages and thisvariation has been studied in detail. The functions of gram-matical features, however, are not entirely clear and a numberof puzzles remain. For example, why do some languages haverich feature inventories but others have few if any grammaticalfeatures? Why do many languages have features that appearto encode semantic information (e.g. animacy) that is alreadyknown to the listener? We present a computational frameworkthat addresses questions like these by formalizing one way inwhich grammatical features aid communication. We use themodel to illustrate how morpho-syntactic feature inventorieshelp to solve the problem of communicating semantic struc-tures under cognitive pressures

Grammatical marking and the tradeoff between code length and informativeness

Functionalist accounts of language suggest that formsare paired with meanings in ways that support efficientcommunication. Previous work on grammatical markingsuggests that word forms have lengths that enable efficientproduction, and previous work on the semantic typologyof the lexicon suggests that word meanings representefficient partitions of semantic space. Here we consider anintegrated information-theoretic framework that captures howcommunicative pressures influence both form and meaning.We take tense systems as a case study, and show how theframework explains both which tense systems are attestedacross languages and the length asymmetries of the forms inthose systems

Policies for capacity development

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The forms and meanings of grammatical markers support efficient communication

Functionalist accounts of language suggest that forms are paired with meanings in ways that support efficient communication. Previous work on grammatical marking suggests that word forms have lengths that enable efficient production, and work on the semantic typology of the lexicon suggests that word meanings represent efficient partitions of semantic space. Here we establish a theoretical link between these two lines of work and present an information-theoretic analysis that captures how communicative pressures influence both form and meaning. We apply our approach to the grammatical features of number, tense, and evidentiality and show that the approach explains both which systems of feature values are attested across languages and the relative lengths of the forms for those feature values. Our approach shows that general information-theoretic principles can capture variation in both form and meaning across languages

Elevated Blood Lead Concentrations and Vitamin D Deficiency in Winter and Summer in Young Urban Children

BACKGROUND: It is widely recognized that blood lead concentrations are higher in the summer than in winter. Although the effects of some environmental factors such as lead in dust on this phenomenon have been studied, relationships to sunlight-induced vitamin D synthesis have not been adequately investigated. Vitamin D status is influenced by the diet, sunlight exposure, age, skin pigmentation, and other factors, and may modify gastrointestinal lead absorption or release of lead stored in bones into the bloodstream. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: We collected paired blood samples from 142 young, urban African-American and Hispanic children in the winter and summer to study the seasonal increase in blood lead and its relationships to vitamin D nutrition, age, and race. RESULTS: A winter/summer (W/S) increase in blood lead concentrations of 32.4% was found for children 1–3 years of age. There was a smaller W/S increase of 13.0% in children 4–8 years of age. None of the 51 Hispanic children had an elevated blood lead concentration (≥ 10 μg/dL) during the winter, and only one had an elevated summertime concentration. In contrast, elevated blood lead concentrations were frequent in the 91 African-American children, especially those 1–3 years of age. For the latter, the percentage with elevated blood lead levels increased from 12.2% in winter to 22.5% in summer. A 1.2% W/S increase in serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (serum 25-OH-D) concentrations was found for children 1–3 years of age. However, in children 4–8 years of age the W/S increase in serum 25-OH-D was much larger—33.6%. The percentages of children with low (< 16 μg/L) serum 25-OH-D concentrations were 12.0% in winter and 0.7% in summer and were consistently greater in African-American than in Hispanic children. The seasonal increases in blood lead and serum 25-OH-D in children 4–8 years of age were significantly associated. CONCLUSION: The higher summertime serum 25-OH-D concentrations for the 4- to 8-year-old children are likely caused by increased sunlight-induced vitamin D synthesis and may contribute to the seasonal increase in blood lead. Age and race are key factors that affect blood lead and vitamin D nutrition, as well as their interactions, in young urban children

Bone mineral density and content during weight cycling in female rats: effects of dietary amylase-resistant starch

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although there is considerable evidence for a loss of bone mass with weight loss, the few human studies on the relationship between weight cycling and bone mass or density have differing results. Further, very few studies assessed the role of dietary composition on bone mass during weight cycling. The primary objective of this study was to determine if a diet high in amylase-resistant starch (RS₂), which has been shown to increase absorption and balance of dietary minerals, can prevent or reduce loss of bone mass during weight cycling.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (n = 84, age = 20 weeks) were randomly assigned to one of 6 treatment groups with 14 rats per group using a 2 × 3 experimental design with 2 diets and 3 weight cycling protocols. Rats were fed calcium-deficient diets without RS₂(controls) or diets high in RS₂(18% by weight) throughout the 21-week study. The weight cycling protocols were weight maintenance/gain with no weight cycling, 1 round of weight cycling, or 2 rounds of weight cycling. After the rats were euthanized bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) of femur were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, and concentrations of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc in femur and lumbar vertebrae were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rats undergoing weight cycling had lower femur BMC (p < 0.05) and marginally lower BMD (p = 0.09) than rats not undergoing weight cycling. In comparison to controls, rats fed RS₂had higher femur BMD (p < 0.01) and BMC (p < 0.05), as well as higher values for BMD and BMC measured at the distal end (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01) and femoral neck (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05). Consistent with these findings, RS₂-fed rats also had higher femur calcium (p < 0.05) and magnesium (p < 0.0001) concentrations. They also had higher lumbar vertebrae calcium (p < 0.05) and magnesium (p < 0.05) concentrations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Weight cycling reduces bone mass. A diet high in RS₂can minimize loss of bone mass during weight cycling and may increase bone mass in the absence of weight cycling.</p

What makes you not a Buddhist? : a preliminary mapping of values

This study sets out to establish which Buddhist values contrasted with or were shared by adolescents from a non-Buddhist population. A survey of attitude toward a variety of Buddhist values was fielded in a sample of 352 non-Buddhist schoolchildren aged between 13 and 15 in London. Buddhist values where attitudes were least positive concerned the worth of being a monk/nun or meditating, offering candles & incense on the Buddhist shrine, friendship on Sangha Day, avoiding drinking alcohol, seeing the world as empty or impermanent and Nirvana as the ultimate peace. Buddhist values most closely shared by non-Buddhists concerned the Law of Karma, calming the mind, respecting those deserving of respect, subjectivity of happiness, welfare work, looking after parents in old age and compassion to cuddly animals. Further significant differences of attitude toward Buddhism were found in partial correlations with the independent variables of sex, age and religious affiliation. Correlation patterns paralleled those previously described in theistic religions. Findings are applied to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and for the teaching of religious to pupils of no faith adherence. The study recommends that quantitative psychometrics employed to conceptualize Buddhist values by discriminant validity in this study could be extended usefully to other aspects of the study of Buddhism, particularly in quest of validity in the conceptualization of Buddhist identity within specifically Buddhist populations

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Rifampin Resistance, United Kingdom

A national diagnostic service identified M. tuberculosis and rifampin resistance in primary clinical specimens faster than conventional techniques

Thinking like a fish: a key ingredient for development of effective fish passage facilities at river obstructions

Worldwide, obstructions on watercourses have interfered with migratory pathways of fish species, reducing life‐cycle success and often eliminating diadromous fish species altogether from river basins. Over the last century, efforts to mitigate these effects were initially directed at developing fishways for upstream, high‐value migrant adult salmon. In more recent years, efforts have turned to developing fishways for other species. Results of past research suggest that the development of effective fishways requires biological knowledge of fish behaviour when encountering variable flows, velocity and turbulence, combined with hydraulic and civil engineering knowledge and expertise to develop facilities that provide ppropriate hydraulic conditions that fish will exploit. Further, it often requires substantial financial resources for biological and hydraulic testing as well as engineering design, particularly where prior knowledge of the behaviour of target fish species does not exist. Where biological or engineering knowledge (or both) is absent, development of effective passage facilities must take on a trial and error approach that will almost certainly require years to attain success. Evaluations of existing adult and juvenile fish passage facilities, where they have been carried out, suggest that migrant fish reject areas with hydraulic conditions they determine unsuitable. Even well designed fish ladders or nature‐like bypass channels for upstream migrants, even those with good attraction flows, will fail if incorrectly sited. Although progress has been made, developing successful installations for downstream migrants remains much more difficult, probably because downstream fish move with the flow and have less time to assess cues at entrances to any bypasses that they encounter