Investigating Profiles of Lexical Quality in Preschool and Their Contribution to First Grade Reading

This longitudinal study investigated profiles of lexical quality domains in preschool children and the extent to which profile membership predicted reading comprehension in first grade. A latent profile analysis was conducted to classify 420 preschool children on lexical quality domains, including orthography, phonology, morphosyntax, and vocabulary. Regression analysis was used to determine whether profile membership was associated with first grade outcomes across reading comprehension and its components (i.e., listening comprehension and word recognition). Results revealed five profiles of lexical quality which were predictive of all three outcomes in first grade. Children in low lexical quality profiles performed more poorly on the outcome measures than children in the higher lexical quality profiles. Additionally, profile membership did differentially predict later reading outcomes. These results suggest that lexical quality profiles are associated with reading and therefore may offer a means of early identification of children who are susceptible to future reading difficulties

Lexical-Level Predictors of Reading Comprehension in Third Grade: Is Spelling a Unique Contributor?

Purpose: Considerable research effort has focused on understanding reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties. The purpose of this correlational study was to add to the small but growing body of literature on the role that spelling may play in reading comprehension, by investigating the full range of lexical-level literacy skills and whether spelling makes a unique contribution. This study also explored whether these relations vary with the spelling scoring metric. Method: Data were collected from 63 children attending Grade 3 in a Midwestern state. In addition to measuring reading comprehension, word recognition, and vocabulary, 4 spelling scoring metrics were examined: the number of words spelled correctly, the number of correct letter sequences (CLS), and Spelling Sensitivity Scores for elements and for words. Results: All spelling metrics were significantly correlated with reading comprehension. Results of hierarchical regressions showed that spelling was a significant, unique predictor of reading comprehension when the CLS metric was used. The scoring metrics were differentially related to reading comprehension. Metrics that gave credit based on orthographic precision only (number of words spelled correctly and CLS) were more highly related to reading comprehension than metrics that scored not only on orthographic accuracy but also on phonological and morphological accuracy (Spelling Sensitivity Scores for elements and for words). Conclusion: These results indicate that spelling is related to reading comprehension and have theoretical and clinical implications for the use of spelling assessment

Demystifying Research: Accessing & Understanding Evidence for Clinical Practice

The demands on clinicians for evidence-based practice (EBP) are great. However, many speech-language pathologists have received little to no training in how to ‘do’ EBP. In this presentation, we aim to describe and provide practical suggestions for two of the steps in EBP—accessing, then reading and interpreting research to inform clinical decision-making. Our goal is to give clinicians the tools and confidence they need to grow into expert clinicians. Learner Outcome 1: Describe the components of evidence-based practice (EBP) Learner Outcome 2: Identify ways to access research Learner Outcome 3: Identify steps in reading and evaluating the quality of a research articl

The effects of orbital precession on tropical precipitation: Mechanisms controlling precipitation changes over land and ocean

The tropical precipitation response to precessional forcing is investigated using idealized precession experiments from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Coupled Model version 2.1 and mid-Holocene experiments from ten general circulation models participating in the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project Phase III. Both sets of experiments show a seasonal land-ocean asymmetry in the tropical precipitation response: precipitation increases over land and decreases over ocean in the season with increased insolation and the opposite is true in the season with decreased insolation. This response is examined using a framework that describes how changes in net top-of-atmosphere radiation affect the atmosphere and surface energy balances. Over land, surface energy storage is small and changes in precipitation are balanced by changes in moist static energy flux divergence. Over ocean, surface energy storage is large, moist static energy flux divergence is small, and changes in precipitation are ultimately driven by changes in circulation and atmospheric stability

Predicting Language Performance from Narrative Language Samples

Purpose: Analysis of narrative language samples is a recommended clinical practice in the assessment of children’s language skills, but we know little about how results from such analyses relate to overall oral language ability across the early school years. We examined the relations between language sample metrics from a short narrative retell, collected in kindergarten, and an oral language factor in grades kindergarten through 3. Our specific questions were to determine the extent to which metrics from narrative language sample analysis are concurrently related to language in kindergarten and predict language through Grade 3. Method: Participants were a sample of 284 children who were administered a narrative retell task in kindergarten and a battery of vocabulary and grammar measures in kindergarten through Grade 3. Language samples were analyzed for number of different words, mean length of utterance, and a relatively new metric, percent grammatical utterances (PGUs). Structural equation models were used to estimate the concurrent and longitudinal relationships. Results: The narrative language sample metrics were consistently correlated with the individual vocabulary and grammar measures as well as the language factor in each grade, and also consistently and uniquely predicted the language factor in each grade. Standardized path estimates in the structural equation models ranged from 0.20 to 0.39. Conclusions: This study found narrative language sample metrics to be predictive, concurrently and longitudinally, of a latent factor of language from kindergarten through Grade 3. These results further validate the importance of collecting and analyzing narrative language samples, to include PGU along with more traditional metrics, and point to directions for future research

Observation of playa salts as nuclei in orographic wave clouds

During the Ice in Clouds Experiment-Layer Clouds (ICE-L), dry lakebed, or playa, salts from the Great Basin region of the United States were observed as cloud nuclei in orographic wave clouds over Wyoming. Using a counterflow virtual impactor in series with a single-particle mass spectrometer, sodium-potassium-magnesium-calcium-chloride salts were identified as residues of cloud droplets. Importantly, these salts produced similar mass spectral signatures to playa salts with elevated cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) efficiencies close to sea salt. Using a suite of chemical characterization instrumentation, the playa salts were observed to be internally mixed with oxidized organics, presumably produced by cloud processing, as well as carbonate. These salt particles were enriched as residues of large droplets (>19 μm) compared to smaller droplets (>7 μm). In addition, a small fraction of silicate-containing playa salts were hypothesized to be important in the observed heterogeneous ice nucleation processes. While the high CCN activity of sea salt has been demonstrated to play an important role in cloud formation in marine environments, this study provides direct evidence of the importance of playa salts in cloud formation in continental North America has not been shown previously. Studies are needed to model and quantify the impact of playas on climate globally, particularly because of the abundance of playas and expected increases in the frequency and intensity of dust storms in the future due to climate and land use changes

Torsional Sensor Applications in Two-Phase Fluids

A solid corrosion-resistant torsional waveguide of diamond cross section has been developed to sense on-line and in real-time the characteristics of the liquid in which it is submerged. The sensor can measure, among other things, the liquid content of a bubbly medium; the density of adjacent pure liquids; the equivalent density of liquid-vapor mixtures or particulate suspensions; a suspension\u27s concentration; and the liquid level. The sensor exploits the phenomenon that the speed of propagation of a torsional stress wave in a submerged waveguide with a noncircular cross section is inversely proportional to the equivalent density of the liquid in which the waveguide is submerged. The sensor may be used to conduct measurements along distances ranging from 20 mm to 20 m and over a wide range of temperatures and pressures, e.g., from the cryogenic temperature of liquid nitrogen, -196°C, up to hot pressurized water at 300°C and 7 MPa. A self-calibrating three-zone sensor and associated electronics have also been developed to compensate for any sensor inaccuracies due to operation over a wide range of temperature. In some of the water experiments at room temperature, unexpected attenuation of the guided torsional waves was observed. This excess attenuation depends in part on the waveguide\u27s surface finish. It appears to be caused by air microbubbles adhering to the waveguide, imposing one of the practical limits on the maximum sensor length in nondegassed or aerated water

A Bitter Taste Receptor as a Novel Molecular Target on Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) execute diverse and complex functions in cancer progression. While reprogramming the crosstalk between CAFs and cancer epithelial cells is a promising avenue to evade the adverse effects of stromal depletion, drugs are limited by their suboptimal pharmacokinetics and off-target effects. Thus, there is a need to elucidate CAF-selective cell surface markers that can improve drug delivery and efficacy. Here, functional proteomic pulldown with mass spectrometry was used to identify taste receptor type 2 member 9 (TAS2R9) as a CAF target. TAS2R9 target characterization included binding assays, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and database mining. Liposomes conjugated to a TAS2R9-specific peptide were generated, characterized, and compared to naked liposomes in a murine pancreatic xenograft model. Proof-of-concept drug delivery experiments demonstrate that TAS2R9-targeted liposomes bind with high specificity to TAS2R9 recombinant protein and exhibit stromal colocalization in a pancreatic cancer xenograft model. Furthermore, the delivery of a CXCR2 inhibitor by TAS2R9-targeted liposomes significantly reduced cancer cell proliferation and constrained tumor growth through the inhibition of the CXCL-CXCR2 axis. Taken together, TAS2R9 is a novel cell-surface CAF-selective target that can be leveraged to facilitate small-molecule drug delivery to CAFs, paving the way for new stromal therapies