Geochemical Preservation of the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE) Event in Dolomites of the Furongian Franconia Formation in the Illinois Basin

U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Regional Carbon Sequestraion Partnership Program Contract Number DE-FC26-05NT42588Ope

Children's Evaluations of Interlocutors in Foreigner Talk Contexts

A growing literature suggests accent serves as an important social category for infants and young children. Children show early social preferences for native over non-native speakers; this tendency may lay the foundation for future accent prejudice observed in adulthood. However, children do not hear non-native accents in a vacuum. Children’s experiences with accent take place within a broader communicative context, including how others respond to non-native accents. One factor that may be of particular importance is the speech register typically associated with native speakers talking to non-native speakers, a register known as Foreigner Talk. By exploring how Foreigner Talk may be used as social information by children, we can better understand how children learn about non-native speakers. This dissertation examined how and when children (5-10-year-olds; N = 424) and adults (N = 514) use registers as social information regarding addressees and/or speakers in native/non-native speaker interactions. Study 1 investigated the role of registers (Foreigner Talk, Baby Talk, Teacher Talk, and Peer Talk) in providing social information about addressees. Study 2 investigated how social information about an addressee (appearance, language, origin) is integrated with Foreigner Talk to inform evaluations. These studies provide evidence that children’s evaluations of addressees are informed by Foreigner Talk by 5.5 years and by an integration of both Foreigner Talk and other social information after 7. Like older children, adults incorporated register and social group information into their ratings. In Studies 3a and 3b, I investigated whether children use register as social information about speakers. In Study 3a, I examined a maximal contrast (i.e., Baby Talk vs. Teacher Talk), and found children (by age 5) evaluated speakers based on their register use, giving lower ratings to speakers who used Baby Talk; after 6, they began to use addressee social group membership to inform evaluations (e.g., lower ratings for a speaker who used Baby Talk with a teacher). In Study 3b, I studied whether Foreigner Talk use informs evaluations of speakers and found that, after 7, children gave higher ratings to speakers when their register mapped onto their addressee’s social group (e.g., Foreigner Talk to a foreign peer). In contrast, adults provided lower ratings to speakers who used Foreigner Talk. Study 4 brought together the elements examined in the previous studies by asking participants to evaluate both native and non-native speakers in conversations in which Foreigner Talk was or was not used to repair communication. Children (ages 5-10) did not account for the need for communication repair or non-native accent in their ratings of interlocutors, instead providing lower ratings to both speakers and addressees when Foreigner Talk was used than when it was not. In contrast, adults only provided lower ratings to native speakers who used Foreigner Talk. Together, these studies provide a first investigation into how register is used by children to learn about others. In all studies presented here, children’s evaluations of interlocutors (speakers and addressees) were affected by register use. Furthermore, the presented studies speak to the potential social ramifications of Foreigner Talk, highlighting that children often have negative evaluations of those who are the recipients of Foreigner Talk and those who use it. This provides future avenues of research for understanding how the interactions children observe between native and non-native speakers may reinforce their biased attitudes against non-native speakers.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155151/1/dlabotka_1.pd

An investigation of sands on the uplands adjacent to the Sangamon River floodplain : possibilites as a "blend sand" resource

Ope

A Cl- cotransporter selective for NH4+ over K+ in glial cells of bee retina

There appears to be a flux of ammonium (NH4+/NH3) from neurons to glial cells in most nervous tissues. In bee retinal glial cells, NH4+/NH3 uptake is at least partly by chloride-dependant transport of the ionic form NH4+. Transmembrane transport of NH4+ has been described previously on transporters on which NH4+ replaces K+, or, more rarely, Na+ or H+, but no transport system in animal cells has been shown to be selective for NH4+ over these other ions. To see if the NH4+-Cl− cotransporter on bee retinal glial cells is selective for NH4+ over K+ we measured ammonium-induced changes in intracellular pH (pHi) in isolated bundles of glial cells using a fluorescent indicator. These changes in pHi result from transmembrane fluxes not only of NH4+, but also of NH3. To estimate transmembrane fluxes of NH4+, it was necessary to measure several parameters. Intracellular pH buffering power was found to be 12 mM. Regulatory mechanisms tended to restore intracellular [H+] after its displacement with a time constant of 3 min. Membrane permeability to NH3 was 13 μm s−1. A numerical model was used to deduce the NH4+ flux through the transporter that would account for the pHi changes induced by a 30-s application of ammonium. This flux saturated with increasing [NH4+]o; the relation was fitted with a Michaelis-Menten equation with Km ≈ 7 mM. The inhibition of NH4+ flux by extracellular K+ appeared to be competitive, with an apparent Ki of ∼15 mM. A simple standard model of the transport process satisfactorily described the pHi changes caused by various experimental manipulations when the transporter bound NH4+ with greater affinity than K+. We conclude that this transporter is functionally selective for NH4+ over K+ and that the transporter molecule probably has a greater affinity for NH4+ than for K+

The laurentian record of neoproterozoic glaciation, tectonism, and eukaryotic evolution in Death Vally, California

Neoproterozoic strata in Death Valley, California contain eukaryotic microfossils and glacial deposits that have been used to assess the severity of putative Snowball Earth events and the biological response to extreme environmental change. These successions also contain evidence for syn-sedimentary faulting that has been related to the rifting of Rodinia, and in turn the tectonic context of the onset of Snowball Earth. These interpretations hinge on local geological relationships and both regional and global stratigraphic correlations. Here we present new geological mapping, measured stratigraphic sections, carbon and strontium isotope chemostratigraphy, and micropaleontology from the Neoproterozoic glacial deposits and bounding strata in Death Valley. These new data enable us to refine regional correlations both across Death Valley and throughout Laurentia, and construct a new age model for glaciogenic strata and microfossil assemblages. Particularly, our remapping of the Kingston Peak Formation in the Saddle Peak Hills and near the type locality shows for the first time that glacial deposits of both the Marinoan and Sturtian glaciations can be distinguished in southeastern Death Valley, and that beds containing vase-shaped microfossils are slump blocks derived from the underlying strata. These slump blocks are associated with multiple overlapping unconformities that developed during syn-sedimentary faulting, which is a common feature of Cyrogenian strata along the margin of Laurentia from California to Alaska. With these data, we conclude that all of the microfossils that have been described to date in Neoproterozoic strata of Death Valley predate the glaciations and do not bear on the severity, extent or duration of Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth events

Deepening responses associated with improved progression-free survival with ixazomib versus placebo as posttransplant maintenance in multiple myeloma

n/

Quality of life and symptoms among patients with relapsed/refractory AL amyloidosis treated with ixazomib-dexamethasone versus physician's choice

Patient-reported outcomes in AL amyloidosis have not been well-studied. We analyzed health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and AL amyloidosis symptoms data from the phase 3 TOURMALINE-AL1 trial (NCT01659658) (ixazomib-dexamethasone, n = 85; physician's choice of chemotherapy [PC], n = 83). HRQOL and symptom burden were measured with the SF-36v2, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group Neurotoxicity subscale (FACT/GOG-Ntx), and an amyloidosis symptom questionnaire (ASQ). Score changes during treatment were analyzed descriptively and using repeated-measures linear mixed models; analyses were not adjusted for multiplicity. Least-squares (LS) mean changes from baseline were significantly higher (better HRQOL) for ixazomib-dexamethasone at several cycles for SF-36v2 Role Physical and Vitality subscales (p <.05); no subscales demonstrated significant differences favoring PC. For FACT/GOG-Ntx, small but significant differences in LS mean changes favored ixazomib-dexamethasone over PC at multiple cycles for seven items and both summary scores; significant differences favored PC for one item (trouble hearing) at multiple cycles. ASQ total score trended downward (lower burden) in both arms; significant LS mean differences favored ixazomib-dexamethasone over PC at some cycles (p <.05). Patients with relapsed/refractory AL amyloidosis treated with ixazomib-dexamethasone experienced HRQOL and symptoms that were similar to or trended better than patients treated with PC despite longer duration of therapy