Individual Versus Small Group Treatment of Morphological Errors for Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose: This study examines the effects of enhanced conversational recast for treating morphological errors in preschoolers with developmental language disorder. The study assesses the effectiveness of this treatment in an individual or group (n = 2) setting and the possible benefits of exposing a child to his or her partner's treatment target in addition to his or her own. Method: Twenty children were assigned to either an individual (n = 10) or group (n = 10, 2 per group) condition. Each child received treatment for 1 morpheme (the target morpheme) for approximately 5 weeks. Children in the group condition had a different target from their treatment partner. Pretreatment and end treatment probes were used to compare correct usage of the target morpheme and a control morpheme. For children in the group condition, the correct usage of their treatment partner's target morpheme was also examined. Results: Significant treatment effects occurred for both treatment conditions only for morphemes treated directly (target morpheme). There was no statistically significant difference between the treatment conditions at the end of treatment or at follow-up. Children receiving group treatment did not demonstrate significant gains in producing their partner's target despite hearing the target modeled during treatment. Conclusions: This study provides the evidence base for enhanced conversational recast treatment in a small group setting, a treatment used frequently in school settings. Results indicate the importance of either attention to the recast or expressive practice (or both) to produce gains with this treatment.acceptedVersio

Silt curtains - a review of their role in dredging projects

As environmental mitigation associated with dredging and marine construction activities becomes ever more a focus of attention, the use of silt curtains to contain fine material locally to the dredging operation has increased. A silt curtain is typically simple in design, comprising of a geo-textile sheet attached to floats that are weighed down to the sea floor and anchored in place. The expected result is to prevent the transport of sediment out of the work site and into the surrounding environment. However, few documents exist that consolidate the current understanding of the use of curtains and the controlling factors associated with the deployment of them, including consideration of their purpose, design, development and limitations. A cynic’s view is that silt curtains are often installed to comply with regulatory constraints and may offer limited practical value, especially when they are left unmaintained. Poor understanding of silt curtain design and limitations often means they are installed in unsuitable environments, resulting in unsatisfactory performance. Critically, once a curtain is installed; without good management and regular maintenance, the geo-textile will often perish leading to a significant reduction in its effectiveness. Different installation methods exist along with multiple configurations; consideration of the environmental conditions should be made prior to the design and installation of a silt curtain. This paper will consider a range of parameters that affect the effectiveness of silt curtains

Warped accretion discs and the long periods in X-ray binaries

Precessing accretion discs have long been suggested as explanations for the long periods observed in a variety of X-ray binaries, most notably Her X-1/HZ Her. We show that an instability of the disc's response to the radiation reaction force from the illumination by the central source can cause the disc to tilt out of the orbital plane and precess in something like the required manner. The rate of precession and disc tilt obtained for realistic values of system parameters compare favourably with the known body of data on X-ray binaries with long periods. We explore other possible types of behaviour than steadily precessing discs that might be observable in systems with somewhat different parameters. At high luminosities, the inner disc tilts through more than 90 degrees, i.e. it rotates counter to the usual direction, which may explain the torque reversals in systems such as 4U 1626-67.Comment: submitted to MNRAS, 17-Dec-97, revised submit 2-Nov-98. 15 pages LaTeX, 11 postscript figures in-tex

Neutrons from multiplicity-selected Au-Au collisions at 150, 250, 400, and 650 AMeV

We measured neutron triple-differential cross sections from multiplicity-selected Au-Au collisions at 150, 250, 400, and 650 \AMeV. The reaction plane for each collision was estimated from the summed transverse velocity vector of the charged fragments emitted in the collision. We examined the azimuthal distribution of the triple-differential cross sections as a function of the polar angle and the neutron rapidity. We extracted the average in--plane transverse momentum $\langle P_x\rangle$ and the normalized observable $\langle P_x/P_\perp\rangle$, where $P_\perp$ is the neutron transverse momentum, as a function of the neutron center-of-mass rapidity, and we examined the dependence of these observables on beam energy. These collective flow observables for neutrons, which are consistent with those of protons plus bound nucleons from the Plastic Ball Group, agree with the Boltzmann--Uehling--Uhlenbeck (BUU) calculations with a momentum--dependent interaction. Also, we calculated the polar-angle-integrated maximum azimuthal anisotropy ratio R from the value of $\langle P_x/P_\perp\rangle$.Comment: 20 LaTeX pages. 11 figures to be faxed on request, send email to sender's addres

Soils and palaeo-climate based evidence for irrigation requirements in Norse Greenland

Establishing and sustaining agricultural production was a key factor in the success of Norse settlements during the landnám colonisation across the North Atlantic. In light of the occurrence of channel features in several abandoned home-field areas of the Norse Eastern Settlement of Greenland, and the irrigation requirements of present-day Greenlandic sheep-farmers questions are raised: was irrigation used by the Norse settlers of Greenland on their home-field areas? and, if so, how frequently? Modelling of soil chemical, physical and soil-water hydraulic properties integrated with contemporary high-resolution climatic data demonstrate a frequent requirement for irrigation. Soil moisture deficits are related to the duration and intensity of winter temperature. Using the winter Dye 3 ice core δ18O record as a climatic proxy, the frequency of moisture deficits, based on comparing mean winter temperatures, indicates that there was a frequent irrigation requirement to maintain home-field productivity, increasing throughout the period of settlement until the 14th Century

The Effect of Exemplar Variability in the Treatment of Functional Speech Sound Disorders

Purpose: This study examined the effect of high- vs. low-exemplar variability practice in the treatment of functional speech sound disorders in children. Method: Sixteen children with dual diagnoses of functional speech sound disorders and developmental language disorder received treatment for their speech sound errors. Treatment targeted a singleton speech sound in word-initial position, five-days per week during a six-week summer language program. Half of the children practiced their speech sound target in 24 unique words (high-exemplar variability practice condition) and the other half practiced production of their speech sound target in six unique words repeated four times each (low-exemplar variability practice condition). Generalization probes were used to measure speech sound target learning. Results: Both the high-variability and low-variability conditions produced significant change in the children’s use of their speech sound target posttreatment. No statistical difference was found between conditions; however, the low-variability condition evidenced slightly larger gains. Conclusion: Differences in exemplar variability practice did not significantly influence treatment outcomes for children with functional speech sound disorders. Daily treatment sessions of short duration are a viable service-delivery model for the treatment of functional speech sound disorders

The use of scrip dividends by UK companies

A UK company may give its shareholders the option to elect to receive additional shares in the company in lieu of a cash dividend. The share alternative is referred to as a scrip dividend. Scrip dividends offer tax savings to some UK companies, and may be beneficial to certain shareholders. The type of company that can benefit from scrip dividends is one that has structural surplus advance corporation tax (ACT). This may arise because the company distributes either foreign source profits or preference income (income that is subject to tax). There has been a decline in the number of companies with structural surplus ACT over the past ten years. This has been largely due to the reduction of preference income following the Finance Act of 1984. On the basis of the analysis presented in the paper it is expected that companies with structural surplus ACT will offer scrip dividends and, as the number of companies in this position has declined over the past decade, there will be a reduction in the number of companies offering scrip dividends. A company without structural surplus ACT obtains a timing benefit rather than a tax savings by offering scrip dividends. As there are costs in offering scrip dividends, it is expected that companies without structural surplus ACT will not offer scrip dividends. The results of the study show that the scrip dividends became popular amongst UK companies when fewer companies had preference income as the effect of the Finance Act of 1984. Also, contrary to expectations, companies without structural surplus ACT offer scrip dividends. Possible explanations for these results are discussed in the paper. The tax rules on scrip dividends make a scrip dividend equivalent to the value of the net cash dividend unattractive to some groups of shareholders. It is therefore expected that the take-up of the scrip alternative will be low. This is confirmed by the results of the stud

Associations of individual, household and environmental characteristics with carbon dioxide emissions from motorised passenger travel

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motorised travel are hypothesised to be associated with individual, household, spatial and other environmental factors. Little robust evidence exists on who contributes most (and least) to travel CO2 and, in particular, the factors influencing commuting, business, shopping and social travel CO2. This paper examines whether and how demographic, socio-economic and other personal and environmental characteristics are associated with land-based passenger transport and associated CO2 emissions. Primary data were collected from 3474 adults using a newly developed survey instrument in the iConnect study in the UK. The participants reported their past-week travel activity and vehicle characteristics from which CO2 emissions were derived using an adapted travel emissions profiling method. Multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses were used to examine what characteristics predicted higher CO2 emissions. CO2 emissions from motorised travel were distributed highly unequally, with the top fifth of participants producing more than two fifth of emissions. Car travel dominated overall CO2 emissions, making up 90% of the total. The strongest independent predictors of CO2 emissions were owning at least one car, being in full-time employment and having a home-work distance of more than 10 km. Income, education and tenure were also strong univariable predictors of CO2 emissions, but seemed to be further back on the causal pathway than having a car. Male gender, late-middle age, living in a rural area and having access to a bicycle also showed significant but weaker associations with emissions production. The findings may help inform the development of climate change mitigation policies for the transport sector. Targeting individuals and households with high car ownership, focussing on providing viable alternatives to commuting by car, and supporting planning and other policies that reduce commuting distances may provide an equitable and efficient approach to meeting carbon mitigation targets