Temporal order processing of syllables in the left parietal lobe

Speech processing requires the temporal parsing of syllable order. Individuals suffering from posterior left hemisphere brain injury often exhibit temporal processing deficits as well as language deficits. Although the right posterior inferior parietal lobe has been implicated in temporal order judgments (TOJs) of visual information, there is limited evidence to support the role of the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) in processing syllable order. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the left inferior parietal lobe is recruited during temporal order judgments of speech stimuli. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected on 14 normal participants while they completed the following forced-choice tasks: (1) syllable order of multisyllabic pseudowords, (2) syllable identification of single syllables, and (3) gender identification of both multisyllabic and monosyllabic speech stimuli. Results revealed increased neural recruitment in the left inferior parietal lobe when participants made judgments about syllable order compared with both syllable identification and gender identification. These findings suggest that the left inferior parietal lobe plays an important role in processing syllable order and support the hypothesized role of this region as an interface between auditory speech and the articulatory code. Furthermore, a breakdown in this interface may explain some components of the speech deficits observed after posterior damage to the left hemisphere

Technology and Australia's Future: New technologies and their role in Australia's security, cultural, democratic, social and economic systems

Chapter 1. Introducing technology -- Chapter 2. The shaping of technology -- Chapter 3. Prediction of future technologies -- Chapter 4. The impacts of technology -- Chapter 5. Meanings, attitudes and behaviour -- Chapter 6. Evaluation -- Chapter 7. Intervention -- Conclusion - adapt or wither.This report was commisioned by Australian Council of Learned Academies

Global standardization or national differentiation of HRM practices in multinational companies? A comparison of multinationals in five countries

Drawing on a dataset constructed from a parallel series of nationally representative surveys of multinational companies (MNCs), we compare the performance management (PM) practices of MNCs in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Spain, Denmark and Norway. In each country we analyze data relating to MNCs from that country and of the foreign affiliates of US MNCs. We argue that there is evidence of standardization in the nature of practices across countries, particularly evident in the analysis of US MNCs. Standardization of practices among MNCs is also evident in the rather limited variation in practices between US and indigenous MNCs within each country. Moreover, even where there is evidence of variation across and within countries, this cannot be fully explained by adaptation to local institutional constraints but rather can be seen as the product of how distinct national contexts can promote the take-up of practices.The project was supported by a number of funding bodies and research centres: Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (the SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiatives, Initiatives on the New Economy and International Opportunities Fund), the Fonds québécois de recherché sur la société et la culture (Équipes and Regroupements stratégiques), the Canada Research Chair on Globalization and Work, the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT); Ireland’s Labour Relations Commission, the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Limerick Research Office; Spain’s Ministries of Education and Science (Ref. SEJ2007-03096, Award 01/0010/2006) and Science and Innovation (Ref: ECO2009-10287), the Directorate-General for Scientific Investigation of the Madrid region (Award 06/0009/2000), the BBVA Foundation (Ref. 216/06), the Autonomous University of Madrid/Banco Santander (Ref: CEAL-AL/2011-28), IESE Business School; the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (Awards RES-000-23-0305 and RES-062-23-2080); Danish Research Council for Independent Research (FSE) (Ref. 275-09-0146); and the European Commission’s International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (FP7 IRSES-GA-2008-230854 – INTREPID

Assessing Readiness for Clinical Practice: Students’ Perspectives of their Veterinary Curriculum

Studies describing the effectiveness of a veterinary curriculum from the student perspective are currently sparse. The overall purpose of this investigation was to describe students’ perceived preparedness for clinical practice. Three focus group meetings with fourth year veterinary students were conducted. Data were open-coded and categorized to identify themes. Four main themes emerged: Challenging communications, Un/appreciating curricular experiences, Documenting demands impede case involvement, and Hungering for timely, effective feedback. Overall students felt comfortable talking to clients about medicine but less comfortable discussing euthanasia or money; they appreciated the split clinical curriculum but questioned the value of the 1st/2nd year courses; they felt that paperwork on clinical rotations negatively impacted patient involvement; expressed the need for well-defined expectations regarding grading/assessment and autonomy on clinical rotations. Despite the reported issues, students expressed satisfaction with the split curriculum and readiness to enter their chosen field of study

TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF MECHANICAL TREATMENT ON WINTER MOOSE BROWSE IN SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA

Sites containing winter browse species utilized by moose on the Copper River Delta of south-central Alaska were mechanically treated (hydraulic-axed) to counteract possible earthquake-related increases in less-preferred forage species, and to measure treatment effects on biomass, height, nutritional quality (crude protein, lignin, and tannin), utilization, and snow burial on preferred (willow [Salix spp.]) and less-preferred forage species (sweetgale [Myrica gale], cottonwood [Populus trichocarpa], and alder [Alnus viridis sinuata]) within 3 winter scenarios (mild, moderate, and severe). Sites were treated in 4 winters (1990–1992, 2008, 2010, and 2012) within 5 stand types in 20 sites varying from 0.9–63.4 ha. We found few significant differences in biomass, height, nutritional quality, utilization, and snow burial relative to controls. However, our ability to detect differences may have been limited by sample size (n = 1–9), as visual comparison suggests hydraulic-axing may be an effective method for increasing willow biomass while reducing alder biomass without influencing nutritional quality. However, because treated willows were shorter than untreated willows, treatment may result in less preferred forage for moose in severe winters with deep snow. Our results have implications for habitat management of moose but further research is needed to determine incremental and long-term effects of treatment on willow growth and productivity

El despertar de un consumo consciente en la moda

El movimiento Fast Fashion, comprar más usar menos, ha llevado a la industria textil a ser una de las más contaminantes del planet

Causes and Consequences of Timing Errors Associated With Global Positioning System Collar Accelerometer Activity Monitors

Direct behavioral observations of multiple free-ranging animals over long periods of time and large geographic areas is prohibitively difficult. However, recent improvements in technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) collars equipped with motion-sensitive activity monitors, create the potential to remotely monitor animal behavior. Accelerometer-equipped activity monitors quantify animal motion with different amounts of movement presumably corresponding to different animal activities. Variations in motion among species and differences in collar design necessitate calibration for each collar and species of interest. We paired activity monitor data collected using Lotek GPS_4400 collars worn by captive Rocky Mountain elk Cervus elaphus nelsoni with simultaneously collected behavior observations. During our initial data screening, we observed many sampling intervals of directly observed behavior that did not pair to activity monitor data in a logical fashion. For example, intervals containing behaviors associated with little or no motion sometimes aligned with relatively high activity monitor values. These misalignments, due to errors associated with collar timekeeping mechanisms, would likely result in inaccurate classification models. We corrected timing errors by using defined breaks in animal behavior to shift times given by collar output, improving the average correct classification rate 61.7 percentage points for specific behaviors. Furthermore, timing errors were significantly reduced by increasing the GPS fix rate, by using a sampling interval divisible by 8 seconds, and by accurately timing the initial collar activation. Awareness and management of collar timing error will enable users to obtain the best possible estimates of true behavior when calibrating these collars and interpreting data from free-ranging animals.Keywords: GPS collars, Accelerometers, Behavior tracking, Elk, Activity monitors, Timing error

Perinatal bisphenol A exposure promotes hyperactivity, lean body composition, and hormonal responses across the murine life course

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154296/1/fsb2027004047.pd

Environmental Exposures during Puberty: Window of Breast Cancer Risk and Epigenetic Damage.

During puberty, a woman's breasts are vulnerable to environmental damage ("window of vulnerability"). Early exposure to environmental carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and unhealthy foods (refined sugar, processed fats, food additives) are hypothesized to promote molecular damage that increases breast cancer risk. However, prospective human studies are difficult to perform and effective interventions to prevent these early exposures are lacking. It is difficult to prevent environmental exposures during puberty. Specifically, young women are repeatedly exposed to media messaging that promotes unhealthy foods. Young women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods experience additional challenges including a lack of access to healthy food and exposure to contaminated air, water, and soil. The purpose of this review is to gather information on potential exposures during puberty. In future directions, this information will be used to help elementary/middle-school girls to identify and quantitate environmental exposures and develop cost-effective strategies to reduce exposures

Choosing Sampling Interval Durations for Remotely Classifying Rocky Mountain Elk Behavior

Dual-axis accelerometer global positioning system collars can be used to remotely record the activity level and behavior of free-ranging animals, but inter- and intraspecific variations in motion among behaviors necessitate calibration for each species of interest. To date, little work has been done to determine the best duration for sampling intervals when using activity monitors that incorporate dual-axis accelerometers. However, we expected that the duration of behaviors relative to the duration of sampling intervals could affect the accuracy of calibration and behavior classification models. Furthermore, we considered the potential effect of winter diet supplementation (hay) on behavior classification. We used Lotek 4500 global positioning system collars featuring dual-axis accelerometer activity monitors to collect data for calibration and classification trials on Rocky Mountain elk Cervus elaphus nelsoni. We used discriminant function model structures to determine the number of accurately classifiable behaviors that could be derived from data sampled over three sampling interval durations (5 min, 152 s, and 64 s) while also considering the potential effect of hay supplementation on classification. Our results suggest that investigators should ascertain whether their focal elk herd accesses or might access supplemental hay before deployment and analysis of activity sensor data. Similarly, researchers must weigh priorities when choosing a sampling interval, because no optimal solution emerged from our investigation. For example, of our acceptable models, only those constructed using 64-s intervals were able to distinguish short bouts of running. However, only models constructed with 5-min intervals accurately classified browsing while also maximizing the number of behaviors identified.Keywords: collar, accelerometer, elk, Cervus elaphus nelsoni, Starkey, sampling interval, behavior