Contrasting L1 profiles through early orthographic and phonological processing of written English

Reading is fundamental to everyday life and can appear automatic and effortless, but this seemingly simple skill involves complex interactions between neural networks within ~200ms of seeing a word. While a wealth of work has investigated when and how orthography and phonology interact during visual word recognition (VWR), much is still unclear about such early native language (L1) processing and significantly more so when considering reading a second language (L2). To investigate this, monolingual English participants (native, alphabetic L1), late bilingual Spanish-English participants (non-native, alphabetic L1), and late bilingual Chinese-English participants (non-native, non-alphabetic L1) read English words, pseudohomophones, and pseudowords in orthographic and phonological lexical decision tasks and real English words in an orthogonal rhyme recognition task. Behavioural performance was evaluated alongside event-related potential (ERP) analysis of occipital, occipitotemporal, and frontal-central activity in the ~100ms post-stimulus timeframe (i.e., P1-O, P1-OT, and N100-FC components, respectively) as well as the ~170ms timeframe at occipitotemporal sites (N170-OT) following documented associations with early orthographic and/or phonological processing. Crucially, interpretations of analyses took the markedly different language profiles into account to examine how L1 might influence L2 processing. Patterns of behaviour and electrophysiology showed similarities but distinguished between groups based on language profiles. Analysis highlighted evidence for early orthography-phonology mapping at occipitotemporal sites, parallel orthographic/phonological processing at frontal-central sites at ~100ms, and a lack of VWR-related occipitotemporal N170 effects across groups. Findings, overall, suggest that language profiles underlie early orthographic and phonological processing and that the three groups have distinct neural strategies for VWR linked to orthographic and phonological aspects of their language profiles. Ultimately, the outcomes support the importance of L1 properties and L1-L2 relationships (i.e., language profiles) in bilingual VWR and the increased consideration of these factors in future development of monolingual and bilingual theories and models of VWR

Microalgae flocculation and sedimentation by physico-chemical property exploitation

The purpose of this research was to characterise the physical properties of microalgae, as a function of growth and suspension conditions, to enable exploitation of these characteristics for improved separation whilst allowing for water recycle

Statistics (ABAC)

This Grants Collection for Statistics was created under a Round Ten ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/mathematics-collections/1037/thumbnail.jp

College Algebra (ABAC)

This Grants Collection for College Algebra was created under a Round Ten ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/mathematics-collections/1036/thumbnail.jp

Decoding of Superimposed Traces Produced by Direct Sequencing of Heterozygous Indels

Direct Sanger sequencing of a diploid template containing a heterozygous insertion or deletion results in a difficult-to-interpret mixed trace formed by two allelic traces superimposed onto each other. Existing computational methods for deconvolution of such traces require knowledge of a reference sequence or the availability of both direct and reverse mixed sequences of the same template. We describe a simple yet accurate method, which uses dynamic programming optimization to predict superimposed allelic sequences solely from a string of letters representing peaks within an individual mixed trace. We used the method to decode 104 human traces (mean length 294 bp) containing heterozygous indels 5 to 30 bp with a mean of 99.1% bases per allelic sequence reconstructed correctly and unambiguously. Simulations with artificial sequences have demonstrated that the method yields accurate reconstructions when (1) the allelic sequences forming the mixed trace are sufficiently similar, (2) the analyzed fragment is significantly longer than the indel, and (3) multiple indels, if present, are well-spaced. Because these conditions occur in most encountered DNA sequences, the method is widely applicable. It is available as a free Web application Indelligent at http://ctap.inhs.uiuc.edu/dmitriev/indel.asp

Agricultural Management and Climatic Change Are the Major Drivers of Biodiversity Change in the UK

Action to reduce anthropogenic impact on the environment and species within it will be most effective when targeted towards activities that have the greatest impact on biodiversity. To do this effectively we need to better understand the relative importance of different activities and how they drive changes in species’ populations. Here, we present a novel, flexible framework that reviews evidence for the relative importance of these drivers of change and uses it to explain recent alterations in species’ populations. We review drivers of change across four hundred species sampled from a broad range of taxonomic groups in the UK. We found that species’ population change (~1970–2012) has been most strongly impacted by intensive management of agricultural land and by climatic change. The impact of the former was primarily deleterious, whereas the impact of climatic change to date has been more mixed. Findings were similar across the three major taxonomic groups assessed (insects, vascular plants and vertebrates). In general, the way a habitat was managed had a greater impact than changes in its extent, which accords with the relatively small changes in the areas occupied by different habitats during our study period, compared to substantial changes in habitat management. Of the drivers classified as conservation measures, low-intensity management of agricultural land and habitat creation had the greatest impact. Our framework could be used to assess the relative importance of drivers at a range of scales to better inform our policy and management decisions. Furthermore, by scoring the quality of evidence, this framework helps us identify research gaps and needs

Quantitative Reasoning Workbook

This workbook with practice exercises for Quantitative Reasoning was created through a Round 14 Textbook Transformation Grant. Topics covered include problem solving, reasoning, equations, graphs, set theory, logic, counting methods, probability, and descriptive statistics, along with unit reviews and a comprehensive final exam review

Geographic analysis of latent tuberculosis screening: A health system approach.

BackgroundNovel approaches are required to better focus latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) efforts in low-prevalence regions. Geographic information systems, used within large health systems, may provide one such approach.MethodsA retrospective, cross-sectional design was used to integrate US Census and Duke Health System data between January 1, 2010 and October 31, 2017 and examine the relationships between LTBI screening and population tuberculosis risk (assessed using the surrogate measure of proportion of persons born in tuberculosis-endemic regions) by census tract.ResultsThe median proportion of Duke patients screened per census tract was 0.01 (range 0-0.1, interquartile range 0.01-0.03). The proportion of Duke patients screened within a census tract significantly but weakly correlated with the population risk. Furthermore, patients residing in census tracts with higher population tuberculosis risk were more likely to be screened with TST than with an IGRA (pConclusionThe weak correlation between patient proportion screened for LTBI and our surrogate marker of population tuberculosis risk suggests that LTBI screening efforts should be better targeted. This type of geography-based analysis may serve as an easily obtainable benchmark for LTBI screening in health systems with low tuberculosis prevalence