A single case study of articulatory adaptation during acoustic mimicry

The distribution of fine-grained phonetic variation can be observed in the speech of members of welldefined social groups. It is evident that such variation must somehow be able to propagate through a speech community from speaker to hearer. However, technological barriers have meant that close and direct study of the articulatory links of this speaker-hearer chain has not, to date, been possible. We present the results of a singlecase study using an ultrasound-based method to investigate temporal and configurational lingual adaptation during mimicry. Our study focuses on allophonic variants of postvocalic /r/ found in speech from Central Scotland. Our results show that our informant was able to adjust tongue gesture timing towards that of the stimulus, but did not alter tongue configuration

Issues in the development of advance directives in mental health care

<i>Background</i>: Interest in advance directives in mental health care is growing internationally. There is no clear universal agreement as to what such an advance directive is or how it should function. <i>Aim</i>: To describe the range of issues embodied in the development of advance directives in mental health care. <i>Method</i>: The literature on advance directives is examined to highlight the pros and cons of different versions of advance directive. <i>Results</i>: Themes emerged around issues of terminology, competency and consent, the legal status of advance directives independent or collaborative directives and their content. Opinions vary between a unilateral legally enforceable instrument to a care plan agreed between patient and clinician. <i>Conclusion</i>: There is immediate appeal in a liberal democracy that values individual freedom and autonomy in giving weight to advance directives in mental health care. They do not, however, solve all the problems of enforced treatment and early access to treatment. They also raise new issues and highlight persistent problems. <i>Declaration</i> <i>of</i> <i>interest</i>: The research was funded by the Nuffield Foundation grant number MNH/00015G

Studies relating to Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) Supplementation and Fertility in Cattle

End of project reportReproductive inefficiency has a significant impact on the economic performance of both dairy and beef herds, particularly in seasonal calving systems. Nutrition plays a fundamental role in reproduction. Furthermore, there is emerging evidence that supplemental dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may increase cow fertility independent of their role as energy substrates. A number of studies have reported enhanced reproductive performance in dairy cows following dietary supplementation with sources of n-3 PUFA. However the possible mechanisms involved have not been identified and there is some inconsistency in the published literature on this topic. The objective of the research reported was to conduct a holistic examination of the effects of dietary long-chain n-3 PUFA supplementation on metabolic and reproductive responses in cattle. Such information is essential for the appropriate formulation of diets to enhance cow reproductive performance and in particular embryo survival

Gravity thaws the frozen moduli of the CP^1 lump

The slow motion of a self-gravitating CP^1 lump is investigated in the approximation of geodesic flow on the moduli space of unit degree static solutions M_1. It is found that moduli which are frozen in the absence of gravity, parametrizing the lump's width and internal orientation, may vary once gravitational effects are included. If gravitational coupling is sufficiently strong, the presence of the lump shrinks physical space to finite volume, and the moduli determining the boundary value of the CP^1 field thaw also. Explicit formulae for the metric on M_1 are found in both the weak and strong coupling regimes. The geodesic problem for weak coupling is studied in detail, and it is shown that M_1 is geodesically incomplete. This leads to the prediction that self-gravitating lumps are unstable.Comment: 6 pages, minor error corrected (conclusions unchanged

The L^2 geometry of spaces of harmonic maps S^2 -> S^2 and RP^2 -> RP^2

Harmonic maps from S^2 to S^2 are all weakly conformal, and so are represented by rational maps. This paper presents a study of the L^2 metric gamma on M_n, the space of degree n harmonic maps S^2 -> S^2, or equivalently, the space of rational maps of degree n. It is proved that gamma is Kaehler with respect to a certain natural complex structure on M_n. The case n=1 is considered in detail: explicit formulae for gamma and its holomorphic sectional, Ricci and scalar curvatures are obtained, it is shown that the space has finite volume and diameter and codimension 2 boundary at infinity, and a certain class of Hamiltonian flows on M_1 is analyzed. It is proved that \tilde{M}_n, the space of absolute degree n (an odd positive integer) harmonic maps RP^2 -> RP^2, is a totally geodesic Lagrangian submanifold of M_n, and that for all n>1, \tilde{M}_n is geodesically incomplete. Possible generalizations and the relevance of these results to theoretical physics are briefly discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figure

Risk and protective factors for meningococcal disease in adolescents: matched cohort study

Objective: To examine biological and social risk factors for meningococcal disease in adolescents. Design: Prospective, population based, matched cohort study with controls matched for age and sex in 1:1 matching. Controls were sought from the general practitioner. Setting: Six contiguous regions of England, which represent some 65% of the country’s population. Participants: 15-19 year olds with meningococcal disease recruited at hospital admission in six regions (representing 65% of the population of England) from January 1999 to June 2000, and their matched controls. Methods: Blood samples and pernasal and throat swabs were taken from case patients at admission to hospital and from cases and matched controls at interview. Data on potential risk factors were gathered by confidential interview. Data were analysed by using univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression. Results: 144 case control pairs were recruited (74 male (51%); median age 17.6). 114 cases (79%) were confirmed microbiologically. Significant independent risk factors for meningococcal disease were history of preceding illness (matched odds ratio 2.9, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 5.9), intimate kissing with multiple partners (3.7, 1.7 to 8.1), being a university student (3.4, 1.2 to 10) and preterm birth (3.7, 1.0 to 13.5). Religious observance (0.09, 0.02 to 0.6) and meningococcal vaccination (0.12, 0.04 to 0.4) were associated with protection. Conclusions: Activities and events increasing risk for meningococcal disease in adolescence are different from in childhood. Students are at higher risk. Altering personal behaviours could moderate the risk. However, the development of further effective meningococcal vaccines remains a key public health priority

Oscillatory oblique stagnation-point flow toward a plane wall

Two-dimensional oscillatory oblique stagnation-point flow toward a plane wall is investigated. The problem is a eneralisation of the steady oblique stagnation-point flow examined by previous workers. Far from the wall, the flow is composed of an irrotational orthogonal stagnation-point flow with a time-periodic strength, a simple shear flow of constant vorticity, and a time-periodic uniform stream. An exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equations is sought for which the flow streamfunction depends linearly on the coordinate parallel to the wall. The problem formulation reduces to a coupled pair of partial differential equations in time and one spatial variable. The first equation describes the oscillatory orthogonal stagnation-point flow discussed by previous workers. The second equation, which couples to the first, describes the oblique component of the flow. A description of the flow velocity field, the instantaneous streamlines, and the particle paths is sought through numerical solutions of the governing equations and via asymptotic analysis

Dynamics of earthquake nucleation process represented by the Burridge-Knopoff model

Dynamics of earthquake nucleation process is studied on the basis of the one-dimensional Burridge-Knopoff (BK) model obeying the rate- and state-dependent friction (RSF) law. We investigate the properties of the model at each stage of the nucleation process, including the quasi-static initial phase, the unstable acceleration phase and the high-speed rupture phase or a mainshock. Two kinds of nucleation lengths L_sc and L_c are identified and investigated. The nucleation length L_sc and the initial phase exist only for a weak frictional instability regime, while the nucleation length L_c and the acceleration phase exist for both weak and strong instability regimes. Both L_sc and L_c are found to be determined by the model parameters, the frictional weakening parameter and the elastic stiffness parameter, hardly dependent on the size of an ensuing mainshock. The sliding velocity is extremely slow in the initial phase up to L_sc, of order the pulling speed of the plate, while it reaches a detectable level at a certain stage of the acceleration phase. The continuum limits of the results are discussed. The continuum limit of the BK model lies in the weak frictional instability regime so that a mature homogeneous fault under the RSF law always accompanies the quasi-static nucleation process. Duration times of each stage of the nucleation process are examined. The relation to the elastic continuum model and implications to real seismicity are discussed.Comment: Title changed. Changes mainly in abstract and in section 1. To appear in European Physical Journal