The Social Costs in Communication Hiccups Between Native and Nonnative Speakers

It is well-established that native speakers perceive nonnative speakers with strong foreign accents, compared with those with a more nativelike accent, as less intelligent and competent, less ambitious and dependable as coworkers, and less comfortable around native speakers. But little is known about how nonnative speakers themselves are affected when communication hiccups—often due to incorrect or accented pronunciations—occur in their conversations with native speakers. In this experiment, mispronunciations of an English word were elicited from native Chinese speakers in phone conversations via the Internet with an American English speaker, who then either asked for clarification of the word or showed no confusion about the word but asked about something else. Chinese speakers’ reactions were measured using a combination of self-reports, facial affective coding, and skin-conductance responses. When the American asked for clarification—compared with when he did not—Chinese speakers were left feeling more anxious, embarrassed, and unsure of their English abilities, as well as feeling less positive about the American, finding him less attractive socially and their conversation with him less enjoyable.postprin

Spin Hall effect in the kagome lattice with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the spin Hall effect in the kagom\'{e} lattice with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The conserved spin Hall conductance $\sigma_{xy}^{s}$ (see text) and its two components, i.e., the conventional term $\sigma_{xy}^{s0}$ and the spin-torque-dipole term $\sigma_{xy}^{s\tau}$, are numerically calculated, which show a series of plateaus as a function of the electron Fermi energy $\epsilon_{F}$. A consistent two-band analysis, as well as a Berry-phase interpretation, is also given. We show that these plateaus are a consequence of the various Fermi-surface topologies when tuning $\epsilon_{F}$. In particular, we predict that compared to the case with the Fermi surface encircling the $\mathbf{\Gamma}$ point in the Brillouin zone, the amplitude of the spin Hall conductance with the Fermi surface encircling the $\mathbf{K}$ points is twice enhanced, which makes it highly meaningful in the future to systematically carry out studies of the $\mathbf{K}$-valley spintronics.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Phys. Rev. B (in press

How to deal with uncertainty in prenatal genomics: A systematic review of guidelines and policies

Exome Sequencing (ES) enhanced the diagnostic yield of genetic testing, but has also increased the possibility of uncertain findings. Prenatal ES is increasingly being offered after a fetal abnormality is detected through ultrasound. It is important to know how to handle uncertainty in this particularly stressful period. This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of guidelines available for addressing uncertainty related to prenatal chromosomal microarray (CMA) and ES. Ten uncertainty types associated with prenatal ES and CMA were identified and defined by an international multidisciplinary team. Medline (all) and Embase were systematically searched. Laboratory scientists, clinical geneticists, psychologists, and a fetal medicine specialist screened the papers and performed the data extraction. Nineteen papers were included. Recommendations generally emphasized the importance of trio analysis, clinical information, data sharing, validation and re-analysis, protocols, multidisciplinary teams, genetic counselling, whether to limit the possible scope of results, and when to report particular findings. This systematic review helps provide a vocabulary for uncertainties, and a compass to navigate uncertainties. Prenatal CMA and ES guidelines provide a strong starting point for determining how to handle uncertainty. Gaps in guidelines and recommendations were identified and discussed to provide direction for future research and policy making

The preference for water nipples vs. water bowls in dairy goats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have reported that the design of the water dispensers can influence the water intake in farm animals. Horses and dairy cows seem to prefer to drink from an open surface whereas sheep and pigs apparently prefer water nipples, probably because of the worse water quality in water bowls. The aim of the present study was to examine the preference of dairy goats for water nipples or water bowls.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In each of the two experiments (exp. 1, dry goats, exp. 2 lactating goats), 42 dairy goats were allotted into 6 groups of 7 goats. In period 1, the goats had access to a water nipple. In period 2, they had access to a water bowl and in period 3 (preference test) they had access to both a water nipple and a water bowl. Water usage and wastage was recorded and water intake (water usage - water wastage) was calculated for each group for the two last days of each period. In experiment 2, water samples from each dispenser were analyzed for heterotrophy germs at 22°C, <it>Escherichia coli </it>and turbidity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Water usage was higher from water nipples than from water bowls both in experiment 1 (dry goats) and experiment 2 (lactating goats). There was however, no difference in water intake from water nipples and water bowls. In the preference test (period 3), the water intake tended to be higher from the water nipple than from the water bowl both for the dry goats (exp. 1) and lactating goats (exp. 2). Especially for the dry goats, the differences between groups were large. Turbidity and heterotrophy germs were much higher in the samples from the water bowls than from the water nipples.</p> <p>Water wastage from the water bowls was negligible compared to the water nipples. From the water nipples the water wastage was 30% and 23% of water usage for the dry and lactating goats respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that type of water dispenser (nipple or bowl) was probably of minor importance for water intake in goats, but water bowls had a lower water quality.</p