The role of executive control in resolving grammatical number conflict in sentence comprehension

In sentences with a complex subject noun phrase, like “The key to the cabinets is lost”, the grammatical number of the head noun (key) may be the same or different from the modifier noun phrase (cabinets). When the number is the same, comprehension is usually easier than when it is different. Grammatical number computation may occur while processing the modifier noun (integration phase) or while processing the verb (checking phase). We investigated at which phase number conflict and plausibility of the modifier noun as subject for the verb affect processing, and we imposed a gaze-contingent tone discrimination task in either phase to test whether number computation involves executive control. At both phases, gaze durations were longer when a concurrent tone task was present. Additionally, at the integration phase, gaze durations were longer under number conflict, and this effect was enhanced by the presence of a tone task, whereas no effects of plausibility of the modifier were observed. The finding that the effect of number match was larger under load shows that computation of the grammatical number of the complex noun phrase requires executive control in the integration phase, but not in the checking phase

Perceptions and Behaviors of Caribbean and South American Women of Color Living in the United States Towards Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a global public health issue, and even though the incidence and mortality rates for this disease have declined, a substantial gap in mortality rates between U.S. women of color and European American women remains. Strategies have been initiated to decrease this gap, but they have not addressed the special needs of women of color residing in the United States, who tend to be diagnosed only after they have developed late-stage breast cancer. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the perceptions and behaviors of 20 first-generation Caribbean and South American-born women of color living in Atlanta, Georgia, related to breast cancer awareness, screening, treatment, and follow-up care. Qualitative data analysis was used to identify themes that included, but were not limited to, the role of genes in breast cancer, lifestyle influences and risk of breast cancer, environmental factors, positive perceptions of foods and their impact on breast health, the role of culture on health care decisions, fear of harm from radiation exposure, familial relationships, understanding why they sought screening and/or treatment, and familial health histories and increased risk of breast cancer. The participants\u27 cues to take action were influenced by knowledge, health insurance coverage, confidence, educational attainment, age, income, family support, and self-motivation. Culture, race, or ethnicity had little to no effect on whether the women received breast cancer screening or mammography. The findings could facilitate social change by educating Caribbean and South American women of color in the United States about breast cancer and the need for screening, to reduce the incidence of breast cancer and the mortality rates among the target population and improving their quality of life

Crack growth around stress concentrations in pipes and tubes

Fatigue crack growth behaviour in pipes fundamentally differs from fatigue growth in shafts and flat plates. The aim of this paper is to give a better understanding of this phenomenon. In a first part of the paper, the general principles of the fracture mechanics are concisely described. The energy approach as well as the stress intensity factor (SIF) approach are explained. An analytical method, a numeric method as well as an experimental method to determine the SIF are discussed. Special attention is given to the experimental method. A theoretical model predicting the deflection of a pipe tested in a resonant bending test setup is evaluated and compared to experimental measured deflections. Several methods to measure the crack growth in a pipe during and after a fatigue bending test are discussed. In addition, an overview is given of results obtained by other authors in the field of fatigue crack growth behaviour of pipes

Electron nuclear double resonance study of photostimulated luminescence active centers in CsBr:Eu2+ medical imaging plates

CsBr:Eu2+ needle image plates exhibit an electron-paramagnetic-resonance (EPR) spectrum at room temperature (RT), whose intensity is correlated with the photostimulated luminescence sensitivity of the plate. This EPR spectrum shows a strong temperature dependence: At RT it is owing to a single Eu2+ (S = 7/2) center with axial symmetry, whereas at T < 35 K the spectra can only be explained when two distinct centers are assumed to be present, a minority axial center and a majority center with nearly extremely rhombic symmetry. In this paper these low-temperature centers are studied with electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy, which reveals the presence of H-1 nuclei close to the central Eu2+ ions in the centers. Analysis of the angular dependence of the ENDOR spectra allows to propose models for these centers, providing an explanation for the observed difference in intensity between the spectral components and for their temperature dependence

Executive control is shared between sentence processing and digit maintenance: evidence from a strictly timed dual-task paradigm

We investigated whether the comprehension of syntactically difficult sentences taxes the executive control component of working memory more than the comprehension of their easier counterparts. To that end, we tested the effect of sharing executive control between sentence comprehension and the maintenance of a digit load in two dual-task experiments with strictly controlled timing (Barrouillet, Bernardin, & Camos, 2004). Recall was worse after participants had processed one (Experiment 2) or two (Experiment 1) difficult sentences than after they had processed one or two easy sentences, respectively. This finding suggests that sentence processing and the maintenance of a digit load share executive control. Processing syntactically difficult sentences seems to occupy executive control for a longer time than processing their easy counterparts, thereby blocking refreshments of the memory traces of the digits so that these traces decay more and recall is worse. There was no effect of the size of the digit load on sentence processing performance (Experiment 2), suggesting that sentence processing completely occupied executive control until processing was complete