Sezonowa zmienność zasobów wód podziemnych o zwierciadle swobodnym w zlewni Pilicy

The paper attempts to identify seasonal variability of groundwater table in the Pilica catchment. Procedure created by Ch. G. Markham was used. It allows to compare results with analogical characteristics of other aquifers from central Poland. Sixteen piezometers were used for the research.They represent shallow aquifers located in the Pilica catchment and its surrounding and they are part of a measurement network of PIG-PIB (years from 2003 till 2014 were used). All of the aquifers with 10 years data series were chosen for the analyzed group. They represent the whole spectrum of occurrence of groundwaters in the Pilica catchment.Before the analysis homogeneity of time series was checked by two statistical tests: parametric F-Snedecor test (exams null hypothesis about variance equality) and non-parametric series test (exams null hypothesis about origin of two samples from the same general population). All of numeric strings were statistically homogeneous.Time series of mean monthly depth to groundwater table in all piezometers were changed into groundwater ordinates. In that way, maximum values are compared with the maximum level of groundwater table. Next, for all the aquifers the Markham characteristics of seasonal variability were calculated. First of them is seasonality index (IS) and it ranges from 0 to 100%. The second characteristic is time of concentration (WPK). During the interpretation of WPK values it is important to remember that this characteristic shows only time of concentration (it must not be associated with terms of maximum level of the examined phenomenon).Aquifers in the Pilica catchment are characterized by differential seasonality index raning from 1 to 30%. It means that rhythm of groundwater table changes is not seasonal in part of aquifers. Despite that, the seasonal variability of groundwater level is stronger in the Pilica catchment than in other aquifers in central Poland (IS is on average almost double). Time of concentration coefficients are differential too. They occur from February to July in the Pilica catchment, while in the whole central Poland they are concentrated in two terms (late winter and summer). Unlike other parts of central Poland, changes of groundwater resources are characterized by poor correlation with hydrogeological parameters of aquifers or mean depth to the groundwater level in piezometers in the Pilica catchment.The paper attempts to identify seasonal variability of groundwater table in the Pilica catchment. Procedure created by Ch. G. Markham was used. It allows to compare results with analogical characteristics of other aquifers from central Poland. Sixteen piezometers were used for the research.They represent shallow aquifers located in the Pilica catchment and its surrounding and they are part of a measurement network of PIG-PIB (years from 2003 till 2014 were used). All of the aquifers with 10 years data series were chosen for the analyzed group. They represent the whole spectrum of occurrence of groundwaters in the Pilica catchment.Before the analysis homogeneity of time series was checked by two statistical tests: parametric F-Snedecor test (exams null hypothesis about variance equality) and non-parametric series test (exams null hypothesis about origin of two samples from the same general population). All of numeric strings were statistically homogeneous.Time series of mean monthly depth to groundwater table in all piezometers were changed into groundwater ordinates. In that way, maximum values are compared with the maximum level of groundwater table. Next, for all the aquifers the Markham characteristics of seasonal variability were calculated. First of them is seasonality index (IS) and it ranges from 0 to 100%. The second characteristic is time of concentration (WPK). During the interpretation of WPK values it is important to remember that this characteristic shows only time of concentration (it must not be associated with terms of maximum level of the examined phenomenon).Aquifers in the Pilica catchment are characterized by differential seasonality index raning from 1 to 30%. It means that rhythm of groundwater table changes is not seasonal in part of aquifers. Despite that, the seasonal variability of groundwater level is stronger in the Pilica catchment than in other aquifers in central Poland (IS is on average almost double). Time of concentration coefficients are differential too. They occur from February to July in the Pilica catchment, while in the whole central Poland they are concentrated in two terms (late winter and summer). Unlike other parts of central Poland, changes of groundwater resources are characterized by poor correlation with hydrogeological parameters of aquifers or mean depth to the groundwater level in piezometers in the Pilica catchment

Atypical modulation of face-elicited saccades in autism spectrum disorder in a double-step saccade paradigm

Atypical development of face processing is a major characteristic in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which could be due to atypical interactions between subcortical and cortical face processing. The current study investigated the saccade planning towards faces in ASD. Seventeen children with ASD and 17 typically developing (TD) children observed a pair of upright or inverted face configurations flashed sequentially in two different spatial positions. The reactive saccades of participants were recorded by eye-tracking. The results did not provide evidence of overall impairment of subcortical route in ASD, However, the upright, but not the inverted, face configuration modulated the frequency of vector sum saccades (an index of subcortical control) in TD, but not in ASD. The current results suggest that children with ASD do not have overall impairment of the subcortical route, but the subcortical route may not be specialized to face processing

Diurnal variations of the basic physico-chemical characteristics of a small urban river – the Sokołówka in Łódź – a case study

The main purpose of the paper was to identify day-and-night variations of the selected physico-chemical water characteristics (discharge, electrical conductivity, temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen) of a small urban river that had been heavily transformed by human activity (Sokołówka river catchment with the area of 7.71 km2). The data came from measurements conducted in the period between 4 October 2011 and 3 October 2012, using the YSI 6920 V2 (multi-parameter probe) and ISCO 2050 (automatic current meter), in 15- and 10-minute intervals, respectively. The research has proven the existence of rhythms of diurnal and seasonal variability to the selected water characteristics. The variability of the hourly values of the tested characteristics in particular days depends to a large extent on the value of the analysed feature itself. The variability coefficients of discharge and conductivity increase with the increase in the values thereof. For dissolved oxygen, pH, and water temperature, the variability coefficients decrease with the increase in the values thereof. In the case of water pH, its conductivity, and temperature, the correlations between the given feature and its variability observed at different times of day are not linear, but they run along loops of varying curvature. The average day-and-night variability of the Sokołówka river’s SEC and pH was significantly changed as a result of human impact. The maximum readings of the conductivity and the pH shifted to the morning hours, with no change to the minimum readings

Feasibility of undertaking off-site infant eye-tracking assessments of neuro-cognitive functioning in early-intervention centres

Recent work suggests that differences in functional brain development are already identifiable in 6- to 9-month-old infants from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. Investigation of early SES-related differences in neuro-cognitive functioning requires the recruitment of large and diverse samples of infants, yet it is often difficult to persuade low-SES parents to come to a university setting. One solution is to recruit infants through early intervention children’s centres (CCs). These are often located in areas of high relative deprivation to support young children. Given the increasing portability of eye-tracking equipment, assessment of large clusters of infants could be undertaken in centres by suitably trained early intervention staff. Here we report on a study involving 174 infants and their parents, carried out in partnership with CCs, exploring the feasibility of this approach, We report the processes of setting up the project and participant recruitment. We report the diversity of sample obtained on the engagement of CC staff in training and the process of assessment itself. We report the quality of the data obtained, and the levels of engagement of parents, and infants. We conclude that this approach has great potential for recruiting large and diverse samples worldwide, provides sufficiently reliable data, and is engaging to staff, parents and infants

Sezony hydrologiczne w czterech wybranych rzekach Polski o zróżnicowanych warunkach kształtowania się reżimu odpływu

The article describes an attempt at the delimitation of hydrological seasons in four rivers in Poland. The rivers are located in mountain (Raba), highland (Kamienna), lowland (Bzura) and lakeland (Pisa) areas. The number of hydrological seasons identified in the examined group of rivers equals 11. There are 4 seasons in each of the rivers. Each season may occur more than once a year in the studied river. Therefore, the number of occurrences of seasons varies from 9 to 19. The hydrographs of mountain rivers are more fragmented, while the lowland and lakeland rivers have longer seasons

multiple methodologies and time-dependent intervention*

Environmental and genetic influences on neurocognitive development: the importance o

The relationship between coping and sport injury anxiety among college athletes

Sport injury anxiety has been identified as a sport specific anxiety that focuses on athletes' apprehensions about sustaining an injury while participating in their sport (Cassidy, 2006a, Cassidy, 2006b). While there has been research on how athletes cope with injuries they have sustained and sport anxiety while recovering from the injury, researchers have not yet identified how athletes cope with the anxieties surrounding the possibility of sustaining an injury in the future. The purpose of this study was to identify how athletes cope with sport injury anxiety by determining the relationship between sport injury anxiety and different coping strategies. Collegiate athletes completed a demographic survey, the Sport Injury Anxiety Scale (SAIS: Cassidy, 2006a) and the Brief COPE (B-COPE: Carver, 1997). The relationships between the SAIS and B-COPE were assessed using Pearson correlation. It was hypothesized that overall levels of SIA would be positively associated with avoidance coping strategies and inversely related to approach coping strategies. Results partially supported the hypotheses, showing that overall levels of SIA were positively related to self-distraction and self-blame, which are avoidance coping strategies. Secondary, exploratory analyses using MANOVAs and Pearson correlations were also conducted to identify group differences and relationships among SIA, coping strategies, and demographic variables to gain more insight into SIA and coping

Efficiency of scanning and attention to faces in infancy independently predict language development in a multiethnic and bilingual sample of 2-year-olds

Efficient visual exploration in infancy is essential for cognitive and language development. It allows infants to participate in social interactions by attending to faces and learning about objects of interest. Visual scanning of scenes depends on a number of factors and early differences in efficiency are likely contributing to differences in learning and language development during subsequent years. Predicting language development in diverse samples is particularly challenging, as additional multiple sources of variability affect infant performance. In this study we tested how the complexity of visual scanning in the presence or absence of a face at 6-7 months of age is related to language development at 2 years of age in a multi-ethnic and predominantly bilingual sample from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. We used Recurrence Quantification Analysis to measure the temporal and spatial distribution of fixations recurring in the same area of a visual scene. We found that in the absence of a face the temporal distribution of re-fixations on selected objects of interest (but not all) significantly predicted both receptive and expressive language scores, explaining 16 - 20% of the variance. Also, lower rate of re-fixations recurring in the presence of a face predicted higher receptive language scores, suggesting larger vocabulary in infants that effectively disengage from faces. Altogether, our results suggest that dynamic measures, which quantify the complexity of visual scanning can reliably and robustly predict language development in highly diverse samples. They suggest that selective attending to objects predicts language independently of attention to faces. As eye-tracking and language assessments were carried out in early intervention centres, our study demonstrates the utility of mobile eye-tracking setups for early detection of risk in attention and language development

Robust orienting to protofacial stimuli in autism

Newborn infants exhibit a remarkable tendency to orient to faces. This behavior is thought to be mediated by a subcortical mechanism tuned to the protoface stimulus: a face-like configuration comprising three dark areas on a lighter background. When this unique stimulus translates across their visual field, neurotypical infants will change their gaze or head direction to track the protoface [1–3] . Orienting to this low spatial frequency pattern is thought to encourage infants to attend to faces, despite their poor visual acuity [2,3] . By biasing the input into the newborn’s visual system, this primitive instinct may serve to ‘canalize’ the development of more sophisticated face representation. Leading accounts attribute deficits of face perception associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) [4] to abnormalities within this orienting mechanism. If infants who are later diagnosed with ASD exhibit reduced protoface orienting, this may compromise the emergence of perceptual expertise for faces [5] . Here we report a novel effect that confirms that the protoface stimulus captures adults’ attention via an involuntary, exogenous process (Experiment 1). Contrary to leading developmental accounts of face perception deficits in ASD, we go on to show that this orienting response is intact in autistic individuals (Experiment 2)