Effects Of Length, Complexity, And Grammatical Correctness On Stuttering In Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children

Purpose: To explore the effects of utterance length, syntactic complexity, and grammatical correctness on stuttering in the spontaneous speech of young, monolingual Spanish-speaking children. Method: Spontaneous speech samples of 11 monolingual Spanish-speaking children who stuttered, ages 35 to 70 months, were examined. Mean number of syllables, total number of clauses, utterance complexity (i.e., containing no clauses, simple clauses, or subordinate and/or conjoined clauses), and grammatical correctness (i.e., the presence or absence of morphological and syntactical errors) in stuttered and fluent utterances were compared. Results: Findings revealed that stuttered utterances in Spanish tended to be longer and more often grammatically incorrect, and contain more clauses, including more subordinate and/or conjoined clauses. However, when controlling for the interrelatedness of syllable number and clause number and complexity, only utterance length and grammatical incorrectness were significant predictors of stuttering in the spontaneous speech of these Spanish-speaking children. Use of complex utterances did not appear to contribute to the prediction of stuttering when controlling for utterance length. Conclusions: Results from the present study were consistent with many earlier reports of English-speaking children. Both length and grammatical factors appear to affect stuttering in Spanish-speaking children. Grammatical errors, however, served as the greatest predictor of stuttering.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Ocean acidification alters predator behaviour and reduces predation rate

Ocean acidification poses a range of threats to marine invertebrates; however, the emerging and likely widespread effects of rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels on marine invertebrate behaviour are still little understood. Here, we show that ocean acidification alters and impairs key ecological behaviours of the predatory cone snail Conus marmoreus. Projected near-future seawater CO₂ levels (975 µatm) increased activity in this coral reef molluscivore more than threefold (from less than 4 to more than 12 mm min⁻¹) and decreased the time spent buried to less than one-third when compared with the present-day control conditions (390 µatm). Despite increasing activity, elevated CO₂ reduced predation rate during predator–prey interactions with control-treated humpbacked conch, Gibberulus gibberulus gibbosus; 60% of control predators successfully captured and consumed their prey, compared with only 10% of elevated CO₂ predators. The alteration of key ecological behaviours of predatory invertebrates by near-future ocean acidification could have potentially far-reaching implications for predator–prey interactions and trophic dynamics in marine ecosystems. Combined evidence that the behaviours of both species in this predator–prey relationship are altered by elevated CO₂ suggests food web interactions and ecosystem structure will become increasingly difficult to predict as ocean acidification advances over coming decades

Ocean acidification alters predator behaviour and reduces predation rate

Ocean acidification poses a range of threats to marine invertebrates; however, the emerging and likely widespread effects of rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels on marine invertebrate behaviour are still little understood. Here, we show that ocean acidification alters and impairs key ecological behaviours of the predatory cone snail Conus marmoreus. Projected near-future seawater CO₂ levels (975 µatm) increased activity in this coral reef molluscivore more than threefold (from less than 4 to more than 12 mm min⁻¹) and decreased the time spent buried to less than one-third when compared with the present-day control conditions (390 µatm). Despite increasing activity, elevated CO₂ reduced predation rate during predator–prey interactions with control-treated humpbacked conch, Gibberulus gibberulus gibbosus; 60% of control predators successfully captured and consumed their prey, compared with only 10% of elevated CO₂ predators. The alteration of key ecological behaviours of predatory invertebrates by near-future ocean acidification could have potentially far-reaching implications for predator–prey interactions and trophic dynamics in marine ecosystems. Combined evidence that the behaviours of both species in this predator–prey relationship are altered by elevated CO₂ suggests food web interactions and ecosystem structure will become increasingly difficult to predict as ocean acidification advances over coming decades

Negotiating the traffic : can cognitive science help make autonomous vehicles a reality?

To drive safely among human drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, autonomous vehicles will need to mimic, or ideally improve upon, humanlike driving. Yet, driving presents us with difficult problems of joint action: ‘negotiating’ with other users over shared road space. We argue that autonomous driving provides a test case for computational theories of social interaction, with fundamental implications for the development of autonomous vehicles

How should autonomous vehicles overtake other drivers?

Previous research examining trust of autonomous vehicles has largely focused on holistic trust, with little work on evaluation of specific behaviours and interactions with human-controlled vehicles. Six experiments examined the influence of pull-in distance, vehicle perspective (overtaking/being overtaken), following distance and immersion on self-reported evaluations of, and physiological responses to, autonomous motorway overtakes. We found that: (i) overtake manoeuvres were viewed more positively as pull-in distance increased before reaching a plateau at approximately 28 m, (ii) physiological-based orienting responses occurred for the smallest pull-in distances, (iii) participants being overtaken were more forgiving of a sharper pull-in if the overtaking vehicle was followed closely by another vehicle, and (iv) for two of three cross-experiment comparisons participants were more forgiving of smaller pull-in distances with lower immersion levels. Overall, the results suggest that the acceptability of an overtake manoeuvre increases linearly with pull-in distance up to a set point for both overtaking and being overtaken manoeuvres, with some influence of traffic context and levels of immersion. We discuss the findings in terms of implications for the development of assisted and fully autonomous vehicle systems that perform in a way that will be acceptable to both the vehicle occupants and other road users

Core competencies for pain management: results of an interprofessional consensus summit.

ObjectiveThe objective of this project was to develop core competencies in pain assessment and management for prelicensure health professional education. Such core pain competencies common to all prelicensure health professionals have not been previously reported.MethodsAn interprofessional executive committee led a consensus-building process to develop the core competencies. An in-depth literature review was conducted followed by engagement of an interprofessional Competency Advisory Committee to critique competencies through an iterative process. A 2-day summit was held so that consensus could be reached.ResultsThe consensus-derived competencies were categorized within four domains: multidimensional nature of pain, pain assessment and measurement, management of pain, and context of pain management. These domains address the fundamental concepts and complexity of pain; how pain is observed and assessed; collaborative approaches to treatment options; and application of competencies across the life span in the context of various settings, populations, and care team models. A set of values and guiding principles are embedded within each domain.ConclusionsThese competencies can serve as a foundation for developing, defining, and revising curricula and as a resource for the creation of learning activities across health professions designed to advance care that effectively responds to pain

Religious diversity, empathy, and God images : perspectives from the psychology of religion shaping a study among adolescents in the UK

Major religious traditions agree in advocating and promoting love of neighbour as well as love of God. Love of neighbour is reflected in altruistic behaviour and empathy stands as a key motivational factor underpinning altruism. This study employs the empathy scale from the Junior Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire to assess the association between empathy and God images among a sample of 5993 religiously diverse adolescents (13–15 years old) attending state maintained schools in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and London. The key psychological theory being tested by these data concerns the linkage between God images and individual differences in empathy. The data demonstrate that religious identity (e.g. Christian, Muslim) and religious attendance are less important than the God images which young people hold. The image of God as a God of mercy is associated with higher empathy scores, while the image of God as a God of justice is associated with lower empathy scores

Prescribing practices of primary-care veterinary practitioners in dogs diagnosed with bacterial pyoderma

Concern has been raised regarding the potential contributions of veterinary antimicrobial use to increasing levels of resistance in bacteria critically important to human health. Canine pyoderma is a frequent, often recurrent diagnosis in pet dogs, usually attributable to secondary bacterial infection of the skin. Lesions can range in severity based on the location, total area and depth of tissue affected and antimicrobial therapy is recommended for resolution. This study aimed to describe patient signalment, disease characteristics and treatment prescribed in a large number of UK, primary-care canine pyoderma cases and to estimate pyoderma prevalence in the UK vet-visiting canine population

Longitudinal Trajectories of Family Functioning Among Recent Immigrant Adolescents and Parents: Links With Adolescent and Parent Cultural Stress, Emotional Wellâ Being, and Behavioral Health

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148234/1/cdev12914.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148234/2/cdev12914_am.pd