A Study of Functional Grammar

The problem of this investigation may be stated thus: To what extent is functional grammar taught in the four year Negro accredited high schools of Texas today? This question gives rise to the following subordinate questions: 1. What are the common errors made by high school students of Texas? 2. Will a study of functional grammar assist in the correction of these errors? 3. If so, what should a program of functional grammar include? The writer believes a study of this kind is valuable because it will focalize attention on the points of greatest need in grammar. It will also eliminate waste of time in the teaching program. The teacher who knows the major types of errors made by students can concentrate on the correction of those errors. Since grammar has ceased to be taught for the sake of grammar itself, any value it may have depends entirely upon its effect on the written and spoken language of the student. The writer offers no proof that a knowledge of functional grammar will insure correct speech. Although a number of studies have been made which prove formal grammar to be valueless, no studies have been made which proved definitely the value of functional grammar in preventing grammatical errors. It is the belief of the writer of this manuscript that a study of functional grammar will tend to make a student conscious of errors he makes and will make him put forth every effort to prevent repeating the errors. If functional grammar achieves this purpose, it will fully justify its inclusion in the secondary school curriculum

The Struggling Playwright and Our Dramatic Literature

At the heart of the theatre is the play and the playwright. Everything else in connection with the theatre passes from existence in the course of time. The producers, the designers, and the actors pass but the play lives on forever

Sublexical and syntactic processing during reading:evidence from eye movements of typically developing and dyslexic readers.

Skilled, typically developing readers and children with dyslexia read correct sentences and sentences that contained verb errors that were pseudo-homophones, morphological over-regularisations or syntactic errors. All errors increased looking time but the nature of the error and participant group influenced the time course of the effects. The pseudo-homophone effect was significant in all eye-movement measures for adults (N = 26), intermediate (N = 37) and novice typically developing readers (N = 38). This effect was larger for intermediate readers than other groups in total duration. In contrast, morphological over-regularisations increased gaze and total duration (but not first fixation) for intermediate and novice readers, and only total duration for adult readers. Syntactic errors only increased total duration. Children with dyslexia (N = 19) demonstrated smaller effects of pseudo-homophones and over-regularisations than controls, but their processing of syntactic errors was similar. We conclude that dyslexic children's difficulties with reading are linked to overreliance on phonological decoding and underspecified morphological processing, which impacts on word level reading. We highlight that the findings fit well within the grain-size model of word readin

Effect of Foreclosure Status on Residential Selling Price: Comment

In this comment we examine the conclusion by Forgey, Rutherford, and VanBuskirk (1994) "that the foreclosed properties sold at a 23% discount," using a sample of nearly 2,000 residential property sales from the Las Vegas, Nevada area. We found that when not controlling for location with a set of dummy variables for ZIP codes, HUD foreclosed properties sold for between 12.18% and 13.96% below a random sample of properties not within one block of foreclosed properties. When controlling for location, using a set of thirty-one dummy variables for ZIP codes, the foreclosure discount fell to between 8.45% and 9.72%. When controlling for the common characteristics between foreclosed properties and their neighbors, we found foreclosure discounts are very small (between 0.17% and 2.48%) and no longer statistically significant. We conclude that foreclosure does not provide an opportunity for arbitrage profits, and this study does reinforce the findings of other studies that conclude real estate markets operate efficiently.

On the Team: Equal Opportunity for Transgender Student Athletes

This think tank report includes best practice and policy recommendations for high school and collegiate athletic programs about providing transgender student athletes with equal opportunities to participation in school-based sports programs. In addition to specific policy recommendations for both high school and college athletics, the report provides guidance for implementing these policies to ensure the safety, privacy, and dignity of transgender student athletes as well as their teammates. Specific best practice recommendations are provided for athletic administrators, coaches, student athletes, parents, and the media

Life events and acute cardiovascular reactions to mental stress: a cohort study

Objective: This study addressed the issue of whether frequent exposure to life events is associated with aggravation or blunting of cardiovascular reactions to acute mental stress. Methods: In a substantial cohort of 585 healthy young adults, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate were recorded at rest and in response to a mental arithmetic stress task. Participants indicated, from a list of 50 events, those they had experienced in the last year. Results: There was an overall association between life events and blunted cardiovascular reactivity that was driven by variations in the frequency of exposure to desirable events. The total number of events and the number of personal events were negatively associated with systolic blood pressure and pulse rate reactions to acute stress, whereas the number of work-related events was negatively associated with diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate reactivity. The negative association between total events and systolic blood pressure reactivity was stronger for women than men, whereas men exposed to frequent undesirable events showed enhanced diastolic blood pressure reactivity. The blunting of pulse rate reactivity associated with frequent personal life events was evident particularly for those who had a relatively large number of close friends. Conclusions: The nature and extent of the association between life events exposure and stress reactivity in young adults depends on the valence of the events together with the sex of the individual and their social network size

Variability in auditory processing performance is associated with reading difficulties rather than with history of otitis media

The nature and cause of auditory processing deficits in dyslexic individuals have been debated for decades. Auditory processing deficits were argued to be the first step in a causal chain of difficulties, leading to difficulties in speech perception and thereby phonological processing and literacy difficulties. More recently, it has been argued that auditory processing difficulties may not be causally related to language and literacy difficulties. This study compares two groups who have phonological processing impairments for different reasons: dyslexia and a history of otitis media (OM). We compared their discrimination thresholds and response variability to chronological age- and reading age-matched controls, across three auditory processing tasks: frequency discrimination, rise-time discrimination and speech perception. Dyslexic children showed raised frequency discrimination thresholds in comparison with age-matched controls but did not differ from reading age-matched controls or individuals with a history of OM. There were no group differences on speech perception or rise-time tasks. For the dyslexic children, there was an association between phonological awareness and frequency discrimination response variability, but no association with thresholds. These findings are not consistent with a ‘causal chain’ explanation but could be accounted for within a multiple deficits view of literacy difficulties

Paediatric pancreatic trauma in North Queensland: a 10-year retrospective review

Purpose: To establish the incidence of pancreatic trauma in North Queensland to the region’s only tertiary paediatric referral centre, and to determine the patient’s outcomes based on their management. Methods: A single centre, retrospective cohort study of patients < 18 years with pancreatic trauma from 2009 to 2020 was performed. There were no exclusion criteria. Results: Between 2009 and 2020 there were 145 intra-abdominal trauma cases, 37% from motor vehicle accidents (MVA), 18.6% motorbike or quadbike, and 12.4% bicycle or scooter accidents. There were 19 cases of pancreatic trauma (13%), all from blunt trauma and with associated injuries. There were 5 AAST grade I, 3 grade II, 3 grade III, 3 grade IV injuries, and 4 with traumatic pancreatitis. Twelve patients were managed conservatively, 2 were managed operatively for another reason, and 5 were managed operatively for the pancreatic injury. Only 1 patient with a high grade AAST injury was successfully managed non-operatively. Complications included pancreatic pseudocyst (n = 4/19; 3 post-op), pancreatitis (n = 2/19; 1 post op), and post-operative pancreatic fistula (POPF) (n = 1/19). Conclusion: Due to North Queensland’s geography, diagnosis and management of traumatic pancreatic injury is often delayed. Pancreatic injuries requiring surgery are at high risk for complications, prolonged length of stay, and further interventions

Effect of foreclosure status on residential selling price: Comment

In this comment we examine the conclusion by Forgey, Rutherford and VanBuskirk (1994) “that the foreclosed properties sold at a 23% discount,” using a sample of nearly 2,000 residential property sales from the Las Vagas, Nevada area. We found that when not controlling for location with a set of dummy variables for zip codes, HUD foreclosed properties sold for between 12.18% and 13.96% below a random sample of properties not within one block of foreclosed properties. When controlling for location, using a set of thirty-one dummy variables for zip codes, the foreclosure discount fell to between 8.45% and 9.72%. When controlling for the common characteristics between foreclosed properties and their neighbors, we found foreclosure discounts are very small (between .17% and 2.58%) and no longer statistically significant. We conclude that foreclosure does not provide an opportunity for arbitrage profits, and this study does reinforce the findings of other studies that conclude real estate markets operate efficiently