Acquired dyslexia in Japanese : implications for reading theory

Acquired dyslexia research has been conducted mainly on English neurological patients. A limited number of dyslexia studies on non-alphabetic orthographies are available. Classical case studies for acquired dyslexia in Japanese, which has two distinctive scripts (morphographic Kanji and phonographic Kana), reported 'script-dependent' dyslexia patterns. Although recent case studies showed 'script-independent' dyslexia patterns for surface and phonological dyslexia, a 'script-independent' deep dyslexia pattern in Japanese has not yet been reported. This study examined four Japanese aphasic patients, using psycholinguistically well-manipulated reading stimuli for both Kanji and Kana strings. YT, with phonological impairment, demonstrated the same effects of psycholinguistic variables as observed in English deep dyslexia, but semantic errors rarely occurred in Kana word reading. YT's concomitant deep dyslexia for Kanji, and phonological dyslexia for Kana fit the phonological impairment hypothesis, and this can be treated as a unique characteristic of Japanese deep dyslexia. HW, with semantic impairment, demonstrated a 'script-independent' surface dyslexia pattern. SO, with severe semantic impairment, demonstrated a surface dyslexia pattern in Kanji word reading, but showed substantial difficulty with Kanji nonword reading. ME, with phonological impairment and a visuo-spatial deficit, showed both lexicality and length effects on reading aloud Kana strings, thus suggesting phonological dyslexia for Kana. That is, the double dissociation between Kanji and Kana nonword reading was observed in SO and ME. These results suggest that Japanese acquired dyslexia patterns are not dependent on script-type, but are also not totally independent of script-type. These outcomes of this study are discussed in terms of universality and orthographic-specificity in acquired dyslexia. Moreover, possible workings of the Japanese version of the DRC model (Coltheart et al., 2001) and the triangle model Plaut, et al., 1996; Harm & Seidenberg, 2004) are presented in order to explain acquired dyslexia patterns in Japanese.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Adoção tardia e os direitos humanos da criança e do adolescente

Orientador: Ana Carla Harmatiuk Matos. Coorientador: Lígia Ziggiotti de OliveiraMonografia (graduação) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Jurídicas, Curso de Graduação em DireitoResumo: O presente estudo tem como objetivo examinar o fenômeno da adoção tardia e os seus reflexos no âmbito dos direitos humanos da criança e do adolescente. Partindo-se da concepção de que adoção tardia é aquela em que o adotando possui mais de dois anos de idade, a análise deste trabalho volta-se para a eficácia do instituto da adoção, especificamente a de crianças mais velhas e adolescentes, a qual sofre uma série de dificuldades dentro da realidade brasileira. Ver-se-á quais são os direitos humanos garantidos à criança e ao adolescente, focando-se em três que são mais prejudicados pela ineficácia do fenômeno: o direito à convivência familiar, o direito à vida em condições adequadas e o direito à não discriminação. Com isso, poderemos observar que a pouca ocorrência de adoções de crianças mais velhas em nosso país acabará ocasionando a negação de alguns de seus direitos que são garantidos por suas simples condições de seres humanos. O trabalho buscará, ainda, demonstrar onde residem os problemas da adoção tardia no país, por meio de um olhar interdisciplinar que seja capaz de abarcar essa realidade. As dificuldades em questão possuem aspectos psicológicos, culturais e jurídicos: tanto o imaginário da sociedade como a morosidade nos procedimentos judiciais são fatores que contribuem para o problema. Assim, o que se torna necessário para resolver o problema gira em torno, basicamente, de duas premissas: conscientização e mobilização. Deste modo, o instituto da adoção no Brasil será capaz de garantir os direitos humanos de todas as crianças e adolescentes que necessitam de uma nova família

Effect of polymerization conditions on the syndiotactic-specificity in radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide and fractionation of the obtained polymer according to the stereoregularity

Radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) was examined in the presence of hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA). The addition of an excess amount of HMPA induced syndiotactic-specificity that gradually enhanced as the feed monomer was consumed. The syndiotacticity of the obtained poly(NIPAAm)s was improved by increasing the [HMPA]0/[NIPAAm]0 ratio to 5 and prolonging the polymerization time to 96h (racemo = 72%). It was also revealed that more stereoregulated poly(NIPAAm) could be fractionated by reprecipitating the resulting polymers from hexane-THF mixture. This result suggested that more stereoregulated poly(NIPAAm) showed a lower solubility than less stereoregulated poly(NIPAAm)s. Furthermore, unusual hysteresis was observed in transmittance analysis of an aqueous solution of the fractionated syndiotactic poly(NIPAAm)

Direct synthesis of syndiotactic-rich poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) via radical polymerization of hydrogen-bond-complexed monomer

Radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) in toluene was investigated in the presence of hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA). We succeeded in directly preparing syndiotactic-rich poly(NIPAAm), the syndiotacticity of which (r = 70%) is the highest among those of radically-prepared poly(NIPAAm)s so far reported, by lowering polymerization temperature to –60°C in the presence of a twofold amount of HMPA. The NMR analysis revealed that the induced syndiotactic-specificity was ascribed to 1:1 complex formation between NIPAAm and HMPA. Furthermore, thermodynamic analysis described that the induced syndiotactic-specificity was enthalpically achieved

The Public Notaries of Merano in the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century. About the Research Project Political Societies in Medieval Alps: Mountain Towns and Surrounding Localities (Fostering Joint International Research)

The research project aims at analysing the complexity of the late medieval dynamics of coexistence, complementarity and reciprocal contamination of the two Germanic and Romance legal and documentary cultures, within the alpine area of the present South Tyrol. Particular attention is paid to the use of notarial documents in the town of Merano, the former capital of the Tyrol county, in the second half of the fifteenth century, a phenomenon of urban literacy that until now has remained little investigated. It is the local notary Leonhard Vent whose rich production of deeds and acts offers new insights into the modes of legal transaction between Bavarian customers and the inneralpine regions especially regarding the selling and acquiring of porks whose meat was one of the staple foods of the local population in pre-modern times.Il progetto di ricerca mira ad analizzare la complessità delle dinamiche tardomedievali di convivenza, complementarietà e reciproca contaminazione delle culture giuridica e documentaria germanica e romanza, all’interno dell’area alpina dell’attuale Alto Adige. L’attenzione è rivolta all’utilizzo nella seconda metà del Quattrocento, nella città di Merano, già capoluogo del Tirolo, di documenti notarili, che costituiscono fonti urbane ancora poco indagate. Lo studio si basa sulla ricca produzione di atti del notaio Leonhard Vent e offre nuovi spunti di riflessione sulle modalità di transazione tra i clienti bavaresi e quelli delle regioni alpine interne, soprattutto per quanto riguarda la vendita e l’acquisto di maiali, la cui carne era uno degli alimenti di base della popolazione locale in epoca premoderna