The variable effect of form and lemma frequencies on phonetic variation: evidence from /s/ realization in two varieties of Colombian Spanish

Research has shown that frequency conditions the variable realization of sounds. However, the literature has not addressed whether the frequency of the individual word forms, or form frequency, has a larger conditioning effect than the combined frequencies of the members of the paradigm to which the forms belong, or lemma frequency. Monofactorial correlation tests and monofactorial and multifactorial linear regression analyses are performed on 2,734 tokens of Spanish /s/ in sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Cali and Barranquilla, Colombia. Two findings are highlighted: (1) frequency is only significant in the variety of Spanish that has low overall rates of /s/ reduction, Cali, and (2) form frequency is more influential than lemma frequency

The Biological Standard of Living in the two Germanies.

Physical stature is used as a proxy for the biological standard of living in the two Germanies before and after unification in an analysis of a cross-sectional sample (1998) of adult heights, as well as among military recruits of the 1990s. West Germans tended to be taller than East Germans throughout the period under consideration. Contrary to official proclamations of a classless society, there were substantial social differences in physical stature in East-Germany. Social differences in height were greater in the East among females, and less among males than in the West. The difficulties experienced by the East-German population after 1961 is evident in the increase in social inequality of physical stature thereafter, as well as in the increasing gap relative to the height of the West-German population. After unification, however, there is a tendency for East-German males, but not of females, to catch up with their West-German counterparts

Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university

BACKGROUND: Unhealthy alcohol use amongst university students is a major public health concern. Although previous studies suggest a raised level of consumption amongst the UK student population there is little consistent information available about the pattern of alcohol consumption as they progress through university. The aim of the current research was to describe drinking patterns of UK full-time undergraduate students as they progress through their degree course. METHOD: Data were collected over three years from 5895 undergraduate students who began their studies in either 2000 or 2001. Longitudinal data (i.e. Years 1–3) were available from 225 students. The remaining 5670 students all responded to at least one of the three surveys (Year 1 n = 2843; Year 2 n = 2219; Year 3 n = 1805). Results: Students reported consuming significantly more units of alcohol per week at Year 1 than at Years 2 or 3 of their degree. Male students reported a higher consumption of units of alcohol than their female peers. When alcohol intake was classified using the Royal College of Physicians guidelines [1] there was no difference between male and females students in terms of the percentage exceeding recommended limits. Compared to those who were low level consumers students who reported drinking above low levels at Year 1 had at least 10 times the odds of continuing to consume above low levels at year 3. Students who reported higher levels of drinking were more likely to report that alcohol had a negative impact on their studies, finances and physical health. Consistent with the reduction in units over time students reported lower levels of negative impact during Year 3 when compared to Year 1. CONCLUSION: The current findings suggest that student alcohol consumption declines over their undergraduate studies; however weekly levels of consumption at Year 3 remain high for a substantial number of students. The persistence of high levels of consumption in a large population of students suggests the need for effective preventative and treatment interventions for all year groups

The Gradient Nature of S-Lenition in Caleño Spanish

Previous studies of s-weakening in Spanish have relied almost exclusively on the impressionistic coding of /s/. Not only is auditory transcription invariably influenced by the transcriber’s background, but temporal and gradient acoustic details about the sound are concealed when tokens are represented symbolically. The present study examines the production of /s/ by eight females from Cali, Colombia during informal sociolinguistic interviews. We propose a metric for quantifying s-realization by employing three scalar dependent variables: s-duration, centroid, and voicelessness. The results of linear regressions indicate that the dependent variables are significantly conditioned by local speaking rate, lexical frequency, stress, word position, and the preceding and following phonological contexts. This study sheds light on how each independent variable impacts s-realization acoustically. For example, as local speaking rate increases, duration, centroid, and voicelessness decrease, indicative of lenition. We discuss the advantages of opting for instrumental measurements over symbolic representation

Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content, coherence, and control

A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning

Princeton Fusion Power Plant superconducting magnet system and costs

The Princeton University Reference Design of a proposed fusion power plant has been previously described. This paper describes details of the superconducting magnet system consisting of toroidal field, divertor, ohmic heating, equilibrium field and control field magnets, all of which are wound of Nb$sub 3$Sn conductor. The toroidal field coils are of the moment-free, ''D'' type, previously described. The toroidal field magnet is comprised of 48 discrete ''D'' coils, 12m x 19m bore. The magnet has a stored energy of 250 x 10$sup 9$ joules. The magnet which is operated at a maximum field of 16T is described in detail. Fault conditions are calculated and design conditions based on maximum fault forces are outlined. In addition, the Dewar System, the refrigeration plant (requiring 280 kW of refrigeration), the safety system, and the coil protection system for the magnets are described. Finally, an overview of the helium-steam generating plant and detailed cost data for the plant, the nuclear island and the magnet are presented. (auth

Resolving the neural circuits of anxiety

Although anxiety disorders represent a major societal problem demanding new therapeutic targets, these efforts have languished in the absence of a mechanistic understanding of this subjective emotional state. While it is impossible to know with certainty the subjective experience of a rodent, rodent models hold promise in dissecting well-conserved limbic circuits. The application of modern approaches in neuroscience has already begun to unmask the neural circuit intricacies underlying anxiety by allowing direct examination of hypotheses drawn from existing psychological concepts. This information points toward an updated conceptual model for what neural circuit perturbations could give rise to pathological anxiety and thereby provides a roadmap for future therapeutic development.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (U.S.) (NIH Director’s New Innovator Award DP2-DK-102256-01)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (NIH) R01-MH102441-01)JPB Foundatio

Attitudes and perceptions of affected women towards endocrine endometriosis therapy: an international survey based on free-word association networks

STUDY QUESTION What are the attitudes and perceptions towards endocrine endometriosis therapy? SUMMARY ANSWER Among the study population, endocrine endometriosis therapies are associated with negative mental images and emotions and there seems to be a pre-therapeutic information deficit on the part of physicians. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Endocrine therapies, as the current standard of conservative endometriosis treatment, have good efficacy and improve symptoms and quality of life in most patients. Nevertheless, clinical practice repeatedly shows rejection on the part of patients, which may result in reduced compliance and discontinuation of therapy. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Cross-sectional study among endometriosis patients using a multilingual questionnaire distributed via the most popular social media channels between November 2020 and February 2021. A total of 3348 women participated in the study. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Based on a pilot phase, an international, multilingual online survey was conducted among women affected by endometriosis. The questionnaire included free-word associations and questions about personal medical history, source of information, and demographic data. Mental representations were detected based on modules of the co-occurrence network of associations. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Six modules with different dominant emotional labels emerged from the confluence of associations to endocrine endometriosis therapy mentioned by participants. Five modules reflected negative mental associations, with the most frequently mentioned words being ‘side effects’, ‘pain’, ‘ineffective’, ‘depression’, and ‘uncertainty’. Of the 12 most frequently selected emotions, only ‘optimistic’ was positive. Side effects affecting mental health are the most important reason for deciding against endocrine therapy in our survey population. Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported knowing little about endocrine therapies for endometriosis. Social media are the most frequently used sources of information and were rated as the most useful. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION By translating the questionnaire, questions might have been understood differently depending on the language. By using social media channels for distribution, digitally literate patients were targeted. The survey population might not be representative as patients who are critical/unhappy with therapy are more likely to seek advice from peer groups. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The findings of this study replicate the findings of a recent survey in three European countries. Given the prevalence of endometriosis and the few emerging pharmaceutical alternatives, these data point to a growing need for further research and development of non-hormonal drugs for treating endometriosis. Most endometriosis patients are young and digitally literate, and much information is obtained from alternative sources, such as social media. Careful education before starting therapy should be taken seriously, and patients’ concerns should be addressed individually by health care providers. This could help reduce misunderstanding and misinformation and improve treatment adherence and satisfaction. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) There is no funding or conflict of interest to declare. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER The trial is not registered at any trial registry

Consumption of a soy drink has no effect on cognitive function but may alleviate vasomotor symptoms in post-menopausal women; a randomised trial

Purpose: Cognitive decline is commonly reported during the menopausal transition, with memory and attention being particularly affected. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a commercially available soy drink on cognitive function and menopausal symptoms in post-menopausal women. Methods: 101 post-menopausal women, aged 44–63 years, were randomly assigned to consume a volume of soy drink providing a low (10 mg/day; control group), medium (35 mg/day), or high (60 mg/day) dose of isoflavones for 12 weeks. Cognitive function (spatial working memory, spatial span, pattern recognition memory, 5-choice reaction time, and match to sample visual search) was assessed using CANTAB pre- and post-the 12 week intervention. Menopausal symptoms were assessed using Greene’s Climacteric Scale. Results: No significant differences were observed between the groups for any of the cognitive function outcomes measured. Soy drink consumption had no effect on menopausal symptoms overall; however, when women were stratified according to the severity of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) at baseline, women with more severe symptoms at baseline in the medium group had a significant reduction (P = 0.001) in VMS post-intervention (mean change from baseline score: − 2.15 ± 1.73) in comparison to those with less severe VMS (mean change from baseline score: 0.06 ± 1.21). Conclusions: Soy drink consumption had no effect on cognitive function in post-menopausal women. Consumption of ~ 350 ml/day (35 mg IFs) for 12 weeks significantly reduced VMS in those with more severe symptoms at baseline. This finding is clinically relevant as soy drinks may provide an alternative, natural, treatment for alleviating VMS, highly prevalent among western women