The knowing ear : an Australian test of universal claims about the semantic structure of sensory verbs and their extension into the domain of cognition

In this paper we test previous claims concerning the universality of patterns of polysemy and semantic change in perception verbs. Implicit in such claims are two elements: firstly, that the sharing of two related senses A and B by a given form is cross-linguistically widespread, and matched by a complementary lack of some rival polysemy, and secondly that the explanation for the ubiquity of a given pattern of polysemy is ultimately rooted in our shared human cognitive make-up. However, in comparison to the vigorous testing of claimed universals that has occurred in phonology, syntax and even basic lexical meaning, there has been little attempt to test proposed universals of semantic extension against a detailed areal study of non-European languages. To address this problem we examine a broad range of Australian languages to evaluate two hypothesized universals: one by Viberg (1984), concerning patterns of semantic extension across sensory modalities within the domain of perception verbs (i .e. intra-field extensions), and the other by Sweetser (1990), concerning the mapping of perception to cognition (i.e. trans-field extensions). Testing against the Australian data allows one claimed universal to survive, but demolishes the other, even though both assign primacy to vision among the senses

A fresh look at paralytics in the critically ill: real promise and real concern.

Neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), or "paralytics," often are deployed in the sickest patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) when usual care fails. Despite the publication of guidelines on the use of NMBAs in the ICU in 2002, clinicians have needed more direction to determine which patients would benefit from NMBAs and which patients would be harmed. Recently, new evidence has shown that paralytics hold more promise when used in carefully selected lung injury patients for brief periods of time. When used in early acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), NMBAs assist to establish a lung protective strategy, which leads to improved oxygenation, decreased pulmonary and systemic inflammation, and potentially improved mortality. It also is increasingly recognized that NMBAs can cause harm, particularly critical illness polyneuromyopathy (CIPM), when used for prolonged periods or in septic shock. In this review, we address several practical considerations for clinicians who use NMBAs in their practice. Ultimately, we conclude that NMBAs should be considered a lung protective adjuvant in early ARDS and that clinicians should consider using an alternative NMBA to the aminosteroids in septic shock with less severe lung injury pending further studies

Podcasting, pupils and pre-service-teachers

This Action Research conforms to Cohen's definition (2000) as "small scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such an intervention." It is a pilot study that uses a small, but representative group of students with a view to establishing generalisations about the wider applicability of the methods explored. (Burns, 2000, pp. 460-461) The authors examine the use of podcasting - a popular contemporary method of delivering audio content through computers and portable media players. Many rationales for their use in education can be advanced, for example Freedman (2006) lists sixteen reasons including the potential for students to access the podcasts at their own convenience. See also Maag (2006) and Kollar (2006). The study group included six undergraduate, pre-service science teachers who were completing a BSc (Honours) in Bioscience with Teaching. They had previously undertaken course assessments which incorporated presentations to peers and tutors. The pre-service science teachers had already completed block and serial school placements and were considered as being skilled in planning and delivering short presentations as part of their classroom practice. Their presentations had invariably been supported with well constructed and illustrated PowerPoint presentations. The Benchmark Standards for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) (General Teaching Council for Scotland & Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 2006) relate to classroom to whole school standards for ITE in Scotland. They make specific reference to the significance and the expectations for Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT is viewed (paragraph 3.1) as a "Core professional interest" and student teachers should be "undertaking a range of approaches to teaching to facilitate the learning of pupils, including the appropriate use of information and communications technology". Also, ICT provides the potential "to contribute to a process of change". Boud (2000) was critical of assessment practices in higher education institutions and suggested "The purposes of assessment should be extended to include the preparation of students for sustainable assessment". Draper and Maguire (2006) explored the use of podcasts in campus based teaching with first year undergraduates in the Re-engineering Assessment Practices (REAP) project. These considerations helped motivate the authors to explore podcasts as a means of promoting sustainable assessment with fourth year undergraduates and consider their potential within professional graduate courses. The research explored the following questions: - Did the process of preparing podcasts extend their professional learning? - Can pre-service teachers deliver a well planned, coherent and well organised presentation to demonstrate their understanding of principles of learning and teaching? - Can pre-service teachers prepare a podcast to describe their own action research findings? Pre-service science teachers found the process challenging and rewarding. Pre-service teachers prepared podcast presentations that described their own action research findings. Pre-service teachers delivered well planned, coherent and well organised presentations to demonstrate their understanding of principles of learning and teaching. The process of preparing podcasts extended their professional learning in a variety of ways - base level technical competence in managing the software; pedagogically in identifying and supporting a teaching and learning resource; and professionally in relation to the Benchmark Standards for ITE. The approach is transferable to further study with a larger group of PGDE pre-service teachers

Land mobile satellite propagation results

During the Fall of 1987 a land mobile satellite demonstration using the MARECS B2 satellite at 26 degrees W was performed. While all the data have not been digested, some observations are in order. First, the system worked remarkably well for the margins indicated. Second, when the system worked poorly, the experimenters could almost always identify terrain or other obstacles causing blockage. Third, the forward link seems relatively more reliable than the return link, and occasional return link problems occured which have not been entirely explained

Information-seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers

Purpose – The study examines two aspects of information seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers including methods applied for keeping up-to-date and methods used for finding articles. The relationship between academic status and research field of users with their information seeking behaviour was investigated. Methodology/approach – Data were gathered using a questionnaire survey of PhD students and staff of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London; 114 people (47.1 per cent response rate) participated in the survey. Findings – The study reveals differences among subfields of physics and astronomy in terms of information-seeking behaviour, highlights the need for and the value of looking at narrower subject communities within disciplines for a deeper understanding of the information behaviour of scientists. Originality/value – The study is the first study to deeply investigate intradisciplinary dissimilarities of information-seeking behaviour of scientists in a discipline. It is also an up-to-date account of information seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers

Tight-Binding Model for Adatoms on Graphene: Analytical Density of States, Spectral Function, and Induced Magnetic Moment

In the limit of low adatom concentration, we obtain exact analytic expressions for the local and total density of states (LDOS, TDOS) for a tight-binding model of adatoms on graphene. The model is not limited to nearest-neighbor hopping but can include hopping between carbon atoms at any separation. We also find an analytical expression for the spectral function $A({\bf k}, E)$ of an electron of Bloch vector ${\bf k}$ and energy E on the graphene lattice, to first order in the adatom concentration. We treat the electron-electron interaction by including a Hubbard term on the adatom, which we solve within a mean-field approximation. For finite Hubbard $U$, we find the spin-polarized LDOS, TDOS, and spectral function self-consistently. For any choice of parameters of the tight-binding model within mean field theory, we find a critical value of $U$ above which a moment develops on the adatom. For most choices of parameters, we find a substantial charge transfer from the adatom to the graphene host.Comment: 11 Pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Pruning and Nonparametric Multiple Change Point Detection

Change point analysis is a statistical tool to identify homogeneity within time series data. We propose a pruning approach for approximate nonparametric estimation of multiple change points. This general purpose change point detection procedure `cp3o' applies a pruning routine within a dynamic program to greatly reduce the search space and computational costs. Existing goodness-of-fit change point objectives can immediately be utilized within the framework. We further propose novel change point algorithms by applying cp3o to two popular nonparametric goodness of fit measures: `e-cp3o' uses E-statistics, and `ks-cp3o' uses Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics. Simulation studies highlight the performance of these algorithms in comparison with parametric and other nonparametric change point methods. Finally, we illustrate these approaches with climatological and financial applications.Comment: 9 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1505.0430