scholarly journals Fine-tuning language discrimination: Monolingual and bilingual infants’ detection of language switches

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Schott ◽  
Meghan Mastroberardino ◽  
Eva Fourakis ◽  
Casey Lew-Williams ◽  
Krista Byers-Heinlein

The ability to differentiate between two languages sets the stage for bilingual learning. Infants can discriminate languages when hearing long passages, but language switches often occur on short time scales with few cues to language identity. As bilingual infants begin learning sequences of sounds and words, how do they detect the dynamics of two languages? In two studies using the head-turn preference procedure, we investigated whether infants (n = 44) can discriminate languages at the level of individual words. In Study 1, monolingual and bilingual 8- to 12-month-olds were tested on their detection of single-word language switching in lists of words (e.g., “dog… lait [fr. milk]”). In Study 2, they were tested on language switching within sentences (e.g., “Do you like the lait?”). Infants detected language switching within sentences, but not in lists of words. Moreover, there was no difference between bilingual and monolingual infants’ performance. Based on these contrasting effects for natural sentences versus lists of words, we conclude that infants may detect language switches more successfully if preceded by sequences of sounds and words in a single language. The ability to detect disruptions in such sequences is likely important in supporting the beginnings of bilingual proficiency.

Infancy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Schott ◽  
Meghan Mastroberardino ◽  
Eva Fourakis ◽  
Casey Lew‐Williams ◽  
Krista Byers‐Heinlein

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 623-633
Author(s):  
M Loxham ◽  
F Weststrate

It is generally agreed that both the landfill option, or the civil techniques option for the final disposal of contaminated harbour sludge involves the isolation of the sludge from the environment. For short time scales, engineered barriers such as a bentonite screen, plastic sheets, pumping strategies etc. can be used. However for long time scales the effectiveness of such measures cannot be counted upon. It is thus necessary to be able to predict the long term environmenttal spread of contaminants from a mature landfill. A model is presented that considers diffusion and adsorption in the landfill site and convection and adsorption in the underlaying aquifer. From a parameter analysis starting form practical values it is shown that the adsorption behaviour and the molecular diffusion coefficient of the sludge, are the key parameters involved in the near field. The dilution effects of the far field migration patterns are also illustrated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafei Wang ◽  
Erik Brodin ◽  
Kenichiro Nishii ◽  
Hermann B. Frieboes ◽  
Shannon M. Mumenthaler ◽  
...  

AbstractColorectal cancer and other cancers often metastasize to the liver in later stages of the disease, contributing significantly to patient death. While the biomechanical properties of the liver parenchyma (normal liver tissue) are known to affect tumor cell behavior in primary and metastatic tumors, the role of these properties in driving or inhibiting metastatic inception remains poorly understood, as are the longer-term multicellular dynamics. This study adopts a multi-model approach to study the dynamics of tumor-parenchyma biomechanical interactions during metastatic seeding and growth. We employ a detailed poroviscoelastic model of a liver lobule to study how micrometastases disrupt flow and pressure on short time scales. Results from short-time simulations in detailed single hepatic lobules motivate constitutive relations and biological hypotheses for a minimal agent-based model of metastatic growth in centimeter-scale tissue over months-long time scales. After a parameter space investigation, we find that the balance of basic tumor-parenchyma biomechanical interactions on shorter time scales (adhesion, repulsion, and elastic tissue deformation over minutes) and longer time scales (plastic tissue relaxation over hours) can explain a broad range of behaviors of micrometastases, without the need for complex molecular-scale signaling. These interactions may arrest the growth of micrometastases in a dormant state and prevent newly arriving cancer cells from establishing successful metastatic foci. Moreover, the simulations indicate ways in which dormant tumors could “reawaken” after changes in parenchymal tissue mechanical properties, as may arise during aging or following acute liver illness or injury. We conclude that the proposed modeling approach yields insight into the role of tumor-parenchyma biomechanics in promoting liver metastatic growth, and advances the longer term goal of identifying conditions to clinically arrest and reverse the course of late-stage cancer.


2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (17) ◽  
pp. 2836-2841 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mann ◽  
J. Beer ◽  
F. Steinhilber ◽  
J.A. Abreu ◽  
M. Christl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2017 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Eduardo Virgilio Silva ◽  
Renata Maria Lataro ◽  
Jaci Airton Castania ◽  
Carlos Alberto Aguiar Silva ◽  
Helio Cesar Salgado ◽  
...  

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been extensively explored by traditional linear approaches (e.g., spectral analysis); however, several studies have pointed to the presence of nonlinear features in HRV, suggesting that linear tools might fail to account for the complexity of the HRV dynamics. Even though the prevalent notion is that HRV is nonlinear, the actual presence of nonlinear features is rarely verified. In this study, the presence of nonlinear dynamics was checked as a function of time scales in three experimental models of rats with different impairment of the cardiac control: namely, rats with heart failure (HF), spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), and sinoaortic denervated (SAD) rats. Multiscale entropy (MSE) and refined MSE (RMSE) were chosen as the discriminating statistic for the surrogate test utilized to detect nonlinearity. Nonlinear dynamics is less present in HF animals at both short and long time scales compared with controls. A similar finding was found in SHR only at short time scales. SAD increased the presence of nonlinear dynamics exclusively at short time scales. Those findings suggest that a working baroreflex contributes to linearize HRV and to reduce the likelihood to observe nonlinear components of the cardiac control at short time scales. In addition, an increased sympathetic modulation seems to be a source of nonlinear dynamics at long time scales. Testing nonlinear dynamics as a function of the time scales can provide a characterization of the cardiac control complementary to more traditional markers in time, frequency, and information domains. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although heart rate variability (HRV) dynamics is widely assumed to be nonlinear, nonlinearity tests are rarely used to check this hypothesis. By adopting multiscale entropy (MSE) and refined MSE (RMSE) as the discriminating statistic for the nonlinearity test, we show that nonlinear dynamics varies with time scale and the type of cardiac dysfunction. Moreover, as complexity metrics and nonlinearities provide complementary information, we strongly recommend using the test for nonlinearity as an additional index to characterize HRV.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1035-1035
Author(s):  
R. J. H.

Humans have a longer childhood relative to our lifespan than any other species. This provides immense plasticity-ability to learn from their environment and their culture. Most organisms on Earth depend on their genetic information which is prewired into their nervous system. While our behavior is still significantly controlled by our genetic inheritance, we have, through our brains, a much richer opportunity to blaze new behavioral and cultural pathways on short time scales. We have made a bargain with nature; our children will be difficult to raise, but their capacity for new learning will greatly enhance the chances of survival of the human species.


Science ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 82 (2116) ◽  
pp. 53-53
Author(s):  
Paul S. Epstein
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
R Dittmann ◽  
HJ Feld ◽  
BH Müller ◽  
W Schneider

AbstractBy means of the dispersion quotient method, the aerosol properties of freshly produced sidestream smoke were measured during the puff and subsequent interpuff period. These measurements were made on short time scales and at high aerosol concentrations. Examples are presented, which show the influence of different combustion conditions during the puff (resulting from different degrees of ventilation and different types of tobacco) on the emission of sidestream particles during the interpuff period. The ratio of the volume concentrations of the particles before and during a puff is reduced by ventilation and is nearly unchanged by the variation of the tobacco type.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Shafti ◽  
Shlomi Haar ◽  
Renato Mio Zaldivar ◽  
Pierre Guilleminot ◽  
A. Aldo Faisal

AbstractWe wanted to study the ability of our brains and bodies to be augmented by supernumerary robot limbs, here extra fingers. We developed a mechanically highly functional supernumerary robotic 3rd thumb actuator, the SR3T, and interfaced it with human users enabling them to play the piano with 11 fingers. We devised a set of measurement protocols and behavioural “biomarkers”, the Human Augmentation Motor Coordination Assessment (HAMCA), which allowed us a priori to predict how well each individual human user could, after training, play the piano with a two-thumbs-hand. To evaluate augmented music playing ability we devised a simple musical score, as well as metrics for assessing the accuracy of playing the score. We evaluated the SR3T (supernumerary robotic 3rd thumb) on 12 human subjects including 6 naïve and 6 experienced piano players. We demonstrated that humans can learn to play the piano with a 6-fingered hand within one hour of training. For each subject we could predict individually, based solely on their HAMCA performance before training, how well they were able to perform with the extra robotic thumb, after training (training end-point performance). Our work demonstrates the feasibility of robotic human augmentation with supernumerary robotic limbs within short time scales. We show how linking the neuroscience of motor learning with dexterous robotics and human-robot interfacing can be used to inform a priori how far individual motor impaired patients or healthy manual workers could benefit from robotic augmentation solutions.


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