The irrelevant sound phenomenon revisited: what role for working memory capacity?

High-span individuals (as measured by the operation span [CSPAN] technique) are less likely than low-span individuals to notice their own names in an unattended auditory stream (A. R. A. Conway, N. Cowan, & M F. Bunting, 2001). The possibility that OSPAN accounts for individual differences in auditory distraction on an immediate recall test was examined. There was no evidence that high-OSPAN participants were more resistant to the disruption caused by irrelevant speech in serial or in free recall. Low-OSPAN participants did, however, make more semantically related intrusion errors from the irrelevant sound stream in a free recall test (Experiment 4). Results suggest that OSPAN mediates semantic components of auditory distraction dissociable from other aspects of the irrelevant sound effect.

A collaborative working environment for a large scale environmental model

Large scientific applications are usually developed, tested and used by a group of geographically dispersed scientists. The problems associated with the remote development and data sharing could be tackled by using collaborative working environments. There are various tools and software to create collaborative working environments. Some software frameworks, currently available, use these tools and software to enable remote job submission and file transfer on top of existing grid infrastructures. However, for many large scientific applications, further efforts need to be put to prepare a framework which offers application-centric facilities. Unified Air Pollution Model (UNI-DEM), developed by Danish Environmental Research Institute, is an example of a large scientific application which is in a continuous development and experimenting process by different institutes in Europe. This paper intends to design a collaborative distributed computing environment for UNI-DEM in particular but the framework proposed may also fit to many large scientific applications as well.

Understanding of auditory discourse in older adults: the effects of syntax and working memory

Background: As people age, language-processing ability changes. While several factors modify discourse comprehension ability in older adults, syntactic complexity of auditory discourse has received scant attention. This is despite the widely researched domain of syntactic processing of single sentences in older adults. Aims: The aims of this study were to investigate the ability of healthy older adults to understand stories that differed in syntactic complexity, and its relation to working memory. Methods & Procedures: A total of 51 healthy adults (divided into three age groups) took part. They listened to brief stories (syntactically simple and syntactically complex) and had to respond to false/true comprehension probes following each story. Working memory capacity (digit span, forward and backward) was also measured. Outcomes & Results: Differences were found in the ability of healthy older adults to understand simple and complex discourse. The complex discourse in particular was more sensitive in discerning age-related language patterns. Only the complex discourse task correlated moderately with age. There was no correlation between age and simple discourse. As far as working memory is concerned, moderate correlations were found between working memory and complex discourse. Education did not correlate with discourse, neither simple, nor complex. Conclusions: Older adults may be less efficient in forming syntactically complex representations and this may be influenced by limitations in working memory.

Power to the people: working-class demand for household power in 1930s Britain

The 1930s witnessed an intense struggle between gas and electricity suppliers for the working class market, where the incumbent utility—gas—was also a reasonably efficient (and cheaper) General Purpose Technology for most domestic uses. Local monopolies for each supplier boosted substitution effects between fuel types—as alternative fuels constituted the only local competition. Using newly-rediscovered returns from a major national household expenditure survey, we employ geographically-determined instrumental variables, more commonly used in the industrial organization literature, to show that gas provided a significant competitor, tempering electricity prices, while electricity demand was also responsive to marketing initiatives.

Working together? Parent and local authority views on the process of obtaining appropriate educational provision for children with autism spectrum disorders

Background: There is general agreement across all interested parties that a process of working together is the best way to determine which school or educational setting is right for an individual child with autism spectrum disorder. In the UK, families and local authorities both desire a constructive working relationship and see this as the best means by which to reach an agreement to determine where a child should be educated. It has been shown in published works 1 1. Batten and colleagues (Make schools make sense. Autism and education: the reality for families today; London: The National Autistic Society, 2006). View all notes that a constructive working relationship is not always achieved. Purpose: This small-scale study aims to explore the views of both parents and local authorities, focussing on how both parties perceive and experience the process of determining educational provision for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) within an English context. Sample, design and method: Parental opinion was gathered through the use of a questionnaire with closed and open responses. The questionnaire was distributed to two national charities, two local charities and 16 specialist schools, which offered the questionnaire to parents of children with ASD, resulting in an opportunity sample of 738 returned surveys. The views of local authority personnel from five local authorities were gathered through the use of semi-structured interviews. Data analyses included quantitative analysis of the closed response questionnaire items, and theme-based qualitative analysis of the open responses and interviews with local authority personnel. Results: In the majority of cases, parents in the survey obtained their first choice placement for their child. Despite this positive outcome, survey data indicated that parents found the process bureaucratic, stressful and time consuming. Parents tended to perceive alternative placement suggestions as financially motivated rather than in the best interests of the child. Interviews with local authority personnel showed an awareness of these concerns and the complex considerations involved in determining what is best for an individual child. Conclusions: This small-scale study highlights the need for more effective communication between parents of children with ASDs and local authority personnel at all stages of the process