Probed serial recall in Williams syndrome: Lexical influences on phonological short-term memory

Williams syndrome is a genetic disorder that, it has been claimed, results in an unusual pattern of linguistic strengths and weaknesses. The current study investigated the hypothesis that there is a reduced influence of lexical knowledge on phonological short-term memory in Williams syndrome. Fourteen children with Williams syndrome and 2 vocabulary la matched control groups, 20 typically developing children and 13 children with learning difficulties, were tested on 2 probed serial-recall tasks. On the basis of previous findings, it was predicted that children with Williams syndrome would demonstrate (a) a reduced effect of lexicality on the recall of list items, (b) relatively poorer recall of list items compared with recall of serial order, and (c) a reduced tendency to produce lexicalization errors in the recall of nonwords. in fact, none of these predictions were supported. Alternative explanations for previous findings and implications for accounts of language development in Williams syndrome are discussed.

A Review of an Initiative to Introduce a Short Ethics Component into a Non-Ethics Course at a U.K. University

This paper discusses the introduction of a short ethics component into a first-year undergraduate accounting information systems course at a UK university. The influence of this ethics component on students’ ethical perceptions – where ethical perceptions are represented by the extent to which students’ conclusions regarding unethical actions coincide with those of experts in the field – is then assessed using computer-based scenarios to represent seven categories of ethical norms. The ethical perceptions in each of the scenarios are then statistically compared between two groups of students, namely those who have studied the ethics component and those who have not. Results indicate no significant difference in ethical perceptions between the two groups across all of the ethical norms. Possible explanations for this result are discussed and implications for future ethics teaching are considered.

Current transients in the small salient-pole alternator caused by sudden short-circuit and synchronisation events

Small salient-pole machines, in the range 30 kVA to 2 MVA, are often used in distributed generators, which in turn are likely to form the major constituent of power generation in power system islanding schemes or microgrids. In addition to power system faults, such as short-circuits, islanding contains an inherent risk of out-of-synchronism re-closure onto the main power system. To understand more fully the effect of these phenomena on a small salient-pole alternator, the armature and field currents from tests conducted on a 31.5 kVA machine are analysed. This study demonstrates that by resolving the voltage difference between the machine terminals and bus into direct and quadrature axis components, interesting properties of the transient currents are revealed. The presence of saliency and short time-constants cause intriguing differences between machine events such as out-of-phase synchronisations and sudden three-phase short-circuits.

Inhibition of Advanced Glycation and Absence of Galectin-3 Prevent Blood-Retinal Barrier Dysfunction during Short-Term Diabetes

Breakdown of the inner blood-retinal barrier (iBRB) occurs early in diabetes and is central to the development of sight-threatening diabetic macular edema (DME) as retinopathy progresses. In the current study, we examined how advanced glycation end products (AGEs) forming early in diabetes could modulate vasopermeability factor expression in the diabetic retina and alter inter-endothelial cell tight junction (TJ) integrity leading to iBRB dysfunction. We also investigated the potential for an AGE inhibitor to prevent this acute pathology and examined a role of the AGE-binding protein galectin-3 (Gal-3) in AGE-mediated cell retinal pathophysiology. Diabetes was induced in C57/BL6 wild-type (WT) mice and in Gal-3(-/-) transgenic mice. Blood glucose was monitored and AGE levels were quantified by ELISA and immunohistochemistry. The diabetic groups were subdivided, and one group was treated with the AGE-inhibitor pyridoxamine (PM) while separate groups of WT and Gal-3(-/-) mice were maintained as nondiabetic controls. iBRB integrity was assessed by Evans blue assay alongside visualisation of TJ protein complexes via occludin-1 immunolocalization in retinal flat mounts. Retinal expression levels of the vasopermeability factor VEGF were quantified using real-time RT-PCR and ELISA. WT diabetic mice showed significant AGE -immunoreactivity in the retinal microvasculature and also showed significant iBRB breakdown (P < .005). These diabetics had higher VEGF mRNA and protein expression in comparison to controls (P < .01). PM-treated diabetics had normal iBRB function and significantly reduced diabetes-mediated VEGF expression. Diabetic retinal vessels showed disrupted TJ integrity when compared to controls, while PM-treated diabetics demonstrated near-normal configuration. Gal-3(-/-) mice showed significantly less diabetes-mediated iBRB dysfunction, junctional disruption, and VEGF expression changes than their WT counterparts. The data suggests an AGE-mediated disruption of iBRB via upregulation of VEGF in the diabetic retina, possibly modulating disruption of TJ integrity, even after acute diabetes. Prevention of AGE formation or genetic deletion of Gal-3 can effectively prevent these acute diabetic retinopathy changes.

Children's serial recall errors: Implications for theories of short-term memory development

Three experiments examined developmental changes in serial recall of lists of 6 letters, with errors classified as movements, omissions, intrusions, or repetitions. In Experiments 1 and 2, developmental differences between groups of children aged from 7 to 11 years and adults were found in the pattern of serial recall errors. The errors of older participants were more likely to be movements than were those of younger participants, who made more intrusions and omissions. The number of repetition errors did not change with age, and this finding is interpreted in terms of a developmentally invariant postoutput response inhibition process. This interpretation was supported by the findings of Experiment 3, which measured levels of response inhibition in 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds by comparing recall of lists with and without repeated items. Response inhibition remained developmentally invariant, although older children showed greater response facilitation (improved correct recall of adjacent repeated items). Group differences in the patterns of other errors are accounted for in terms of developmental changes in levels of output forgetting and changes in the efficiency of temporal encoding processes, (C) 2000 Academic Press.

Teaching stylistics: analysing cohesion and narrative structure in a short story by Ernest Hemingway

The main aim of this article is to propose an exercise in stylistic analysis which can be employed in the teaching of English language. It details the design and results of a workshop activity on narrative carried out with undergraduates in a university department of English. The methods proposed are intended to enable students to obtain insights into aspects of cohesion and narrative structure; insights, it is suggested, which are not as readily obtainable through more traditional techniques of stylistic analysis. The text chosen for analysis is a short story by Ernest Hemingway comprising only 11 sentences. A jumbled version of this story is presented to students who are asked to assemble a cohesive and well-formed version of the story. Their (re)constructions are then compared with the original Hemingway version. Much interest, it is argued, lies in the ways in which the students justify their own versions in terms of their expectations about well-formedness in narrative. The activity is also intended to encourage students to see literary texts as a valuable means of providing insights into the subtleties of linguistic form and function.

Short interfering RNA-mediated gene silencing in Globodera pallida and Meloidogyne incognita infective stage juveniles

The analysis of gene function through RNA interference (RNAi)-based reverse genetics in plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) remains inexplicably reliant on the use of long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) silencing triggers; a practice inherently disadvantageous due to the introduction of superfluous dsRNA sequence. increasing chances of aberrant or off-target gene silencing through interactions between nascent short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and non-cognate mRNA targets. Recently, we have shown that non-nematode, long dsRNAs have a propensity to elicit profound impacts on the phenotype and migrational abilities of both root knot and cyst nematodes. This study presents, to our knowledge for the first time, gene-specific knockdown of FMRFamide-like peptide (flp) transcripts, using discrete 21 bp siRNAs in potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida, and root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita infective (J2) stage juveniles. Both knockdown at the transcript level through quantitative (q)PCR analysis and functional data derived from migration assay, indicate that siRNAs targeting certain areas of the FMRFamide-like peptide (FLP) transcripts are potent and specific in the silencing of gene function. In addition, we present a method of manipulating siRNA activity through the management of strand thermodynamics. Initial evaluation of strand thermodynamics as a determinant of RNA-induced Silencing Complex (RISC) strand selection (inferred from knockdown efficacy) in the siRNAs presented here suggested that the purported influence of 5' stand stability on guide incorporation may be somewhat promiscuous. However, we have found that on strategically incorporating base mismatches in the sense strand of a G. pallida-specific siRNA we could specifically increase or decrease the knockdown of its target (specific to the antisense strand), presumably through creating more favourable thermodynamic profiles for incorporation of either the sense (non-target-specific) or antisense (target-specific) strand into a cleavage-competent RISC. Whilst the efficacy of similar approaches to siRNA modification has been demonstrated in the context of Drosophila whole-cell lysate preparations and in mammalian cell cultures, it remained to be seen how these sense strand mismatches may impact on gene silencing in vivo, in relation to different targets and in different sequence contexts. This work presents the first application of such an approach in a whole organism; initial results show promise. (C) 2009 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The pitfall with PIT tags: Marking freshwater bivalves for translocation induces short-term behavioural costs

Tagging animals is frequently employed in ecological studies to monitor individual behaviour, for example postrelease survival and dispersal of captive-bred animals used in conservation programmes. While the majority of studies focus on the efficacy of tags in facilitating the relocation and identification of individuals, few assess the direct effects of tagging in biasing animal behaviour. We used an experimental approach with a control to differentiate the effects of handling and tagging captive-bred juvenile freshwater pearl mussels, Margaritifera margaritifera, prior to release into the wild. Marking individuals with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags significantly decreased their burrowing rate and, therefore, increased the time taken to burrow into the substrate. This effect was contributed to, in part, by the detrimental impacts of handling, which also significantly affected activity, burrowing ability and the time taken for each individual to emerge and start probing the substrate. Disturbance during handling and tagging may lead to indirect mortality after release by increasing the risk of predation or dislodgement during flooding, thereby potentially compromising any conservation strategy contingent on population supplementation or reintroduction. This is the first study to demonstrate that handling and PIT tagging has a detrimental impact on invertebrate behaviour. Moreover, our results provide useful information that will inform freshwater bivalve conservation strategies.

Antimicrobial activity of short, synthetic cationic lipopeptides.

The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant micro-organisms presents one of the greatest challenges in the clinical management of infectious diseases. Therefore, novel antimicrobial agents are urgently required to address this issue. In this report, we describe the solid phase synthesis, characterization, microbiological and toxicological evaluation of a library of ultrashort cationic antimicrobial lipopeptides based on the previously described tetrapeptide amide H-Orn-Orn-Trp-Trp-NH2 conjugated with saturated fatty acids which have inherent antimicrobial activity. The microbiological activity of these ultrashort cationic lipopeptides, which exhibit excellent, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against a number of clinically important pathogenic bacteria and fungi, including multidrug resistant micro-organisms in both planktonic and sessile (biofilm) cultures is reported.

Short, medium and long term load forecasting model and virtual load forecaster based on radial basis neural networks

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) can be easily applied to short-term load forecasting (STLF) models for electric power distribution applications. However, they are not typically used in medium and long term load forecasting (MLTLF) electric power models because of the difficulties associated with collecting and processing the necessary data. Virtual instrument (VI) techniques can be applied to electric power load forecasting but this is rarely reported in the literature. In this paper, we investigate the modelling and design of a VI for short, medium and long term load forecasting using ANNs. Three ANN models were built for STLF of electric power. These networks were trained using historical load data and also considering weather data which is known to have a significant affect of the use of electric power (such as wind speed, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity). In order to do this a V-shape temperature processing model is proposed. With regards MLTLF, a model was developed using radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN). Results indicate that the forecasting model based on the RBFNN has a high accuracy and stability. Finally, a virtual load forecaster which integrates the VI and the RBFNN is presented.