bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Time Course of Cross-Orientation Suppression in the Early Visual Cortex
Authors: Kimura Rui , Ohzawa Izumi
Published: December 2008

Responses of a visual neuron to optimally oriented stimuli can be suppressed by a superposition of another grating with a different orientation. This effect is known as cross-orientation suppression. However, it is still not clear whether the effect is intracortical in origin or a reflection of subcortical processes. To address this issue, we measured spatiotemporal responses to a plaid pattern, a superposition of two gratings, as well as to individual component gratings (optimal and mask) using a subspace reverse-correlation method. Suppression for the plaid was evaluated by comparing the response to that for the optimal grating. For component stimuli, excitatory and negative responses were defined as responses more positive and negative, respectively, than that to a blank stimulus. The suppressive effect for plaids was observed in the vast majority of neurons. However, only ∼30% of neurons showed the negative response to mask-only gratings. The magnitudes of negative responses to mask-only stimuli were correlated with the degree of suppression for plaid stimuli. Comparing the latencies, we found that the suppression for the plaids starts at about the same time or slightly later than the response onset for the optimal grating and reaches its maximum at about the same time as the peak latency for the mask-only grating. Based on these results, we propose that in addition to the suppressive effect originating at the subcortical stage, delayed suppressive signals derived from the intracortical networks act on the neuron to generate cross-orientation suppression.
Efferent-Mediated Responses in Vestibular Nerve Afferents of the Alert Macaque
Authors: Sadeghi Soroush G. , Goldberg Jay M. , Minor Lloyd B. , Cullen Kathleen E.
Published: December 2008

The peripheral vestibular organs have long been known to receive a bilateral efferent innervation from the brain stem. However, the functional role of the efferent vestibular system has remained elusive. In this study, we investigated efferent-mediated responses in vestibular afferents of alert behaving primates (macaque monkey). We found that efferent-mediated rotational responses could be obtained from vestibular nerve fibers innervating the semicircular canals after conventional afferent responses were nulled by placing the corresponding canal plane orthogonal to the plane of motion. Responses were type III, i.e., excitatory for rotational velocity trapezoids (peak velocity, 320°/s) in both directions of rotation, consistent with those previously reported in the decerebrate chinchilla. Responses consisted of both fast and slow components and were larger in irregular (∼10 spikes/s) than in regular afferents (∼2 spikes/s). Following unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL) on the side opposite the recording site, similar responses were obtained. To confirm the vestibular source of the efferent-mediated responses, the ipsilateral horizontal and posterior canals were plugged following the UL. Responses to high-velocity rotations were drastically reduced when the superior canal (SC), the only intact canal, was in its null position, compared with when the SC was pitched 50° upward from the null position. Our findings show that vestibular afferents in alert primates show efferent-mediated responses that are related to the discharge regularity of the afferent, are of vestibular origin, and can be the result of both afferent excitation and inhibition.
Photochromism of Dihydroindolizines Part XI: Synthesis of Novel Carbon-Rich Photochromic Dihydroindolizines-Based Potential Electronic Devices
Authors: Ahmed Saleh Abdel-Mgeed
Published: December 2008

Novel carbon-rich photochromic dihydroindolizine (DHI) derivatives substituted in the fluorene part (region A) in addition to the new spirocyclopropene 6 have been synthesized. The synthesis of dimethyl 2′,7′-diethynylspiro[cycloprop[2]ene-1,9′-fluorene]-2,3-dicarboxylate precursor 6 was accomplished in five steps, starting with the literature known conversion of fluorene to 2,7-dibromo-9H-fluoren-9-one in 56% yield over three steps. The chemical structures of the new synthesized materials have been elucidated by both analytical and spectroscopic tools. Three alterative synthetic pathways for the synthesis of DHI 9 have been established.
Analysis of Diadochokinesis in Ataxic Dysarthria Using the Motor Speech Profile Program™
Authors: Wang Yu-Tsai , Kent Ray D. , Duffy Joseph R. , Thomas Jack E.
Published: December 2008

Aims: The Diadochokinetic Rate Analysis (DRA) in the KayPENTAX Motor Speech Profile is a computer program for the analysis of diadochokinesis (DDK). The objective of this study is to evaluate the suitability, reliability, and concurrent validity of the results from the DRA protocol and hand measurement for individuals with ataxic dysarthria, which is characteristically associated with dysdiadochokinesis. Methods: Twenty-one participants with ataxic dysarthria were recorded as they repeated various syllables as quickly and steadily as possible. The DDK samples were executed by the DRA protocol at different thresholds and were also hand-measured. Analyses were based on the percentage of nonexecutable DDK samples, defined as samples in which the lowest peak intensity during CV syllables is lower than the highest peak intensity during intersyllable pauses, and the comparisons of the results between repeated analyses at different thresholds and between automatic and manual measuring methods. Results: (1) More than one third of the DDK samples were nonexecutable; (2) the reliability at different thresholds and concurrent validity between different measuring methods were both satisfactory, and (3) temporal variation parameters were more inconsistent between different measuring methods than intensity variation parameters. Conclusion: DRA has notable limitations in its clinical application but there is a considerable potential for improving its performance.
The Epidemiology of Guillain-Barré Syndrome Worldwide
Authors: McGrogan Anita , Madle Gemma C. , Seaman Helen E. , de Vries Corinne S.
Published: December 2008

Background: This systematic literature review of the epidemiology of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) identifies trends in incidence rates by age, study method and cause of disease. It is important to have a reliable estimate of incidence to determine and investigate any changes: no previous systematic reviews of GBS have been found. Methods: After critical assessment of the reliability of the reported data, incidence rates were extracted from all relevant papers published between 1980 and 2008, identified through searches of Medline, Embase and Science Direct. Results: Sixty-three papers were included in this review; these studies were prospective, retrospective reviews of medical records or retrospective database studies. Ten studies reported on the incidence in children (0–15 years old), and found the annual incidence to be between 0.34 and 1.34/100,000. Most studies investigated populations in Europe and North America and reported similar annual incidence rates, i.e. between 0.84 and 1.91/100,000. A decrease in incidence over the time between the 1980s and 1990s was found. Up to 70% of cases of GBS were caused by antecedent infections. Conclusions: Our best estimate of the overall incidence of GBS was between 1.1/100,000/year and 1.8/100,000/year. The incidence of GBS increased with age after 50 years from 1.7/100,000/year to 3.3/100,000/year.
‘The Adventure’: Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz’s Extraordinary Stroke Diary
Authors: Bogousslavsky J.
Published: December 2008

The famous Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz suffered a stroke at 65 years, which he called ‘the adventure’ or ‘the accident’. He developed language disturbances suggesting crossed aphasia in a right hander with left hemiparesis. This uncommon pattern allowed him to continue to write his diary and to report his disturbances, with a unique depth and precision, especially for cognitive-emotional changes. Language and motor dysfunction recovered within a few weeks, but Ramuz complained of persisting emotional flattening alternating with irritability, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and concentration difficulty, which gave him the feeling to have become another person and to be inhabited by a stranger, whom he compared with devils. Ramuz fought several months to resume his literary activity, having the impression to have lost inspiration and creativity. However, the novels he wrote less than 6 months after stroke show no stylistic changes and have been found to be of the same quality as his previous production. Ramuz even ‘used’ his stroke experience in his work, in particular in a novel depicting an old man who has a stroke and dies of it. Ramuz’s diary, with his own daily description of stroke features and consequences during acute and recovery phases, is a unique document in a writer of his importance, and provides invaluable information on subjective emotional and cognitive experience of stroke.
Airmass Classification and Analysis of Aerosol Types at El Arenosillo (Spain)
Authors: Toledano C. , Cachorro V. E. , de Frutos A. M. , Torres B. , Berjón A. , Sorribas M. , Stone R. S.
Published: December 2008

The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) site “El Arenosillo,” equipped with a Cimel sun photometer, has been in operation since 2000. The data collected there are analyzed to establish an aerosol synoptic climatological description that is representative of the region. Different air masses and aerosol types are present over the site depending on the synoptic conditions. The frequent intrusion of dust from the Sahara Desert at El Arenosillo suggested the use of back trajectories to determine the airmass origins of other types of aerosol observed there. The focus of this study is to classify the air masses arriving at El Arenosillo by means of back-trajectory analyses and to characterize the aerosol within each type by means of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its spectral signature, given as the Ångström exponent (AE). The goal is to determine how aerosols observed over the station (receptor site) differ depending on source region and transport pathways. Two classification methods are used, one based on sectors and a second based on cluster analysis. The period analyzed is from 2000 to 2004. Both methods show that maritime air masses are predominant, occurring 70% of the time and having relatively low AOD (≈0.1 at 440 nm) and a wide range of AE (from about 0 to 2.0). Air masses with continental characteristics are moderately turbid and have values of AE that average ≈1.4. Air masses arriving from the south and southwest show the distinct features of the desert dust, having moderate to high values of AOD (0.30–0.35 at 440 nm) and low values of AE.
HIV/AIDS as Business Risk
Authors: van Wyk Jay
Published: December 2008

This article utilizes a political system framework to trace the political sources of business risk stemming from the unfolding HIV/AIDS generalized epidemic in South Africa. The article integrates relevant dimensions of the fields of international business and political science to facilitate the assessment of such risks for firms. Risk formation and updating is a sequential process. The conditions from which business risk emerges, the politicization of the generalized (i.e., widespread) epidemic through boundary-crossing activities, and “inputs” are explored. The transformation of HIV/AIDS from an epidemic to a business threat is underscored by the South African government’s tendency to view the issue as part of the public agenda rather than part of its formal agenda. Governmental inaction, as well as action, led to an array of risks for firms operating in South Africa (e.g., operations, asset impairment, competitive, franchise). Mitigating strategies for managers are discussed, including avoidance, offsetting, transference, sharing, remedy, and anticipation.
Syllable Onset Intervals as an Indicator of Discourse and Syntactic Boundaries in Taiwan Mandarin
Authors: Fon Janice , Johnson Keith
Published: December 2008

This study looks at the syllable onset interval (SOI) patterning in Taiwan Mandarin spontaneous speech and its relationship to discourse and syntactic units. Monologs were elicited by asking readers to tell stories depicted in comic strips and were transcribed and segmented into Discourse Segment Units (Grosz & Sidner, 1986), clauses, and phrases. Results showed that the degree of final lengthening was modulated by boundary types. Lengthening before discourse boundaries was longer than that before clausal boundaries, which was in turn longer than that before phrasal boundaries. Final SOI lengthening also seemed to reflect cognitive load. At the discourse and clausal levels, the degree of lengthening is modulated by narration order. First narrations tended to have longer final SOIs than second narrations. In addition, there was also a mild lengthening effect in nonfinal SOIs, as was evidenced by the length differences in initial and medial SOIs and the differential lengthening effect regarding the positioning of phrases in a clause.
Perception of Mandarin Lexical Tones when F0 Information is Neutralized
Authors: Liu Siyun , Samuel Arthur G.
Published: December 2008

In tone languages, the identity of a word depends on its tone pattern as well as its phonetic structure. The primary cue to tone identity is the fundamental frequency (F0) contour. Two experiments explore how listeners perceive Mandarin monosyllables in which all or part of the F0 information has been neutralized. In Experiment 1, supposedly critical portions of the tonal pattern were neutralized with signal processing techniques, yet identification of the tonal pattern remained quite good. In Experiment 2, even more drastic removal of tonal information was tested, using stimuli whispered by Mandarin speakers, or signal processed to remove the pitch cues. Again, performance was surprisingly good, showing that listeners can use secondary cues when the primary cue is unavailable. Moreover, a comparison of tone perception of naturally whispered monosyllables and the signal processed ones suggests that Mandarin speakers promote the utility of secondary cues when they know that the primary cue will be unavailable. The flexible use of cues to tone in Mandarin is similar to the flexibility that has been found in the production and perception of cues to phonetic identity in Western languages.
Perception of Place and Secondary Articulation Contrasts in Different Syllable Positions: Language-Particular and Language-Independent Asymmetries
Authors: Kochetov Alexei
Published: December 2008

This study investigated the perception of place and secondary articulation contrasts in different syllable positions by Russian and Japanese listeners. The consonants involved in the study were the Russian plain (velarized) and palatalized labial and coronal voiceless stops in syllable-initial and syllable-final positions at word boundaries. The findings revealed substantial asymmetries in the perception of the contrasts by both groups of listeners: With respect to positions, consonants in syllable-final position were characterized by lower correct identification rates and (less consistently) longer reaction time than the same consonants in syllable-initial position. Positional differences were accompanied by differences in segment-specific contexts. With respect to individual consonants, the palatalized labial /p j/ and the plain coronal /t/ showed a lower correct identification rate and smaller perceptual distance than the plain labial /p/ and the palatalized coronal /tj/. The results also showed some differences between Russian and Japanese listeners in the perception of the contrast. These differences can be explained by phonotactic differences between the two languages, as well as by differences in the phonetic realizations of the consonants. The results of the study provide evidence for the role of both universal and language-particular factors in speech perception.
Measures of Native and Non-Native Rhythm in a Quantity Language
Authors: Stockmal Verna , Markus Dace , Bond Dzintra
Published: December 2008

The traditional phonetic classification of language rhythm as stress-timed or syllable-timed is attributed to Pike. Recently, two different proposals have been offered for describing the rhythmic structure of languages from acoustic-phonetic measurements. Ramus has suggested a metric based on the proportion of vocalic intervals and the variability ( SD) of consonantal intervals. Grabe has proposed Pairwise Variability Indices (nPVI, rPVI) calculated from the differences in vocalic and consonantal durations between successive syllables. We have calculated both the Ramus and Grabe metrics for Latvian, traditionally considered a syllable rhythm language, and for Latvian as spoken by Russian learners. Native speakers and proficient learners were very similar whereas low-proficiency learners showed high variability on some properties. The metrics did not provide an unambiguous classification of Latvian.
Life Span Effects of Lexical Factors on Oral Naming
Authors: Newman Rochelle S. , German Diane J.
Published: December 2008

This study investigated how lexical access in naming tasks (picture naming, naming to open-ended sentences, and naming to category exemplars) might be influenced by different lexical factors during adolescence and adulthood. Participants included 1075 individuals, ranging in age from 12 to 83 years. Lexical factors examined included word frequency and familiarity, age of acquisition, neighborhood density, and phonotactic probability. As expected, each of these factors influenced lexical access, and there was a general trend towards less accurate naming with age. More interestingly, word frequency and neighborhood density both showed larger effects for adolescents than for adults, but then showed constant effects on lexical access throughout adulthood. Phonotactic probability showed constant effects across the lifespan. Effects of word familiarity and age of acquisition interacted with age in adulthood; lexical access of older adults was more greatly affected by a word's familiarity and age of acquisition than was the lexical access of younger adults. These lexical factors impact on adult naming so that words that were learned later in life and which are judged to be less familiar are more difficult to retrieve then their counterparts (words learned earlier and judged to be more familiar) as individuals age. This suggests that age of acquisition and familiarity may play a protective role in adult naming. In contrast, word frequency and form-based properties of words appear to have similar effects throughout adulthood. Implications of these findings for theories of aging and for models of lexical access are discussed.
Japanese Listeners' Perceptions of Phonotactic Violations
Authors: Fais Laurel , Kajikawa Sachiyo , Werker Janet , Amano Shigeaki
Published: December 2008

The canonical form for Japanese words is (Consonant)Vowel(Consonant) Vowel~. However, a regular process of high vowel devoicing between voiceless consonants and word-finally after voiceless consonants results in consonant clusters and word-final consonants, apparent violations of that phonotactic pattern. We investigated Japanese adults' perceptions of these violations, asking them to rate both canonical and noncanonical nonsense forms on a scale of goodness. Results indicate that adults show evidence of being guided in making their judgments by an implicit understanding of both typical canonical forms and appropriate contexts for vowel devoicing.
The Time Course of Variability Effects in the Perception of Spoken Language: Changes Across the Lifespan
Authors: McLennan Conor T.
Published: December 2008

Although spoken language is communicated via a rapidly varying signal, human listeners recognize spoken words both quickly and accurately. Nonetheless, variability in speech does have implications for both the processes and representations involved in spoken language perception. Moreover, variability effects have been observed across the lifespan, ranging from infants to older adults. Many factors could potentially modulate the degree to which variability affects spoken language perception. In particular, recent findings demonstrate that variability effects follow a time course, manifesting themselves at predictable points during perceptual processing. However, time course investigations are currently limited to young adults. Therefore, the current paper explores how the time course of variability effects might differ throughout the lifespan, based on predictions derived from an adaptive resonance framework.
The Acquisition of Prosodic Word Structures in Spanish by Monolingual and Spanish-German Bilingual Children
Authors: Lleó Conxita
Published: December 2008

This article examines the constraints on Prosodic Word production in Spanish by three monolingual and three Spanish-German bilingual children from the beginning of word production until 2;2. It also considers the relationship between Prosodic Words and Phonological Phrases, and in the case of monosyllabic words, it takes into consideration syllable structure (i.e., presence or absence of codas), in order to ascertain the importance of foot binarity in early child speech. Although the preferred Prosodic Word shape is that of a trochee, there appear a few monosyllables, consisting of CVC (or CV), which are produced earlier by the bilinguals than by the monolinguals. The minimality constraint is violated by the production of CV forms. Maximality constraints are observed for a very short time, as unfooted syllables appear very soon, especially in the data of the monolinguals. However, it takes several more months until Spanish children are able to produce Prosodic Words containing two feet, whereas Phonological Phrases constituted by two disyllabic Prosodic Words are produced earlier by some children. It is proposed that such data can be optimally treated by means of constraints, and their relevance to the question of whether prosodic structure is acquired bottom-up is briefly discussed.
Rhythmic Characteristics of Colloquial and Formal Tamil
Authors: Keane Elinor
Published: December 2008

Application of recently developed rhythmic measures to passages of read speech in colloquial and formal Tamil revealed some significant differences between the two varieties, which are in diglossic distribution. Both were also distinguished from a set of control data from British English speakers reading an equivalent passage. The findings have implications for the usefulness of the rhythmic measures and also the temporal characteristics of Tamil. High levels of interspeaker variability affected the measures; in some cases differences within each group of five speakers exceeded those separating distinct languages, indicating that such measures may not be reliable indicators of typological status. Discrepancies between previous findings and remeasurements of the same data also show the measures to be sensitive to differences in measurement criteria, specifically the treatment of pauses. The results confirm that the differences between colloquial and formal Tamil encompass durational characteristics, which appear to be largely explicable from differences in their syllabic structure. Provisional comparison with other languages suggests that their rhythmic properties cannot easily be captured by reference to traditional rhythmic classes. This may explain previous confusion in the literature over Tamil's temporal characteristics, which have been variously described in terms of stress-timing, syllable-timing, and mora-timing.
Focus and VP Ellipsis
Authors: Frazier Lyn , Clifton Charles , Carlson Katy
Published: December 2008

In spoken English, pitch accents can convey the focus associated with new or contrasted constituents. Two listening experiments were conducted to determine whether accenting a subject makes its predicate a more tempting antecedent for an elided verb phrase, presumably because the accent helps focus the subject of the antecedent clause, increasing its likelihood of contrasting with the subject of the elided clause. The results of Experiment 1 supported the predictions of this “Contrasted Remnant hypothesis” but in principle could also be caused by listeners avoiding antecedents containing a focused (F-marked) constituent. Experiment 2 disconfirmed the hypothesis that listeners avoid antecedents containing a focused constituent, although pitch accents within a potential antecedent VP affected ellipsis resolution.
Orthographic Representations in Spoken Word Priming: No Early Automatic Activation
Authors: Pattamadilok Chotiga , Kolinsky Régine , Ventura Paulo , Radeau Monique , Morais José
Published: December 2008

The current study investigated the modulation by orthographic knowledge of the final overlap phonological priming effect, contrasting spoken prime-target pairs with congruent spellings (e.g., `carreau-bourreau', /karo/-/buro/) to pairs with incongruent spellings (e.g., `zéro-bourreau', /zero/-/buro/). Using materials and designs aimed at reducing the impact of response biases or strategies, no orthographic congruency effect was found in shadowing, a speech recognition task that can be performed prelexically. In lexical decision, an orthographic effect occurred only when the processing environment reduced the prominence of phonological overlap and thus induced participants to rely on word spelling. Overall, the data do not support the assumption of early, automatic activation of orthographic representations during spoken word recognition.
Rhythm versus Analogy: Prosodic Form Variation in Dutch Compounds
Authors: Neijt Anneke , Schreuder Robert
Published: December 2008

Creating compound nouns is the most productive process of Dutch morphology, with an interesting pattern of form variation. For instance, staat `nation' simply combines with kunde `art' ( staatkunde `political science, statesmanship'), but needs a linking element s or en to form staatsschuld `national debt' and statenbond `confederation'.

Previous research has shown that the use of linking elements is guided by paradigmatic analogy, a factor that in the absence of other factors would lead to paradigm uniformity. However, there is considerable freedom in the use of linking elements, suggesting that other factors are relevant as well. We present studies showing that both stress and length affect their use, and that, in an experimental setting, the linking element en is less favored in lengthened compounds. However, the results observed in this experiment can only be explained satisfactorily in terms of rhythm: the preference for a recurrent pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

The general conclusion of this study concerns the distinction between language behavior guided by stored knowledge or by processing factors. Models based on analogy (exemplar-based models) rely on stored knowledge. This study shows that apart from that, rhythm plays its own role. Rhythmic structures facilitate language processing, and a preference for perfect rhythm explains which variant of a compound (with or without the linking element) is chosen. Given the universal nature of analogy and rhythm, the issue of the balance between these two components of linguistic knowledge is relevant for a wide array of languages.
Inflectional Bootstrapping in 2-year-olds
Authors: Jolly Helen R. , Plunkett Kim
Published: December 2008

The theory of syntactic bootstrapping proposes that children can use syntax to infer the meanings of words. This paper presents experimental evidence that children are also able to use word inflections to infer word reference. Twenty-four- and 30-month-olds were tested in a preferential looking experiment. Children were shown a pair of novel images, one showing a single object, the other a pair of objects, whilst they heard novel words with and without the English plural inflection. Word-image associations were then assessed. Analyses revealed that the older group of children had learnt to associate the words with the appropriate pictures. These results demonstrate that early in the third year, children are readily able to identify whether a spoken word is a singular or plural form, that they have a proper understanding of the significance of plural morphology and that they can deploy this knowledge inferentially to aid the process of word learning—a strategy we call inflectional bootstrapping.
Bootstrapping Lexical and Syntactic Acquisition
Authors: Christophe Anne , Millotte Séverine , Bernal Savita , Lidz Jeffrey
Published: December 2008

This paper focuses on how phrasal prosody and function words may interact during early language acquisition. Experimental results show that infants have access to intermediate prosodic phrases (phonological phrases) during the first year of life, and use these to constrain lexical segmentation. These same intermediate prosodic phrases are used by adults to constrain on-line syntactic analysis. In addition, by two years of age infants can exploit function words to infer the syntactic category of unknown content words (nouns vs. verbs) and guess their plausible meaning (object vs. action). We speculate on how infants may build a partial syntactic structure by relying on both phonological phrase boundaries and function words, and present adult results that test the plausibility of this hypothesis. These results are tied together within a model of the architecture of the first stages of language processing, and their acquisition.
Constructing Breast Cancer in the News
Authors: Dubriwny Tasha N.
Published: December 2008

In this article, the author explores a key moment in breast cancer history—the publicity surrounding Betty Ford's radical mastectomy in 1974—and points to the ways in which the print news coverage of Ford's mastectomy offers an identity, or subject position, for breast cancer patients that is constrained by stereotypical gender roles, particularly the need for breast cancer patients to maintain their femininity. Betty Ford is articulated as an “ideal patient” within a medical success narrative that tells a story of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in a progressive, linear fashion that minimizes the complexity of breast cancer as a disease and the questions surrounding best treatment practices. The aestheticization of breast cancer in the coverage of Betty Ford's mastectomy is one of the primary discursive building blocks of the contemporary subjectivity of the breast cancer survivor.
Genetic technologies and the transformation of the geographies of UK livestock agriculture: a research agenda
Authors: Morris Carol , Holloway Lewis
Published: December 2008

This paper presents an agenda for research into the geographies of UK livestock agriculture as these are being reconfigured through the increasing intervention of genetic techniques and technologies. After discussing three particular techniques, four areas of research are identified. The first three relate to different spaces and scales at which the effects of genetic techniques can be examined: the animal body and animal-human relationships; the farm and other rural spaces; and the national and international networks of genetic knowledge-practices relating to livestock. The fourth area outlines an agenda for engaging with Foucault's notion of biopower as a possible means of gaining a theoretical purchase on three key issues which span these three scales: knowledge, power and life. In its reflections on the wider implications of the proposed research the paper aims to speak to a number of audiences within and beyond the discipline.
Cause-Related Marketing in the Retail and Finance Sectors
Authors: Liston-Heyes Catherine , Liu Gordon
Published: December 2008

Firms devote increasing funds and resources to cause-related marketing (CRM). This report seeks to uncover some of the factors that explain how firms choose between competing social causes in the development of their CRM strategy. The behavior of firms traded on the London Stock Exchange is analyzed, by highlighting regularities and patterns in CRM activities. The rationales for the observed patterns are investigated through semistructured interviews with managers employed by UK-based nonprofit organizations, financial services, and retail firms. The authors identify, among other things, differences in the nature of the “selected” social causes, the length and geographical scope of the social campaigns, and the (CRM) strategies used to implement them. It is argued that these variations may reflect differences in the organizational legitimacy pressures experienced by firms in the retail and financial services sectors.
Creating a Quality-Improvement Dialogue: Utilizing Knowledge From Frontline Staff, Managers, and Experts to Foster Health Care Quality Improvement
Authors: Parker Louise E. , Kirchner JoAnn E. , Bonner Laura M. , Fickel Jacqueline J. , Ritchie Mona J. , Simons Carol E. , Yano Elizabeth M.
Published: December 2008

There is a growing consensus that a hybrid of two common approaches to quality improvement (QI), local participatory QI and expert QI, might be the best method for achieving quality care. Achieving such a hybrid requires that content experts establish an ongoing dialogue with both frontline staff members and managers. In this study we examined frontline staff members' and managers' preferences regarding how to conduct such a dialogue, and we provide practical suggestions for implementation. The two groups shared a number of preferences (e.g., verbal face-to-face exchanges, discussions focused on quality of care). There were also some differences. For example, although managers were interested in discussions of business aspects (e.g., costs), frontline staff members were concerned with workload issues. Finally, although informants acknowledged that engaging in a QI dialogue was time consuming, they also believed it was essential if health care organizations are to improve the quality of care they provide.
Effective Methylphenidate Treatment of an Adult Aspergers Syndrome and a Comorbid ADHD
Authors: Roy Mandy , Dillo Wolfgang , Bessling Svenja , Emrich Hinderk M. , Ohlmeier Martin D.
Published: December 2008

Objective: Aspergers Syndrome can present as comorbid with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Very few cases of the assessment and treatment of this comorbidity in adulthood are described in the research literature. Method: A 26-year-old patient as suffering from ADHD in combination with Aspergers Syndrome is diagnosed. Treatment is started with methylphenidate (MPH), and the patient's clinical response is observed, psychological tests concerning attention are analyzed, and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examination is performed during an attention-task. Results: On the functional magnetic resonance imaging, a reduction of cerebral activity bilaterally in the parietal lobe under the influence of MPH is detected. Conclusion: Besides the neurophysiological findings, this case reports the complex impairment caused by the combination of AD/HD with Aspergers Syndrome and the broad social and behavioral benefits of treatment with MPH for this comorbidity. (J. of Att. Dis. 2009; 12(4) 381-385
When intake exceeds input: Language specific perceptual illusions induced by L1 prosodic constraints
Authors: Matthews John , Brown Cynthia
Published: December 2008

In this paper we argue that the prosodic well-formedness conditions of a learner's native language phonology interfere with accurate perception of non-native segmental sequences. This interference induces a perceptual illusion effect due to which learners perceive an illusory vowel that, in fact, does not exist in the acoustic signal. In this way, a learner's percept of the L2 input, or L2 intake, actually includes more segmental material than is physically present. As a product of the native language phonology, these perceptual illusions are shown to occur only in environments where L2 segmental sequences cannot be licensed by L1 prosodic constituents. In addition, the quality of the perceived illusory vowel is shown to coincide with the vowel category inserted by a learner's native language phonology in environments conditioning epenthesis. Finally, by varying the duration of interstimulus intervals in an AX discrimination task, we reveal latent capacities to overcome the perceptual illusion effect when finer grained acoustic representations are made accessible. We conclude that perception of illusory segments is a direct result of a learner's native language phonology generating a phonological representation that abides by the prosodic constraints of the learner's native language.
Between-language identity effects in picture-word interference tasks: A challenge for language-nonspecific or language-specific models of lexical access?
Authors: Hermans Daan
Published: December 2008

In this paper the between-language identity facilitation effect reported by Costa, Miozzo, and Caramazza (1999) was re-examined. Costa et al. (1999) found that bilinguals name pictures accompanied by the picture's names in a language not required for production faster than pictures accompanied by unrelated words. The between-language identity facilitation effect has been taken as evidence in favor of language-specific models of lexical access (Costa et al., 1999; Costa & Caramazza, 1999). I report one picture-word interference experiment that shows that between-language identity facilitation can no longer be taken as evidence in favor of either language-specific or language-nonspecific models of lexical access.
The components of bilingual proficiency
Authors: Francis Norbert
Published: December 2008

Research reports from three areas of investigation (exceptional bilingualism, early differentiation in childhood bilingualism, and language mixing) are discussed with the purpose of exploring the applicability of the concept of modularity. Components of bilingual proficiency can be studied from a modular perspective along two dimensions: (1) autonomy and interaction between representations of the bilingual's two languages, (2) degrees and kinds of autonomy of Conceptual Structures from the linguistic structures of both languages, and how these domains interact. A model of bilingual proficiency is proposed based on an adaptation of Jackendoff's Tripartite Parallel Architecture (TPA). Jackendoff's (2002) assessment of Levelt's (1999) theory of speech processing represents an important attempt to promote an interdisciplinary exchange around a conception of modularity that is more in line with recent psycholinguistic research. De Bot's (2000 /1992) bilingual adaptation of Levelt's model is discussed as a key contribution to a developing convergence, taking advantage of the special opportunities that the study of bilingualism offers to the discussion. While a number of points of divergence remain between the Levelt and de Bot models on the one hand, and Jackendoff's TPA and the proposed Bilingual TPA on the other, it is not clear if these differences are of substance or rather the result of analyzing bilingual proficiency from alternate vantage points. The proposal offered for discussion in this paper is inclined toward the latter.
Bilingual early functional-lexical mixing and the activation of formal features
Authors: Liceras Juana M. , Spradlin K. Todd , Fernández Fuertes Raquel
Published: December 2008

We have argued that the grammatical features spell-out hypothesis (GFSH) (Liceras, Spradlin, Perales, Fernández, & Álvarez, 2003; Spradlin, Liceras & Fernández, 2003a) accounts for the functional-lexical mixing patterns that prevail in the case of Determiner Phrases produced by bilingual (English-Spanish) children. This hypothesis (Liceras, 2002; Spradlin, Liceras & Fernández, 2003b) states that in the process of activating the features of the two grammars, the child, who will rely on the two lexicons, will make codemixing choices which will favor the functional categories containing the largest array of uninterpretable features (Chomsky, 1998, 1999). This implies that in the case of English/ Spanish child acquisition data, mixed utterances such as el book (Spanish Determiner + English Noun) will prevail over mixed utterances such as the libro (English Determiner + Spanish Noun). Thus, in the process of acquisition, children pay special attention to the visible morpho-phonological triggers which lead to the activation of abstract formal features.
Contact and contracting Spanish
Authors: Zapata Gabriela C. , Sánchez Liliana , Toribio Almeida Jacqueline
Published: December 2008

This investigation is inspired by an interest in the contact/contracting grammars of heritage speakers of Spanish who have experienced prolonged exposure to English in the United States and, in particular, what their linguistic performance reveals of their knowledge of lexical subclasses and discursive properties associated with ordering of sentential constituents in the Spanish language. Analysis of data obtained for 24 participants on diverse measures of interpretation and production of unergative and unaccusative predicates and Topicalization and Clitic Left Dislocation constructions indicate that while properties of the core syntax (e.g., properties of TP, AgrS, and AgrO) remain robust, properties of the lexico- and discursive-semantic interface may be vulnerable to attrition or respecification.
Talking about silence: Gender and the construction of multilingual identities
Authors: Mills Jean
Published: December 2008

This paper concerns identity, multilingualism, gender and silence. It draws upon poststructuralist discussions on the role of language in the construction of identity, particularly in relation to gender and bilingualism. As gender is socially constructed, negotiated and performed through language, it differs between cultures and involves different relations of power. A bilingual person, specifically, a bilingual woman, can, therefore, construct and perform identity in different ways depending on context and may employ strategies in different ways between contexts, such as in the interplay between speech and silence. Silence as a phenomenon has been viewed in the context of the exercise of power between dominant and subordinate groups, especially in male-female relationships, and the ways in which the oral contributions of the “muted group” are excluded, constrained or devalued. Furthermore, it has been noted that there are different social sanctions between cultures that may silence women in different ways. This discussion explores some of the roles that speech and silence have played in the life of one multilingual person of Asian heritage. In doing so, different scenarios of empowerment through the role of translator and apparent disempowerment documented within a group of female friends are addressed. The paper examines the ways in which individuals may both work within and against cultural expectations in relation to the discursive practice of silence.
Thresholds leading to shift: Spanish/English codeswitching and convergence in Georgia, U.S.A
Authors: Smith Daniel J.
Published: December 2008

In the speech of members of a Georgia (U.S.A.) community of immigrants from Latin America, as their bilingual sentences of Spanish/English reach a certain threshold of English content, Spanish morphosyntactic patterns begin to converge toward those of English. Data from naturally-occurring conversations by 56 children and adults of both sexes are analyzed within Myers-Scotton's (1993 [1997], 2002) Matrix Language Frame model. Eight language types were identified, including monolingual Spanish and English turns, codeswitched turns, and turns showing convergence (morpheme strings from one language with some grammatical structure from the other). An instance of each language type per turn was counted as a token of that language type. Each sentence of a multisentence turn was counted as a separate token. Tokens of each type were counted per informant. A rank ordering of the data by percentage of monolingual Spanish allows observation of how certain thresholds signal changes in the types of language mixing. Analysis reveals that percentages of monolingual and codeswitched utterances pattern in relation to percentages of utterances showing convergence, indicating that informants' Spanish does not begin to converge toward English until fewer than 70% of their utterances are monolingual Spanish. The data thus show that both codeswitching and convergence are mechanisms of language shift and change from dominance in one language to another. Social factors are also shown to be associated with the linguistic patterns.
Imagined identities: Preimmigrants' narratives on language and identity
Authors: Barkhuizen Gary , de Klerk Vivian
Published: December 2008

This article reports on a study which investigated the language- and identity-related, predeparture concerns and expectations of prospective immigrants. Narrative interviews were conducted with 15 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans who planned to emigrate to New Zealand within months of their participation in the study. The participants' stories were told and interpreted within the exploratory space created by the intersection of three narrative dimensions (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000); that is, the personal and social experiences of participants moving backwards and forwards in time and physical space. From our socially-situated content analysis of the experiences articulated in their narratives we identified a number of thematic threads which we found to be salient. We chose five of these through which to channel our presentation of the findings: linguistic, cultural and national roots; the process of change; imagined identity changes; imagined losses and longing; emotional responses to anticipated changes. Further interpretative analysis of the findings produced five interrelated axes on which the participants, through their stories, position themselves. By examining participants' imagined experiences, our aim is to broaden the scope of research on language, identity and immigration. It allows us to make connections between life before and after migration, and thus to focus on the “journey” (Brah, 1996).
Bilingual practices in the process of initiating and resolving lexical problems in students' collaborative writing sessions
Authors: Bani-Shoraka Helena , Jansson Gunilla
Published: December 2008

This study deals with the sequential organization of language choice and codeswitching between Persian as a first language and Swedish as a second language in the process of initiating and resolving a problem of understanding and producing the correct version of a lexical item. The data consist of detailed transcripts of audio tapings of two bilingual students' collaborative writing sessions within the frame of a one-year master's program in computer science in a multilingual setting at a Swedish university. The students, both Persian-speaking, are advanced speakers of Swedish as a second language. For this article, four lexical language-related episodes, where codeswitching between Persian and Swedish occurs, are analyzed. The analyzed excerpts in this article are drawn from a corpus of data consisting of language-related episodes identified and transcribed in the audio tapings. We employ a conversation analysis (CA) approach for the analysis of bilingual interaction. This means that the meaning of the codeswitching in the interaction is described in terms of both global (the conversational activity at large) and local interactional factors. In the analysis, a close step-by-step analysis of the turn-taking procedures demonstrates how the communicative meaning of the students' bilingual behavior in a lexical episode is determined in its local production in the emerging conversational context and how it can be explicated as part of the following social actions: drawing attention to a problem, seeking alliance when a problem is made explicit and confirming intersubjective understanding when the problem is resolved.