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Rapid Succession (rapid + succession)
Selected AbstractsInfant information processing and family history of specific language impairment: converging evidence for RAP deficits from two paradigmsDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2007Naseem Choudhury An infant's ability to process auditory signals presented in rapid succession (i.e. rapid auditory processing abilities [RAP]) has been shown to predict differences in language outcomes in toddlers and preschool children. Early deficits in RAP abilities may serve as a behavioral marker for language-based learning disabilities. The purpose of this study is to determine if performance on infant information processing measures designed to tap RAP and global processing skills differ as a function of family history of specific language impairment (SLI) and/or the particular demand characteristics of the paradigm used. Seventeen 6- to 9-month-old infants from families with a history of specific language impairment (FH+) and 29 control infants (FH,) participated in this study. Infants' performance on two different RAP paradigms (head-turn procedure [HT] and auditory-visual habituation/recognition memory [AVH/RM]) and on a global processing task (visual habituation/recognition memory [VH/RM]) was assessed at 6 and 9 months. Toddler language and cognitive skills were evaluated at 12 and 16 months. A number of significant group differences were seen: FH+ infants showed significantly poorer discrimination of fast rate stimuli on both RAP tasks, took longer to habituate on both habituation/recognition memory measures, and had lower novelty preference scores on the visual habituation/recognition memory task. Infants' performance on the two RAP measures provided independent but converging contributions to outcome. Thus, different mechanisms appear to underlie performance on operantly conditioned tasks as compared to habituation/recognition memory paradigms. Further, infant RAP processing abilities predicted to 12- and 16-month language scores above and beyond family history of SLI. The results of this study provide additional support for the validity of infant RAP abilities as a behavioral marker for later language outcome. Finally, this is the first study to use a battery of infant tasks to demonstrate multi-modal processing deficits in infants at risk for SLI. [source] Mere presence of distractors: Another determining factor for the attentional blink1JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2003Jun-Ichiro Kawahara Abstract: When two visual targets are presented in rapid succession, perception of the second target is deteriorated if the temporal lag between the two targets is short (0,300 ms). This ,attentional blink' (AB) phenomenon has been believed to occur only when the second target is followed by a backward mask or when there is a task switching between two targets. The present study revealed another determining factor for the occurrence of the AB, the presence or absence of a distractor stream. Five experiments examined the effect of possible confounding factors in the extant literature and suggested that the mere presence of a distractor stream affects the processing of targets even when the observers tried to ignore them, resulting in a processing delay. This effect is discussed in a model of AB deficit in terms of decay of the second target's representation. [source] Refining crisis deepens as capacity is lost on both sides of AtlanticOIL AND ENERGY TRENDS, Issue 10 2005Article first published online: 17 OCT 200 The devastation by the arrival of hurricanes in rapid succession on the US Gulf Coast highlights how finely balanced the world's refined product supply chain is. Gasoline prices hit record highs around the world as the first of the two hurricanes, Katrina, moved onshore into Louisiana and Mississippi, knocking out some 2.4 mn bpd of refinery capacity. The arrival of its sister storm, Rita, put a further 4.1 mn bpd out of action in Texas whilst nearly 0.9 m bpd remained closed in the aftermath of Katrina. Refiners across the world strove to make up the shortfall in gasoline and other light distillates from the US, only to find in many cases there were insufficient clean tankers to ship the product to the US Gulf. [source] Scream,embrace displays in wild black-horned capuchin monkeysAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Jessica Lynch Alfaro Abstract Reintroduction of capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) into their social group in captivity can elicit sirena screams and embraces. Captive scream,embrace displays are male biased, and females never perform sirena screams. One hypothesis is that scream,embrace displays serve a tension-reduction or reconciliatory function between males with conflicting interests. Alternatively, these displays may function to maintain strong affiliative bonds between friendly male dyads. Scream and/or embrace displays in wild Brazilian black-horned capuchins were analyzed for social and ecological contexts, behavioral components, and individuals involved. Seventy-two displays were observed during the 199-day study period. Among the 66 displays for which both members could be identified by sex, there were 42 occurrences of male,male dyads, 17 of male,female dyads, and seven of female,female dyads. Scream,embrace dyads were male,male pairs significantly more often than expected from group membership, and the , male was the only male to engage in scream,embrace displays with females. Female,female pairs did embrace, but never emitted sirena screams. Displays most commonly occurred in "reunion" contexts, primarily the reuniting of subgroups after hours or days out of contact, but also after intergroup encounters, and across groups in "intergroup" displays. Displays were rare, but socially contagious, and subgroup reunions could elicit multiple displays in rapid succession. Although the occurrence of screams and embraces was positively correlated, both behaviors also occurred independently, and their functions may be different. Male sirena screams may be honest advertisements of united alliances, directed toward a third party, whereas the embrace may be a risky affiliative signal, directed primarily within the dyad. Am. J. Primatol. 70:551,559, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Complete and sustained remission of juvenile dermatomyositis resulting from aggressive treatmentARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 6 2009Susan Kim Objective To assess the time needed to achieve sustained, medication-free remission in a cohort of patients with juvenile dermatomyositis (DM) receiving a stepwise, aggressive treatment protocol. Methods Between 1994 and 2004, a cohort of 49 children with juvenile DM who were followed up at a single tertiary care children's hospital using disease activity measures according to a specific protocol received standardized therapy with steroids and methotrexate. If a patient's strength or muscle enzyme levels did not normalize with this initial therapy, additional medications were added in rapid succession to the treatment regimen. The primary outcome measure was time to complete remission. Additional outcome measures were onset of calcinosis, effect of treatment on height, and complications resulting from medications. Results Forty-nine patients were followed up for a mean ± SD of 48 ± 30 months. All but 1 patient received 2 or more medications simultaneously. Transient localized calcifications occurred in 4 patients (8%), and 2 additional patients (4%) had persistent calcinosis. Despite the aggressive therapy, complications associated with treatment were mild and were primarily attributable to steroids. No persistent effect on longitudinal growth was observed. A complete, medication-free remission was achieved in 28 patients; the median time to achievement of complete remission was 38 months (95% confidence interval 32,44 months). None of these patients experienced a disease flare that required resumption of medications during the subsequent period of observation (mean ± SD 36 ± 19.7 months). Conclusion Our findings suggest that aggressive treatment of juvenile DM aimed at achieving rapid, complete control of muscle weakness and inflammation improves outcomes and reduces disease-related complications. In more than one-half of the children whose disease was treated in this manner (28 of 49), a prolonged, medication-free remission was attained within a median of 38 months from the time of diagnosis. [source] Dextral-Slip Thrust Faulting and Seismic Events of the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake, Longmenshan Mountains, Eastern Margin of the Tibetan PlateauACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 4 2009Zhenhan WU Abstract: Dextral-slip thrust movement of the Songpan-Garzę terrain over the Sichuan block caused the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008 and offset the Central Longmenshan Fault (CLF) along a distance of ,250 km. Displacement along the CLF changes from Yingxiu to Qingchuan. The total oblique slip of up to 7.6 m in Yingxiu near the epicenter of the earthquake, decreases northeastward to 5.3 m, 6.6 m, 4.4 m, 2.5 m and 1.1 m in Hongkou, Beichuan, Pingtong, Nanba and Qingchuan, respectively. This offset apparently occurred during a sequence of four reported seismic events, EQ1,EQ4, which were identified by seismic inversion of the source mechanism. These events occurred in rapid succession as the fault break propagated northeastward during the earthquake. Variations in the plunge of slickensides along the CLF appear to match these events. The Mw 7.5 EQ1 event occurred during the first 0,10 s along the Yingxiu-Hongkou section of the CLF and is characterized by 1.7 m vertical slip and vertical slickensides. The Mw 8.0 EQ2 event, which occurred during the next 10,42 s along the Yingxiu-Yanziyan section of the CLF, is marked by major dextral-slip with minor thrust and slickensides plunging 25°,35° southwestward. The Mw 7.5 EQ3 event occurred during the following 42,60 s and resulted in dextral-slip and slickensides plunging 10° southwestward in Beichuan and plunging 73° southwestward in Hongkou. The Mw 7.7 EQ4 event, which occurred during the final 60,95 s along the Beichuan-Qingchuan section of the CLF, is characterized by nearly equal values of dextral and vertical slips with slickensides plunging 45°,50° southwestward. These seismic events match and evidently controlled the concentrations of landslide dams caused by the Wenchuan earthquake in Longmenshan Mountains. [source] | ||||||||||