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Over the past thirty years, proposals for task-based language teaching (TBLT) have drawn on a variety of claims about, and research into, the cognitive processes thought to promote successful second language acquisition (SLA). Keywords: cognitive development; esl/efl; psycholinguistics; second language acquisition; semantics; interactionist language studies

Patients with neuromuscular diseases benefit from coordinated multidisciplinary care to achieve best outcomes. The integration of multi-specialty healthcare delivered in a single clinic can be challenging for service providers due to cost and resource limitation. Our cross-sectional survey of 53 adult patients with neuromuscular disease across Queensland revealed only 27% support the introduction of an integrated multidisciplinary clinic. The most cited reason for opposition to a multidisciplinary clinic was a perceived loss of contact with one's usual doctor. Modifying service delivery in neuromuscular disease is a complex undertaking and will need input from numerous stakeholders.

We present GazeDirector, a new approach for eye gaze redirection that uses model-fitting. Our method first tracks the eyes by fitting a multi-part eye region model to video frames using analysis-by-synthesis, thereby recovering eye region shape, texture, pose, and gaze simultaneously. It then redirects gaze by 1) warping the eyelids from the original image using a model-derived flow field, and 2) rendering and compositing synthesized 3D eyeballs onto the output image in a photorealistic manner. GazeDirector allows us to change where people are looking without person-specific training data, and with full articulation, i.e. we can precisely specify new gaze directions in 3D. Quantitatively, we evaluate both model-fitting and gaze synthesis, with experiments for gaze estimation and redirection on the Columbia gaze dataset. Qualitatively, we compare GazeDirector against recent work on gaze redirection, showing better results especially for large redirection angles. Finally, we demonstrate gaze redirection on YouTube videos by introducing new 3D gaze targets and by manipulating visual behavior.

This paper aims to improve our knowledge regarding types of queries raised by travellers on digital platforms by developing a model that helps in identifying and classifying such queries. Qualitative data collection and analysis of questions and answer postings of visitors on TripAdvisor forum of 10 U.K. destinations were used. Extracted data were analysed using NVivo11. Preliminary analysis identified basic themes in tourist information search. Further analysis indicated that two principal factors help in classifying online travel queries facilitating the development of the WOLF model. Findings in this study also indicate some practical implications and areas of further study.

Basic graph structures such as maximal independent sets (MIS's) have spurred much theoretical research in randomized and distributed algorithms, and have several applications in networking and distributed computing as well. However, the extant (distributed) algorithms for these problems do not necessarily guarantee fault-tolerance or load-balance properties. We propose and study “low-average degree” or “sparse” versions of such structures. Interestingly, in sharp contrast to, say, MIS's, it can be shown that checking whether a structure is sparse, will take substantial time. Nevertheless, we are able to develop good sequential/distributed (randomized) algorithms for such sparse versions. We also complement our algorithms with several lower bounds. Randomization plays a key role in our upper and lower bound results. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2016

Letters are not peer-reviewed, unless stated In her recent article ( VR , 8/15 August 2020, vol 187, p 122), Bryana Andrews has perfectly described what is wrong with our system of educating and training the next generation of veterinary surgeons. The failings she describes have been exacerbated by the current coronavirus pandemic, but it is not the cause of them. The system has been broken for some time. …

There is no doubt that however we are educating and training our students, it is not working well. The aim should be that day 1 in practice is …

A new fossil-bearing, Upper Carboniferous (lower Westphalian) locality in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, UK, is reported and an account of the fossils is presented. The diverse flora and fauna consists of plants, bivalves, arthropods (primarily xiphosurans), tentaculitids (microconchids), fish scales, shark egg capsules and coprolites. Fossils are preserved in siderite nodules and shales, and display excellent preservation and detail. Previous collecting of Carboniferous fossils in the Doncaster area has been minimal. The discovery of this locality addresses this deficit and is of further importance as such localities in the UK are diminishing in number with the cessation of coal-mining and the reclamation of mine dumps, further demonstrating the importance and recognition of the Edlington site. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This work was presented at the “North America Forest Soils Conference, Montana 2013”, in the “New Technologies in Soil Research” session. Incluye material complementario Many rural communities in British Columbia (western Canada) are increasingly at risk from wildfire as temperatures rise and droughts become more frequent. In addition, these communities are also faced with rising fuel costs, and a growing demand for heat as their populations increase. The fact these communities are surrounded by forests presents an opportunity to combine community wildfire risk abatement with bioenergy development. Here we show how the ecological model FORECAST was linked with GIS and economic models to create a freely available on-line tool (FIRST Heat) to help other communities make their own screening-level ecological assessments of combining wildfire risk control with district heating systems. The tool incorporates an ecological sustainability index based on the relative change in soil organic matter (SOM) after 50 years of management compared to initial levels. Two thresholds were defined: 10% SOM lost as “warning” level, and 20% SOM lost as “critical” level. The tool was able to adequately capture the influences of ecological zone, stand age, site quality, and intensity of forest management on SOM losses. Stands in the sub-boreal and arid interior were significantly more exposed to SOM losses than in other ecological zones, as well as soils in old-growth forests. Stands in poor sites were significantly more sensitive to forest management than young and fertile sites. All things considered, our results show the suitability of incorporating ecological models and SOM thresholds in user-friendly decision-support tools to successfully transfer scientific knowledge on forest soils to local stakeholders and decision makers.

The paper discusses the evolution of Australia's intergovernmental financial relations framework, including developments under Australia's Constitution, and analyses intergovernmental financial transactions under the framework. The methods used to address vertical fiscal imbalance (VFI) and horizontal equity in Australia are discussed and quantitative data on spending across Australian Governments are presented. VFI and horizontal equity are also examined from a historical viewpoint. Finally, some current issues and potential future developments impacting on the distribution of revenue between Australian governments are briefly canvassed. 本文讨论了澳大利亚政府间财政关系框架的演变过程，包括在澳大利亚宪法下此框架的发展情况，并分析了在此框架内的政府间金融交易情况。同时对用于解决澳大利亚纵向财政不平衡（VFI）和横向财政平衡问题的方法进行了讨论，并列出了澳大利亚各级政府的支出数据。本文还从历史角度对VFI和横向财政平衡问题进行了研究。最后，本文还对可能影响澳大利亚政府间财政收入分配的一些现存问题和未来可能的发展方向进行了简要探讨。

Training in interventional pulmonology procedures is increasing in popularity. However, the nature of training is difficult to define, particularly with respect to an adequate number of cases. These guidelines approach training not just from a modest number of supervised cases, but also from a range of educational and outcome targets which give a rounded approach to the issue. These include prerequisite skills from basic procedures, the place of simulated training, formal simulation testing, modest procedural outcome and side effect targets, audit presentations, ongoing reading, and hands-on training expectations. All of this would still be under the supervision of an experienced trainer.

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks from the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway record subduction of Baltican continental crust during the Silurian to Devonian Scandian continental collision. Here, we report a new coesite locality from the island of Haroya in the Nordoyane UHP domain, the most northerly yet documented in the WGR, and reconstruct the P–T history of the host eclogite. The coesite–eclogite lies within migmatitic orthogneiss, interpreted as Baltica basement, that underwent multiple stages of deformation and partial melting during exhumation. Two stages of metamorphism have been deduced from petrography and mineral chemistry. The early (M1) assemblage comprises garnet (Pyr38–41Alm35–37Grs23–26Spss1) and omphacite (Na0.35–0.40Ca0.57–0.60Fe2+0.08–0.10Mg0.53Fe3+0.01AlVI0.40–0.42)2(AlIV0.03–0.06Si1.94–1.97)2O6, with subordinate phengite, kyanite, rutile, coesite and apatite, all present as inclusions in garnet. The later (M2) assemblage comprises retrograde rims on garnet (Pyr38–40Alm40–44Grs16–21Spss1), diopside rims on omphacite (Na0.04–0.06Ca0.88–0.91Fe2+0.09–0.13Mg0.81–83Fe3+0.08AlVI0.03)2(AlIV0.07–0.08Si1.92–1.93)2O6, plagioclase, biotite, pargasite, orthopyroxene and ilmenite. Metamorphic P–T conditions estimated using thermocalc are ∼3 GPa and 760 °C for M1, consistent with the presence of coesite, and ∼1 GPa and 813 °C for M2, consistent with possible phengite dehydration melting during decompression. Comparison with other WGR eclogites containing the same assemblage shows a broad similarity in peak (M1) P–T conditions, confirming suggestions that large portions of the WGR were buried to depths of ∼100 km during Scandian subduction. Field relations suggest that exhumation, accompanied by widespread partial melting, involved an early phase of top-northwest shearing, followed by subhorizontal sinistral shearing along northwest-dipping foliations, related to regional transtension. The present results add to the growing body of data on the distribution, maximum P–T conditions, and exhumation paths of WGR coesite–eclogites and their host rocks that is required to constrain quantitative models for the formation and exhumation of UHP metamorphic rocks during the Scandian collision.

– Interactions between common bullies (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) and longfin eels (Anguilla dieffenbachii) were studied in aquaria where bullies were subject to one of four treatments – bullies alone (allopatry), bullies and an eel (sympatry), or bullies provided with either visual cues (eel in adjacent compartment of the aquarium) or odour cues (eel in separate upstream aquarium). The total time that bullies were active (movement) and their use of rocks were recorded continuously over 48 h with a video camera. Analysis showed that for movement, there were no significant differences between treatments, but there were diel differences within sympatric treatments with greater activity evident during the night than during the day. In contrast, the use of rocks showed significant differences both between and within treatments; again, the only significant diel difference was in sympatry. Post hoc tests between treatments revealed that there were no differences at night, but during the day, there were differences between allopatry and visual trials, sympatry and visual trials, and sympatry and odour trials. No predation or other aggressive behaviour by eels towards bullies was observed in any trial. It was concluded that the presence of eels affected both bully activity and use of rocks, but this response was not solely due to either visual or odour cues. Changes in movement and the use of rocks appear to require multiple cues, and denial of either visual or odour cues was insufficient to elicit a response.

Theoretically motivated, empirical research into task-based language learning has been prompted by proposals for task-based language teaching. In this review I describe early and more recent proposals for how task-based learning can stimulate acquisition processes and the theoretical rationales that have guided research into them. I also describe taxonomies of task characteristics that have been proposed and claims made about the effects of task characteristics on interaction, attention to input, and speech production. I then relate the issues raised to findings described in the five empirical studies in this issue concerning the effects of pedagogic task design on the accuracy, fluency, and complexity of learner language; the influence of individual differences in cognitive and motivational variables on task performance; the extent to which tasks, and teacher interventions, promote the quantity and quality of interaction that facilitate L2 learning; and the generalizability of task-based learning research in laboratory contexts to instructed classroom settings.

Artificial Grammar learning is an experimental paradigm for studying domain-general learning processes that operate largely outside of awareness. Many studies in this paradigm have demonstrated that learners exposed to strings of letters that conform to the grammar come to know, in a very short time, complex constraints on how they can be sequenced, without being able to verbalize this knowledge. This article summarizes results of a study (Robinson, 2002, 2005) that compared learning of an Artificial Grammar, by experienced second language learners, with their learning of a novel natural second language, Samoan. Implications are drawn from this comparison concerning the extent to which inferences about the earliest stages of natural second language acquisition can be drawn from the many studies of Artificial Grammar learning that have been done in the broader field of cognitive psychology.

As the dust settles on the Labour leadership race and the Labour opposition begins a new phase under Ed Miliband, Peter Robinson takes a hard look at what politicians of all colours might learn from the rollercoaster ride of the Blair–Brown years.

This paper reports on ways of using digitised video from television cameras in user interfaces for computer systems. The DigitalDesk is built around an ordinary physical desk and can be used as such, but it has extra capabilities. A video camera mounted above the desk, pointing down at the work surface, is used to detect where the user is pointing and to read documents that are placed on the desk. A computer-driven projector is also mounted above the desk, allowing the system to project electronic objects onto the work surface and onto real paper documents. The animated paper documents project is considering particular applications of the technology in electronic publishing. The goal is to combine electronic and printed documents to give a richer presentation than that afforded by either separate medium. This paper describes the framework that has been developed to assist with the preparation and presentation of these mixed-media documents. The central component is a registry that associates physical locations on pieces of paper with actions. This is surrounded by a number of adaptors that assist with the creation of new documents either from scratch or by translating from conventional hypermedia, and also allow the documents to be edited. Finally the DigitalDesk itself identifies pieces of paper and animates them with the actions described in the registry.

There is no ideal programming language. Each is better suited to some tasks rather than others. This is true not only for complete programs, but also for different stages such as architectural design, detailed implementation and maintenance. The situation is even more acute in the case of end-user programming languages, which cater for a much more varied user population. It would therefore be advantageous to allow the same program to be viewed, and edited, in a number of different languages. We have developed a system, Lingua Franca, that provides this facility for end-user programming languages in the setting of ubiquitous computing in the home. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Work on remote collaboration has often focused on the person space created by a conventional videoconference where the participants see each other's faces, but we argue that a task space containing shared visual information is more important for most tasks. Trends in display technology mean that large visual task spaces can be created to maximize the shared context between collaborators. We have created a system called the Escritoire that presents users with a desk-sized projected display with bimanual input that allows documents and images to be arranged and modified by multiple remote collaborators. We describe the software architecture, the protocol that is used between the client and server programs, and the pen traces we have added to allow participants to gesture to each other in the large visual space to enrich their communication. Our user trials have shown that participants were able to use the system with a minimum of training, and found the traces useful in the collaborative setting. In future we will be connecting three or more sites together to explore the issues that arise with multi-party interaction on large shared desks. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this article we respond to VanPatten's update of the findings for processing instruction. We begin by questioning the explanatory adequacy of the model of input processing that VanPatten has proposed and that underpins his pedagogic proposals. We question both the validity of the limited–capacity, single–resource model of attention he proposes for second language classroom learning, and also the details of the mechanisms he argues are implicated in second language processing. We then arguefor alternative explanations of the effects found for input processing instruction and against VanPatten's claim that the studies he reviews are true replications of earlier findings.Throughout we argue that further specification of cognitive resources, processing mechanisms,and conditions of learning operationalized in putative replications areessential if research into input processing instruction is to be explanatory, and cumulative, as VanPatten claims it is.

In late 1997 much of the Asian region experienced a major economic downturn. Such economic conditions can give rise to external pressure on corporate managers, so that they react to this pressure by changing accounting policy choice. The present paper is set in a time period in Australian corporate history when there was also a substantial economic downturn. In that context, the present study examines the use of income increasing policy choice by stock exchange listed companies. In particular, we look at whether companies experiencing financial distress are more inclined to use income increasing policy choice than ‘healthy’ companies. Prior research supports the view that managers of ‘financially troubled’ firms try to lift reported income, thereby disclosing more favourable performance measurements and avoiding default of loan agreements and/or enhancing their own wealth. The results show the use of income increasing policy choice does not increase monotonically with the level of financial distress. In particular, we show that firms classified as ‘distressed’ which do not subsequently fail in the short term, show a significant tendency to increase reported income using changes in accounting policy. However, firms which subsequently fail within the short term do not select income increasing techniques more frequently than ‘healthy’ firms. One reason why firms that fail in the short term may not engage in income increasing policy choice is the clear prospect of imminent ex post settling up (including litigation against former directors, auditors and others) which can occur following corporate failure. Such costs are not widely recognized in the tests of accounting policy choice which rely on indicators of financial health such as leverage or interest coverage.

In order to investigate identity maintenance strategies used by a low status group, a covert participant observation study was conducted in a shelter for the homeless. From Social Identity Theory and previous research on the homeless, it was hypothesized that the identity maintenance strategies used would differ as a function of longevity of homelessness: the short-term homeless ( 2 years) would identify themselves as homeless but engage in various types of social creativity to mitigate their situation. In addition to the strategies described in SIT, it was conjectured that some of the longest-term homeless would have given up making any intergroup or other social comparisons. Of the various strategies found, some were beyond SIT. The pattern of strategy use was best interpreted mainly as a function of longevity of homelessness, but this was moderated by both experience and personality. A trajectory of change in identity strategies with longevity of homelessness was offered as a plausible frame of reference for further research. Methodological limitations, implications for Social Identity Theory and recommendations for improving the situation of the homeless were discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The bulk of prior research on share buy-backs has been undertaken in the U.S. As the legislative environment and capital market perception of buy-backs in Australia are different to the U.S., it is both desirable and necessary to examine the motivations of Australian share buy-backs. Contemporary Australian financial press reports, the U.S. financial management literature and anecdotal evidence provide numerous feasible motivations for a company to undertake a buy-back. In an Australian context, this article considers the following: (a) the development of the legislative framework relating to share buy-backs and why some forms of buy-back are preferred over others; (b) a set of potential motivations (reasons) for Australian companies undertaking a buy-back; and (c) the actual motivations as provided in ASX announcements by forty-four listed companies effecting sixty-seven share buy-backs over the period 1990 to 1995. Results reveal that motivations differ depending on the type of buy-back and are reasonably consistent across time. The two prime motivations for on-market buy-backs are: (a) signalling of future expectations (underpricing), and (b) an attempt to increase financial performance (EPS) and/or position (NAB/share). For selective buy-backs, the main purpose is to remove specific shareholders from the share register. Employee buy-backs are generally seen as an off-market means of providing a market for the company’s shares. Finally, the overriding motivation for equal access buy-backs is as an alternative to dividends.

This study examines evidence for the claims of Krashen (1981, 1985) and Reber (1989, 1993; Reber, Walkenfield & Hernstadt, 1991) that unconscious learning under Implicit and Incidental conditions is insensitive to measures of individual differences in cognitive abilities, in contrast to learning under conscious Rule-search and Instructed conditions. I assessed individual differences between 104 learners of English as a second language using two subtests of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (Carroll & Sapon, 1959). Following the participants' exposure to sentences illustrating easy and hard second language rules during training, I assessed their learning through a grammaticality judgment test. I assessed rule awareness on the basis of responses to a debriefing questionnaire which asked if learners had noticed rules, were looking for rules, and could verbalize the rules. Only in the Incidental condition was the extent of learning and awareness unrelated to individual differences in aptitude. Awareness at the level of Noticing did not accompany superior learning in any condition, but at the level of Looking for Rules, awareness accompanied superior learning for Implicit learners. At the level of Ability to Verbalize, awareness accompanied superior learning for both Implicit and Rule-search learners.

Schmidt (1990) claimed that consciousness, in the sense of awareness of the form of input at the level of “noticing”, is necessary to subsequent second language acquisition (SLA). This claim runs counter to Krashen's (1981) dualsystem hypothesis that SLA largely results from an unconscious “acquisition” system, the contribution of the conscious “learning” system to SLA being limited and peripheral. Important to a theory of SLA that allows a central role to the act of noticing is a specification of the nature of the attentional mechanisms involved, and of their relationship to current models of the organization of memory. With this in mind the present paper reviews current research into the nature of attention and memory and proposes a model of the relationship between them during SLA that, it is argued, is complementary to Schmidt's noticing hypothesis and oppositional to the dual-system hypothesis of Krashen. In light of this model, I argue that differential performance on implicit and explicit learning and memory experiments is caused by differences in the consciously regulated processing demands of training tasks and not by the activation of consciously and unconsciously accessed systems. I also argue that the attentional demands of pedagogical tasks and individual differences in memory and attentional capacity both affect the extent of noticing, thereby directly influencing SLA.

Researchers need to identify what differences second language tasks set at different levels of complexity make to measures of learner language, in order to provide a basis for pedagogic decisions about grading and sequencing such tasks. This study examined differences in the production of oral narrative discourse by 12 adult second language learners of English on narrative tasks that simulated the ability to describe events in the Here-and-Now versus the There-and-Then. Target-like use, propositional and syntactic complexity, lexical load, pausing, and utterance length were measured under the two conditions. A MANOVA showed significant differences between the two conditions. Separate ANOVAs for each measure showed a significant difference between the two conditions for measures of lexical load and an almost significant difference for measures of target-like use. The more complex There-and-Then condition elicited greater accuracy and a higher ratio of lexical to grammatical words. There was also a trend suggesting greater utterance length for narratives performed under the simpler Here-and-Now condition. These results support the claim that complex tasks elicit less fluent, but more accurate and complex production than do simpler tasks.

This study examines the influence of a proposed implicational hierarchy (Mithun, 1984) and constraints of Universal Grammar (Baker, 1988) on the acquisition of noun incorporation processes by 29 adult learners of Samoan, compared to the performance of a control group of 11 native Samoan speakers. The methodology involved reaction time, grammaticality judgment and response certainty measures of the processing difficulty and acceptability of examples of noun incorporation for English speaking learners of Samoan, with the latter measure giving the clearest support for two hypothesized orders of difficulty.

The Tajfel-Turner Theory of Social Identity was used as a framework from which it was predicted that pupils of low attainment in secondary school should come to define themselves as indifferent to or opposed to the values of their schools. This hypothesis was examined in France and England, on self-report measures covering values, aspirations, perceptions, evaluations, beliefs and motivations. While results show numerous differences between low and high attainers common to both countries, the differences are more pronounced in England. National differences are such that the French pupils are more like high attainers. Results are interpreted as being more consistent with low attaining pupils being victims of boredom rather than failure, with the French school culture providing greater insulation against such reactions.