Search

Child-directed language can support language learning, but how? We addressed two questions: (1) how caregivers prosodically modulated their speech as a function of word familiarity (known or unknown to the child) and accessibility of referent (visually present or absent from the immediate environment); (2) whether such modulations affect children's unknown word learning and vocabulary development. We used data from 38 English-speaking caregivers (from the ECOLANG corpus) talking about toys (both known and unknown to their children aged 3-4 years) both when the toys are present and when absent. We analyzed prosodic dimensions (i.e., speaking rate, pitch and intensity) of caregivers' productions of 6529 toy labels. We found that unknown labels were spoken with significantly slower speaking rate, wider pitch and intensity range than known labels, especially in the first mentions, suggesting that caregivers adjust their prosody based on children's lexical knowledge. Moreover, caregivers used slower speaking rate and larger intensity range to mark the first mentions of toys that were physically absent. After the first mentions, they talked about the referents louder with higher mean pitch when toys were present than when toys were absent. Crucially, caregivers' mean pitch of unknown words and the degree of mean pitch modulation for unknown words relative to known words (pitch ratio) predicted children's immediate word learning and vocabulary size 1 year later. In conclusion, caregivers modify their prosody when the learning situation is more demanding for children, and these helpful modulations assist children in word learning.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is an inheritable disorder that presents with bone marrow failure, developmental anomalies, and an increased susceptibility to cancer. The etiology of this condition stems from a genetic mutation that disrupts the proper repair of interstrand DNA cross-links (ICLs). The resultant dysregulation of the DNA damage response mechanism can induce genomic instability, thereby elevating the mutation rates and the likelihood of developing cancer. The FA pathway assumes a pivotal role in safeguarding genome stability through its involvement in the repair of DNA cross-links and the maintenance of overall genomic integrity. A mutation in the germ line of any of the genes responsible for encoding the FA protein results in the development of FA. The prevalence of aberrant FA gene expression in somatic cancer, coupled with the identification of a connection between FA pathway activation and resistance to chemotherapy, has solidified the correlation between the FA pathway and cancer. Consequently, targeted therapies that exploit FA pathway gene abnormalities are being progressively developed and implemented. This review critically examines the involvement of the FA protein in the repair of ICLs, the regulation of the FA signaling network, and its implications in cancer pathogenesis and prognosis. Additionally, it explores the potential utility of small-molecule inhibitors that target the FA pathway.

Guided by the theory of planned behavior, this study aimed to determine the influence of Physical Education (PE) teachers’ attitudes, their perceived behavioral control, and the influence of subjective norms on their intention and constraints (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural) to offer a high-quality class based on best practices to deliver PE lessons online during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional, multi-country survey study recruited PE teachers from five countries (China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United States). A total of 928 online questionnaires were used in the analysis. In terms of the overall intention to teach online, our findings showed that American and Filipino teachers had higher levels of intention to continue teaching online. In contrast, Turkish, Malaysian, and Chinese teachers showed a lower interest. Moreover, Malaysian teachers had more intrapersonal constraints while the teachers in the other four countries were not as restrained intrapersonally. The results highlight the significant influence of perceived behavioral control and attitudes on PE teachers’ intention to deliver online courses. Constraints to online teaching had a considerably large negative impact on attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Based on the results, the proposed extension to the theory of planned behavior was an appropriate framework for understanding the behavioral intent of PE teachers.

This study investigated how caregivers modulate theirspeaking rate according to children’s lexical knowledge andthe context of the interaction, and how such adjustmentsaffect children’s word learning. We studied a semi-naturalistic corpus where caregivers talked about differenttoys with their 3-4 years old children. The toys were knownor unknown to the child, and present or absent from theenvironment. We found that caregivers talked aboutunknown toys with a slower speaking rate than known ones.When toys were absent, caregivers also tended to slow downfor the toy’s name, although they produced the wholeutterance faster. Crucially, the results of a subsequentrecognition task for children showed that caregivers’ greateradjustment in speaking rate between known and unknownwords predicted better immediate learning. Our findingssuggest that caregivers modify their speaking rate in ahelpful manner when the situation is more demanding,which assists children in word learnin

Travel time reliability assessment has been widely used in recent years to evaluate the performance of transportation networks and measure the operation level of transportation systems. Weather, as one of the important factors influencing travel time reliability, affects the relationship between the supply and requirement of urban road networks. Considering the traffic characteristics under different traffic conditions, a study on the influence of weather on travel time reliability under different conditions is proposed to predict the probability of travelers completing their trips within the expected time under different weather conditions. Based on the urban road network data and cab trajectory data of Harbin city, this paper correlates the floating vehicle location with the road network information through a hidden Markov model to reduce the influence of vehicle trajectory errors on the calculation results of path travel time. To analyze the entire distribution of extreme travel time and its impact on the reliability of travel time under various traffic situations, it captures the tail features of the travel time distribution based on extreme value theory. Then, to increase the predictability of each quantile, it combines a deep-learning LSTM model and a quantile regression model to create a probabilistic travel time prediction model utilizing combined layers. The proposed model is compared with the linear quantile regression and neural network quantile regression models, and the model is evaluated in terms of point prediction results and probabilistic prediction results, respectively, to ensure the accuracy of predictions from the model. As a result, the prediction accuracy of the model in this paper is greatly improved, and the degree of violating quantile constraints is greatly reduced., Author(s): Hao Li [1]; Zijian Wang [2]; Xiantong Li [3]; Hua Wang (corresponding author) [3]; Yongxing Man [3]; Jinyu Shi [3] 1. Introduction Travel time reliability (TTR) is one of [...]