Infant‐directed speech to infants at risk for dyslexia: A novel cross‐dyad design

When mothers speak to infants at risk for developmental dyslexia, they do not hyperarticulate vowels in their infant‐directed speech (IDS). Here, we used an innovative cross‐dyad design to investigate whether the absence of vowel hyperarticulation in IDS to at‐risk infants is a product of maternal infant‐directed behavior or of infants’ parent‐directed cues. Interactions between mothers and infants who were at risk or not at risk for dyslexia were recorded in three conditions: when mothers interacted with (a) their own infants, (b) infants who were not their own but of the same risk status, and (c) infants who were not their own and of the opposite risk status. This design revealed both infant and parent effects. Mothers of not‐at‐risk infants hyperarticulated vowels significantly more when speaking to not‐at‐risk than to at‐risk infants. In contrast, mothers of at‐risk infants hyperarticulated vowels significantly less than NAR mothers, and this was irrespective of infant status. Mothers of not‐at‐risk infants thus adjusted their IDS to the infant's risk status, while mothers of at‐risk infants did not. We suggest that IDS is determined reciprocally by characteristics of both partners in the dyad: Both infant and maternal factors are essential for the vowel hyperarticulation component of IDS.     

Seeing a talking face matters: Infants' segmentation of continuous auditory-visual speech

Visual speech cues from a speaker's talking face aid speech segmentation in adults, but despite the importance of speech segmentation in language acquisition, little is known about the possible influence of visual speech on infants' speech segmentation. Here, to investigate whether there is facilitation of speech segmentation by visual information, two groups of English-learning 7-month-old infants were presented with continuous speech passages, one group with auditory-only (AO) speech and the other with auditory-visual (AV) speech. Additionally, the possible relation between infants' relative attention to the speaker's mouth versus eye regions and their segmentation performance was examined. Both the AO and the AV groups of infants successfully segmented words from the continuous speech stream, but segmentation performance persisted for longer for infants in the AV group. Interestingly, while AV group infants showed no significant relation between the relative amount of time spent fixating the speaker's mouth versus eyes and word segmentation, their attention to the mouth was greater than that of AO group infants, especially early in test trials. The results are discussed in relation to the possible pathways through which visual speech cues aid speech perception.     

Resolving an Insurance Allocation Problem: A Procedural Approach

In this paper we study the problem of the determination of a fair allocation in a co-insurance problem, i.e., how some insurance companies have to share the risk and the premium. We develop two procedures that produce a proportional and an equitable allocation, respectively. The procedures are applied to a real situation arising from environmental risk and the resulting allocations are compared with the classical quota share allocation and with an envy-free allocation resulting from a procedure presented in Fragnelli and Marina (Insur. Math Econ 33:75–85, 2003).     

Ecological resilience in urban ecosystems: Linking urban patterns to human and ecological functions

Urban ecosystems evolve over time and space as the outcome of dynamic interactions between socio-economic and biophysical processes operating over multiple scales. The ecological resilience of urban ecosystems—the degree to which they tolerate alteration before reorganizing around a new set of structures and processes—is influenced by these interactions. In cities and urbanizing areas fragmentation of natural habitats, simplification and homogenization of species composition, disruption of hydrological systems, and alteration of energy flow and nutrient cycling reduce cross-scale resilience, leaving systems increasingly vulnerable to shifts in system control and structure. Because varied urban development patterns affect the amount and interspersion of built and natural land cover, as well as the human demands on ecosystems differently, we argue that alternative urban patterns (i.e., urban form, land use distribution, and connectivity) generate varied effects on ecosystem dynamics and their ecological resilience. We build on urban economics, landscape ecology, population dynamics, and complex system science to propose a conceptual model and a set of hypotheses that explicitly link urban pattern to human and ecosystem functions in urban ecosystems. Drawing on preliminary results from an empirical study of the relationships between urban pattern and bird and aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity in the Puget Sound region, we propose that resilience in urban ecosystems is a function of the patterns of human activities and natural habitats that control and are controlled by both socio-economic and biophysical processes operating at various scales. We discuss the implications of this conceptual model for urban planning and design.     

Bullying and Victimization Among School-age Children: Stability and Links to Proactive and Reactive Aggression

The main aim of the study relates to the links between bullying and victimization on the one hand and reactive and proactive aggression on the other. In addition, we also investigated stability and incidence of bullying and victimization. At age 7, 236 children were rated on bullying and victimization using peer reports. At age 8, 242 children were rated again. Two hundred and fifteen children (114 girls and 101 boys) were present at both time points. Reactive and proactive aggression was assessed by teachers. The results showed that bullies and bully/victims were both reactively and proactively aggressive, while victims were only reactively aggressive. A moderate degree of stability of bullying and victimization was found, with bullying being more stable than victimization. Boys were more often bullies than girls and more stable than girls in victimization. Stable victims and stable bully/victims were more reactively aggressive than their unstable counterparts. The relevance of the outcomes to preventing future maladjustment and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

A self-comfort oriented pattern of regulatory behavior and avoidant attachment are more likely among infants born moderate-to-late preterm

Infants born preterm (<37 gestational weeks, GW) are at increased risk for regulatory difficulties and insecure attachment. However, the association between infants' regulatory behavior patterns and their later attachment organization is understudied in the preterm population. We addressed this gap by utilizing a Portuguese sample of 202 mother–infant dyads. Specifically, we compared the regulatory behavior patterns of 74 infants born moderate-to-late preterm (MLPT, 32–36 GW) to those of 128 infants born full-term (FT, 37–42 GW) and evaluated the associations of these regulatory patterns with later attachment. Infants' regulatory behavior patterns (Social-Positive Oriented, Distressed-Inconsolable, or Self-Comfort Oriented) were evaluated in the Face-to-Face-Still-Face paradigm at 3 months, and their attachment organization (secure, insecure-avoidant, or insecure-ambivalent) was evaluated in the Strange Situation at 12 months corrected age. In both samples, the Social-Positive-Oriented regulatory pattern was associated with secure attachment; the Distressed-Inconsolable pattern with insecure-ambivalent attachment; and the Self-Comfort-Oriented pattern with insecure-avoidant attachment. However, compared to FT infants, infants born MLPT were more likely to exhibit a Self-Comfort-Oriented pattern and avoidant attachment. Most perinatal and demographic variables were not related to infant outcomes. However, infants with a higher 1-min Apgar were more likely to exhibit the Social-Positive-Oriented regulatory pattern and secure attachment.     

Effects of Three Caregiver Interventions: Support,Educational Literature,and Creative Movement

The primary focus of this study is to compare the effectiveness of three distinct intervention techniques in relieving some of the stress experienced by midlife daughters' caregiving for their frail mothers. The three techniques are: (a) a home-based literature “tip of the week” group, (b) a caregiver's support group, and (c) a creative-movement group. Based on a review of caregiving literature, no other studies have utilized a home-based literature intervention or a creative-movement intervention with midlife daughters providing informal care to frail mothers. As part of the weekly assessment evaluation, participants were asked to rate how helpful the previous week's session was with respect to five mental health variables: irritability, depression, anxiety, stress, and concentration. Overall, the support-based group had higher average scores for each of the five mental health variables and the highest overall mental health score. Future research and promising applications of future intervention programs are discussed.     

Jewish tradition faces the Soviet economy: moral dilemma of ‘shadow’ entrepreneurship in the former Pale of Settlement,Ukraine

Soviet life in the former Pale of Settlement appears in the memories of its residents as a world of living Jewish tradition existing within the professional and business activities of artisans and merchants at a time when the ideology and political structure of the Soviet Union prohibited private enterprise. That is why it occupied the shady parts of the socialist economy. Today, after collapse of the Soviet Union, it still poses moral dilemmas for those associated with its illegal activities. However, recollections about Soviet illegal enterprise also provide a space for critique of the Soviet system and a base for construction of contemporary local identity; in this way people reconcile the economic ethics of the recent Soviet past with modern capitalist reality. Narratives about illegal economic activities in the Soviet period are about the relationship between the people and the state. They are seen as a cosmological system; the Soviet state acted as an economically ineffective external force. Within its matrix was integrated a local world of human relationships with their customs and rules created the own local world of consumption and welfare. At the centre of this space is the socially and economically experienced Jewish entrepreneur whose competence is based on local Jewish tradition. Stories about illegal Soviet economic activity have become the heritage of local communities that approve of local business continuity.     

(In)(Out)Sider(s): White Immigrant PhD Students Reflecting on their Teaching Experience

This article focuses on personal accounts of the early experiences of two white immigrant PhD students with teaching responsibility at a Canadian university. The authors use auto-ethnography to reflect on the intersection of ‘whiteness’ and immigrant status and critically examine the teaching and learning dynamics of the university classroom. Using the lens of feminist intersectional theory, we argue that the processes of identity construction (both personal and professional) experienced by white immigrant novice instructors follow the tenets of social construction of immigrants as the ‘Other’ and show that our position as outsiders undermines our ability to actively attend to diversity in the classroom. We conclude by recommending strategies for transformation and enhancement of the dialogue between immigrant instructors and students within a supportive university environment.