The present investigation evaluates the effects of multiple language acquisition history on brain functional organization for language. To address a range of findings concerning the functional cerebral lateralization of the native (L1) and second languages (L2) of bilinguals, a meta-analysis was conducted on 71 studies that used behavioral paradigms to assess bilingual laterality. The predictive value of a number of theoretically identified moderators of cerebral asymmetry for language was assessed, namely, the age of second language (L2) acquisition, fluency in theL2, participant sex, experimental paradigm, linguistic task demands, relatedness of L1 and L2 structures, and context of language use. The results revealed no differences in the laterality of first and second languages within L2 acquisition age groups. Of the moderators tested, age of L2 acquisition was identified as the most reliable predictor of the direction of laterality. The conditions under which systematic similarities and differences in language lateralization among bilingual subgroups emerge are discussed in terms of implications for current models and theories concerning the functional organization of language in the bilingual brain.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Geography." Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-225).

No description available.

Thesis: M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Meteorology, 1980 / Bibliography: leaves 39-41. / by Aribilola Samuel Omolayo. / M.S. / M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Meteorology

Data on the UBV system are presented for 14 quasistellar radio sources, 8 N galaxies,39 radio galaxies and 19 radioquiet galaxies south of +20° declination. Their positions in the two - color diagram show that the integrated colors of the radio galaxies are similar to those of the radioquiet galaxies of the same morphological type. In an absolute radio magnitude - radio index diagram a linear relation exists between M158 and ím158 Boo for radio galaxies of all classes. The QSO:s, however, do not follow this relation, and possible explanations are considered. The brightness and color distributions in the larger galaxies are described in detail. Our results are combined with other data for a discussion of the compositions of these systems. It is suggested that a fairly high amount of reddening occurs in the central regions of several galaxies, as for instance, in NGC 1068 and NGC 1316.

The dynamical nature of atmospheric disturbances in the Southern Hemisphere simulated by a two-level general circulation (GCM) model is studied. Time series of the dependent variables and diabatic heating components from 10 Southern Hemisphere winters (JJA) and summers (DJF) simulated by the Oregon State University two-level GCM are used. The time mean fields are presented and discussed. Variance and covariance analyses are performed to determine the geographical distribution, intensities and transport properties of high-frequency (periods between 2.5 and 10 days) and low-frequency (periods between 10 days and a season) transient eddies. These are discussed in terms of dynamical consistency with the time-mean circulation. It is found that the behavior of the high-frequency eddies at mid and high-latitudes is consistent with baroclinic instability theory, i.e., the eddies have properties similar to observed migratory weather disturbances. The low-frequency eddies appear to be quasi-stationary Rossby waves originating at middle latitudes. They seem to disperse energy in a manner consistent with arguments based on simple linear wave dynamics. During wintertime, the time mean flow directs eddies poleward where they grow by baroclinic processes. Also during wintertime, the slow phase velocity, fast group velocity and cyclic domain lead to quasi-resonant behavior on a hemispheric scale. / Graduation date: 1988

Neuroplasticity research yields mixed results for the differential contribution of perilesional and contralesional brain areas to language recovery in aphasia. This paper will outline variables that mediate the presence and degree of right hemisphere activity and may account for some of the inconsistent research findings. Factors include the site and size of left hemisphere lesions, the phase of recovery, and the language task type and complexity. The performance accuracy of tasks also will be explored to further qualify the nature of homologous activity. Results found right hemisphere activation to be modulated by the damage and preservation of specific brain areas as well as by the presence of large left hemisphere lesions. Right hemisphere activity also was more consistently evident in the acute phase of recovery and returned to the left hemisphere in the chronic stage. Additionally, homologous areas tended to be more active during comprehension-based language tasks and during tasks of greater difficulty. In qualifying the nature of contralesional mechanisms, the activity appears to be more linguistic-oriented in less-recovered individuals with aphasia and more related to cognitive effort in well-recovered individuals. The nature of homologous activation depends on the brain’s ability to reactivate left hemisphere language networks. / text

This PhD thesis investigates the relative importance of oceanic and atmospheric influences on extremes, long-term trends, and seasonal to interannual variability of precipitation for different regions in the Southern Hemisphere in observations, reanalysis data, and output from general circulation models (GCM). Examination of interannual rainfall extremes over southwest Western Australia (SWWA) reveals a characteristic dipole pattern of Indian Ocean sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA). This coincides with a large-scale reorganization of the wind field over the tropical/subtropical Indian Ocean changing SSTA, via anomalous Ekman transport in the tropical Indian Ocean and via anomalous air-sea heat fluxes in the subtropics, and altering moisture advection onto SWWA. The potential impact of these Indian Ocean SSTA in driving modulations of mid-latitude precipitation across southern and western regions of Australia is assessed in atmospheric GCM simulations. The SSTA give rise to changes in the thermal properties of the atmosphere, meridional thickness gradient, subtropical jet, thermal wind, and baroclinicity over southern regions of Australia, thus modulating precipitation. In addition, links between anomalous wet conditions over East Africa and these characteristic Indian Ocean SSTA are explored during the "short rain" season in October-November. Interannual extremes m New Zealand rainfall and their modulation by modes of Southern Hemisphere climate variability, namely the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), are investigated. Late twentieth Century trends in New Zealand precipitation are examined for the period 19792006 to quantify the relative impact of recent changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation related to the SAM and ENSO. Increasingly drier conditions over much of New Zealand can be partially explained by the SAM and ENSO. Cool season rainfall variability in southeastern Australia is investigated via a classification and characterization of the predominant types of synoptic systems occurring in the region, focusing on frontal and cutoff low systems. Two definitions of the autumn break developed for northwestern Victoria are employed to produce a synoptic climatology of the break phenomenon. Trends in characteristics of the autumn break indicate that the most recent drought in southeastern Australia is comparable in severity with the two major droughts in the twentieth Century.

Recent research into hemispheric differences in sentence comprehension has produced a puzzling disparity between the results from behavioral studies on neurologically normal individuals and studies utilizing other methods such as electrophysiology, neuroimaging and the investigation of neuropsychological patients. The former approach tends to produce results that indicate a restriction of the right hemisphere (RH) to lower-level processing mechanisms that are comparatively less sensitive to context than the left hemisphere (LH), while the combined findings of the latter approaches suggest that not only is the RH capable of processing language at a higher level, it is particularly sensitive to contextual information and, furthermore, this may form part of the special role of the RH in language tasks. Accordingly, the present series of studies employed a normal-behavioral approach to further investigate the underlying processing mechanisms of the RH during sentence comprehension tasks. In each of the four experiments, right-handed adult participants completed a computer-based lexical decision task where reaction time and error rates were recorded. Stimuli were always centrally-presented, followed by a laterally-presented target word or non-word. In the first experiment, the sensitivity of the RH to message-level meaning was investigated by assessing whether it benefits from additional contextual information in sentences that was not the result of simple word-level associations. The remaining experiments aimed to examine several current models of RH language processing; specifically, they examined the applicability of the coarse-coding hypothesis (Beeman, 1993) and the integrative processing model (Federmeier, 2007) to RH sentence processing. The combined results of the four experiments lead to several conclusions. Firstly, this series of investigation consistently demonstrated that the RH does display a sensitivity to message-level processing that appears to be at least equivalent to that of the LH. This conclusion is uncommon in the normal-behavioral literature, but is consistent with evidence produced by other methodologies. Secondly, the coarse-coding hypothesis is insufficient in explaining RH language processing at the sentential level. Although there is considerable evidence in support of the coarse-coding model of RH processing of individual words, the findings of the present investigations do not support its applicability beyond this level. Thirdly, the integrative/predictive distinction between RH/LH language processing also appears to have limited applicability beyond sentence fragments and may instead be reflective of higher-level processing differences (e.g., wherein the RH may utilize a para-linguistic situation-model processing method whereas the LH may rely purely on a linguistic mechanism). Based on these conclusions, the present series of investigations appears to have resolved the inconsistent finding previously prominent in normal-behavioral literature and goes some way in determining the applicability of current models of RH language processing.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. [50]-51.