Infants 6-8 months old are able to identify nearly every speech sound contrast on which they have been tested, regardless of whether that contrast represents an across-category (two different phonemes) phonetic change in their native language or not. A child's ability to identify non-native consonant contrasts greatly diminishes by 11-12 months of age. The present study examined speech sound discrimination in three groups of listeners. Adult second language (L2) listeners of Spanish were compared with native English listeners with no knowledge of Spanish and native Mexican listeners to determine if they would show the ability to discriminate phonetic distinctions that are present in Spanish and not English. Behavioral and Electrophysiological measures were obtained in response to a continuum of bilabial consonant-vowel (CV) stimuli that differed in voice onset time (VOT) from -50 to 30 ms VOT (/ba/ to /pa/). The -50 ms VOT stimulus was paired with each of the others to form stimulus pairs with varying degrees of acoustic difference. Behavioral data showed that L2 listeners of Spanish perceived a transition from /ba/ to /pa/ later than native Spanish listeners but earlier than English only listeners. Electrophysiological data using the mismatch negativity revealed that the both L2 Spanish and native Spanish listeners perceived a distinction between stimuli in the stimulus pairs 20 ms earlier than English only listeners. These results support the theory that underlying neural-sensory representations of speech may be altered by linguistic experiences, and that the loss of non-native speech sound discrimination abilities in infancy and the regaining of these abilities in adulthood is not due merely to attentional bias.

William Clarke (1976) and Nathan Greenberg (1980) offer an objective framework for the study of alliteration in Latin poetry. However, their definition of alliteration as word initial sound repetition in a verse is inconsistent with the syllabic nature both of the device itself and also of the metrical structure. The present study reconciles this disparity in the first half of the Aeneid by applying a similar method to syllable initial sound repetition. A chi-square test for goodness-of-fit reveals that the distributions of the voiceless obstruents [p], [t], [k], [k^w], [f], and [s] and the sonorants [m], [n], [l], and [r] differ significantly from a Poisson model. These sounds generally occur twice per verse more often than expected, and three or more times per verse less often than expected. This finding is largely consistent with existing observations about Vergil's style (e.g. Clarke, 1976; Greenberg, 1980; Wilkinson, 1963). The regular association of phonetic features with differences in distribution suggests phonetic motivation for the practice.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether children with autism recognize the same perceptual voicing boundaries of stop consonants as normally developing children of the same age group. This was explored using three groups of participants: ten children with autism between the ages of 8-14, five typically developing children between the ages of 8-14, and five typically developing seven-year-old children. Children in all groups listened to initial stop consonant syllables with voicing contrasts, with voiced and voiceless cognates presented. The initial consonants were altered along a voice onset time continuum within the typically perceived boundaries of each consonant. Participants were instructed to select the box containing the letter of the initial consonant they perceive when they hear each syllable. Results revealed greater difference between the responses of the children with autism when compared with the older control group, than when compared with the younger children. The responses of the children with autism were more similar to those of the children in the second control group. This could be indicative of a delay in the children with autism of perception of the categorical boundaries along the dimension of voice onset time compared to typical children's perception of these consonants.

Bakgrund: I dag lever 3,4 miljoner människor världen över med en tidigt debuterande demenssjukdom, vilket avser personer under 65 år. Sjukdomen påverkar inte bara den demenssjuke, utan även personens partner då denna fas i livet innefattas av ett socialt sammanhang av familje- och arbetsliv. Rollen ändras från att vara partner till att bli anhörigvårdare vilket resulterar i en stor förändring i livet. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa partners upplevelser av att leva med en anhörig som drabbats av tidigt debuterande demens. Metod: En allmän litteraturstudie med induktiv ansats där 10 kvalitativa artiklar har granskats. Resultat: Utifrån anhörigvårdares erfarenheter framkom fyra kategorier. Anhörigvårdare beskriver en känsla av ovisshet, förändrade roller och relationer, social avskildhet och bristfälligt stöd. Konklusion: Slutsatsen visar på att livet för anhörigvårdare påverkas från första symptom vidare genom förändrade relationer och roller som uppstår och det bristande stöd som samhället erbjuder. Sjuksköterskor behöver ökad kunskap om anhörigvårdares upplevelser av tidigt debuterande demens för att tillgodose upplevelsen av hälsa och välbefinnande. / Background: Today 3,4 million people worldwide are living with young onset dementia which refers to people under the age of 65. The disease affects not only the person with dementia, but also the person's partner as this phase of life is embedded in a social context of family and work life. The role changes from being a partner to being a caregiver which results in major change in life. Aim: The purpose of the study was to illustrate the partners' experiences of living with a relative affected by early onset dementia. Method: A general literature review with an inductive approach where 10 qualitative articles have been reviewed. Results: Based on the caregivers' experiences, four categories emerged. Caregivers describe a sense of uncertainty, changing roles and relationships, social isolation and lack of support. Conclusion/implication: The conclusion shows that the life of the caregivers' changes from the symptoms, throughout the changing of the relations and roles to the lack of support that the society provides. Nurses need increased knowledge about caregivers' experience of early onset dementia in order to provide accommodate the experience of health and well-being.

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The purpose of this study was to determine which MT techniques current licensed massage therapists practicing sports massage are using to treat delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) by conducting an anonymous online survey of practicing sports massage therapists. The secondary purpose was to determine if previous sports massage research protocols match current practices in sports massage to treat DOMS. There were 85 anonymous respondents ranging in age from 24 to 74 years with a mean age of 44.5 years. Participants included 55 female (65.5%) and 29 male (34.5%) therapists. Professional experience ranged from 4 years or less to more than 20 years, and the majority reported having training specific to sports massage. Previous research methods have placed an overwhelming emphasis on effleurage and petrissage in the treatment protocols to test the effects of massage on DOMS. However, practicing therapists rely on many more techniques and modalities when giving sports massage treatments for DOMS. On a scale of 1 to 5 respondents rated the importance of effleurage strokes in their sports massage treatment at 3.3, petrissage strokes averaged 3.4, friction 3.3, and tapotement ranked slightly lower with a weighted average of 2.1. Sixty six percent of respondents reported that they use stretching techniques often or always. Myofascial release techniques are used sometimes or often for 65% of the respondents, but fewer utilize manual lymphatic drainage in their sports massage. Additional techniques besides those mentioned in the survey are used by 64% of the respondents.

For adult learners of a second language, the similarities and differences in acoustic properties between their native language and the language they are learning can affect how they perceive the sounds of the new language. How learners perceive these acoustic properties will directly affect their ability to communicate. According to the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) (Best 1995), learners will perceive the sounds of a language that is new to them based on how similar or different the sounds are from the learner’s native language. Between the English and Spanish language, there are some sounds that share acoustic properties and others that show contrast. Such is the case with the stop consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, and /g/. These consonants exist in both Spanish and English, and though they are similar, there are important differences in how they should be perceived and produced. Despite the differences, these sounds are likely to be confused by L2 learners due to similarity in acoustic cues. This study will use Best’s Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) as a framework. It will test the L2 perception of native English-speaking adults who are L2 learners of Spanish, have spent between 18 and 24 months speaking the target language as Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) missionaries in the United States, and who are also currently university students enrolled in an upper-level Spanish course. It will focus on their perception of the acoustic cue of Voice Onset Time (VOT) of stop consonants.

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