We offer an account of preposition drop under clausal ellipsis in terms of two language processing principles: Minimize Domains and Minimize Forms. We argue that when Minimize Domains operates within the PP domain, it disfavors preposition drop due to the preferred independent processability of the PP fragment. When it operates within the VP domain it favors preposition drop in proportion to the number and strength of semantic dependencies between V and P in a given language: the more dependencies there are, and the stronger they are, the stronger the preference for preposition drop. In this way fragments are avoided with long dependencies between P and a distant V. We demonstrate this pattern in English corpora and propose it as an explanation for the typologically unusual preference that English shows for NP fragments. Minimize Forms supports preposition drop in easy-to-process environments cross-linguistically and in English when the more minimal fragment (NP) can be easily linked to its correlate in the antecedent, disfavoring preposition drop elsewhere. The predictions of Minimize Domains and Minimize Forms receive support from a mixed-effects regression model fitted to data from spoken US English, and can be understood as motivations for construction-specific constraints and preferences in clausal ellipsis.

This work studies phase-separated fibers in the CaO–SiO2 and NiO–SiO2 systems. The nature of the phase-separated microstructures and underlying phase equilibria are discussed, including dimensionality, composition, and phase formation as well as the realization of ferrimagnetic behavior in the NiO–SiO2 fibers based on the formation of metallic Ni inclusions. In addition to understanding the composition/processing relationships in these systems, the work represents a step forward toward novel magneto-optic fibers. It is important to understand the underlying materials science in order to advance the properties of novel optical fibers possessing engineered heterogeneities in the core.

A large number of grammatical and lexical changes occurred in Middle and Early Modern English leading to the type of language we witness today. Other West Germanic languages were more conservative. This article focuses on some of the major contrasts between Modern English and German and proposes a new unifying generalization for them, going beyond Sapir's (1921) ‘drift’ and the comparative typology of Hawkins (1986, 1995). The contrasts involve a systematic expansion in word-external properties in English, whereby individual words carry less syntactic and semantic information in their grammatical and lexical representations and have become more reliant on neighboring words for the assignment of linguistic properties. Defining drift in this way captures more of the observed contrasts and subsumes counterexamples to earlier unifying generalizations. It also has implications for theories of real-time language processing and for the interface between linguistic typology and psycholinguistics.

Saline lagoons are priority habitats in the United Kingdom supporting several protected specialist species. One specialist, the amphipod Gammarus insensibilis, is infected with behaviour-altering microphallid trematodes such as Microphallus papillorobustus. In saline lagoons around the coast of England (Gilkicker and Lymington–Keyhaven on the Hampshire coast and Moulton Marsh in Lincolnshire) there is variation in the prevalence of this parasite in the gammarid populations (0 at Salterns in the Lymington–Keyhaven lagoon system to 98% at Gilkicker). Infection intensity ranged from 0 to 20 metacercariae in individual amphipods. Higher infection intensity can alter the shape of the amphipod's head. Under experimental conditions respiration rate is significantly reduced in infected animals and reproductive output (expressed as early stage embryos mg g dry weight−1) is significantly lower in infected females. It is important to consider the role of host–parasite interactions in order to understand the ecology of specialist lagoon species such as G. insensibilis and their lagoon habitats.

We propose an explanation for a traditional puzzle in English linguistics involving the use of articles with the nominal modifiers same, identical and similar. Same can only take the definite article the, whereas identical and similar take either the or a. We argue that there is a fundamental difference in the manner in which a comparison is made with these modifiers. Identical and similar involve direct comparisons between at least two entities and an assertion of either full property matching (identical), or partial property matching (similar). The comparison with same proceeds differently: what is compared is not linguistic entities directly, but definite descriptions of these entities that can be derived through logical entailments. John and Mary live in the same house entails the house that John lives in is the (same) house that Mary lives in. There must be a pragmatic equivalence between these entailed definite descriptions, ranging from full referential equivalence to a possibly quite minimal overlap in semantic and real-world properties shared by distinct referents. These differences in meaning and article co-occurrence reveal the sensitivity of syntax to semantic and pragmatic properties, without which all and only the grammatical sentences of a language cannot be predicted.

Background: The public health response to an influenza pandemic or other large-scale health emergency may include mass prophylaxis using multiple points of dispensing (PODs) to deliver countermeasures rapidly to affected populations. Computer models created to date to determine “optimal” staffing levels at PODs typically assume stable patient demand for service. The authors investigated POD function under dynamic and uncertain operational environments.

Methods: The authors constructed a Monte Carlo simulation model of mass prophylaxis (the Dynamic POD Simulator, or D-PODS) to assess the consequences of nonstationary patient arrival patterns on POD function under a variety of POD layouts and staffing plans. Compared are the performance of a standard POD layout under steady-state and variable patient arrival rates that may mimic real-life variation in patient demand.

Results: To achieve similar performance, PODs functioning under nonstationary patient arrival rates require higher staffing levels than would be predicted using the assumption of stationary arrival rates. Furthermore, PODs may develop severe bottlenecks unless staffing levels vary over time to meet changing patient arrival patterns. Efficient POD networks therefore require command and control systems capable of dynamically adjusting intra- and inter-POD staff levels to meet demand. In addition, under real-world operating conditions of heightened uncertainty, fewer large PODs will require a smaller total staff than many small PODs to achieve comparable performance.

Conclusions: Modeling environments that capture the effects of fundamental uncertainties in public health disasters are essential for the realistic evaluation of response mechanisms and policies. D-PODS quantifies POD operational efficiency under more realistic conditions than have been modeled previously. The authors’ experiments demonstrate that effective POD staffing plans must be responsive to variation and uncertainty in POD arrival patterns. These experiments highlight the need for command and control systems to be created to manage emergency response successfully. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S121–S131)

One of the major goals of the Cambridge English Profile Programme is to identify ‘criterial features’ for each of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) proficiency levels as they apply to English, and to assess the impact of different first languages on these features (through ‘transfer’ effects). The present paper defines what is meant by criterial features and proposes an initial taxonomy of four types. Numerous illustrations are given from our collaborative research to date on the Cambridge Learner Corpus. The benefits and challenges posed by these features for corpus linguistics and for theories of second language acquisition are briefly outlined, as are the benefits and challenges for language assessment practices and for publishing ventures that make use of them as supplements to the current CEFR descriptors.

Welcome to the first issue of the English Profile Journal. The journal has been launched by Cambridge University Press to mark a significant stage in the development of the English Profile Programme. In February 2009, representatives of the institutions, groups and individuals involved in English Profile gathered together for a two-day seminar in Cambridge. The attendees shared the provisional results of their ongoing research into various aspects of the project and discussed ways forward for the network of collaborators and partners that English Profile has grown into. Members of the seminar presented their work, which was critiqued by the assembled participants. Over the months that followed, the presenters refined and documented their research presentations, and it is a selection of those papers which we now publish in this first issue, which will be incrementally published hereafter, and free until at least the end of 2012. Our aim is to showcase a representative cross-section of the kinds of research being carried out under the auspices of English Profile.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the cost-effectiveness of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) compared with no treatment as additional therapy to usual care for the treatment of chronic stable angina from the perspective of the UK National Health Service.

Methods: The study design was a systematic review of published evidence, use of expert clinical opinion, and decision analytic cost-effectiveness model. The systematic review was conducted and statistical methods used to synthesize the effectiveness evidence from randomized control trials. Formal methods were used to elicit opinion from clinical experts where no evidence was available. These provide informed “priors” on key model parameters. A decision analytic model was developed to assess the costs and health consequences associated with the primary outcome of the trials over a lifetime time horizon. The main outcome measures were costs from a health service perspective and outcomes measured as quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs).

Results: The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of EECP was £18,643 for each additional QALY, with a probability of being cost-effective of 0.44 and 0.70 at cost-effectiveness thresholds of £20,000 and £30,000 per QALY gained, respectively. Results were sensitive to the duration of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) benefits from treatment.

Conclusions: The long-term maintenance of HRQoL benefits of EECP is central to the estimate of cost-effectiveness. The results from a single randomized control trial do not provide firm evidence of the clinical or cost-effectiveness of EECP in stable angina. Long-term follow-up trials assessing quality of life from EECP are required.

Obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract may be associated with hypoplasia of the left heart, which importantly influences the options for treatment. Although the influence of the size of the left heart on the outcome for critical aortic stenosis has been described, less is known about the spectrum of such hypoplasia seen with neonatal aortic coarctation, and how this influences outcome. To determine, first, the spectrum and influence of hypoplasia of the left heart in neonatal coarctation, second, if the previously described critical values for adequacy of the left heart in neonates with critical aortic stenosis are applicable to neonates with coarctation, and, third, if any of the variables or associated abnormalities are risk factors for recoarctation, we studied 63 neonates who underwent repair of coarctation. From the initial echocar diogram, we measured multiple structures in the left heart, and calculated a score for adequacy as has been done for critical aortic stenosis. The sizes were compared to previously reported minimal values. We then analyzed the influence of the variables and the associated anomalies on outcome. There were no deaths. There was a broad spectrum of sizes that did not correlate with the need for re-intervention. The calculated score for adequacy would have predicted survival in only 56% of the patients, and 73% of the neonates had at least one parameter measured in the left heart below the previously reported minimal values. There is, therefore, a broad spectrum of sizes for the left heart in neonates with aortic coarctation that is not predictive of outcome. Minimal sizes, and the score for adequacy used for critical aortic stenosis, are not applicable to neonates with coarctation.

A bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt is performed in patients with single ventricle physiology to improve or maintain systemic oxygenation while decreasing the workload of the heart. During a period of 10 years, bidirectional cavopulmonary shunts were performed in 50 patients at our institution. The procedure was performed with an additional source of pulmonary flow through the pulmonary valve or a systemic to pulmonary shunt in 27 patients and without an additional source of pulmonary flow in 23 patients. Preoperative and postoperative chest radiographs, pulmonary angiograms, oxygenation, hemodynamic measurements, morbidity, and mortality were reviewed to determine whether a bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt with an additional source of pulmonary flow is an acceptable interim or final stage of palliation. Systemic oxygenation was improved only in patients with an additional source of pulmonary flow. The outcome of the bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt was not adversely affected by the presence of additional pulmonary flow. Twenty-five patients subsequently underwent an atrial to pulmonary or total cavopulmonary anastomosis. Oxygenation was improved by more definitive palliation; however, late complications of stroke, protein losing enteropathy, and arrhythmias requiring pacemaker therapy were more prevalent. In conclusion, systemic oxygenation can be improved by performing the bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt with an additional source of pulmonary flow through the pulmonary valve or a systemic to pulmonary shunt without an adverse effect on hemodynamic measurements, pulmonary arterial growth, morbidity, or survival. The bidirectional avopulmonary shunt may be an acceptable final stage of palliation in some patients with a functionally single ventricle.

The articles in this special issue present very interesting data on the acquisition of relative clauses (RCs) in Japanese, Korean, and Cantonese. The errors and developmental patterns are partially different from those that have been observed in European languages, and they appear to go against predictions made by the Keenan and Comrie (1977) noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (NPAH).

There is a growing need for optical fiber coatings that can sustain higher temperatures than present materials permit. To date, polyimides are used predominantly but they generally are difficult to process and usually require multiple depositions to achieve the desired film thickness. Perfluorocyclobutyl (PFCB) aryl ether polymers have demonstrated much success as processable and amorphous fluoropolymers,[1] with particular emphasis on high performance optical applications.[2] This work discusses recent efforts into perfluorocyclobutyl aryl ether polymer-based optical fiber coatings.[3] A series of silica-based optical fibers were drawn with differing PFCB polymer coatings compositions and molecular weights on a Heathway draw tower. Results include a more than doubled usage temperature of coating (decomposition temperatures (Td) in nitrogen and air were above 450 °C) without affecting fiber mechanical properties and comparable isothermal stability to conventional coatings, except with a >150 °C higher temperature. Preliminary results of the first successful coating of optical fibers by PFCB polymers will be presented herein, as well as future endeavors.