One contribution of 13 to a theme issue 'New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences'. We offer a new solution to the unsolved problem of how infants break into word learning based on the visual statistics of everyday infant-perspective scenes. Images from head camera video captured by 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 monthold infants at 147 at-home mealtime events were analysed for the objects in view. The images were found to be highly cluttered with many different objects in view. However, the frequency distribution of object categories was extremely right skewed such that a very small set of objects was pervasively present-a fact that may substantially reduce the problem of referential ambiguity. The statistical structure of objects in these infant egocentric scenes differs markedly from that in the training sets used in computational models and in experiments on statistical word-referent learning. Therefore, the results also indicate a need to re-examine current explanations of how infants break into word learning.This article is part of the themed issue 'New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences'.

Atmospheric CO 2 concentrations are predicted to double within the next century. Despite this trend, the extent and mechanisms through which elevated CO 2 affects plant diseases remain uncertain. In this study, we assessed how elevated CO 2 affects a foliar fungal pathogen, Phyllosticta minima, of Acer rubrum growing in the understory at the Duke Forest free-air CO 2 enrichment experiment in Durham, North Carolina. Surveys of A. rubrum saplings in the 6th, 7th, and 8th years of the CO 2 exposure revealed that elevated CO 2 significantly reduced disease incidence, with 22%, 27%, and 8% fewer saplings and 14%, 4%, and 5% fewer leaves infected per plant in the three consecutive years, respectively. Elevated CO 2 also significantly reduced disease severity in infected plants in all years (e.g. mean lesion area reduced 35%, 50%, and 10% in 2002, 2003, and 2004, respectively). To assess the mechanisms underlying these changes, we combined leaf structural, physiological and chemical analyses with growth chamber studies of P. minima growth and host infection. In vitro exponential growth rates of P. minima were enhanced by 17% under elevated CO 2 , discounting the possibility that disease reductions were because of direct negative effects of elevated CO 2 on fungal performance. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) verified that conidia germ tubes of P. minima infect A. rubrum leaves by entering through the stomata. While stomatal size and density were unchanged, stomatal conductance was reduced by 21-36% under elevated CO 2 , providing smaller openings for infecting germ tubes. Reduced disease severity under elevated CO 2 was likely due to altered leaf chemistry and reduced nutritive quality; elevated CO 2 reduced leaf N by 20% and increased the C : N ratio by 20%, total phenolics by 15%, and tannins by 14% (Po0.05 for each factor). The potential dual mechanism we describe here of reduced stomatal opening and altered leaf chemistry that results in reduced disease incidence and severity under elevated CO 2 may be prevalent in many plant pathosystems where the pathogen targets the stomata.

This paper identifies the need for a debate about the appropriateness of action research for nursing as it seeks to achieve the status of a research-based profession. It also identifies a related need to inform such a debate by bringing together three sets of writings that are not normally united in the nursing research literature-those of action research, organizational culture and professionalization. In nursing, as in education, action research is being deployed as part of a professionalizing strategy, since amongst other things it seems to offer a means of developing reflective practitioners and of producing knowledge for practice. The increasing popularity of action research amongst nurse researchers suggests that it is seen to reflect the attributes to which nursing aspires as a profession, including a concern to realize humanistic values. Action research was embraced by the teaching profession before nursing, and nurse researchers are increasingly drawing on the ideas of influential educationalists in defining action research as an emancipatory strategy and a form of collaborative enquiry rooted in reflective practice. This paper argues that in the managerialist context of the British National Health Service action research may be reduced from a participatory methodology into a method for getting people to collaborate with managerial goals and internalize the values of the corporate culture. The danger is that in the name of reflective practice nursing work may become increasingly individualized. The challenge for action research in nursing is how to respond to this dilemma, and this may require looking critically at the managerial values underpinning the NHS reforms and at the organizational context in which action research strategies are deployed.

The purpose of this investigation was to address the need to clarify the factorial measurement properties of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS). Data collected from 760 female participants (who, on average, were young adults) were randomly placed into one of two samples to facilitate double cross-validation analyses. Calibration confirmatory factor analyses of three plausible models identified in research reports were conducted using structural equation modeling procedures. Subsequent cross-validation revealed a model with two first-order factors subordinate to one second-order factor to be unambiguously the most adequate among competing models. This model also exhibited a good fit both in calibration and in cross-validation with all incremental fit indexes exceeding the desirable .90 criterion. These results challenge initial validation study contentions that the SPAS is unidimensional.

Using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in care planning has the potential to improve care, but information about routine implementation in settings serving disadvantaged groups is needed. Two primary care clinics serving populations predominantly eligible for Medicaid and diverse in race/ethnicity implemented the PROMIS-29 as part of clinical care planning. Of the target population with diabetes, 26% (n = 490) completed the PROMs; the proportion that set a goal based on the PROMs differed by site. This report describes factors influencing the PROMs process and the results of interviews with patients and members of the care team about PROMs' implementation and impact.