Saltatory alternations occur when two sounds alternate with each other, excluding a third sound that is phonetically intermediate between the two alternating sounds (e.g. [p] alternates with [β], with nonalternating, phonetically intermediate [b]). Such alternations are attested in natural language, so they must be learnable; however, experimental work suggests that they are dispreferred by language learners. This article presents a computationally implemented phonological framework that can account for both the existence and the dispreferred status of saltatory alternations. The framework is implemented in a maximum entropy learning model (Goldwater & Johnson 2003) with two significant components. The first is a set of constraints penalizing correspondence between specific segments, formalized as *MAP constraints (Zuraw 2007, 2013), which enables the model to learn saltatory alternations at all. The second is a substantive bias based on the P-map (Steriade 2009 [2001]), implemented via the model's prior probability distribution, which favors alternations between perceptually similar sounds. Comparing the model's predictions to results from artificial language experiments, the substantively biased model outperforms control models that do not have a substantive bias, providing support for the role of substantive bias in phonological learning.

We surveyed physicians and patients to create a novel Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) for non-severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Patients generally ranked uncomfortable but non-life-threatening symptoms as less desirable, while physicians focused on traditional medical outcomes. When developing DOORs, both patient and clinician perspectives should be considered.

Background: Dichotomous outcomes rarely capture the range of potential outcomes important to patients and clinicians. To address this limitation, the Desirability of Outcome Ranking (DOOR) score was created to rank potential outcomes from least to most desirable. Currently, there is no standardized method to develop a DOOR score and data are limited on whether patients and their clinicians rank outcomes similarly. We aimed: (a) to develop a novel DOOR score for adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) by surveying patients and clinicians on their preferred outcome ranking and (b) to compare their relative DOOR rankings. Methods: We created nine clinical scenarios describing the spectrum of potential outcomes of patients with CAP two weeks after initial emergency department visit. To ascertain clinician DOOR score, we used a snowball sampling method to recruit a target of 25 clinicians in specialties that regularly treat CAP. For the patient DOOR score, we recruited patients hospitalized with CAP by reviewing electronic patient lists for adults hospitalized with pneumonia. Respondents were asked to rank the 9 cases from most to least desirable in REDCap. To create the final DOOR score, we used Friedman rank sum tests to combine/collapse DOOR outcomes with scores that did not significantly differ. We used the Mann Whitney U test to compare DOOR rankings between physicians and patients. Final study results were presented to a national hospital medicine patient and family advisory committee (PFAC) for their impressions. Results: 22 patients (71% response rate) and 25 clinicians responded to our DOOR survey. Their ranked order of DOOR outcomes is shown in Table 1. Combining non-significantly different DOOR outcomes resulted in collapsing of 6 cases into 2 categories for 5 overall DOOR scores that significantly differed from each other (Table 1 for final ranking). Patients and clinicians had significantly different preferred ranking for 6 DOOR cases. Our PFAC had several hypotheses as to why rankings differed (Table 2). Conclusion: We present a novel DOOR score derived from patient and clinician reported preferences for outcomes of hospitalized adult patients with CAP. Clinicians and patients differed in their perception of certain outcomes with patients ranking symptoms that were uncomfortable but not potentially life-threatening as less desirable than physicians. Physicians tended to rank quality linked metrics such as readmission as worse than patients. When designing future trials using DOOR scores, researchers should consider including patients in DOOR score design as their perspectives may differ from clinicians.

Comparative research documents substantial education- and income-based class gaps in parent spending on children’s education, with important repercussions for the perpetuation of intergenerational (dis)advantage. Spurred by higher levels of income inequality and associated economic transformations, some speculate these gaps may have widened, as parents feel intensified pressure to best position their children in increasingly competitive labour markets. We examine the size and evolution—over time and in response to higher inequality—of these class gaps in the Canadian provinces, a context where we propose competitive pressures may be muted by the country’s relatively unstratified post-secondary education system. Exploiting provincial and temporal variation in Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending (2006–2019), we show that more highly educated parents, and to a lesser extent high-income ones, place distinct emphasis on education spending. However, we find limited evidence of changes in these spending patterns in response to income inequality or over time.

The First Large Absorption Survey in H i (FLASH) is a large-area radio survey for neutral hydrogen in and around galaxies in the intermediate redshift range $0.4\lt z\lt1.0$, using the 21-cm H i absorption line as a probe of cold neutral gas. The survey uses the ASKAP radio telescope and will cover 24,000 deg$^2$ of sky over the next five years. FLASH breaks new ground in two ways – it is the first large H i absorption survey to be carried out without any optical preselection of targets, and we use an automated Bayesian line-finding tool to search through large datasets and assign a statistical significance to potential line detections. Two Pilot Surveys, covering around 3000 deg$^2$ of sky, were carried out in 2019-22 to test and verify the strategy for the full FLASH survey. The processed data products from these Pilot Surveys (spectral-line cubes, continuum images, and catalogues) are public and available online. In this paper, we describe the FLASH spectral-line and continuum data products and discuss the quality of the H i spectra and the completeness of our automated line search. Finally, we present a set of 30 new H i absorption lines that were robustly detected in the Pilot Surveys, almost doubling the number of known H i absorption systems at $0.4\lt z\lt1$. The detected lines span a wide range in H i optical depth, including three lines with a peak optical depth $\tau\gt1$, and appear to be a mixture of intervening and associated systems. Interestingly, around two-thirds of the lines found in this untargeted sample are detected against sources with a peaked-spectrum radio continuum, which are only a minor (5–20%) fraction of the overall radio-source population. The detection rate for H i absorption lines in the Pilot Surveys (0.3 to 0.5 lines per 40 deg$^2$ ASKAP field) is a factor of two below the expected value. One possible reason for this is the presence of a range of spectral-line artefacts in the Pilot Survey data that have now been mitigated and are not expected to recur in the full FLASH survey. A future paper in this series will discuss the host galaxies of the H i absorption systems identified here.

We present the second data release for the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array eXtended (GLEAM-X) survey. This data release is an area of 12 892-deg$^2$ around the South Galactic Pole region covering 20 h40 m$\leq$RA$\leq$6 h40 m, -90$^\circ$$\leq$Dec$\leq$+30$^\circ$. Observations were taken in 2020 using the Phase-II configuration of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and covering a frequency range of 72–231 MHz with twenty frequency bands. We produce a wideband source finding mosaic over 170–231 MHz with a median root-mean-squared noise of $1.5^{+1.5}_{-0.5}$ mJy beam$^{-1}$. We present a catalogue of 624 866 components, including 562 302 components which are spectrally fit. This catalogue is 98% complete at 50 mJy, and a reliability of 98.7% at a 5 $\sigma$ level, consistent with expectations for this survey. The catalogue is made available via Vizier, and the PASA datastore and accompanying mosaics for this data release are made available via AAO Data Central and SkyView.

In a “mixed bag” 2023-2024 session, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of decisions both favorable and antithetical to public health and safety. Taking on tough constitutional issues implicating gun control, misinformation, and homelessness, the Court also avoided substantive reviews in favor of procedural dismissals in key cases involving reproductive rights and government censorship.

The prioritization of English language in clinical research is a barrier to translational science. We explored promising practices to advance the inclusion of people who speak languages other than English in research conducted within and supported by NIH Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs. Key informant interviews were conducted with representatives (n = 24) from CTSA hubs (n = 17). Purposive sampling was used to identify CTSA hubs focused on language inclusion. Hubs electing to participate were interviewed via Zoom. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze interview transcripts. We report on strategies employed by hubs to advance linguistic inclusion and influence institutional change that were identified. Strategies ranged from translations, development of culturally relevant materials and consultations to policies and procedural changes and workforce initiatives. An existing framework was adapted to conceptualize hub strategies. Language justice is paramount to bringing more effective treatments to all people more quickly. Inclusion will require institutional transformation and CTSA hubs are well positioned to catalyze change.

There are numerous challenges pertaining to epilepsy care across Ontario, including Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) bed pressures, surgical access and community supports. We sampled the current clinical, community and operational state of Ontario epilepsy centres and community epilepsy agencies post COVID-19 pandemic. A 44-item survey was distributed to all 11 district and regional adult and paediatric Ontario epilepsy centres. Qualitative responses were collected from community epilepsy agencies. Results revealed ongoing gaps in epilepsy care across Ontario, with EMU bed pressures and labour shortages being limiting factors. A clinical network advising the Ontario Ministry of Health will improve access to epilepsy care.

A deluge of state “anti-equity” legislative bills seek to reverse prevailing trends in diversity, equity, and inclusion; withdraw protections of LGBTQ+ communities; and deny access to gender-based care for trans minors and adults. While the political and constitutional fate of these acts is undetermined, profound impacts on patients and their providers are already affecting the delivery of health care and public health services.

Commentaries on the target article offer diverse perspectives on integrative experiment design. Our responses engage three themes: (1) Disputes of our characterization of the problem, (2) skepticism toward our proposed solution, and (3) endorsement of the solution, with accompanying discussions of its implementation in existing work and its potential for other domains. Collectively, the commentaries enhance our confidence in the promise and viability of integrative experiment design, while highlighting important considerations about how it is used.

The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) has surveyed the sky at multiple frequencies as part of the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS). The first two RACS observing epochs, at 887.5 (RACS-low) and 1 367.5 (RACS-mid) MHz, have been released (McConnell, et al. 2020, PASA, 37, e048; Duchesne, et al. 2023, PASA, 40, e034). A catalogue of radio sources from RACS-low has also been released, covering the sky south of declination $+30^{\circ}$ (Hale, et al., 2021, PASA, 38, e058). With this paper, we describe and release the first set of catalogues from RACS-mid, covering the sky below declination $+49^{\circ}$. The catalogues are created in a similar manner to the RACS-low catalogue, and we discuss this process and highlight additional changes. The general purpose primary catalogue covering 36 200 deg$^2$ features a variable angular resolution to maximise sensitivity and sky coverage across the catalogued area, with a median angular resolution of $11.2^{\prime\prime} \times 9.3^{\prime\prime}$. The primary catalogue comprises 3 105 668 radio sources, including those in the Galactic Plane (2 861 923 excluding Galactic latitudes of $|b|<5^{\circ}$), and we estimate the catalogue to be 95% complete for sources above 2 mJy. With the primary catalogue, we also provide two auxiliary catalogues. The first is a fixed-resolution, 25-arcsec catalogue approximately matching the sky coverage of the RACS-low catalogue. This 25-arcsec catalogue is constructed identically to the primary catalogue, except images are convolved to a less-sensitive 25-arcsec angular resolution. The second auxiliary catalogue is designed for time-domain science and is the concatenation of source lists from the original RACS-mid images with no additional convolution, mosaicking, or de-duplication of source entries to avoid losing time-variable signals. All three RACS-mid catalogues, and all RACS data products, are available through the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (https://research.csiro.au/casda/).

A series of structural constitutional arguments lodged in multiple cases against Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) authorities to negotiate prescription drug prices via the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act threaten the legitimacy of CMS program and federal agency powers.