Background: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often experience difficulties in the recall and repetition of verbal information. Archibald and Gathercole (2006) suggested that children with SLI are vulnerable across two separate components of a tripartite model of working memory (Baddeley and Hitch 1974). However, the hierarchical relationship between the 'slave' systems (temporary storage) and the central executive components places a particular challenge for interpreting working memory profiles within a tripartite model.

Aims: This study aimed to examine whether a 'double-jeopardy' assumption is compatible with a hierarchical relationship between the phonological loop and central executive components of the working memory model in children with SLI. If a strong double-jeopardy assumption is valid for children with SLI, it was predicted that raw scores of working memory tests thought to tap phonological loop and central executive components of tripartite working memory would be lower than the scores of children matched for chronological age and those of children matched for language level, according to independent sources of constraint. In contrast, a hierarchical relationship would imply that a weakness in a slave component of working memory (the phonological loop) would also constrain performance on tests tapping a super-ordinate component (central executive). This locus of constraint would predict that scores of children with SLI on working memory tests that tap the central executive would be weaker relative to the scores of chronological age-matched controls only.

Methods & Procedures: Seven subtests of the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (Digit recall, Word recall, Non-word recall, Word matching, Listening recall, Backwards digit recall and Block recall; Pickering and Gathercole 2001) were administered to 14 children with SLI recruited via language resource bases and specialist schools, as well as two control groups matched on chronological age and vocabulary level, respectively. Mean group differences were ascertained by directly comparing raw scores on memory tests linked to different components of the tripartite model using a series of multivariate analyses.

Outcomes & Results: The majority of working memory scores of the SLI group were depressed relative to chronological age-matched controls, with the exception of spatial recall (block tapping) and word (order) matching tasks. Marked deficits in serial recall of words and digits were evident, with the SLI group scoring more poorly than the language-ability matched control group on these measures. Impairments of the SLI group on phonological loop tasks were robust, even when covariance with executive working memory scores was accounted for. There was no robust effect of group on complex working memory (central executive) tasks, despite a slight association between listening recall and phonological loop measures.

Conclusions & Implications: A predominant feature of the working memory profile of SLI was a marked deficit on phonological loop tasks. Although scores on complex working memory tasks were also depressed, there was little evidence for a strong interpretation of double-jeopardy within working memory profiles for these children, rather these findings were consistent with an interpretation of a constraint on phonological loop for children with SLI that operated at all levels of a hierarchical tripartite model of working memory (Baddeley and Hitch 1974). These findings imply that low scores on complex working memory tasks alone do not unequivocally imply an independent deficit in central executive (domain-general) resources of working memory and should therefore be treated cautiously in a clinical context.

BACKGROUND. Specific language impairment is a primary developmental language disorder in which language is impaired disproportionately to other developmental domains. Electroencephalography is often conducted in the medical investigation of a child with specific language impairment; however, at present, there is uncertainty regarding necessary testing using electroencephalography.

METHODS. The cases of 111 children with the diagnosis of specific language impairment over a 10-year interval, who also underwent electroencephalography, were systematically reviewed in a retrospective manner. Children with a history of previous afebrile seizures, acquired language delay, or documented language regression, developmental delay, hearing loss, coexisting autistic features, and known central nervous system disorders were excluded.

RESULTS. The majority (76%) of the children were boys. Thirty-five (31.5%) children had abnormal electroencephalography results, including 7 (6.3%) children with epileptiform activity. This is higher than the prevalence rate of epileptiform activity in a historical cohort of 3726 (3.54%) children but not statistically significant. The epileptiform activity was deemed active in only 3 of 7 patients and was not related to the specific type of language delay observed.

CONCLUSIONS. Although abnormal electroencephalographic activity is seen frequently in children with specific language impairment, epileptiform activity is rare and without apparent impact on clinical care. Awake electroencephalography does not seem to be useful in the routine diagnostic evaluation of young children with specific language impairment, although further investigations of both wake and sleep electroencephalography in this homogenous population must be conducted before definitive recommendations can be made.

Όπως και η προηγούμενη έκδοση, το νέο eVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital PWM, βασίζεται στο Nvidia Nforce 790i SLI chipset και υποστηρίζει όλους τουςσύγχρονους  επεξεργαστές της Intel συσκευασίας LGA775 (Core 2 Duo, Quad ή Extreme).

Διαθέτει εννέα S-ATA 3,0Gbps connectors, 100% στερεάς κατάστασης πυκνωτές (solid state), on-board Clear CMOS button καθώς και πλήκτρα Power On/Off και Reset με φωτιζόμενες ενδείξεις. Υποστηρίζει FSB υψηλότερο των 1600MHz, μνήμη τύπου DDR3-SDRAM έως και 2000MHz καθώς και την τεχνολογία multi-graphics της Nvidia, 3-way SLI αφού ενσωματώνει τρεις PCI Express 2.0 (x16) θύρες.

Επιπλέον διαθέτει δυο θύρες PCI Express x1, δυο PCI, τέσσερα Dimm sockets που μπορούν να δεχτούν μνήμη ποσότητας έως 8GB καθώς και ένα ATA133 IDE connector και ένα floppy connector. Περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες για τα τεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά και τον εξοπλισμό του νέου eVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital PWM μπορείτε να διαβάσετε εδώ.

This study reports on a comparison of the use and knowledge of tense-marking morphemes in English by first language (L1), second language (L2), and specific language impairment (SLI) children. The objective of our research was to ascertain whether the L2 children's tense acquisition patterns were similar or dissimilar to those of the L1 and SLI groups, and whether they would fit an (extended) optional infinitive profile, or an L2-based profile, for example, the missing surface inflection hypothesis. Results showed that the L2 children had a unique profile compared with their monolingual peers, which was better characterized by the missing surface inflection hypothesis. At the same time, results reinforce the assumption underlying the (extended) optional infinitive profile that internal constraints on the acquisition of tense could be a component of L1 development, with and without SLI.

Ever since ATI took nvidia's flagship status away from them with the 4870X2, rumours have run wild would what nvidia would have up its sleeve to combat it. With the mediocre release of a new GTX 260 now behind us rumours have resurfaced that we could see nvidia's new flagship model by years end.

An anonymous source within the ranks of nvidia has is stated the card will be manufactured on a 55nm process with 2 GTX 280 chips and employ GDDR5 memory. If these rumours prove to be true this will be one hell of a card should be able to render crysis at 2560x1600 with quad SLI enabled. As for pricing we expect nothing under US$600 or AU$800 on release.

Totally Unr3al

I walk outside and around me I hear the last of the birds waiting to fly to warmer places.  As my walk continues, the crunch of leaves, which at first seemed so loud to my ears, becomes gentle and I almost don't hear it anymore.  I look up to see one of my favorite images:  Bright trees, their leaves the color of fire, set against the clear, gentle blue October sky.  Autumn is here and I can relax.  I can rest.  I can savor the moments.

Dengan promosi berkembangnya sistem operasi Windows Vista yang dikembangkan oleh Microsoft. Banyak vendor yang memaksa menawarkan Vista dalam komputer rakitannya. Hal itu membuat kita bingung untuk menentukan sistem operasi yang kita pakai, ditambah lagi dengan iming-iming tentang kelemahan keunggulan-keunggulah yang ada di Vista (terutama AERO). Hal ini ditunjang dengan harga vista yang lebih "murah" dibanding XP (yang versi mana?). Sebagai pebandingan harga lihat di Rakitan.com. Tapi janganlah terkecoh dengan semua itu perhatikan sistem requirement dari Vista (bukan dari Microsoftnya) untuk layak menampilkan AERO (bukan score recomended vista yang nilainya 6) :

• Processor, minim HT (LGA)/ Athlon64 X2 DC, Dual Core/ Core2Duo / Phenom lebih baik.
• Memory, Dual Channel (minim 512mbx2)
• VGA, gforce 8600GT/ HD2600 (PCIe)
• Matherboard, jelas yang bisa ditancepi processor, memory, diatas.

Tapi dalam kenyataan, ada keanehan dalam pemilihan VGA. Jika kita memakai produk nVidia
dibanding denagan produknya ATI. Score AERO pada Vista akan lebih tinggi, jika pakai ATI dibanding NVidia (produk setara). Padahal untuk game, nVidia lebih unggul... kenapa ya? aku sendiri tidak tahu! mungkin ini efek dari perseteruan permusuhan antara Intel dengan nVidia mengenai SLI, sedangkan ATI jelas-jelas sudah membuka Crossfirenya.

Jika ada pertanyaan manakah yang lebih unggul antara Windows Vista dengan Windows XP, maka jawabannya adalah Windows Vista. Sebab Windows Vista unggul dalam :

• Kebutuhannya akan kecepatan processor (yang device manager muncul dua)
• Kebutuhan akan memory besar (dual channel lagi)
• Kebutuhan akan VGA  (nVidia 8800GT)
• Lemotnya (terutama untuk kompi spek rendah)
• Tampilan AERO (di Linux sudah lama ada)
• Security (ingat Linux lagi)
• Child Protection (include)
• Searching (kayak google desktop)
• Widget (ingat linux lagi)
• Windows Defender (include)
• Game lebih lemot dibanding jalan di XP (DirectX 10)
• dan yang gak kalah pentingnya, Lebih memusingkan kita yang tidak mempunyai Hardware seperti diatas :-)

Purpose: This study investigated the association of two mechanisms of working memory (phonological short-term memory (PSTM), attentional resource capacity/allocation) with the sentence comprehension of school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and two groups of control children.

Method: Twenty-four children with SLI, 18 age-matched (CA), and 16 language- and memory-matched (LMM) children completed a nonword repetition task (PSTM), the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT, resource capacity/allocation), and a sentence comprehension task comprising complex and simple sentences.

Results: (1) the SLI group performed worse than the CA group on each memory task; (2) all three groups showed comparable simple sentence comprehension but for complex sentences the SLI and LMM groups performed worse than the CA group; (3) for the SLI group, (a) CLPT correlated with complex sentence comprehension and (b) nonword repetition correlated with simple sentence comprehension; (4) for CA children, neither memory variable correlated with either sentence type; and (5) for LMM children, only CLPT correlated with complex sentences.

Conclusions: Comprehension of both complex and simple grammar by school-age children with SLI is a mentally demanding activity, requiring significant working memory resources.

Purpose: Many children with specific language impairment (SLI) demonstrate delays in print knowledge, yet the reasons for these delays are not well understood. The present study investigates the degree to which developmental risk factors and home literacy experiences predict the print knowledge of children with SLI.

Methods: Direct child measures, maternal reports, and observations from 41 mothers and their preschool-aged children with SLI assessed child language and attentional difficulties, family SES, the frequency and quality of home literacy, and children's print knowledge.

Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that individual differences in children's oral language abilities did not explain individual variability in print knowledge. The quality of home literacy was the only significant predictor of print knowledge, but its influence was moderated by children's attentional difficulties.

Conclusions: Findings reveal that language difficulty is not an adequate explanation for the print knowledge delays of children with SLI, and suggest that literacy experiences may play an important role in the print knowledge attainment of children with SLI. The quality of home literacy appears to foster print knowledge by compensating for attentional difficulties in children with SLI, but is not sufficient to promote print knowledge in children with SLI without attentional difficulties.

Tutti sanno che le massime prestazioni grafiche si ottengono assemblando un sistema di gioco completo utilizzando componenti dello stesso produttore. Questo è maggiormente vero quando si parla di sistemi multi GPU.

ATI consente l’impiego della sua tecnologia CrossFire anche su schede madri con chipset non AMD, ma nVidia obbliga l’utente all’acquisto di una scheda madre con chipset nForce SLI. Al momento attuale, l’unica piattaforma che permette di utilizzare alternativamente la tecnologia SLI di nVidia o CrossFire di ATI, è l’Intel Skulltrail, sistema dual socket dal prezzo esorbitante.

LucidLogix Technologies ha realizzato un chip che offre una soluzione multi GPU indipendentemente dal chipset della scheda madre. Hydra 100 Series è un SoC (System on Chip), compatibile con qualsiasi CPU, GPU e chipset, che può essere integrato sulla scheda madre, su una scheda PCIe dedicata oppure su un modulo MXM.

Attraverso un driver che opera tra il driver della scheda video e le DirectX, l’Hydra Engine gestisce i calcoli necessari per generare le scene di un gioco, suddividendo il carico di lavoro tra le GPU presenti.

Acquistando una scheda madre dotata del chip Hydra, l’utente potrà scegliere le schede video secondo i propri gusti, con la possibilità di “mischiare” GPU ATI e nVidia oppure GPU vecchie e nuove, in maniera del tutto trasparente.

Le prime piattaforme arriveranno sul mercato nel corso del 2009.

Hace dos dias salio la nueva GeForce 9400GT, eso no podria faltar en el blog por lo cual prosigo a contar de que se trata esta nueva VGA fabricada por NVIDIA. Esta ``nueva´´ tarjeta de video, con un precio estimado de U$60, se basa en el nucleo G96 fabricado a 55nm, las especificaciones oficiales son de 550Mhz para el Core, 1400Mhz para los Shaders y 800Mhz (1600Mhz Efectivos) para las memorias GDDR2 de 512MB/1GB, y se comunican con el G96 mediante un bus de 128-Bit. La cantidad de SP que tiene el Core, son de 16SP, por lo cual podriamos decir que esta VGA es un refrito de la 8500GT. Hay dos caracteristicas a destacar, el soporte completo a CUDA/PhysX y la no integracion del conector SLI.

A continuacion les dejo las placas ensambladas por los distintos fabricantes:

Leadtek

Sparkle

Zotac

Albatron

MSI

Όπως είναι γνωστό, η Intel δεν αδειοδότησε την Nvidia για τη χρησιμοποίηση της Quickpath Interconnect (QPI) τεχνολογίας διαύλου για την κατασκευή νέων chipsets υποστήριξης για τους επεξεργαστές τύπου "Nehalem", Core i7 (ή τέλος πάντων, οι δυο εταιρείες δεν συμφώνησαν σχετικά με την αδειοδότηση). Η Nvidia λοιπόν για την ώρα δεν μπορεί και δεν γίνεται να κατασκευάσει chipsets υποστήριξης για τους Core i7. Αντίθετα θα συνεχίσει να υποστηρίζει τους Core 2 Duo, Quad και Extreme με την ανακοίνωση μάλιστα νέων chipsets όπως το Nforce 770i SLI αλλά και low-end ή mainstream chipsets υποστήριξης για τους επεξεργαστές αρχιτεκτονικής "Nehalem" με θα χρησιμοποιούν το μικρότερο socket LGA-1160, οι οποίοι ωστόσο θα εμφανιστούν προς το τέλος του 2009. H Nvidia δεν πρόκειται να ανακοινώσει κανένα προϊόν για την οικογένεια επεξεργαστών Core i7 φέτος.

Παρότι δεν αδειοδοτήθηκε για την χρήση της τεχνολογίας Quickpath Ιnterconnect (QPI, αποτελεί μια σειριακή τεχνολογία διαύλου παρόμοιας λογικής με την HyperTransport της AMD), η Nvidia σκόπευε να "κερδίσει" κάτι από την κυκλοφορία των "Nehalem" με το chip NF200, το οποίο όσοι κατασκευαστές επιθυμούσαν θα μπορούσαν να το χρησιμοποιήσουν στα motherboards τους για να προσφέρουν υποστήριξη στην τεχνολογία Nvidia SLI. Το κακό για τους κατασκευαστές, ήταν ότι θα έπρεπε για κάθε τέτοιου είδους chip (κωδική ονομασία BR-04) να καταβάλουν στην Nvidia, ένα ποσό κοντά στα $30. Το κόστος του συγκεκριμένου chip, αυτόματα θα ανάγκαζε τους κατασκευαστές να το χρησιμοποιήσουν μόνο στα high-end και πολύ ακριβά προϊόντα τους, και αυτό θα σήμαινε τον αποκλεισμό της Nvidia από τις low-end και mainstream αγορές που είναι και οι πιο επικερδείς.  Και αναφερόμαστε τόσο στην αγορά των motherboards όσο και στην αγορά των καρτών γραφικών, αφού η γηγενής υποστήριξη του ATI CrossfireX, από κάθε Intel X58 Express motherboard αυτόματα θα προσέφερε σαφές πλεονέκτημα στην AMD, που θα πωλούσε τόσο φθηνές όσο και ακριβές κάρτες γραφικών.

Αποκόπτωντας την Nvidia από τη χρήση της τεχνολογίας Quickpath Interconnect και άρα από την κατασκευή chipsets υποστήριξης για τους επεξεργαστές Core i7 (Nehalem), η Intel στρίμωξε την Nvidia στη γωνία. Η απροθυμία των κατασκευαστών να καταβάλουν στην Nvidia το ποσό που απαιτούσε για το chip NF200, ήταν επίσης κάτι που συνυπολόγισε. Από το να "χαρίσει" λοιπόν την τεχνολογία Nvidia SLI στην Intel (να την "ανοίξει") ή από το να χάσει σημαντικό μερίδιο της αγοράς από τις πωλήσεις GPUs, η Nvidia σκέφτηκε να ακολουθήσει τη "μέση" οδό, όπως μπορείτε να διαβάσετε παρακάτω.

Η Nvidia τελικά, αποφάσισε να εγκαταλείψει τα σχέδια για το ακριβό NF200 chip και να προσεγγίσει διαφορετικά το ζήτημα. Κάθε κατασκευαστής, που επιθυμεί να προσφέρει υποστήριξη στη τεχνολογία Nvidia SLI θα πρέπει να αποστείλει το motherboard του στα εργαστήρια της Nvidia για να περάσει από σχετική αξιολόγηση (αυτό έχει να κάνει με την τοποθέτηση των θυρών, την λειτουργικότητα κ.α). Η συγκεκριμένη αξιολόγηση δεν θα είναι βεβαίως δωρεάν. Εφόσον το motherboard περάσει από τη σχετική φάση αξιολόγησης, ο κατασκευαστής θα μπορεί να επιλέξει από μια σειρά από προτάσεις αδειοδότησης και να αποκτήσει τα δικαιώματα χρήσης της τεχνολογίας.

Τα εγκεκριμένα από την Nvidia motherboards υποχρεούνται στις συσκευασίες τους να αναγράφουν την υποστήριξη της τεχνολογίας Nvidia SLI (με ειδικό λογότυπο "SLI Certified"). Μόλις το motherboard λάβει τη σχετική έγκριση, στον κατασκευαστή θα αποστέλεται ένας κωδικός έγκρισης (η Nvidia τον ονομάζει "cookie") που θα πρέπει να ενσωματώσει στο BIOS του motherboard. O συνδυασμός του συγκεκριμένου κωδικού με το Intel X58 Express chipset θα επιτρέπει στο λογισμικό των Forceware drivers, να ενεργοποιήσει τη λειτουργία Nvidia SLI στα motherboards. Αν και στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση, είναι δυνατόν να ενεργοποιηθεί η λειτουργία Nvidia SLI μέσω κάποιου hacked-BIOS, η Nvidia σύμφωνα με όσα ανακοίνωσε στο Nvision 2008, δεν έχει σκοπό να το αποτρέψει, αφού το πρόγραμμα αξιολόγησης και έγκρισης απευθύνεται μόνο στους κατασκευαστές motherboards και τους κατασκευαστές ολοκληρωμένων συστημάτων.

Η υποστήριξη της τεχνολογίας Nvidia SLI από motherboards με το Intel X58 Express chipset θα πραγματοποιείται μέσω αρκετών συνδυασμών θυρών PCI Express 2.0 και "δρόμων" (lanes). Έτσι είναι δυνατόν να δούμε motherboards που συνδυάζουν δυο θύρες PCI Express 2.0 x16, τρεις (x16, x8, x8) ή ακόμα και τέσσερις PCI Express 2.0 θύρες των 8 lanes (x8). Αυτό σημαίνει πως μάλλον θα δούμε και υποστήριξη Quad-SLI με την εμφάνιση των νέων Core i7 επεξεργαστών της Intel!

Όσοι κατασκευαστές επιθυμούν να προσφέρουν υποστήριξη στο Quad-SLI χρησιμοποιώντας τέσσερις θύρες PCI Express 2.0 πλήρους εύρους (x16) στα motherboards τους, θα μπορούν να το κάνουν χρησιμοποιώντας δυο chips τύπου NF200 (nForce 200), αν και αυτά τα μοντέλα θα είναι σπάνια και πανάκριβα. Αν επιθυμούν να προσφέρουν υποστήριξη σε τρεις θύρες PCI Express 2.0 x16 αρκεί να χρησιμοποιήσουν ένα chip NF200.

Σύμφωνα με την Nvidia, ακόμα και η Intel θα πρέπει να αποστείλει τα δικά της motherboards στο εργαστήριο της Nvidia, για να πάρουν τη σχετική έγκριση για τη χρήση της τεχνολογίας Nvidia SLI.

Αναμβισβήτητα, πρόκειται για μια θαυμάσια εξέλιξη που θα χαροποιήσει τους ενθουσιώδεις χρήστες και gamers, αφού θα μπορούν να αγοράσουν ένα υπολογιστή που όχι μόνο θα προσφέρει υποστήριξη στην τεχνολογία multi-graphics της AMD, ATI CrossfireX αλλά και στην Nvidia SLI, προσφέρωντας τους τη δυνατότητα επιλογής όσο αφορά στο είδους των καρτών γραφικών που θα επιλέξουν ή το δικαιώμα της εναλλαγής από τη μια τεχνολογία multi-graphics στην άλλη, όποτε αυτοί το επιθυμούν ή το κρίνουν απαραίτητο.

Πηγές: Anandtech και TechReport. Eικόνες από το Anandtech

Allerdings wird SLI nicht zwangsläufig auf allen X58-Mainboards funktionieren. Der Board- oder Systemhersteller muss bei Nvidia ein SLI-Zertifikat erwerben und bekommt im Gegenzug einen SLI-Cookie, den er im BIOS hinterlegt. Findet der Treiber diesen Cookie vor, schaltet er SLI frei. Der SLI-Cookie soll hersteller- und nicht boardspezifisch sein.

Dabei war sich Nvidia-Sprecher Tom Peterson wohl bewusst, das dieser Schlüssel bald geknackt würde. Er kommentierte das mit "das ist es, was Enthusiasten tun". Eine kleine Herausforderung konnte er sich auch nicht verkneifen und meinte, "es wird nicht kinderleicht zu knacken sein", aber er selbst würde es wohl schon schaffen. Von einem echten Key wollte er ganz bewusst nicht sprechen. Geknackte SLI-Cookies dürften Nvidia kaum kümmern, denn wer sie privat einsetzen will, muss ja mindestens zwei Nvidia-Grafikkarten kaufen.

weiterlesen bei heise-online

Quelle: heise.de

Conclusion The point we wish to emphasize here is the relationship between 1) delay in developing speech (i.e., “motor speech delay”), 2) delay in developing clear, mature, well articulated speech (i.e., persistent “infantilisms” of speech), 3) stuttering and 4) specific reading disability. Our clinical experience has taught us that the late talker and/or the one who persists in baby talk, is apt, himself, to have a reading disability or even to be a stutterer. If he himself happens to have neither of these complications, family histories usually show the occurrence of one or all of these disabilities within the wide family group as well as in the siblings of the patient. It is the repeated recurrence of these several language disability syndromes within the same family group that indicates the existence of a genetic relationship

Segundo a empresa, o sistema funciona de forma semelhante aos SLI e Crossfire, da nVidia e ATI respectivamente, com o grande diferencial que as placas de vídeo não precisam ser idênticas. O HYDRA pareia até quatro GPUs, de qualquer fabricante/modelo/tecnologia/sabor que estejam ligadas à placa-mãe, distribuindo o trabalho entre elas, de acordo com seus respectivos limites. Depois, funde as imagens renderizadas por cada GPU e manda para o monitor. Acho que nem preciso comentar o ganho de desempenho que se tem né, com cada uma trabalhando no que é especialista.

Se esse sistema der certo e for adotado pelos fabricantes de placa-mãe, é o fim das aposentadorias de placa de vídeo! Nada de pôr fora a plaquina véia, põe a trabalhar com a nova, e cada uma faz seu trabalho! Muito bom! (minha Radeon 9600 também gostou, ela se puxa pra não me deixar na mão, mas não pode fazer milagre também tadinha ^^ )

Na imagem (clique para ampliar) dá pra ter uma noção de como funciona: na tela da direita, a GPU está trabalhando só polígonos e texturas. À esquerda, que parece ser a imagem completa, tem mais o HUD, reflexos, iluminação, que estão sendo gerados por outra GPU.

Fonte: Gizmodo

Κατά τα άλλα υποστηρίζει FSB υψηλότερο των 1600MHz, μνήμη τύπου DDR3-SDRAM με συχνότητα λειτουργίας έως 2000MHz, διαθέτει τρεις PCI Express 2.0 (x16) θύρες για χρήση έως τριών καρτών γραφικών σε συνδεσμολογία 3-way Nvidia SLI, δυο θύρες PCI Express x1, δυο PCI, τέσσερα Dimm sockets που μπορούν να δεχτούν μνήμη ποσότητας έως 8GB και ένα ATA133 IDE connector.

Όπως αναφέραμε διαθέτει εννέα S-ATA II connectors που υποστηρίζουν RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 και JBOD καθώς και έναν eSATA connector. Ο χρήστης έχει επίσης στη διάθεση του 10 USB2.0 θύρες και δυο Firewire. Προσφέρει τέλος ήχο 7.1 καναλιών μέσω του codec High Definition Audio (HDA, Azalia) ενώ ενσωματώνει δυο Gigabit Ethernet θύρες.

Το νέο motherboard της eVGA έχει το κωδικό 132-YW-E179-A1 και κοστίζει $299,99.

Objective: The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of adults with childhood diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI) was evaluated. Patients and Methods: Fifty-two patients with a childhood diagnosis of SLI were asked to fill out the 15D-HRQoL questionnaire. The patients were selected from a hospital setting from psychological examination reports showing a below-average verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ) and a normal performance intelligence quotient (PIQ). The 15D was completed adequately by 33 patients (response rate 63.5%). The results were compared with those of age- and gender-matched controls. Results: The total 15D score of the study group was lower than that of population controls, but the difference was not statistically significant. The study group performed significantly worse on the dimensions of speech, usual activities, mental function and distress. Gender or PIQ in childhood was not correlated with the 15D scores or dimension scores in adulthood. Childhood VIQ was associated with the dimensions of mental function (p < 0.01) and usual activities (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our results support earlier findings that SLI affects the entire life span. Identification of prognostic factors and a prolonged follow-up of SLI patients could improve the QoL of these patients.

About two Christmases ago, I asked for a computer. I was falling off of the whole computer gaming scene and I desperately wanted to pull up from hanging on the cliff. I didn't think my parents would give in to my request, though. I wouldn't have minded if they just gave me money. Or, that pony that Santa never gave me that one Christmas. Pretty sad about that one.

But my parents pulled through on this one. The video lag ceased. There was no more crashing. No longer would I have to blame lost CAL matches on the inadequacy of my rig, because I could see that it wasn't lag that killed me but that I actually missed. Imagine that. Crazy talk.

On a side-note, I usually game it up in: Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, the Half-Life 2 episodes, Trackmania Forever, and Solitaire. Yeah, anyone who picks up Solitaire is pretty hardcore on my list. That's whassup. I don't really game anymore, though. It's recreation now, not life.

One of the main things about my setup is that it runs hot. The motherboard is the Asus P5NSLI, with dual GeForce 8500 GT (economy cards, I know), duo-core Pentium D's at 3.80 gHz, and my feet next to it. My room is the warmest in the house because of my computer. Regardless of season, I'm pretty toasty.

Because it runs hot, it has a tendency to stop working. It's rather inconvenient. When I need the internet the most, it fails to connect. When I need to go on AIM, it gets stuck on verifying the username. When I try to restart when these problems come up, I get a black screen that says, "DISK BOOT ERROR. PLEASE INSERT BOOT DISK."

I don't even have a floppy to put in the boot disk.

Anthony compared it to a person, how it gets hot and too worn and just shuts down. It made a lot of sense to me.

You know, I've had a lot of things on my mind lately. As I've picked up leadership of the Bible study, started worrying about classes in the Fall quarter, cringing at book prices, become apprehensive of the classes that I'm going to take, preparing for the renovation of our house and the amount of things we need to move out of here, thinking of getting a job, and looking to the future that what is to come, these bricks have stacked and enclosed my mind in fear and doubt.

Unlike my computer, I'm not prone to shutting down when things get hot. I'll sweat it out. But, that just makes it more dangerous for it to happen to me. I can't afford it happening. I don't want it to happen. Therefore, I avoid it.

I know I'm not a machine. But with the way things are falling into place, I don't see any other way of handling it. Mechanically and nonchalantly. Risking the breakdown while trying to break through the wall.

It reminds me of sitting up front in a movie theater. As the projector runs, I can't understand anything that is on the screen. I see flashing lights, moving lines, pixels, and an array of different colors. Objects are moving too fast to catch with the mind. The dialogue and soundtrack are so close to your face that you don't need gel for your hair to stand up. It's pretty chaotic.

I need to get a seat higher up in row.

I need to just relax and get the whole picture in my sight.

The Bible says,

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

The further I dwell into the future, the closer I get to the picture. The more jumbled things become. Things become so complicated and intricate that one would become completely entangled in doubt.

Get a seat in the middle rows and enjoy the show.

This study examines inflectional abilities in French-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) using a verb elicitation task. Eleven children with SLI and age-matched controls (37–52 months) participated in the experiment. We elicited the passé composé using eight regular and eight irregular high frequency verbs matched for age of acquisition. Children with SLI showed dissimilar productive verb inflection abilities to control children (even when comparing participants with similar verb vocabularies and mean length of utterance in words). Control children showed evidence of overregularization and sensitivity to morphological structure, whereas no such effects were observed in the SLI group. Error patterns observed in the SLI group demonstrate that, at this age, they cannot produce passé composé forms in elicitation tasks, even though some participants used them spontaneously. Either context by itself might therefore be insufficient to fully evaluate productive linguistic abilities in children with SLI.

The current study was conducted to test the premise that computer-based intervention that targets auditory temporal processing combined with language exercises (Fast ForWord®) is effective in remediating children with disorders of language and reading. Sixty-five middle school struggling readers were randomly assigned to one of five groups and over a 12-week-period received one of the following interventions: (1) two phases of intervention with Fast ForWord® (FFW, experimental group), (2) two phases of intervention with SuccessMaker (SM, active control group), (3) FFW followed by SM, (4) SM followed by FFW, or (5) no intervention beyond the regular class curriculum (developmental control group). Changes in reading, phonemic awareness, spelling and language skills were assessed via a repeated measures MANOVA. Results indicated significant within-subjects effects (i.e., change for all participants over time), but no between-subject group differences, failing to show that Fast ForWord® resulted in any gains over and above those seen in the other groups.

What's in store for this next driver release? GPU Cafe claims the biggest novelty will be the ability to use graphics cards as dedicated PhysX physics processors. For instance, you might be able to slip a GeForce 9500 GT and a GeForce 9800 GTX into a system and use the former for physics computations only. That sounds a lot like what ATI was doing with Havok FX physics two years ago.

The ForceWare 180 release will reportedly include other goodies like performance optimizations, OpenGL 3.0 support, better multi-monitor support for SLI configs, "GPU transcoding," and DisplayPort compatibility. Those last two items have us scratching our heads a little, since existing drivers should already support CUDA video transcoding apps, and we tested a GeForce 9600 GT with a DisplayPort connector way back in February.

If GPU Cafe has its facts straight, you can expect to see the ForceWare 180 release pop onto Nvidia's site some time in September. (Thanks to VR-Zone for the tip.)

Purpose: Previous research has indicated that the manifestation of specific language impairment (SLI) varies according to factors such as language, age, and task. This study examined the effect of task demands on language production in children with SLI cross-linguistically.

Method: Icelandic- and English-speaking school-age children with SLI and normal language (NL) peers (n = 42) were administered measures of verbal working memory. Spontaneous language samples were collected in contexts that vary in task demands: conversation, narration, and expository discourse. The effect of the context-related task demands on the accuracy of grammatical inflections was examined.

Results: Children with SLI in both language groups scored significantly lower than their NL peers in verbal working memory. Nonword repetition scores correlated with morphological accuracy. In both languages, mean length of utterance (MLU) varied systematically across sampling contexts. Context exerted a significant effect on the accuracy of grammatical inflection in English only. Error rates were higher overall in English than in Icelandic, but whether the difference was significant depended on the sampling context. Errors in Icelandic involved verb and noun phrase inflection to a similar extent.

Conclusions: The production of grammatical morphology appears to be more taxing for children with SLI who speak English than for those who speak Icelandic. Thus, whereas children with SLI in both language groups evidence deficits in language processing, cross-linguistic differences are seen in which linguistic structures are vulnerable when processing load is increased. Future research should carefully consider the effect of context on children's language performance.

Purpose: To determine if lower global self-esteem, shyness, and low sociability are outcomes associated with SLI in adolescence. Possible concurrent predictive relationships and gender differences were also examined.

Method: Fifty-four adolescents with SLI, aged between 16 and 17 years, were compared with a group of 54 adolescents with typical language abilities on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and the Cheek and Buss Shyness and Sociability scales (Cheek & Buss, 1981).

Results: The SLI group had significantly lower global self-esteem scores than the group with typical language abilities. The adolescents with SLI were more shy than their peers, but the groups did not differ in their sociability ratings. Regression analysis found that language ability was not concurrently predictive of self-esteem but shyness was. Mediation analysis suggested that shyness could be a partial but significant mediator in the relationship between language ability and global self-esteem.

Conclusions: Older adolescents with SLI are at risk of lower global self-esteem and experience shyness, although they want to interact socially. The relationship between language ability and self-esteem at this point in adolescence is complex, with shyness potentially playing an important mediating role.