The organization of gestures was examined in children's and adults' samples of consonant-vowel-stop words differing in stop voicing. Children (5 and 7 years old) and adults produced words from five voiceless/voiced pairs, five times each in isolation and in sentences. Acoustic measurements were made of vocalic duration, and of the first and second formants at syllable center and voicing offset. The predicted acoustic correlates of syllable-final voicing were observed across speakers: vocalic segments were shorter and first formants were higher in words with voiceless, rather than voiced, final stops. In addition, the second formant was found to differ depending on the voicing of the final stop for all speakers. It was concluded that by 5 years of age children produce words ending in stops with the same overall gestural organization as adults. However, some age-related differences were observed for jaw gestures, and variability for all measures was greater for children than for adults. These results suggest that children are still refining their organization of articulatory gestures past the age of 7 years. Finally, context effects (isolation or sentence) showed that the acoustic correlates of syllable-final voicing are attenuated when words are produced in sentences, rather than in isolation.

This study evaluated a new therapy approach. 18 children with phonological disorders resistant to conventional therapy had phonological awareness training followed by conventional speech therapy. The children's speech production improved as did their phonological awareness. In this heterogeneous group, the patterns revealed in their individual responses to therapy proved diagnostically significant.

Given shrinking university budgets, increased enrollments and limited teaching space, a push has been made to develop online courses at the undergraduate level which will allow for large class sections and increase access, both on-campus and remotely. The development of online courses in engineering at the undergraduate level is new at the University of Florida. We discuss the process of developing an online course in engineering economy. We specifically address how to allow for students to interact in groups in an online environment through projects. We also discuss the ability to modularize delivery in order to appeal to different majors in the course, which may require slightly different content. The course, currently under development, is to be delivered in the Summer of 2010.

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A recent evaluation of simulator training effectiveness encountered many difficulties associated with the military field environment. These problems arose despite careful planning. The experiences of this study provide useful lessons on various topics, including the following: obtaining equipment for evaluation purposes, scheduling the study, interacting with military organizations, and general planning strategies.