Cognitive constraints and island effects

Competence-based theories of island effects play a central role in generative grammar, yet the graded nature of many syntactic islands has never been properly accounted for. Categorical syntactic accounts of island effects have persisted in spite of a wealth of data suggesting that island effects are not categorical in nature and that nonstructural manipulations that leave island structures intact can radically alter judgments of island violations. We argue here, building on work by Paul Deane, Robert Kluender, and others, that processing factors have the potential to account for this otherwise unexplained variation in acceptability judgments. We report the results of self-paced reading experiments and controlled acceptability studies that explore the relationship between processing costs and judgments of acceptability. In each of the three self-paced reading studies, the data indicate that the processing cost of different types of island violations can be significantly reduced to a degree comparable to that of nonisland filler-gap constructions by manipulating a single nonstructural factor. Moreover, this reduction in processing cost is accompanied by significant improvements in acceptability. This evidence favors the hypothesis that island-violating constructions involve numerous processing pressures that aggregate to drive processing difficulty above a threshold, resulting in unacceptability. We examine the implications of these findings for the grammar of filler-gap dependencies

Self-assembled germanium islands grown on (001) silicon substrates by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition

The time evolution of self-assembled Ge islands, during low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) of Ge on Si at 650 Deg C using high growth rates, has been investigated by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. We have found three different island structures The smallest islands are "lens-shaped" and characterized by a rather narrow size distribution, ~4nm high and ~20nm wide. Next to form are a distinct population of multifaceted "dome shaped" islands, up to 25nm high and 80-150 nm wide. Finally, the largest islands that form are square-based truncated pyramids with a very narrow size distribution ~50nm high and ~250nm wide. The pyramidal islands normally seen in the intermediate size range (~150nm) are not observed. The small lens-shaped islands appear to be defect free, while some of the multifaceted islands as well as all the large truncated pyramids contain misfit dislocations. The existence of multifaceted islands, in the size range where multifaceted "dome shaped" islands have previously been reported, is attributed to the high growth rate used. Furthermore, under the growth conditions used, the truncated-pyramid-shaped islands are characterized by a very narrow size distribution

An evaluation of the bryophyte flora of the Azores

The diversity of bryophytes on the different islands of the Azores varies much between 104 and 324 species. Attempts have been made to explain the heterogenity of the bryoflora. There is a correlation between species numbers and age of the islands in the way that the youngest islands (Pico) has the lowest species numbers in spite of the fact that it is the highest island. The species numbers of the other islands are correlated with the maximum elevation and with the size of the islands. The liverwort-moss ratio varies between 1.21 and 1.67 and shows a distinct humidity gradient between the islands. The floristic affinities between the islands are calculated by a cluster analysis. They show no correlation with the location of the islands (nearest neighbour), size, age, elevation or species numbers, which indicates that the species composition is mainly determined by chance. Ten species (2,3%) are endemic to the Azores and 14 species (including one genus) are endemic to the Macaronesian Islands. Some of the endemics are questionable, others may occur elsewhere in the tropics under a different name, but there is fossil prove that the others are relicts from the Tertiary which survived extinction during Quaternary in Europe

Distinctiveness: islands

Islands are an integral part of how Queensland is imagined, perceived and portrayed. While islands hold a certain universal appeal, the tropical locality and density of islands along the Queensland coast contributes to a distinctive landscape

Environmental issues in the Maltese Islands

The Maltese islands are a small archipelago, situated in the centre of the Mediterranean some 96 km south of Sicily and 290 km north of the coast of Libya. The Maltese archipelago comprises three inhabited islands; Malta (245. 7 km2), Gozo (67.1 km2) and Comino (2.8 km2), together with a number of uninhabited smaller islands; Cominotto (9.9 ha), Filfla (2.0 ha), Fungus Rock (0.7 ha) and St Paul's islands (10.1 ha). The islands are composed almost entirely of marine sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age, mainly Oligo-Miocene limestones, calcareous sandstones and clays.peer-reviewe

Improving the 14c dating of marine shells from the Canary Islands for constructing more reliable and accurate chronologies

Radiocarbon dating of closely associated marine mollusk shells and terrestrial material (charred wood or bone) collected from archaeological contexts on Tenerife and Fuerteventura islands allowed us to quantify the marine C-14 reservoir effect (Delta R) around the Canary Archipelago. Coastal Fuerteventura has a positive weighted mean Delta R value of +185 +/- 30 C-14 yr, while for Tenerife a range of negative and positive values was obtained, resulting in a Delta R weighted mean value of 0 +/- 35 C-14 yr. These values are in accordance with the hydrodynamic system present off the Canary Islands characterized by a coastal upwelling regime that affects the eastern islands (Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) but not the other islands of the archipelago, namely Tenerife. Because of this oceanographic pattern, we recommend the extrapolation of these results to the remaining islands of the archipelago, i.e. the first value must be used for the eastern islands, while for the central and western islands the acceptable Delta R value is 0 +/- 35 C-14 yr

Island formation without attractive interactions

We show that adsorbates on surfaces can form islands even if there are no attractive interactions. Instead strong repulsion between adsorbates at short distances can lead to islands, because such islands increase the entropy of the adsorbates that are not part of the islands. We suggest that this mechanism cause the observed island formation in O/Pt(111), but it may be important for many other systems as well.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure