Gender dissimilarity between subject and object facilitates online-comprehension of agent–patient–relations in German: An eye-tracking study with 6- to 10-year-old monolingual children

Bürsgens A, Cholewa J, Mayer A, Günther T. Gender dissimilarity between subject and object facilitates online-comprehension of agent–patient–relations in German: An eye-tracking study with 6- to 10-year-old monolingual children. Lingua. In Press: 103110.In this eye-tracking study, we examined whether gender dissimilarity between the case-marked subject and object noun phrases in a subject-verb-object (SVO) or object-verb-subject sentence (OVS) was used to predict thematic roles (agent and patient) and facilitate the grammatical analyses needed for thematic role assignment. Forty-two German-speaking 6- to 10-year-old children looked at two drawings depicting an action between two figures while listening to a sentence. One drawing matched the sentence, but the other showed the figures’ thematic roles reversed. For half of the sentences, each figure's thematic role could be predicted shortly after stimulus onset from the gender of the first word (an article) due to gender dissimilarity between the subject and the object. For the other sentences, children had to wait at least until they heard the first noun of the sentence. Our results confirmed that the children shifted their looks earlier and more confidently to the target in SVO sentences with gender-dissimilar noun phrases. Results for OVS sentences were not so clear-cut: a sentence-final facilitation effect of gender dissimilarity was only visible subsequently when agent and patient were analyzed separately. Our findings are discussed with respect to different approaches to the role of gender processing in sentence comprehension

System Level Fixed-point Design Based On An Interpolative Approach

The design process for fixed-point implementations either in software or in hardware requires a bit-true specification of the algorithm in order to analyze quantization effects on an algorithmical level, abstracting from implementational details. On the other hand, system design starts from a floating-point description, so that a transformation of a floating-point description into a fixed-point description becomes necessary. Within this paper we present a tool that allows an automated, interactive transformation from floating-point ANSI-C into a bit-true specification based on a new data type fixed that is introduced as an extension to ANSI-C. The concept is rooted in a sophisticated data dependency analysis that allows to handle control structures as well as pointers. It is part of the fixed-point design environment FRIDGE which includes an advanced simulator that covers the extended ANSI-C syntax as well as target specific compilers which allow to generate efficient fixed-point imple..

Highly stable and biocompatible gold nanorod–DNA conjugates as NIR probes for ultrafast sequence-selective DNA melting

Here, we have prepared DNA-functionalized gold nanorods (Au NRs@HS-DNA) through a combination of stepwise ligand exchange, involving a sequential aqueous–organic–aqueous transfer, and subsequent oligonucleotide grafting. The as-prepared Au NRs@HS-DNA display a high and long-term colloidal stability in high ionic strength media, and they are proved very stable and biocompatible in cell culture media. We discuss important aspects in order to obtain a high DNA loading and to ensure colloidal stability during the functionalization process. We also demonstrate the high biocompatibility (>95% viability, low ROS activity, normal cell growth rate) of the DNA-functionalized Au NRs, which is mainly ascribed to the efficient removal of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) from their surface and to their high stability. These Au NR–DNA conjugates can be selectively addressed with a laser beam in a binary sample mixture comprising clusters of self-assembled DNA-functionalized spherical Au nanoparticles (NPs) and clusters of self-assembled DNA-functionalized Au NRs. We demonstrate that each colloidal cluster can be selectively disassembled by exciting the NPs close to their respective plasmon resonance maxima with microsecond laser pulses at 532 nm (for the spherical Au NPs) or 1064 nm (for the Au NRs). To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of an assay that allows optical induction of the selective DNA melting of different sequences within one solution, regardless of their respective melting temperatures. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate that the Au NR–DNA conjugates can be used as NIR-addressable probes and mediators for ultrafast and selective DNA melting and, in turn, for the selective detection of DNA