Stop the Morphological Cycle, I Want to Get Off: Modeling the Development of Fusion

Historical linguists observe that many fusional (unsegmentable) morphological structures developed from agglutinative (segmentable) predecessors. Such changes may result when learners fail to acquire a phonological alternation, and instead, “chunk” the altered versions of morphemes and memorize them as underlying representations. We present a Bayesian model of this process, which learns which morphosyntactic properties are chunked together, what their underlying representations are, and what phonological processes apply to them. In simulations using artificial data, we provide quantitative support to two claims about agglutinative and fusional structures: that optional morphological markers discourage fusion from developing, but that stress-based vowel reduction encourages it

Baryogenesis from the Kobayashi-Maskawa Phase

The Standard Model fulfills the three Sakharov conditions for baryogenesis. The smallness of quark masses suppresses, however, the CP violation from the Kobayashi-Maskawa phase to a level that is many orders of magnitude below what is required to explain the observed baryon asymmetry. We point out that if, as a result of time variation in the Yukawa couplings, quark masses were large at the time of the electroweak phase transition, then the Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism could be the source of the asymmetry. The Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism provides a plausible framework where the Yukawa couplings could all be of order one at that time, and settle to their present values before nucleosynthesis. The problems related to a strong first order electroweak phase transition may also be alleviated in this framework. Our scenario reveals a loophole in the commonly held view that the Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism cannot be the dominant source of CP violation to play a role in baryogenesis.Comment: 4 page

Inversion of the Diffraction Pattern from an Inhomogeneously Strained Crystal using an Iterative Algorithm

The displacement field in highly non uniformly strained crystals is obtained by addition of constraints to an iterative phase retrieval algorithm. These constraints include direct space density uniformity and also constraints to the sign and derivatives of the different components of the displacement field. This algorithm is applied to an experimental reciprocal space map measured using high resolution X-ray diffraction from an array of silicon lines and the obtained component of the displacement field is in very good agreement with the one calculated using a finite element model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Breakfast glycaemic index and exercise: combined effects on adolescents' cognition

The aim of the present study was to examine the combined effects of breakfast glycaemic index (GI) and a mid-morning bout of exercise on adolescents’ cognitive function. Participants were randomly allocated to a high or low GI breakfast group in a mixed research design, where each participant completed two experimental trials (exercise and resting). Forty-two adolescents (12.4±0.5 years old), undertook a bout of exercise (ten repeats of level one of the multi-stage fitness test; exercise trial) or continued to rest (resting trial) following consumption of either a high or low GI breakfast. A battery of cognitive function tests (visual search test, Stroop test and Sternberg paradigm) was completed 30 min before and 45 min following the exercise. Average heart rate during exercise was 170±15 beats.min-1. On the complex level of the Stroop test, response times improved across the morning following the low GI breakfast on both the exercise and resting trials, though the improvement was greatest on the exercise trial. However, response times only improved on the resting trial following the high GI breakfast (p = 0.012). On the 5 letter level of the Sternberg paradigm, response times improved across the morning following the low GI breakfast (regardless of exercise) and only on the exercise trial following the high GI breakfast (p = 0.019). The findings of the present study suggest that the combined effects of breakfast GI and exercise in adolescents depend upon the component of cognitive function examined. A low GI breakfast and mid-morning bout of exercise were individually beneficial for response times on the Sternberg paradigm, whereas they conferred additional benefits for response times on the Stroop test

Classical information deficit and monotonicity on local operations

We investigate classical information deficit: a candidate for measure of classical correlations emerging from thermodynamical approach initiated in [Phys. Rev. Lett 89, 180402]. It is defined as a difference between amount of information that can be concentrated by use of LOCC and the information contained in subsystems. We show nonintuitive fact, that one way version of this quantity can increase under local operation, hence it does not possess property required for a good measure of classical correlations. Recently it was shown by Igor Devetak, that regularised version of this quantity is monotonic under LO. In this context, our result implies that regularization plays a role of "monotoniser".Comment: 6 pages, revte

Study of EMIC wave excitation using direct ion measurements

With data from Van Allen Probes, we investigate electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) wave excitation using simultaneously observed ion distributions. Strong He band waves occurred while the spacecraft was moving through an enhanced density region. We extract from helium, oxygen, proton, and electron mass spectrometer measurement the velocity distributions of warm heavy ions as well as anisotropic energetic protons that drive wave growth through the ion cyclotron instability. Fitting the measured ion fluxes to multiple sinm-type distribution functions, we find that the observed ions make up about 15% of the total ions, but about 85% of them are still missing. By making legitimate estimates of the unseen cold (below ∼2 eV) ion composition from cutoff frequencies suggested by the observed wave spectrum, a series of linear instability analyses and hybrid simulations are carried out. The simulated waves generally vary as predicted by linear theory. They are more sensitive to the cold O+ concentration than the cold He+ concentration. Increasing the cold O+ concentration weakens the He band waves but enhances the O band waves. Finally, the exact cold ion composition is suggested to be in a range when the simulated wave spectrum best matches the observed one

Measurement of one-particle correlations and momentum distributions for trapped 1D gases

van Hove's theory of scattering of probe particles by a macroscopic target is generalized so as to relate the differential cross section for atomic ejection via stimulated Raman transitions to one-particle momentum-time correlations and momentum distributions of 1D trapped gases. This method is well suited to probing the longitudinal momentum distributions of 1D gases in situ, and examples are given for bosonic and fermionic atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 2 .eps figure

First inventory of macroinvertebrates of River Niger in Niamey as bioindicators of urban and industrial pollution

L’approche biologique, basée sur la distribution des peuplements de macro-invertébrés le long du fleuve Niger à Niamey, permet une bonne caractérisation biologique des stations d’échantillonnage. L’échantillonnage des macro-invertébrés à chacune de ces stations est effectué grâce au filet troubleau, aux substrats artificiels et à la jacinthe d’eau. Cette approche montre l’évolution de la richesse et de la diversité taxonomique le long des stations. Ainsi, la richesse et la diversité taxonomique diminuent en passant de l’amont à l’aval des points de rejets. Les stations de référence et les stations en aval éloigné des rejets présentent une diversité plus satisfaisante comparativement aux stations en aval immédiat des rejets. Il ressort de l’ordination des taxons que les stations en amont et en aval éloigné des rejets sont les moins polluées et abritent des taxons qui sont sensibles à la pollution comme Thraulus sp., Elassoneuria sp., Afronurus sp., Centroptiloides sp., Adenophlebia sp., Dipseudopsis sp.et Neoperla sp. Les stations en aval immédiat de la brasserie du Niger et de l’abattoir paraissent être les plus polluées avec la présence des taxons comme Chironomus gr. plumosus, Syrphidae et Culicidae. Le changement dans la composition des assemblages taxonomiques, l’indice de diversité de Shannon-Weaver et l’abondance des taxons sont des indicateurs d’une modification de la qualité de l’eau et de l’habitat en passant de l’amont à l’aval des points de rejets de la ville de Niamey