Efficacy of Elaborated Semantic Features Analysis in Aphasia: a quasi-randomised controlled trial

Background: Word finding difficulty is one of the most common features of aphasia. Semantic Features Analysis (SFA) directly aims to improve word finding in people with aphasia. Evidence from systematic reviews suggests that SFA leads to positive outcomes, yet the evidence comprises single case studies and case series. There is a need to evaluate the efficacy of SFA in controlled group studies/trials. Aims: To evaluate the efficacy of Elaborated Semantic Feature Analysis (ESFA) for word finding in people with aphasia. We investigated: (a) the efficacy of ESFA versus a delayed therapy/control, (b) the efficacy of two therapy approaches– individual versus a combination of individual and group therapy. Methods and procedures: We ran a multi-centre, quasi-randomised controlled trial, nested in a larger study (Thales-Aphasia). Participants were recruited from community settings. They had to be people with aphasia due to stroke at least four months post-onset. Participants were randomized to individual vs combination vs delayed therapy/control groups. Both therapy groups had three hours of ESFA per week for 12 weeks. Delayed therapy/control group had no intervention for 12 weeks and were then randomized to either individual or combination therapy. The primary outcome was confrontation naming. Secondary outcomes were the Boston Naming Test, Discourse, the Functional Assessment of Communication Skills for adults (ASHA–FACS), the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life scale (SAQOL-39g), the General Health Questionnaire-12 item, and the EQ-5D. Outcomes and Results: Of the 72 participants of the Thales-Aphasia project, 58 met eligibility criteria for speech-language therapy and 39 were allocated to ESFA. The critical p-value was adjusted for multiple comparisons (.005). For the therapy versus control comparison, there was a significant main effect of time on the primary outcome (p<.001, η2p=.42) and a significant interaction effect (p=.003, η2p=.21). An interaction effect for the SAQOL-39g (p=.015, η2p=.11) and its psychosocial domain (p=.013, η2p=.12) did not remain significant after Bonferroni adjustment. For the individual versus combination ESFA comparison, there were significant main effects of time on the primary outcome (p<.001, η2p=.49), the BNT (p<.001, η2p=.29) and the ASHA-FACS (p=.001, η2p=.18). Interaction and group effects were not significant. Conclusion: Though underpowered, this study provides evidence on the efficacy of ESFA to improve word finding in aphasia, with gains similar in the two therapy approaches. Trial registration: ISRCTN71455409, https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN7145540

Proton conductivity and luminiscence properties of lanthanide aminotriphosphonates

Metal phosphonates are multifunctional solids with tunable properties, such as internal H-bond networks, and high chemical and thermal stability [1]. In the present work, we describe the synthesis, structural characterization, luminescent properties and proton conduction performance of a new family of isostructural cationic compounds with general formula [Ln(H4NMP)(H2O)2]Cl·2H2O [Ln = La3+, Pr3+, Sm3+, Gd3+, Tb3+, Dy3+, Ho3+, H6NMP = nitrilotris(methylphosphonic acid)]. These solids are formed by positively charge layers, which consist of isolated LnO8 polyhedra and bridge chelating NMP2- ligands, held apart by chloride ions and water molecules. This arrangement result in extended interlayer hydrogen networks with possible proton transfer pathways. The proton conductivity of Gd3+ sample, selected as prototype of the series, was measured. In the range between range 25º and 80 ºC, the conductivity increase with the temperature up to a maximum value of 3.10-4 S·cm-1, at relative humidity of 95 %. The activation energy obtained from the Arrhenius plot (Figure 1) is in the range corresponding to a Grotthuss transfer mechanism.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. FQM-1656; MAT2013-41836-R

The Morphology of N=6 Chern-Simons Theory

We tabulate various properties of the language of N=6 Chern-Simons Theory, in the sense of Polyakov. Specifically we enumerate and compute character formulas for all syllables of up to four letters, i.e. all irreducible representations of OSp(6|4) built from up to four fundamental fields of the ABJM theory. We also present all tensor product decompositions for up to four singletons and list the (cyclically invariant) four-letter words, which correspond to single-trace operators of length four. As an application of these results we use the two-loop dilatation operator to compute the leading correction to the Hagedorn temperature of the weakly-coupled planar ABJM theory on R \times S^2.Comment: 41 pages, 1 figure; v2: minor correction

Strings in AdS_4 x CP^3: finite size spectrum vs. Bethe Ansatz

We compute the first curvature corrections to the spectrum of light-cone gauge type IIA string theory that arise in the expansion of $AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$ about a plane-wave limit. The resulting spectrum is shown to match precisely, both in magnitude and degeneration that of the corresponding solutions of the all-loop Gromov--Vieira Bethe Ansatz. The one-loop dispersion relation correction is calculated for all the single oscillator states of the theory, with the level matching condition lifted. It is shown to have all logarithmic divergences cancelled and to leave only a finite exponentially suppressed contribution, as shown earlier for light bosons. We argue that there is no ambiguity in the choice of the regularization for the self-energy sum, since the regularization applied is the only one preserving unitarity. Interaction matrices in the full degenerate two-oscillator sector are calculated and the spectrum of all two light magnon oscillators is completely determined. The same finite-size corrections, at the order 1/J, where $J$ is the length of the chain, in the two-magnon sector are calculated from the all loop Bethe Ansatz. The corrections obtained by the two completely different methods coincide up to the fourth order in $\lambda' =\lambda/J^2$. We conjecture that the equivalence extends to all orders in $\lambda$ and to higher orders in 1/J.Comment: 32 pages. Published version; journal reference adde

Multi-Regge kinematics and the moduli space of Riemann spheres with marked points

We show that scattering amplitudes in planar N = 4 Super Yang-Mills in multi-Regge kinematics can naturally be expressed in terms of single-valued iterated integrals on the moduli space of Riemann spheres with marked points. As a consequence, scattering amplitudes in this limit can be expressed as convolutions that can easily be computed using Stokes' theorem. We apply this framework to MHV amplitudes to leading-logarithmic accuracy (LLA), and we prove that at L loops all MHV amplitudes are determined by amplitudes with up to L + 4 external legs. We also investigate non-MHV amplitudes, and we show that they can be obtained by convoluting the MHV results with a certain helicity flip kernel. We classify all leading singularities that appear at LLA in the Regge limit for arbitrary helicity configurations and any number of external legs. Finally, we use our new framework to obtain explicit analytic results at LLA for all MHV amplitudes up to five loops and all non-MHV amplitudes with up to eight external legs and four loops.Comment: 104 pages, six awesome figures and ancillary files containing the results in Mathematica forma

Semiclassical Quantization of the Giant Magnon

Solitons in field theory provide a window into regimes not directly accessible by the fundamental perturbative degrees of freedom. Motivated by interest in the worldsheet S-matrix of string theory in AdS_5 x S^5 in the limit of infinite worldsheet volume we consider the semiclassical quantization of a particular soliton of this theory: the Hofman-Maldacena `giant magnon' spinning string. We obtain explicit formulas for the complete spectrum of bosonic and fermionic fluctuations around the giant magnon. As an application of these results we confirm that the one-loop correction to the classical energy vanishes as expected.Comment: 20 pages, JHEP3 style; v2: minor typos fixed and references adde

Probing the Space of Toric Quiver Theories

We demonstrate a practical and efficient method for generating toric Calabi-Yau quiver theories, applicable to both D3 and M2 brane world-volume physics. A new analytic method is presented at low order parametres and an algorithm for the general case is developed which has polynomial complexity in the number of edges in the quiver. Using this algorithm, carefully implemented, we classify the quiver diagram and assign possible superpotentials for various small values of the number of edges and nodes. We examine some preliminary statistics on this space of toric quiver theories

Conformal SO(2,4) Transformations for the Helical AdS String Solution

By applying the conformal SO(2,4) transformations to the folded rotating string configuration with two spins given by a certain limit from the helical string solution in AdS_3 x S^1, we construct new string solutions whose energy-spin relations are characterized by the boost parameter. When two SO(2,4) transformations are performed with two boost parameters suitably chosen, the straight folded rotating string solution with one spin in AdS_3 is transformed in the long string limit into the long spiky string solution whose expression is given from the helical string solution in AdS_3 by making a limit that the modulus parameter becomes unity.Comment: 16 pages, LaTex, no figure

Factorized Tree-level Scattering in AdS_4 x CP^3

AdS_4/CFT_3 duality relating IIA string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3 to N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory provides an arena for studying aspects of integrability in a new potentially exactly solvable system. In this paper we explore the tree-level worldsheet scattering for strings on AdS_4 x CP^3. We compute all bosonic four-, five- and six-point amplitudes in the gauge-fixed action and demonstrate the absence of particle production.Comment: 23 pages, v2. references adde

Review of AdS/CFT Integrability, Chapter IV.3: N=6 Chern-Simons and Strings on AdS4xCP3

We review the duality and integrability of N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory in three dimensions and IIA superstring theory on the background AdS4xCP3. We introduce both of these models and describe how their degrees of freedom are mapped to excitations of a long-range integrable spin-chain. Finally, we discuss the properties of the Bethe equations, the S-matrix and the algebraic curve that are special to this correspondence and differ from the case of N=4 SYM theory and strings on AdS5xS5.Comment: 22 pages, see also overview article arXiv:1012.3982, v2: references to other chapters updated, v3: references added, v4: brief discussion of giant magnons added, further minor changes, published version, v5: union of v3 and v4 because changes made in v3 were accidentally lost in v