11,383 research outputs found
Post-training load-related changes of auditory working memory: An EEG study
Working memory (WM) refers to the temporary retention and manipulation of information, and its capacity is highly susceptible to training. Yet, the neural mechanisms that allow for increased performance under demanding conditions are not fully understood. We expected that post-training efficiency in WM performance modulates neural processing during high load tasks. We tested this hypothesis, using electroencephalography (EEG) (N = 39), by comparing source space spectral power of healthy adults performing low and high load auditory WM tasks. Prior to the assessment, participants either underwent a modality-specific auditory WM training, or a modality-irrelevant tactile WM training, or were not trained (active control). After a modality-specific training participants showed higher behavioral performance, compared to the control. EEG data analysis revealed general effects of WM load, across all training groups, in the theta-, alpha-, and beta-frequency bands. With increased load theta-band power increased over frontal, and decreased over parietal areas. Centro-parietal alpha-band power and central beta-band power decreased with load. Interestingly, in the high load condition a tendency toward reduced beta-band power in the right medial temporal lobe was observed in the modality-specific WM training group compared to the modality-irrelevant and active control groups. Our finding that WM processing during the high load condition changed after modality-specific WM training, showing reduced beta-band activity in voice-selective regions, possibly indicates a more efficient maintenance of task-relevant stimuli. The general load effects suggest that WM performance at high load demands involves complementary mechanisms, combining a strengthening of task-relevant and a suppression of task-irrelevant processing
Measurement and simulation of anisotropic magnetoresistance in single GaAs/MnAs core/shell nanowires
We report four probe measurements of the low field magnetoresistance in
single core/shell GaAs/MnAs nanowires synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy,
demonstrating clear signatures of anisotropic magnetoresistance that track the
field-dependent magnetization. A comparison with micromagnetic simulations
reveals that the principal characteristics of the magnetoresistance data can be
unambiguously attributed to the nanowire segments with a zinc blende GaAs core.
The direct correlation between magnetoresistance, magnetization and crystal
structure provides a powerful means of characterizing individual hybrid
ferromagnet/semiconductor nanostructures.Comment: Submitted to Applied Physics Letters; some typos corrected and a
defective figure replace
Colossal magnetoresistance in an ultra-clean weakly interacting 2D Fermi liquid
We report the observation of a new phenomenon of colossal magnetoresistance
in a 40 nm wide GaAs quantum well in the presence of an external magnetic field
applied parallel to the high-mobility 2D electron layer. In a strong magnetic
field, the magnetoresistance is observed to increase by a factor of ~300 from 0
to 45T without the system undergoing any metal-insulator transition. We discuss
how this colossal magnetoresistance effect cannot be attributed to the spin
degree-of-freedom or localization physics, but most likely emanates from strong
magneto-orbital coupling between the two-dimensional electron gas and the
magnetic field. Our observation is consistent with a field-induced 2D-to-3D
transition in the confined electronic system
Presentation patterns of invasive cancer of the cervix: results from Parirenyatwa Oncology and Radiotherapy Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe 1998-2010
A research paper on cancer of the cervix in Zimbabwe.Cancer of the uterine cervix is the second most common cancer among women worldwide with a high incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa.1 In developing countries such as Zimbabwe invasive cancer of the cervix (CaCx) is the most common cancer in females and also the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women.2 The American Cancer Society3 estimated that 12.710 million new cases of invasive CaCx were going to be diagnosed in 2011 and about 4.290 million women were going to die with invasive CaCx. The same author reported that there is a significant decrease in incidence and mortality rate of invasive CaCx in developed countries over the past three decades as compared to the developing countries. This was attributed to available options of disease prevention with the possibility of early diagnosis of the disease due to effective screening and accessibility to effective treatment procedures in developed countries. To this end it has been noted that women living in developed countries have a 208% greater chance of being successfully treated when compared with women in less developed countries
Hunting long-lived gluinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory
Eventual signals of split sypersymmetry in cosmic ray physics are analyzed in
detail. The study focusses particularly on quasi-stable colorless R-hadrons
originating through confinement of long-lived gluinos (with quarks,
anti-quarks, and gluons) produced in pp collisions at astrophysical sources.
Because of parton density requirements, the gluino has a momentum which is
considerable smaller than the energy of the primary proton, and so production
of heavy (mass ~ 500 GeV) R-hadrons requires powerful cosmic ray engines able
to accelerate particles up to extreme energies, somewhat above 10^{13.6} GeV.
Using a realistic Monte Carlo simulation with the AIRES engine, we study the
main characteristics of the air showers triggered when one of these exotic
hadrons impinges on a stationary nucleon of the Earth atmosphere. We show that
R-hadron air showers present clear differences with respect to those initiated
by standard particles. We use this shower characteristics to construct
observables which may be used to distinguish long-lived gluinos at the Pierre
Auger Observatory.Comment: 13 pages revtex, 9 eps figures. A ps version with high resolution
figures is available at
http://www.hep.physics.neu.edu/staff/doqui/rhadron_highres.p
Microwave resonance of the reentrant insulating quantum Hall phases in the 1st excited Landau Level
We present measurements of the real diagonal microwave conductivity of the
reentrant insulating quantum Hall phases in the first excited Landau level at
temperatures below 50 mK. A resonance is detected around filling factor
and weaker frequency dependence is seen at and 2.28.
These measurements are consistent with the formation of a bubble phase crystal
centered around these at very low temperatures
Effect of a Fundamental Motor Skills Intervention on Fundamental Motor Skill and Physical Activity in a Preschool Setting: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
Purpose: To determine the effect of a 12-week fundamental motor skill (FMS) program on FMS and physical activity (PA) on preschool-aged children. Method: A cluster randomized controlled trial. The intervention (PhysicaL ActivitY and Fundamental Motor Skills in Pre-schoolers [PLAYFun] Program) was a 12-week games-based program, delivered directly to the children in childcare centers by exercise physiologists. Children in the control arm received the usual preschool curriculum. Outcomes included FMS competence (Test of Gross Motor Development-2) and PA (accelerometer) assessed at baseline, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks (12-wk postintervention). Results: Fifty children (mean age = 4.0 [0.6] y; 54% male) were recruited from 4 childcare centers. Two centers were randomized to PLAYFun and 2 centers were randomized to the waitlist control group. Children attended on average 2.0 (1.0) 40-minute sessions per week. The PLAYFun participants demonstrated significant increases in object control (P < .001) and total FMS (P = .010) competence at week 12, compared with controls in a group Ă— time interaction. Girls, but not boys, in PLAYFun significantly increased moderate to vigorous PA after the intervention (P = .004). These increases were not maintained 12-week postcompletion of PLAYFun. Conclusions: The PLAYFun Program is effective at improving FMS competence in boys and girls and increasing PA in girls. However, improvements are not maintained when opportunities to practice are not sustained
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