Gender agreement on adverbs in Spanish

In this article we explore the exceptional gender agreement of the Spanish adverb mucho (‘much’), when it modifies comparative adjectives inside DPs that contain a particular type of noun (as in muchafem mejor intenciónfem, ‘much better intention’). This phenomenon, which we describe in detail, raises crucial questions both about the mechanisms of agreement and about the nature of gender in a language such as Spanish. We will argue on the basis of our analysis that agreement is not semantically motivated, but blindly triggered by certain formal configurations. We will also argue that –at least in languages such as Spanish– gender information is scattered in two different positions inside the DP.Peer reviewe

Организационные резервы повышения производительности труда на предприятиях нефтегазовой отрасли

Проблема повышения производительности труда в современной экономике России имеет значительную актуальность, поскольку повышение уровня производительности труда является важнейшим условием социально-экономического развития общества, устойчивого экономического роста и повышения конкурентоспособности национальной экономики. Актуальность представленного исследования определяется необходимостью повышения производительности труда на современных предприятиях России, что может быть достигнуто за счет реализации организационных резервов роста. Целью исследования является структурирование факторов, оказывающих влияние на уровень производительности труда, подтверждение значимости организационных резервов роста, апробация методики выявления организационных резервов повышения производительности труда. Методы исследования. В настоящей работе нашли применение методы сбора первичной экономической информации, включая анализ законодательных и нормативно-правовых актов РФ, официальных статистических данных, данных публичной отчетности отечественных предприятий, анализ прочих открытых источников информации, системный подход, методы статистического и сравнительного анализа. The country's labor productivity in modern Russia over recent years has acquired impressive relevance. Since it is a key indicator of overall economic efficiency, strong labor productivity growth has always been a sufficient condition for socio-economic development, economic stability and enhancing competitiveness of the national economy. The relevance of the study is determined by the urgency of the labor productivity growth at the modern Russian factories that can be achieved through realization of organizational reserves. The main aim of the study is identifying and structuring the factors that seem to affect labor productivity level. It is also pointed at corroborating the necessity of labor productivity growth and approbation of organizational reserves seeking method. Methods. In the present work different methods of information gathering and processing were used to obtain the economic data including the analysis of appropriate laws and regulations, official statistics, companies' public statements and reporting and other open available resources. Also system approach, comparative and statistical analysis were adopted in this research

Upper critical field pecularities of superconducting YNi2B2C and LuNi2B2C

We present new upper critical field Hc2(T) data in a broad temperature region from 0.3K to Tc for LuNi2B2C and YNi2B2C single crystals with well characterized low impurity scattering rates. The absolute values for all T, in particular Hc2(0), and the sizeable positive curvature (PC) of Hc2(T) at high and intermediate T are explained quantitatively within an effective two-band model. The failure of the isotropic single band approach is discussed in detail. Supported by de Haas van Alphen data, the superconductivity reveals direct insight into details of the electronic structure. The observed maximal PC near Tc gives strong evidence for clean limit type II superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. accepte

Theory of de Haas-van Alphen Effect in Type-II Superconductors

Theory of quasiparticle spectra and the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillation in type-II superconductors are developed based on the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for vortex-lattice states. As the pair potential grows through the superconducting transition, each degenerate Landau level in the normal state splits into quasiparticle bands in the magnetic Brillouin zone. This brings Landau-level broadening, which in turn leads to the extra dHvA oscillation damping in the vortex state. We perform extensive numerical calculations for three-dimensional systems with various gap structures. It is thereby shown that (i) this Landau-level broadening is directly connected with the average gap at H=0 along each Fermi-surface orbit perpendicular to the field H; (ii) the extra dHvA oscillation attenuation is caused by the broadening around each extremal orbit. These results imply that the dHvA experiment can be a unique probe to detect band- and/or angle-dependent gap amplitudes. We derive an analytic expression for the extra damping based on the second-order perturbation with respect to the pair potential for the Luttinger-Ward thermodynamic potential. This formula reproduces all our numerical results excellently, and is used to estimate band-specific gap amplitudes from available data on NbSe_2, Nb_3Sn, and YNi_2B_2C. The obtained value for YNi_2B_2C is fairly different from the one through a specific-heat measurement, indicating presence of gap anisotropy in this material. C programs to solve the two-dimensional Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations are available at http://phys.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~kita/index-e.html .Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Late Quaternary vegetation and lake system dynamics in north-eastern Siberia: Implications for seasonal climate variability

© 2015 Elsevier LtdAlthough the climate development over the Holocene in the Northern Hemisphere is well known, palaeolimnological climate reconstructions reveal spatiotemporal variability in northern Eurasia. Here we present a multi-proxy study from north-eastern Siberia combining sediment geochemistry, and diatom and pollen data from lake-sediment cores covering the last 38,000 cal. years. Our results show major changes in pyrite content and fragilarioid diatom species distributions, indicating prolonged seasonal lake-ice cover between ∼13,500 and ∼8900 cal. years BP and possibly during the 8200 cal. years BP cold event. A pollen-based climate reconstruction generated a mean July temperature of 17.8 °C during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) between ∼8900 and ∼4500 cal. years BP. Naviculoid diatoms appear in the late Holocene indicating a shortening of the seasonal ice cover that continues today. Our results reveal a strong correlation between the applied terrestrial and aquatic indicators and natural seasonal climate dynamics in the Holocene. Planktonic diatoms show a strong response to changes in the lake ecosystem due to recent climate warming in the Anthropocene. We assess other palaeolimnological studies to infer the spatiotemporal pattern of the HTM and affirm that the timing of its onset, a difference of up to 3000 years from north to south, can be well explained by climatic teleconnections. The westerlies brought cold air to this part of Siberia until the Laurentide ice-sheet vanished 7000 years ago. The apparent delayed ending of the HTM in the central Siberian record can be ascribed to the exceedance of ecological thresholds trailing behind increases in winter temperatures and decreases in contrast in insolation between seasons during the mid to late Holocene as well as lacking differentiation between summer and winter trends in paleolimnological reconstructions

Late Quaternary vegetation and lake system dynamics in north-eastern Siberia: Implications for seasonal climate variability

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Although the climate development over the Holocene in the Northern Hemisphere is well known, palaeolimnological climate reconstructions reveal spatiotemporal variability in northern Eurasia. Here we present a multi-proxy study from north-eastern Siberia combining sediment geochemistry, and diatom and pollen data from lake-sediment cores covering the last 38,000cal. years. Our results show major changes in pyrite content and fragilarioid diatom species distributions, indicating prolonged seasonal lake-ice cover between ~13,500 and ~8900cal. years BP and possibly during the 8200cal. years BP cold event. A pollen-based climate reconstruction generated a mean July temperature of 17.8°C during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) between ~8900 and ~4500cal. years BP. Naviculoid diatoms appear in the late Holocene indicating a shortening of the seasonal ice cover that continues today. Our results reveal a strong correlation between the applied terrestrial and aquatic indicators and natural seasonal climate dynamics in the Holocene. Planktonic diatoms show a strong response to changes in the lake ecosystem due to recent climate warming in the Anthropocene.We assess other palaeolimnological studies to infer the spatiotemporal pattern of the HTM and affirm that the timing of its onset, a difference of up to 3000 years from north to south, can be well explained by climatic teleconnections. The westerlies brought cold air to this part of Siberia until the Laurentide ice-sheet vanished 7000 years ago. The apparent delayed ending of the HTM in the central Siberian record can be ascribed to the exceedance of ecological thresholds trailing behind increases in winter temperatures and decreases in contrast in insolation between seasons during the mid to late Holocene as well as lacking differentiation between summer and winter trends in paleolimnological reconstructions

Comparison of coherent and weakly incoherent transport models for the interlayer magnetoresistance of layered Fermi liquids

The interlayer magnetoresistance of layered metals in a tilted magnetic field is calculated for two distinct models for the interlayer transport. The first model involves coherent interlayer transport and makes use of results of semi-classical or Bloch-Boltzmann transport theory. The second model involves weakly incoherent interlayer transport where the electron is scattered many times within a layer before tunneling into the next layer. The results are relevant to the interpretation of experiments on angular-dependent magnetoresistance oscillations (AMRO) in quasi-one- and quasi-two-dimensional metals. We find that the dependence of the magnetoresistance on the direction of the magnetic field is identical for both models except when the field is almost parallel to the layers. An important implication of this result is that a three-dimensional Fermi surface is not necessary for the observation of the Yamaji and Danner oscillations seen in quasi-two- and quasi-one-dimensional metals, respectively. A universal expression is given for the dependence of the resistance at AMRO maxima and minima on the magnetic field and scattering time (and thus the temperature). We point out three distinctive features of coherent interlayer transport: (i) a beat frequency in the magnetic oscillations of quasi-two-dimensional systems, (ii) a peak in the angular-dependent magnetoresistance when the field is sufficiently large and parallel to the layers, and (iii) a crossover from a linear to a quadratic field dependence for the magnetoresistance when the field is parallel to the layers. Properties (i) and (ii) are compared with published experimental data for a range of quasi-two-dimensional organic metals and for Sr2RuO4.Comment: 21 pages, RevTeX + epsf, 4 figures. Published version. Subsection added. References update

Suppression of low-density lipoprotein oxidation, vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration by a herbal extract of Radix Astragali, Radix Codonopsis and Cortex Lycii

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Atherosclerosis is a major cause of death in developed world. Atherosclerosis is characterized by low-density lipoprotein deposition in the arterial wall which ultimately begets the formation of lesions. Rupture of lesions finally leads to clinical events such as heart attack and stroke. Atherosclerosis is a complication associated with diabetes. In patients with diabetes, the risk of atherosclerosis is three to five folds greater than in non-diabetics. Our previous study showed that a herbal extract of <it>Radix Astragali, Radix Codonopsis </it>and <it>Cortex Lycii</it>, namely SR10, could improve glucose homeostasis both <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo</it>. In this study, we want to further investigate the efficacy of SR10 in treating atherosclerosis.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The inhibitory effect of SR10 on low-density lipoprotein oxidation was investigated using free radical-induced erythrocyte hemolysis model and copper ion-induced low-density lipoprotein oxidation model. Since vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration are important processes in atherogenesis, we also examined the effect of SR10 in inhibiting these events.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results showed that SR10 inhibited erythrocyte hemolysis with IC₅₀value at 0.25 mg/ml and significantly prolonged low-density lipoprotein oxidation <it>in vitro</it>. SR10 attenuated platelet derived growth factor-BB-induced vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation by promoting cell cycle arrest at G₀/G₁phase as well as inhibiting vascular smooth muscle cell migration.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The potential application of SR10 in treating atherosclerosis has been implied in this study. Animal model will be needed to further verify the efficacy of SR10 in future.</p

The working alliance in a randomized controlled trial comparing online with face-to-face cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression

Background: Although numerous efficacy studies in recent years have found internet-based interventions for depression to be effective, there has been scant consideration of therapeutic process factors in the online setting. In face-to face therapy, the quality of the working alliance explains variance in treatment outcome. However, little is yet known about the impact of the working alliance in internet-based interventions, particularly as compared with face-to-face therapy. Methods: This study explored the working alliance between client and therapist in the middle and at the end of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for depression. The participants were randomized to an internet-based treatment group (n = 25) or face-to-face group (n = 28). Both groups received the same cognitive behavioral therapy over an 8-week timeframe. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) post-treatment and the Working Alliance Inventory at mid- and post- treatment. Therapists completed the therapist version of the Working Alliance Inventory at post-treatment. Results: With the exception of therapists' ratings of the tasks subscale, which were significantly higher in the online group, the two groups' ratings of the working alliance did not differ significantly. Further, significant correlations were found between clients' ratings of the working alliance and therapy outcome at post-treatment in the online group and at both mid- and post-treatment in the face-to-face group. Correlation analysis revealed that the working alliance ratings did not significantly predict the BDI residual gain score in either group. Conclusions: Contrary to what might have been expected, the working alliance in the online group was comparable to that in the face-to-face group. However, the results showed no significant relations between the BDI residual gain score and the working alliance ratings in either group