Ageing Effects on Eye Movements in Reading: Effects of Word Predictability and Word Frequency

The ability to read well is essential for individuals to function effectively in modern societies. However, numerous studies suggest this ability changes across the adult lifespan, and that older people are slower and less good readers. Measures of eye movements in reading provide an excellent method for studying these effects, as this is informative about both basic oculomotor behaviour and cognitive processes involved in word recognition in reading. I therefore report two studies looking at adult age differences in eye movements during reading. The first is an experiment that used the boundary paradigm to investigate age differences in the use of contextual information to parafoveally pre-process words. In this paradigm, an invisible boundary is placed in front of a specific target word in the text. Prior to the reader’s eyes crossing this boundary, the word is shown either as normal or masked (e.g., by replacing letters with visually similar letters). This word was also either highly predictable or less predictable from the prior context, allowing an examination of parafoveal preview effects for words that differ in predictability. Data collection was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, although preliminary analyses point to age differences in predictability effects. A second study used meta-analysis to examine age differences in basic eye movement parameters and both word frequency and word predictability effects across studies conducted in alphabetic scripts and Chinese. The findings show a larger age difference for Chinese than alphabetic scripts (with slower and more careful reading by older adults). The findings also confirm age differences in word frequency and word predictability effects across both alphabetic scripts and Chinese, consistent with slower word recognition processes for older adults, especially when words are used less frequently or are less predictable from context. I discuss these findings in relation to theories of ageing effects in reading.<br

Disulfide Bond in Diethyl Disulfide: A Rotational Spectroscopic Study

Diethyl disulfide was investigated by pulsed jet Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. The spectroscopic study was complemented by <i>ab initio</i> calculations. The first two most stable conformers predicted at the MP2/6-311++G­(d,p) level of theory were observed in the supersonic expansion. Two ¹³C and one ³⁴S isotopologues for the most stable conformer (<i>GGG</i>) and two ³⁴S isotopes for the second most stable form (<i>GGG</i>′) were also assigned in natural abundance, respectively, allowing a thorough investigation of the molecular structure and conformation. The relative population ratio of the two conformers in the supersonic expansion was estimated to be about 4:1

Density Functional Theory Investigation of Pristine and Ni-Doped CeO₂ (110) for C₂H₄ Detection Based on Optimized Work Functions

With the rapid development of global industrialization, industrial production leads to the emission of large quantities of toxic gases and long-term exposure of these gases to the air poses a serious threat to human health and the ecological environment. Therefore, online monitoring of toxic gases is a worthy task. In this work, the structures of pristine cerium oxide (CeO2) and nickel-doped cerium oxide (Ni-CeO2) surfaces are established based on the first-principles, and 12 adsorption structures of NH3, CH4, SO2, H2S, CO, C2H4 and gas molecules on the pristine CeO2 and Ni-CeO2 surfaces are constructed by geometrical optimization. We investigate the adsorption performance and gas-sensing mechanism of each adsorption system from various aspects, such as adsorption energy, band gap, electron density, density of states, frontier molecular orbital theory, conductivity, sensitivity, recovery time, and work function. The results showed that Ni-CeO2 significantly improved the adsorption properties of C2H4 (−1.784 eV), H2S (−1.036 eV), SO2 (−1.731 eV), and NH3 (−1.045 eV). The Ni-CeO2/C2H4 system exhibits high response (116.414), high work function (4.45 eV), and fast recovery (74.24 s) as well as strong resistivity changes. Hence, the theoretical simulation experiments in this paper provide theoretical guidance for the development of a highly sensitive, work function type (Ni-CeO2) gas sensor for the detection of the harmful gas C2H4 in the atmosphere

Green Diamond: A Superhard Boron Carbonitride with Bandgap in Green-Light Region and Anisotropic High Carrier Mobilities

The development of new multifunctional superhard materials beyond diamond is a great challenge for materials science and industry application. A new diamond-like boron carbonitride material (BC6N) formed by covalently alternated stacking of two-dimensional BC3 and C3N monolayers is systemically investigated through first-principles method. The electronic structure calculations show that the new structure is a direct bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap of 2.404 eV (HSE06). It exhibits anisotropic high carrier mobility (μLh = 1.88 × 104 cm2 V–1 s–1), varied absorbance in visible light and different regions of UV light, and theoretical Vickers hardness of 81.34 GPa, close to that of diamond. Furthermore, it is easily synthesizable due to its exothermic nature when reacted from the interlayer fusion of the BC3 and C3N monolayers in a bottom-up synthesis strategy. In addition, the properties of 3D-BC6N-I can be tuned by applying strain, changing stacking patterns, and 2D-nanolization. The excellent mechanical, electronic, and optical properties and good synthesizability suggest that the new structure (named as “green diamond”) may find broad applications as a superhard and high-temperature material as well as a semiconductor and optical devices beyond diamond

Isolation and Functional Analyses of a Putative Floral Homeotic C-Function Gene in a Basal Eudicot London Plane Tree (<i>Platanus acerifolia</i>)

<div><p>The identification of mutants in model plant species has led to the isolation of the floral homeotic function genes that play crucial roles in flower organ specification. However, floral homeotic C-function genes are rarely studied in basal eudicots. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of the <i>AGAMOUS</i> (<i>AG</i>) orthologous gene (<i>PaAG</i>) from a basal eudicot London plane tree (<i>Platanus acerifolia</i> Willd). Phylogenetic analysis showed that <i>PaAG</i> belongs to the C- clade <i>AG</i> group of genes. <i>PaAG</i> was found to be expressed predominantly in the later developmental stages of male and female inflorescences. Ectopic expression of <i>PaAG</i>-<i>1</i> in tobacco (<i>Nicotiana tabacum</i>) resulted in morphological alterations of the outer two flower whorls, as well as some defects in vegetative growth. Scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) confirmed homeotic sepal-to-carpel transformation in the transgenic plants. Protein interaction assays in yeast cells indicated that PaAG could interact directly with PaAP3 (a B-class MADS-box protein in <i>P. acerifolia</i>), and also PaSEP1 and PaSEP3 (E-class MADS-box proteins in <i>P. acerifolia</i>). This study performed the functional analysis of <i>AG</i> orthologous genes outside core eudicots and monocots. Our findings demonstrate a conserved functional role of <i>AG</i> homolog in London plane tree, which also represent a contribution towards understanding the molecular mechanisms of flower development in this monoecious tree species.</p></div

Constraint-induced aphasia therapy in post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

<div><p>Background</p><p>Constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT) has been widely used in post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation. An increasing number of clinical controlled trials have investigated the efficacy of the CIAT for the post-stroke aphasia.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>To systematically review the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) concerning the effect of the CIAT in post-stroke patients with aphasia, and to identify the useful components of CIAT in post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation.</p><p>Methods</p><p>A computerized database search was performed through five databases (Pubmed, EMbase, Medline, ScienceDirect and Cochrane library). Cochrane handbook domains were used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included RCTs.</p><p>Results</p><p>Eight RCTs qualified in the inclusion criteria. Inconsistent results were found in comparing the CIAT with conventional therapies without any component from the CIAT based on the results of three RCTs. Five RCTs showed that the CIAT performed equally well as other intensive aphasia therapies, in terms of improving language performance. One RCT showed that therapies embedded with social interaction were likely to enhance the efficacy of the CIAT.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>CIAT may be useful for improving chronic post-stroke aphasia, however, limited evidence to support its superiority to other aphasia therapies. Massed practice is likely to be a useful component of CIAT, while the role of “constraint” is needed to be further explored. CIAT embedded with social interaction may gain more benefits.</p></div

Characteristics of included studies.

<p>Comparison B: constraint vs. unconstraint.</p

Methodological quality of included studies.

<p>Methodological quality of included studies.</p

Characteristics of included studies.

<p>Comparison C: social interaction in CIAT.</p

The identification process for selection of trials.

<p>The identification process for selection of trials.</p