138 research outputs found
Examining reading fluency in a foreign language: Effects of text segmentation on L2 readers
Grouping words into meaningful chunks is a fundamental process for fluent reading. The present study is an attempt to understand the relationship between chunking and second language (L2) reading fluency. The effects of text segmentation on comprehension, rate, and regression in L2 reading were investigated using a self-paced reading task in a moving-window condition. The participants were intermediate and advanced level Japanese EFL learners. The difficulty of chunking a text negatively affected comprehension and smoothness for the intermediate learners, while the advanced learners were able to overcome chunking difficulty. In this study, although the negative effects of chunking difficulty were observed, the positive effects of assisting chunking were not clearly detected, which was interpreted as suggesting that the relationship between chunking and reading needs to be considered in light of the complex interplay between text difficulty and different aspects of reading
Clinically Mild Encephalopathy with a Reversible Splenial Lesion Accompanying Mumps Virus Infection:a 5-Year-Old Girl Report
Aseptic meningitis is known as a mumps complication. However, there are few cases of clinically mild encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion(MERS) associated with mumps infection. We report a MERS related to mumps infection in a girl. In the early clinical course, repeating convulsion and consciousness disturbance with hallucination were recognized. Initially, we suspected aseptic meningitis due to mumps, because of her swollen right parotid gland. Cerebrospinal fluid test was performed, but the result was normal. After that, diffusion weighted image of magnetic resonance imaging was added and abnormal signal intensity was recognized in the corpus callosum, so she was diagnosed as MERS. Treatment was performed with steroid pulse therapy and patients was discharged without neurologic sequelae. We need to pay attention to MERS as complication although rare in a mumps infection
Discovery of Dying Active Galactic Nucleus in Arp 187: Experience of Drastic Luminosity Decline within years
Arp 187 is one of the fading active galactic nuclei (AGN), whose AGN activity
is currently decreasing in luminosity. We investigate the observational
signatures of AGN in Arp 187, which trace various physical scales from less
than 0.1 pc to the nearly 10 kpc, to estimate the longterm luminosity change
over years. The VLA 5 GHz, 8 GHz, and the ALMA 133 GHz images reveal
bimodal jet lobes with 5 kpc size and the absence of the central
radio-core. The 6dF optical spectrum shows that Arp 187 hosts narrow line
region with the estimated size of 1 kpc, and the line strengths give the
AGN luminosity of erg s. On the other
hand, the current AGN activity estimated from the AGN torus emission gives the
upper bound of erg s. The absence of
the radio-core gives the more strict upper bound of the current AGN luminosity
of erg s, suggesting that the central
engine is already quenched. These multi-wavelength signatures indicate that Arp
187 hosts a "dying" AGN: the central engine is already dead, but the large
scale AGN indicators are still observable as the remnant of the past AGN
activity. The central engine has experienced the drastic luminosity decline by
a factor of fainter within years, which is roughly
consistent with the viscous timescale of the inner part of the accretion disk
within 500 years.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
NuSTAR Discovery of Dead Quasar Engine in Arp 187
Recent active galactic nucleus (AGN) and quasar surveys have revealed a
population showing rapid AGN luminosity variability by a factor of .
Here we present the most drastic AGN luminosity decline by a factor of constrained by a NuSTAR X-ray observation of the nearby galaxy Arp 187,
which is a promising "dead" quasar whose current activity seems quiet but whose
past activity of erg s is still observable
at a large scale by its light echo. The obtained upper bound of the X-ray
luminosity is ,
corresponding to ,
indicating an inactive central engine. Even if a putative torus model with
cm is assumed, the strong
upper-bound still holds with or . Given the
expected size of the narrow line region, this luminosity decrease by a factor
of must have occurred within yr. This extremely
rapid luminosity/accretion shutdown is puzzling and it requires one burst-like
accretion mechanism producing a clear outer boundary for an accretion disk. We
raise two possible scenarios realizing such an accretion mechanism: a mass
accretion 1) by the tidal disruption of a molecular cloud and/or 2) by the gas
depletion as a result of vigorous nuclear starformation after rapid mass inflow
to the central engine.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
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