9,909 research outputs found
The Effects of Inference-Training and Text Repetition on Chinese Learners' Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition While Listening
This article reports a study of the effects of inference training and text repetition on Chinese university studentsâ performance of two listening information-transfer tasks that provided built-in measures of their comprehension and opportunities for the acquisition of ten unknown target words embedded in the listening texts. One group just listened to the text once, a second group three times, while the third listened three times and received inference-training support. The results showed that text repetition had a positive effect on both comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. However, the inference-training had no additional effect. The study lends support to the findings of previous studies which have shown that repeated opportunities to process oral input have a positive effect on listening comprehension and extends these studies by showing that it also facilitates incidental vocabulary acquisition
The ecology, biogeography, history and future of two globally important weeds : Cardiospermum halicacabum Linn. and C. grandiflorum Sw.
Members of the balloon vine genus, Cardiospermum, have been extensively moved around the globe as medicinal and horticultural species, two of which are now widespread invasive species; C. grandiflorum and C. halicacabum. A third species, C. corindum, may also have significant invasion potential. However, in some regions the native status of these species is not clear, hampering management. For example, in South Africa it is unknown whether C. halicacabum and C. corindum are native, and this is a major constraint to on-going biological control programmes against invasive C. grandiflorum. We review the geography, biology and ecology of selected members of the genus with an emphasis on the two most widespread invaders, C. halicacabum and C. grandiflorum. Specifically, we use molecular data to reconstruct a phylogeny of the group in order to shed light on the native ranges of C. halicacabum and C. corindum in southern Africa. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that southern African accessions of these species are closely related to South American taxa indicating human-mediated introduction and/or natural long distance dispersal. Then, on a global scale we use species distribution modelling to predict potential suitable climate regions where these species are currently absent. Native range data were used to test the accuracy with which bioclimatic modelling can identify the known invasive ranges of these species. Results show that Cardiospermum species have potential to spread further in already invaded or introduced regions in Australia, Africa and Asia, underlining the importance of resolving taxonomic uncertainties for future management efforts. Bioclimatic modelling predicts Australia to have highly favourable environmental conditions for C. corindum and therefore vigilance against this species should be high. Species distribution modelling showed that native range data over fit predicted suitable ranges, and that factors other than climate influence establishment potential. This review opens the door to better understand the global biogeography of the genus Cardiospermum, with direct implications for management, while also highlighting gaps in current research
Novel Electroweak Symmetry Breaking Conditions From Quantum Effects In The MSSM
We present, in the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, a
detailed one-loop analytic study of the minimization conditions of the
effective potential in the Higgs sector.
Special emphasis is put on the role played by in the determination
of the electroweak symmetry breaking conditions, where first and second order
derivatives of the effective potential are systematically taken into account.
Novel, necessary (and sufficient in the Higgs sector) model-independent
constraints, are thus obtained analytically, leading to new theoretical lower
and upper bounds on . Although fully model-independent, these
bounds are found to be much more restrictive than the existing model-dependent
ones! A first illustration is given in the context of a SUGRA-GUT motivated
scenario.Comment: Latex, 45 pages, 5 figure
Inhibition of food intake in obese subjects by peptide YY3-36
Background: The gut hormone fragment peptide YY3-36 (PYY) reduces appetite and food intake when infused into subjects of normal weight. In common with the adipocyte hormone leptin, PYY reduces food intake by modulating appetite circuits in the hypothalamus. However, in obesity there is a marked resistance to the action of leptin, which greatly limits its therapeutic effectiveness. We investigated whether obese subjects were also resistant to the anorectic effects of PYY.Methods: We compared the effects of PYY infusion on appetite and food intake in 12 obese and 12 lean subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. The plasma levels of PYY, ghrelin, leptin, and insulin were also determined.Results: Caloric intake during a buffet lunch offered two hours after the infusion of PYY was decreased by 30 percent in the obese subjects (P<0.001) and 31 percent in the lean subjects (P<0.001). PYY infusion also caused a significant decrease in the cumulative 24-hour caloric intake in both obese and lean subjects. PYY infusion reduced plasma levels of the appetite-stimulatory hormone ghrelin. Endogenous fasting and postprandial levels of PYY were significantly lower in obese subjects (the mean [+/-SE] fasting PYY levels were 10.2+/-0.7 pmol per liter in the obese group and 16.9+/-0.8 pmol per liter in the lean group, P<0.001). Furthermore, the fasting PYY levels correlated negatively with the body-mass index (r=-0.84, P<0.001).Conclusions: We found that obese subjects were not resistant to the anorectic effects of PYY. Endogenous PYY levels were low in the obese subjects, suggesting that PYY deficiency may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity
Invariant indices of polarimetric purity. Generalized indices of purity for nxn covariance matrices
A proper set of indices characterizing the polarimetric purity of light and
material media is defined from the eigenvalues of the corresponding coherency
matrix. A simple and generalizable relation of these indices with the current
parameters characterizing the global purity is obtained. A general definition
for systems characterized by nxn positive semidefinite Hermitian matrices is
introduced in terms of the corresponding eigenvalues and diagonal Gell-Mann
matrices. The set of n-1 indices of purity has a nested structure and provide
complete information about the statistical purity of the system.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure
The Gaseous Extent of Galaxies and the Origin of \lya Absorption Systems. III. Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of \lya-Absorbing Galaxies at z < 1
We present initial results of a program to obtain and analyze HST WFPC2
images of galaxies identified in an imaging and spectroscopic survey of faint
galaxies in fields of HST spectroscopic target QSOs. We measure properties of
87 galaxies, of which 33 are associated with corresponding \lya absorption
systems and 24 do not produce corresponding \lya absorption lines to within
sensitive upper limits. Considering only galaxy and absorber pairs that are
likely to be physically associated and excluding galaxy and absorber pairs
within 3000 \kms of the background QSOs leaves 26 galaxy and absorber pairs and
seven galaxies that do not produce corresponding \lya absorption lines to
within sensitive upper limits. Redshifts of the galaxy and absorber pairs range
from 0.0750 to 0.8912 with a median of 0.3718, and impact parameter separations
of the galaxy and absorber pairs range from 12.4 to kpc with a
median of kpc. The primary result of the analysis is that the
amount of gas encountered along the line of sight depends on the galaxy impact
parameter and B-band luminosity but does not depend strongly on the galaxy
average surface brightness, disk-to-bulge ratio, or redshift. This result
confirms and improves upon the anti-correlation between \lya absorption
equivalent width and galaxy impact parameter found previously by Lanzetta et
al. (1995). There is no evidence that galaxy interactions play an important
role in distributing tenuous gas around galaxies in most cases. Galaxies might
account for all \lya absorption systems with \AA, but this depends on
the unknown luminosity function and gaseous cross sections of low-luminosity
galaxies as well as on the uncertainties of the observed number density of \lya
absorption systems.Comment: Minor changes. Figure 1 stays intact and is available at
ftp://ftp.ess.sunysb.edu/pub/lanzetta/wfpc
Spectroscopic follow up of arclets in AC114 with the VLT
We present the first results on the VLT/FORS-1 spectroscopic survey of
amplified sources and multiple images in the lensing cluster AC114. Background
sources were selected in the cluster core, close to the critical lines, using
photometric redshifts combined with lensing inversion criteria. Spectroscopic
results are given, together with a brief summary of the properties of some of
these high-z galaxies.Comment: 4pages. To appear in the Proceedings of the XXth Moriond Astrophysics
Meeting "Cosmological Physics with Gravitational Lensing", eds. J.-P. Kneib,
Y. Mellier, M. Moniez and J. Tran Thanh Van, Les Arcs, France, March
11th-18th 200
\u3ci\u3eVarroa\u3c/i\u3e mites and honey bee health: can \u3ci\u3eVarroa\u3c/i\u3e explain part of the colony losses?
Since 2006, disastrous colony losses have been reported in Europe and North America. The causes of the losses were not readily apparent and have been attributed to overwintering mortalities and to a new phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder. Most scientists agree that there is no single explanation for the extensive colony losses but that interactions between different stresses are involved. As the presence of Varroa in each colony places an important pressure on bee health, we here address the question of how Varroa contributes to the recent surge in honey bee colony losses
The impact of parametric noise amplification on long haul transmission throughput
Advanced signal processing, such as multi-channel digital back propagation and mid span optical phase conjugation, can compensate for inter channel nonlinear effects in point to point links. However, once such are effects are compensated, the interaction between the signal and noise fields becomes dominant. We will show that this interaction has a direct impact on the signal to noise ratio improvement, observing that ideal optical phase conjugation offers 1.5 dB more performance benefit than DSP based compensation
Post-inflationary thermalization with hadronization scenario
We study thermalization of the early Universe when the inflaton can decay
into the Standard Model (SM) quarks and gluons, using QCD arguments. We
describe the possible formation of the thermal plasma of soft gluons and quarks
well before the completion of reheating. Relevant interaction rates of leading
order processes and the corresponding thermalization time scale is presented.
We discuss hadronization while thermalizing the decay products of the inflaton,
when the reheat temperature of the Universe is below the QCD phase transition
but above the temperature of the Big Bang nucleosynthesis.Comment: shortened version (8 pages), modified discussion of hadronization,
conclusion unchanged, references adde
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