Teaching Spoken English at Junior High School: A Comparison of TPR and PPP

This article reports on an experimental methods-comparison study, which was undertaken with beginner level junior high school students (aged 12 and 13) in Japan. The study aimed to investigate which type of teaching, Total Physical Response (TPR) or Present Practice Produce (PPP), was more effective in developing productive and receptive knowledge of a set of collocations. Results showed that both types of teaching had a significant impact upon the development of understanding and using the target language. However, there were no significant differences between the effectiveness of TPR and PPP, apart from a short-term benefit for PPP in terms of receptive knowledge. This shows that both types of teaching can have a positive impact upon learners of this age and level and that there is a need for further research to investigate the effectiveness of these communicative methodologies in this context

Relationship of blood pressure, antihypertensive therapy, and outcome in ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis: retrospective analysis from Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register (SITS-ISTR)

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> The optimal management of blood pressure (BP) in acute stroke remains unclear. For ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis, current guidelines suggest pharmacological intervention if systolic BP exceeds 180 mm Hg. We determined retrospectively the association of BP and antihypertensive therapy with clinical outcomes after stroke thrombolysis.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> The SITS thrombolysis register prospectively recorded 11 080 treatments from 2002 to 2006. BP values were recorded at baseline, 2 hours, and 24 hours after thrombolysis. Outcomes were symptomatic (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score deterioration ≥4) intracerebral hemorrhage Type 2, mortality, and independence at (modified Rankin Score 0 to 2) 3 months. Patients were categorized by history of hypertension and antihypertensive therapy within 7 days after thrombolysis: Group 1, hypertensive treated with antihypertensives (n=5612); Group 2, hypertensive withholding antihypertensives (n=1573); Group 3, without history of hypertension treated with antihypertensives (n=995); and Group 4, without history of hypertension not treated with antihypertensives (n=2632). For 268 (2.4%) patients, these data were missing. Average systolic BP 2 to 24 hours after thrombolysis was categorized by 10-mm Hg intervals with 100 to 140 used as a reference.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> In multivariable analysis, high systolic BP 2 to 24 hours after thrombolysis as a continuous variable was associated with worse outcome (P<0.001) and as a categorical variable had a linear association with symptomatic hemorrhage and a U-shaped association with mortality and independence with systolic BP 141 to 150 mm Hg associated with most favorable outcomes. OR (95% CI) from multivariable analysis showed no difference in symptomatic hemorrhage (1.09 [0.83 to 1.51]; P=0.58) and independence (1.03 [0.93 to 1.10]; P=0.80) but lower mortality (0.82 [0.73 to 0.92]; P=0.0007) for Group 1 compared with Group 4. Group 2 had a higher symptomatic hemorrhage (1.86 [1.34 to 2.68]; P=0.0004) and mortality (1.62 [1.41 to 1.85]; P<0.0001) and lower independence (0.89 [0.80 to 0.99]; P=0.04) compared with Group 4. Group 3 had similar results as Group 1.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> There is a strong association of high systolic BP after thrombolysis with poor outcome. Withholding antihypertensive therapy up to 7 days in patients with a history of hypertension was associated with worse outcome, whereas initiation of antihypertensive therapy in newly recognized moderate hypertension was associated with a favorable outcome.</p&gt

Novel magnetic phases in a Gd2Ti2O7 pyrochlore for a field applied along the [100] axis

We report on longitudinal and transverse magnetisation measurements performed on single crystal samples of Gd2Ti2O7 for a magnetic field applied along the [100] direction. The measurements reveal the presence of previously unreported phases in fields below 10 kOe in an addition to the higher-field-induced phases that are also seen for H//[111], [110], and [112]. The proposed H-T phase diagram for the [100] direction looks distinctly different from all the other directions studied previously.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Magnetic phase diagram of the antiferromagnetic pyrochlore Gd2Ti2O7

Gd2Ti2O7 is a highly frustrated antiferromagnet on a pyrochlore lattice, where apart from the Heisenberg exchange the spins also interact via dipole-dipole forces. We report on low-temperature specific heat measurements performed on single crystals of Gd2Ti2O7 for three different directions of an applied magnetic field. The measurements reveal the strongly anisotropic behaviour of Gd2Ti2O7 in a magnetic field despite the apparent absence of a significant single-ion anisotropy for Gd3+. The H-T phase diagrams are constructed for H//111], H//[110] and H//[112]. The results indicate that further theoretical work beyond a simple mean-field model is required.Comment: 4 figure

Safety of intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke in patients receiving antiplatelet therapy at stroke onset

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> Antiplatelets (APs) may increase the risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) following intravenous thrombolysis after ischemic stroke.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> We assessed the safety of thrombolysis under APs in 11 865 patients compliant with the European license criteria and recorded between 2002 and 2007 in the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke (SITS) International Stroke Thrombolysis Register (SITS-ISTR). Outcome measures of univariable and multivariable analyses included symptomatic ICH (SICH) per SITS Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST [deterioration in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale >= 4 plus ICH type 2 within 24 hours]), per European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study II (ECASS II [deterioration in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale >= 4 plus any ICH]), functional outcome at 3 months and mortality.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> A total of 3782 (31.9%) patients had received 1 or 2 AP drugs at baseline: 3016 (25.4%) acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), 243 (2.0%) clopidogrel, 175 (1.5%) ASA and dipyridamole, 151 (1.3%) ASA and clopidogrel, and 197 (1.7%) others. Patients receiving APs were 5 years older and had more risk factors than AP nave patients. Incidences of SICH per SITS-MOST (ECASS II respectively) were as follows: 1.1% (4.1%) AP naive, 2.5% (6.2%) any AP, 2.5% (5.9%) ASA, 1.7% (4.2%) clopidogrel, 2.3% (5.9%) ASA and dipyridamole, and 4.1% (13.4%) ASA and clopidogrel. In multivariable analyses, the combination of ASA and clopidogrel was associated with increased risk for SICH per ECASS II (odds ratio, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.29 to 3.45; P = 0.003). However, we found no significant increase in the risk for mortality or poor functional outcome, irrespective of the AP subgroup or SICH definition.</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> The absolute excess of SICH of 1.4% (2.1%) in the pooled AP group is small compared with the benefit of thrombolysis seen in randomized trials. Although caution is warranted in patients receiving the combination of ASA and clopidogrel, AP treatment should not be considered a contraindication to thrombolysis.</p&gt

Collapse of the charge ordering gap of Nd_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_{3} in an applied magnetic field

We report results of tunneling studies on the charge ordering compound Nd_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_{3} in a magnetic field up to 6T and for temperature down to 25K.We show that a gap (2\Delta_{CO} \approx 0.5eV opens up in the density of state (DOS) at the Fermilevel (E_F) on charge ordering (T_{CO}=150K) which collapses in an applied magnetic field when the charge ordered state melts. There is a clear correspondence between the behavior of the resistivity and the gap formation and its collapse in an applied magnetic field. We conclude that a gap in the DOS at E_F is necessary for the stability of the charge ordered state.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, 5 postscript figures included, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Towards a data-driven approach to scenario generation for serious games

Serious games have recently shown great potential to be adopted in many applications, such as training and education. However, one critical challenge in developing serious games is the authoring of a large set of scenarios for different training objectives. In this paper, we propose a data-driven approach to automatically generate scenarios for serious games. Compared with other scenario generation methods, our approach leverages on the simulated player performance data to construct the scenario evaluation function for scenario generation. To collect the player performance data, an artificial intelligence (AI) player model is designed to imitate how a human player behaves when playing scenarios. The AI players are used to replace human players for data collection. The experiment results show that our data-driven approach provides good prediction accuracy on scenario’s training intensities. It also outperforms our previous heuristic-based approach in its capability of generating scenarios that match closer to specified target player performance

Probing the superconducting ground state of ZrIrSi: A μ\muSR study

The superconducting ground state of newly reported ZrIrSi is probed by means of $\mu$SR technique along with resistivity measurement. The occurrence of superconductivity at $T_\mathrm{C}$ = 1.7 K is confirmed by resistivity measurement. ZF-$\mu$SR study revealed that below $T_\mathrm{C}$, there is no spontaneous magnetic field in the superconducting state, indicates TRS is preserved in case of ZrIrSi. From TF-$\mu$SR measurement, we have estimated the superfluid density as a function of temperature, which is described by an isotropic $s-$wave model with a superconducting gap $2\Delta(0)/k_\mathrm{B}T_\mathrm{C}$ = 5.1, indicates the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. {\it Ab-initio} electronic structure calculation indicates that there are four bands passing through the Fermi level, forming four Fermi surface pockets. We find that the low-energy bands are dominated by the $4d$-orbitals of transition metal Zr, with substantially lesser weight from the $5d$-orbitals of the Ir-atoms.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Investigation of Superconducting Gap Structure in HfIrSi using muon spin relaxation/rotation

Appearance of strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is apparent in ternary equiatomic compounds with 5$d$-electrons due to the large atomic radii of transition metals. SOC plays a significant role in the emergence of unconventional superconductivity. Here we examined the superconducting state of HfIrSi using magnetization, specific heat, zero and transverse-field (ZF/TF) muon spin relaxation/rotation ($\mu$SR) measurements. Superconductivity is observed at $T_\mathrm{C}$ = 3.6 K as revealed by specific heat and magnetization measurements. From the TF$-\mu$SR analysis it is clear that superfluid density well described by an isotropic BCS type $s$-wave gap structure. Furthermore, from TF$-\mu$SR data we have also estimated the superconducting carrier density $n_\mathrm{s}$ = 6.6 $\times$10$^{26}$m$^{-3}$, London penetration depth $\lambda_{L}(0)$ = 259.59 nm and effective mass $m^{*}$ = 1.57 $m_{e}$. Our zero-field muon spin relaxation data indicate no clear sign of spontaneous internal field below $T_\mathrm{C}$, which implies that the time-reversal symmetry is preserved in HfIrSi. Theoretical investigation suggests Hf and Ir atoms hybridize strongly along the $c$-axis of the lattice, which is responsible for the strong three-dimensionality of this system which screens the Coulomb interaction. As a result despite the presence of correlated $d$-electrons in this system, the correlation effect is weakened, promoting electron-phonon coupling to gain importance.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure