The impact of bilingualism on the executive control and orienting networks of attention

The main objective of this article is to provide new evidence regarding the impact of bilingualism on the attentional system. We approach this goal by assessing the effects of bilingualism on the executive and orienting networks of attention. In Experiment 1, we compared young bilingual and monolingual adults in a numerical version of the Stroop task, which allowed the assessment of the executive control network. We observed more efficient performance in the former group, which showed both reduced Stroop Interference and larger Stroop Facilitation Effects relative to the latter. Conversely, Experiment 2, conducted with a visual cueing task in order to assess the orienting network, revealed similar Cueing Facilitation and Inhibition (Inhibition of Return - IOR) Effects for both groups of speakers. The implications of the results of these two experiments for the origin and boundaries of the bilingual impact on the attentional system are discussed

Label Dependent Evolutionary Feature Weighting for Remote Sensing Data

Nearest neighbour (NN) is a very common classifier used to develop important remote sensing products like land use and land cover (LULC) maps. Evolutive computation has often been used to obtain feature weighting in order to improve the results of the NN. In this paper, a new algorithm based on evolutionary computation which has been called Label Dependent Feature Weighting (LDFW) is proposed. The LDFW method transforms the feature space assigning different weights to every feature depending on each class. This multilevel feature weighting algorithm is tested on remote sensing data from fusion of sensors (LIDAR and orthophotography). The results show an improvement on the NN and resemble the results obtained with a neural network which is the best classifier for the study area

Evaluating the use of amber in palaeoatmospheric reconstructions: The carbon-isotope variability of modern and Cretaceous conifer resins.

Stable carbon-isotope geochemistry of fossilized tree resin (amber) potentially could be a very useful tool to infer the composition of past atmospheres. To test the reliability of amber as a proxy for the atmosphere, we studied the variability of modern resin d13C at both local and global scales. An amber d13C curve was then built for the Cretaceous, a period of abundant resin production, and interpreted in light of data from modern resins. Our data show that hardening changes the pristine d13C value by causing a 13C-depletion in solid resin when compared to fresh liquid-viscous resin, probably due to the loss of 13C-enriched volatiles. Modern resin d13C values vary as a function of physiological and environmental parameters in ways that are similar to those described for leaves and wood. Resin d13C varies between plant species and localities, within the same tree and between different plant tissues by up to 6¿, and in general increases with increasing altitudes of the plant-growing site. We show that, as is the case with modern resin, Cretaceous amber d13C has a high variability, generally higher than that of other fossil material. Despite the high natural variability, amber shows a negative 2.5-3¿ d13C trend from the middle Early Cretaceous to the Maastrichtian that parallels published terrestrial d13C records. This trend mirrors changes in the atmospheric d13C calculated from the d13C and d18O of benthic foraminiferal tests, although the magnitude of the shift is larger in plant material than in the atmosphere. Increasing mean annual precipitation and pO2 could have enhanced plant carbon-isotope fractionation during the Late Cretaceous, whereas changing pCO2 levels seem to have had no effect on plant carbon-isotope fractionation. The results of this study suggest that amber is a powerful fossil plant material for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Improvement of the resolution of the existing data coupled with more detailed information about botanical source and environmental growing conditions of the fossil plant material will probably allow a more faithful interpretation of amber d13C records and a wider understanding of the composition of the past atmosphere

Magnetic fabric from Quaternary volcanic edifices in the extensional Bransfield Basin: Internal structure of Penguin and Bridgeman islands (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctica)

Studying the magnetic fabric in volcanic edifices, particularly lava flows from recent eruptions, allows us to understand the orientation distribution of the minerals related to the flow direction and properly characterize older and/or eroded flows. In this work, the magnetic fabric from recent (Quaternary) lava flows (slightly inclined in seven sites and plateau lavas in two sites), pyroclastic deposits (two sites from a scoria cone) and volcanic cones, domes and plugs (three sites) from Penguin and Bridgeman islands, located in the Bransfield backarc basin, are presented. The volcanism in the two islands is related to rifting occurring due to the opening of the Bransfield Strait, between the South Shetlands archipelago and the Antarctic Peninsula. The direction of flow of magmatic material is unknown. Rock magnetic analyses, low temperature measurements and electron microscope observations (back-scattered electron imaging and Energy Dispersive X-ray analyses) reveal a Ti-poor magnetite (and maghemite) as the main carrier of the magnetic fabric. Hematite may be present in some samples. Samples from the centre of the lavas reveal a magnetic lineation either parallel or imbricated with respect to the flow plane, whereas in the plateau lavas the magnetic lineation is contained within the subhorizontal plane except in vesicle-rich samples, where imbrication occurs. The magnetic lineation indicates a varied flow direction in Bridgeman Island with respect to the spreading Bransfield Basin axis. The flow direction in the plateau lavas on Penguin Island is deduced from the imbrication of the magnetic fabric in the more vesicular parts, suggesting a SE-NW flow. The volcanic domes are also imbricated with respect to an upward flow, and the bombs show scattered distribution

Effect of the Tryptophan Hydroxylase Inhibitor Telotristat on Growth and Serotonin Secretion in 2D and 3D Cultured Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Cells

Serotonin, a biologically active amine, is related to carcinoid syndrome in functioning neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Telotristat ethyl is a novel inhibitor of the tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), a key enzyme in the production of serotonin. While its use in patients with carcinoid syndrome and uncontrolled diarrhea under somatostatin analogs (SSAs) has been recently approved, in vitro data evaluating its effectiveness are lacking. For this reason, we aimed to evaluate the effect of telotristat as monotherapy, and in combination with SSAs, on proliferation and secretion in a NET cell line model. The human pancreatic NET cell lines BON-1/QGP-1 were used as 2D and 3D cultured models; somatostatin receptor and TPH mRNA expression, as well as the potential autocrine effect of serotonin on tumor cell proliferation using a 3D culture system were evaluated. Telotristat decreased serotonin production in a dose-dependent manner at a clinically feasible concentration, without affecting cell proliferation. Its combination with pasireotide, but not with octreotide, had an additive inhibitory effect on serotonin secretion. The effect of telotristat was slightly less potent, when BON-1 cells were co-treated with octreotide. Octreotide and pasireotide had no effect on the expression of TPH. Telotristat did not have an effect on mRNA expression of somatostatin receptor subtypes. Finally, we showed that serotonin did not have an autocrine effect on NET cell proliferation on the 3D cell model. These results suggest that telotristat is an effective drug for serotonin inhibition, but the effectiveness of its combination with SST2 (somatostatin receptor subtype 2)-preferring SSA should be evaluated in more detail

Two-Dimensional Spectroscopy of Photospheric Shear Flows in a Small delta Spot

In recent high-resolution observations of complex active regions, long-lasting and well-defined regions of strong flows were identified in major flares and associated with bright kernels of visible, near-infrared, and X-ray radiation. These flows, which occurred in the proximity of the magnetic neutral line, significantly contributed to the generation of magnetic shear. Signatures of these shear flows are strongly curved penumbral filaments, which are almost tangential to sunspot umbrae rather than exhibiting the typical radial filamentary structure. Solar active region NOAA 10756 was a moderately complex, beta-delta sunspot group, which provided an opportunity to extend previous studies of such shear flows to quieter settings. We conclude that shear flows are a common phenomenon in complex active regions and delta spots. However, they are not necessarily a prerequisite condition for flaring. Indeed, in the present observations, the photospheric shear flows along the magnetic neutral line are not related to any change of the local magnetic shear. We present high-resolution observations of NOAA 10756 obtained with the 65-cm vacuum reflector at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). Time series of speckle-reconstructed white-light images and two-dimensional spectroscopic data were combined to study the temporal evolution of the three-dimensional vector flow field in the beta-delta sunspot group. An hour-long data set of consistent high quality was obtained, which had a cadence of better than 30 seconds and sub-arcsecond spatial resolution.Comment: 23 pages, 6 gray-scale figures, 4 color figures, 2 tables, submitted to Solar Physic