7,199 research outputs found
Radical repetition effects in beginning learners of Chinese as a foreign language reading
Item does not contain fulltextThe aim of the present study was to examine whether repetition of radicals during training of Chinese characters leads to better word acquisition performance in beginning learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Thirty Dutch university students were trained on 36 Chinese one-character words for their pronunciations and meanings. They were also exposed to the specifics of the radicals, that is, for phonetic radicals, the associated pronunciation was explained, and for semantic radicals the associated categorical meanings were explained. Results showed that repeated exposure to phonetic and semantic radicals through character pronunciation and meaning trainings indeed induced better understanding of those radicals that were shared among different characters. Furthermore, characters in the training set that shared phonetic radicals were pronounced better than those that did not. Repetition of semantic radicals across different characters, however, hindered the learning of exact meanings. Students generally confused the meanings of other characters that shared the semantic radical. The study shows that in the initial stage of learning, overlapping information of the shared radicals are effectively learned. Acquisition of the specifics of individual characters, however, requires more training.11 p
Beyond homozygosity mapping: family-control analysis based on Hamming distance for prioritizing variants in exome sequencing
A major challenge in current exome sequencing in autosomal recessive (AR) families is the lack of an effective method to prioritize single-nucleotide variants (SNVs). AR families are generally too small for linkage analysis, and length of homozygous regions is unreliable for identification of causative variants. Various common filtering steps usually result in a list of candidate variants that cannot be narrowed down further or ranked. To prioritize shortlisted SNVs we consider each homozygous candidate variant together with a set of SNVs flanking it. We compare the resulting array of genotypes between an affected family member and a number of control individuals and argue that, in a family, differences between family member and controls should be larger for a pathogenic variant and SNVs flanking it than for a random variant. We assess differences between arrays in two individuals by the Hamming distance and develop a suitable test statistic, which is expected to be large for a causative variant and flanking SNVs. We prioritize candidate variants based on this statistic and applied our approach to six patients with known pathogenic variants and found these to be in the top 2 to 10 percentiles of ranks
Flexible control of the Peierls transition in metallic C polymers
The metal-semiconductor transition of peanut-shaped fullerene (C)
polymers is clarified by considering the electron-phonon coupling in the uneven
structure of the polymers. We established a theory that accounts for the
transition temperature reported in a recent experiment and also suggests
that is considerably lowered by electron doping or prolonged irradiation
during synthesis. The decrease in is an appealing phenomenon with regard
to realizing high-conductivity C-based nanowires even at low
temperatures.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in a perpendicular field of quasi two-dimensional CeCoIn5
A Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnkov (FFLO) state was previously reported in the
quasi-2D heavy fermion CeCoIn5 when a magnetic field was applied parallel to
the ab-plane. Here, we conduct 115^In NMR studies of this material in a
PERPENDICULAR field, and provide strong evidence for FFLO in this case as well.
Although the topology of the phase transition lines in the H-T phase diagram is
identical for both configurations, there are several remarkable differences
between them. Compared to H//ab, the FFLO region for H perpendicular to the
ab-plane shows a sizable decrease, and the critical field separating the FFLO
and non-FFLO superconducting states almost ceases to have a temperature
dependence. Moreover, directing H perpendicular to the ab-plane results in a
notable change in the quasiparticle excitation spectrum within the planar node
associated with the FFLO transition.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Sleep directly following learning benefits consolidation of spatial associative memory
Contains fulltext :
128176.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The last decade has brought forth convincing evidence for a role of sleep in non-declarative memory. A similar function of sleep in episodic memory is supported by various correlational studies, but direct evidence is limited. Here we show that cued recall of face–location associations is significantly higher following a 12-h retention interval containing sleep than following an equally long period of waking. Furthermore, retention is significantly higher over a 24-h sleep–wake interval than over an equally long wake–sleep interval. This difference occurs because retention during sleep was significantly better when sleep followed learning directly, rather than after a day of waking. These data demonstrate a beneficial effect of sleep on memory that cannot be explained solely as a consequence of reduced interference. Rather, our findings suggest a competitive consolidation process, in which the fate of a memory depends, at least in part, on its relative stability at sleep onset: Strong memories tend to be preserved, while weaker memories erode still further. An important aspect of memory consolidation may thus result from the removal of irrelevant memory “debris.
Mindwandering propensity modulates episodic memory consolidation
Research into strategies that can combat episodic memory decline in healthy older adults has gained widespread attention over the years. Evidence suggests that a short period of rest immediately after learning can enhance memory consolidation, as compared to engaging in cognitive tasks. However, a recent study in younger adults has shown that post-encoding engagement in a working memory task leads to the same degree of memory consolidation as from post-encoding rest. Here, we tested whether this finding can be extended to older adults. Using a delayed recognition test, we compared the memory consolidation of word–picture pairs learned prior to 9 min of rest or a 2-Back working memory task, and examined its relationship with executive functioning and mindwandering propensity. Our results show that (1) similar to younger adults, memory for the word–picture associations did not differ when encoding was followed by post-encoding rest or 2-Back task and (2) older adults with higher mindwandering propensity retained more word–picture associations encoded prior to rest relative to those encoded prior to the 2-Back task, whereas participants with lower mindwandering propensity had better memory performance for the pairs encoded prior to the 2-Back task. Overall, our results indicate that the degree of episodic memory consolidation during both active and passive post-encoding periods depends on individual mindwandering tendency
An energy scale directly related to superconductivity in the high- cuprate superconductors: Universality from the Fermi arc picture
We have performed a temperature dependent angle-resolved photoemission
spectroscopy (ARPES) study of the tri-layer high- cuprate superconductor
(HTSC) BiSrCaCuO (Bi2223), and have shown that
the \textquotedblleft effective\textquotedblright superconducting (SC) gap
defined at the end point of the Fermi arc and the (=
110 K) approximately satisfies the weak-coupling BCS-relationship
2 = 4.3. Combining this result with previous
ARPES results on single- and double-layer cuprates, we show that the
relationship between 2 = 4.3 holds for various
HTSCs. Furthermore, at , the quasi-patricle width at the end
point of the Fermi arc is found to coincide with , consistent
with the context of Planckian dissipation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Effect of electron-phonon coupling in the ARPES spectra of the tri-layer cuprate BiSrCaCuO
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy using tunable low energy photons
allows us to study the quasi-particle (QP) dispersions of the inner and outer
CuO2 planes (IP and OP) separately in the tri-layer cuprate
BiSrCaCuO (Bi2223). The kink energy of the OP
band is 70 meV, as observed in various high- cuprates, while that
of the IP band is as large as 100 meV in the superconducting (SC) state. This
large kink energy is attributed to the 35 meV buckling mode plus the
large ( 60 meV) SC gap of IP. The IP band also shows a weak kink feature
at 70 meV in the SC state. The latter feature can be explained either by the 70
meV half-breathing mode or by the 35 meV buckling-phonon mode plus the
40 meV SC gap of OP if interlayer scattering of QP is involved.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
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