Brief multisensory training enhances second language vocabulary acquisition in both high and low performers

Research in the field of vocabulary acquisition has demonstrated that enriching novel words with sensorimotor information enhances memory outcome compared to reading. However, it has been asserted that enrichment might exceed the cognitive load of low performers and therefore be detrimental to them. Here, in a brief training, thirty-two subjects learned thirty novel items of a foreign language according to three conditions: (1) reading, (2) reading and listening, (3) reading and listening and watching an actress performing a gesture semantically related to the words. Conditions (2) and (3) enriched the baseline (1) with multisensory information. Memory performance was assessed through written tests immediately after learning. Results indicate that both high and low performers benefit from enrichment. The significant interaction between group and method in one of the tests shows that low performers learn better through enrichment than by only reading the words. Implications for education are discussed

Energy in one dimensional linear waves in a string

We consider the energy density and energy transfer in small amplitude, one-dimensional waves on a string, and find that the common expressions used in textbooks for the introductory physics with calculus course give wrong results for some cases, including standing waves. We discuss the origin of the problem, and how it can be corrected in a way appropriate for the introductory calculus based physics course.Comment: 5 page

An off-shell I.R. regularization strategy in the analysis of collinear divergences

We present a method for the analysis of singularities of Feynman amplitudes based on the Speer sector decomposition of the Schwinger parametric integrals combined with the Mellin-Barnes transform. The sector decomposition method is described in some details. We suggest the idea of applying the method to the analysis of collinear singularities in inclusive QCD cross sections in the mass-less limit regularizing the forward amplitudes by an off-shell choice of the initial particle momenta. It is shown how the suggested strategy works in the well known case of the one loop corrections to Deep Inelastic Scattering.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure

The ePetri dish, an on-chip cell imaging platform based on subpixel perspective sweeping microscopy (SPSM)

We report a chip-scale lensless wide-field-of-view microscopy imaging technique, subpixel perspective sweeping microscopy, which can render microscopy images of growing or confluent cell cultures autonomously. We demonstrate that this technology can be used to build smart Petri dish platforms, termed ePetri, for cell culture experiments. This technique leverages the recent broad and cheap availability of high performance image sensor chips to provide a low-cost and automated microscopy solution. Unlike the two major classes of lensless microscopy methods, optofluidic microscopy and digital in-line holography microscopy, this new approach is fully capable of working with cell cultures or any samples in which cells may be contiguously connected. With our prototype, we demonstrate the ability to image samples of area 6 mm × 4 mm at 660-nm resolution. As a further demonstration, we showed that the method can be applied to image color stained cell culture sample and to image and track cell culture growth directly within an incubator. Finally, we showed that this method can track embryonic stem cell differentiations over the entire sensor surface. Smart Petri dish based on this technology can significantly streamline and improve cell culture experiments by cutting down on human labor and contamination risks

Second harmonic generation on self-assembled GaAs/Au nanowires with thickness gradient

Here we investigated the SH generation at the wavelength of 400 nm (pump laser at 800 nm, 120 fs pulses) of a "metasurface" composed by an alternation of GaAs nano-grooves and Au nanowires capping portions of flat GaAs. The nano-grooves depth and the Au nanowires thickness gradually vary across the sample. The samples are obtained by ion bombardment at glancing angle on a 150 nm Au mask evaporated on a GaAs plane wafer. The irradiation process erodes anisotropically the surface, creating Au nanowires and, at high ion dose, grooves in the underlying GaAs substrate (pattern transfer). The SHG measurements are performed for different pump linear polarization angle at different positions on the "metasurface" in order to explore the regions with optimal conditions for SHG efficiency. The pump polarization angle is scanned by rotating a half-wave retarder plate. While the output SH signal in reflection is analyzed by setting the polarizer in s or p configuration in front of the detector. The best polarization condition for SHG is obtained in the configuration where the pump and second harmonic fields are both p polarized, and the experiments show a SH polarization dependence of the same symmetry of bulk GaAs. Thus, the presence of gold contributes only as field localization effect, but do not contributes directly as SH generator

Possible Clinical Failure of Artemether-Lumefantrine in an Italian Traveler with Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria.

Artemisinin-combination therapies (ACTs) are recommended for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in endemic areas with multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum. We report a case of possible artemether-lumefantrine clinical failure in an Italian traveler with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria imported from Democratic Republic of Congo

Data-Driven Constraint Handling in Multi-Objective Inductor Design

This paper analyses the multi-objective design of an inductor for a DC-DC buck converter. The core volume and total losses are the two competing objectives, which should be minimised while satisfying the design constraints on the required differential inductance profile and the maximum overheating. The multi-objective optimisation problem is solved by means of a population-based metaheuristic algorithm based on Artificial Immune Systems (AIS). Despite its effectiveness in finding the Pareto front, the algorithm requires the evaluation of many candidate solutions before converging. In the case of the inductor design problem, the evaluation of a configuration is time-consuming. In fact, a non-linear iterative technique (fixed point) is needed to obtain the differential inductance profile of the configuration, as it may operate in conditions of partial saturation. However, many configurations evaluated during an optimisation do not comply with the design constraint, resulting in expensive and unnecessary calculations. Therefore, this paper proposes the adoption of a data-driven surrogate model in a pre-selection phase of the optimisation. The adopted model should classify newly generated configurations as compliant or not with the design constraint. Configurations classified as unfeasible are disregarded, thus avoiding the computational burden of their complete evaluation. Interesting results have been obtained, both in terms of avoided configuration evaluations and the quality of the Pareto front found by the optimisation procedure

Alternative derivation of mean-field equations for composite fermions

La hamiltoniana que describe fermiones compuestos es presentada usualmente en forma fenomenológica, conociendo de antemano la forma funcional que se espera para describir tal sistema. En este trabajo, utilizando una lagrangiana de gauge no relativista U(1) × U(1) de electrones en un campo electromagnético, mostramos cómo obtener la hamiltoniana de campo medio que describe fermiones compuestos en 2+1 dimensiones en forma rigurosa. Además, comparamos estos resultados con los que obtenemos al considerar la inclusión de un término de masa topológica para el campo electromagnético en la lagrangiana.By assuming the expected functional form which describes composite fermions, the Hamiltonian is usually presented in a phenomenological way. In this paper, by using a U(1) × U(1) nonrelativistic gauge Lagrangian for electrons in an electromagnetic field, we show how to obtain the mean field Hamiltonian describing rigorously composite fermions in 2+1 dimensions. In addition, we compare these results with those obtained when considering the inclusion of a topological mass term for the electromagnetic field in the Lagrangian.Fil: Id Betan, Rodolfo Mohamed. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Manavella, Edmundo C.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Repetto, Carlos Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); Argentin

Observations of Site Amplification and Liquefaction in the Jun 23, 2001, Southern Peru Earthquake

The Mw 8.4 Southern Peru Earthquake of June 23, 2001 caused extensive damage in a widespread area in southern Peru and northern Chile, including several important population centers. Damage in some of these cities was correlated with local soil conditions and topography, suggesting the influence of local site amplification effects in damage distributions. The earthquake caused numerous instances of other types of geotechnical related ground failures, including liquefaction and lateral spreads in river valleys, seismic compression of highway fills, and slope failures. This work focuses on case histories documenting site amplification and liquefaction in the Southern Peru earthquake. Among the liquefaction events observed in this earthquake, the liquefaction of a heap-leach pad is the first reported failure of its type in a seismic event