Children's perception and understanding of ambiguous figures

Abstract Background Research has shown that people need to be pre-informed about the ambiguity in order to perceive both interpretations (reverse) of an ambiguous figure. Children younger than 4 years mostly do not experience reversal even when informed. This suggests that the processes involved in reversal develop at this age. Aim The aim of the studies reported here was to disentangle the cognitive processes (metarepresentation, executive function, mental imagery) and the role of eye-movements involved in reversal. Method Four studies (7 experiments), each involving around sixty 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children, using multiple tasks, were conducted. The primary tasks used were the Ambiguous Figures Production and Reversal tasks. The secondary tasks used were metacognitive, executive function and mental imagery tasks. New tasks were also implemented in order to assess reversal abilities. Results Between the ages of 3 and 4 children develop the basic conceptual understanding for reversal (Study 1), that an ambiguous figure can have two interpretations. This is associated with the understanding of false belief, synonymy and homonymy. Between the ages of 4 and 5 children develop inhibitory (Study 3) and image generation abilities (Study 4). These are key cognitive processes necessary for reversal. Contrary to previous research, when task demands were changed (Reversal Task Revised) children’s reversal is at ceiling by the age of 5 (Studies 3 and 4). Eye-tracking data suggests that appropriate eye-movements, focusing on particular parts of the ambiguous figure, are not a primary causal factor in the development of reversal abilities (Study 4). Conclusion The ability to reverse develops in two stages. During stage 1 (between 3 and 4 years) children develop the necessary conceptual understanding that an ambiguous figure can have two interpretations (top-down knowledge). During stage 2 (between 4 and 5 years) children develop the necessary cognitive processes for reversal to occur (inhibition and image generation)

Coulomb dissociation of N 20,21

Neutron-rich light nuclei and their reactions play an important role in the creation of chemical elements. Here, data from a Coulomb dissociation experiment on N20,21 are reported. Relativistic N20,21 ions impinged on a lead target and the Coulomb dissociation cross section was determined in a kinematically complete experiment. Using the detailed balance theorem, the N19(n,γ)N20 and N20(n,γ)N21 excitation functions and thermonuclear reaction rates have been determined. The N19(n,γ)N20 rate is up to a factor of 5 higher at

Exclusive measurements of quasi-free proton scattering reactions in inverse and complete kinematics

Quasi-free scattering reactions of the type (p, 2p) were measured for the first time exclusively in complete and inverse kinematics, using a 12C beam at an energy of ∼400 MeV/u as a benchmark. This new technique has been developed to study the single-particle structure of exotic nuclei in experiments with radioactive-ion beams. The outgoing pair of protons and the fragments were measured simultaneously, enabling an unambiguous identification of the reaction channels and a redundant measurement of the kinematic observables. Both valence and deeply-bound nucleon orbits are probed, including those leading to unbound states of the daughter nucleus. Exclusive (p, 2p) cross sections of 15.8(18) mb, 1.9(2) mb and 1.5(2) mb to the low-lying 0p-hole states overlapping with the ground state (3/2−) and with the bound excited states of 11B at 2.125 MeV (1/2−) and 5.02 MeV (3/2−), respectively, were determined via γ -ray spectroscopy. Particle-unstable deep-hole states, corresponding to proton removal from the 0s-orbital, were studied via the invariant-mass technique. Cross sections and momentum distributions were extracted and compared to theoretical calculations employing the eikonal formalism. The obtained results are in a good agreement with this theory and with direct-kinematics experiments. The dependence of the proton–proton scattering kinematics on the internal momentum of the struck proton and on its separation energy was investigated for the first time in inverse kinematics employing a large-acceptance measurement

Structure of ¹³Be studied in proton knockout from ¹⁴B

The neutron-unbound isotope 13Be has been studied in several experiments using different reactions, different projectile energies, and different experimental setups. There is, however, no real consensus in the interpretation of the data, in particular concerning the structure of the low-lying excited states. Gathering new experimental information, which may reveal the 13Be structure, is a challenge, particularly in light of its bridging role between 12Be, where the N = 8 neutron shell breaks down, and the Borromean halo nucleus 14Be. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of bound excited states in the reaction product 12Be after proton knockout from 14B, by measuring coincidences between 12Be, neutrons, and γ rays originating from de-excitation of states fed by neutron decay of 13Be. The 13Be isotopes were produced in proton knockout from a 400 MeV/nucleon 14B beam impinging on a CH2 target. The 12 Be-n relative-energy spectrum d σ /d Ef n was obtained from coincidences between 12Be(g.s.) and a neutron, and also as threefold coincidences by adding γ rays, from the de-excitation of excited states in 12Be. Neutron decay from the first 5/2+ state in 13Be to the 2+ state in 12Be at 2.11 MeV is confirmed. An energy independence of the proton-knockout mechanism is found from a comparison with data taken with a 35 MeV/nucleon 14B beam. A low-lying p-wave resonance in 13Be(1/2−) is confirmed by comparing proton- and neutron-knockout data from 14B and 14Be

Nuclear astrophysics with radioactive ions at FAIR

The nucleosynthesis of elements beyond iron is dominated by neutron captures in the s and r processes. However, 32 stable, proton-rich isotopes cannot be formed during those processes, because they are shielded from the s-process flow and r-process β-decay chains. These nuclei are attributed to the p and rp process. For all those processes, current research in nuclear astrophysics addresses the need for more precise reaction data involving radioactive isotopes. Depending on the particular reaction, direct or inverse kinematics, forward or time-reversed direction are investigated to determine or at least to constrain the desired reaction cross sections. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) will offer unique, unprecedented opportunities to investigate many of the important reactions. The high yield of radioactive isotopes, even far away from the valley of stability, allows the investigation of isotopes involved in processes as exotic as the r or rp processes

Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used