If language comprehension requires a sensorimotor simulation, how can abstract language be comprehended? We show that preparation to respond in an upward or downward direction affects comprehension of the abstract quantifiers “more and more” and “less and less” as indexed by an N400-like component. Conversely, the semantic content of the sentence affects the motor potential measured immediately before the upward or downward action is initiated. We propose that this bidirectional link between motor system and language arises because the motor system implements forward models that predict the sensory consequences of actions. Because the same movement (e.g., raising the arm) can have multiple forward models for different contexts, the models can make different predictions depending on whether the arm is raised, for example, to place an object or raised as a threat. Thus, different linguistic contexts invoke different forward models, and the predictions constitute different understandings of the language.
The goal of the present study was to test opposing views about four issues concerning predictors of individual differences in Chinese written composition: (a) Whether morphological awareness, syntactic processing, and working memory represent distinct and measureable constructs in Chinese or are just manifestations of general language ability; (b) whether they are important predictors of Chinese written composition, and if so, the relative magnitudes and independence of their predictive relations; (c) whether observed predictive relations are mediated by text comprehension; and (d) whether these relations vary or are developmentally invariant across three years of writing development. Based on analyses of the performance of students in grades 4 (n = 246), 5 (n = 242) and 6 (n = 261), the results supported morphological awareness, syntactic processing, and working memory as distinct yet correlated abilities that made independent contributions to predicting Chinese written composition, with working memory as the strongest predictor. However, predictive relations were mediated by text comprehension. The final model accounted for approximately 75 percent of the variance in Chinese written composition. The results were largely developmentally invariant across the three grades from which participants were drawn.
To examine the importance of manual character writing to reading in a new writing system, 48 adult Chinese-as-a-foreign-language students were taught characters in either a character writing-to-read or an alphabet typing-to-read condition, and engaged in corresponding handwriting or typing training for five consecutive days. Prior knowledge of orthography and phonology was assessed before training. At the end of each training day, improved orthographic quality was assessed via increased skill in producing Chinese characters at both the component and global levels. In addition, pretests and posttests were administered at each training day, and the proportional changes were used as the measure of learning gains. Outcomes replicated earlier findings of improved phonological knowledge following pinyin-typing practice and improved semantic knowledge following handwriting practice. Improvement in handwriting quality played a significant role in predicting reading gains after controlling for prior knowledge.
We prove some existence results for the fractional Yamabe problem in the case that the boundary manifold is umbilic, thus covering some of the cases not considered by González and Qing. These are inspired by the work of Coda-Marques on the boundary Yamabe problem but, in addition, a careful understanding of the behavior at infinity for asymptotically hyperbolic metrics is required.
We present an investigation on introducing core-shell Au@PVP nanoparticles (NPs) into dye-sensitized solar cells. As a novel core-shell NPs structure, Au@PVP present not only the chemical stability to iodide/triiodide electrolyte, but also the adhesiveness to dye molecules, which could help to localize most of dye molecules around plasmonic NPs, hence increasing the optical absorption consequently the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device. We obtain a PCE enhancement of 30% from 3.3% to 4.3% with incorporation of Au@PVP NPs. Moreover, the device performance with different concentration of Au@PVP NPs from 0 to 12.5 wt% has been studied, and we draw the conclusion that the performance of DSCs could be well improved through enhancing the light absorption by local surface plasmon (LSP) effect from Au@PVP NPs with an optimized concentration.
We present an investigation on utilizing plasmonic aluminium (Al) nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance the optical absorption of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The Al NPs exhibit not only the light absorption enhancement in solar cells with localized surface plasmon (LSP) effect but also the chemical stability to iodide/triiodide electrolyte. Besides, the lower work function (~4.06 eV), compared with that of TiO(2) (~4.6 eV), may suppress the quenching processes, such as charge transfer to metal NPs, to reduce the loss. Thus, high concentration of Al NPs could be incorporated into the TiO(2) anodes, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSCs is improved by nearly 13%. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) characterization also indicates that the plasmonic DSCs with Al NPs present better electrochemical performance than regular ones, which contributes to the improvement of PCE of the device.
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