Neologistic jargon aphasia and agraphia in primary progressive aphasia

The terms 'jargon aphasia' and 'jargon agraphia' describe the production of incomprehensible language containing frequent phonological, semantic or neologistic errors in speech and writing, respectively. Here we describe two patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) who produced neologistic jargon either in speech or writing. We suggest that involvement of the posterior superior temporal-inferior parietal region may lead to a disconnection between stored lexical representations and language output pathways leading to aberrant activation of phonemes in neologistic jargon. Parietal lobe involvement is relatively unusual in PPA, perhaps accounting for the comparative rarity of jargon early in the course of these diseases. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The logic of p-values

Wagenmakers et al. addressed the illogic use of p-values in 'Psychological Science under Scrutiny'. While historical criticisms mostly deal with the illogical nature of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), Wagenmakers et al. generalize such argumentation to the p-value itself. Unfortunately, Wagenmakers et al. misinterpret the formal logic basis of tests of significance (and, by extension, of tests of acceptance). This article highlights three instances where such logical interpretation fails and provides plausible corrections and further clarification

The dome: An unexpectedly simple failure of determinism

Newton's equations of motion tell us that a mass at rest at the apex of a dome with the shape specified here can spontaneously move. It has been suggested that this indeterminism should be discounted since it draws on an incomplete rendering of Newtonian physics, or it is "unphysical," or it employs illicit idealizations. I analyze and reject each of these reasons. Copyright 2008 by the Philosophy of Science Association. All rights reserved

Metal-ligand pair anisotropy in a series of mononuclear Er-COT complexes.

Synthetic control of the crystal field has elevated lanthanides to the forefront of single-molecule magnet (SMM) research, yet the resultant strong, predictable single-ion anisotropy has thus far not translated into equally impressive molecule-based magnets of higher dimensionality. This roadblock arises from the dual demands made of the crystal field: generate anisotropy and facilitate magnetic coupling. Here we demonstrate that particular metal-ligand pairs can dominate the single-ion electronic structure so fully that the remaining coordination sphere plays a minimal role in the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic anisotropy. This Metal-Ligand Pair Anisotropy (MLPA) effectively separates the crystal field into discrete components dedicated to anisotropy and magnetic coupling. To demonstrate an MLPA building unit, we synthesized four new mononuclear complexes that challenge the electronic structure of the iconic lanthanocene ([Ln(COT)2]+; COT2- = cyclooctatetraene dianion) complex which is known to generate strong anisotropy with Ln = Er3+. Variation in symmetry and coordination strength for Er(COT)I(THF)2 (THF = tetrahydrofuran) (1), Er(COT)I(Py)2 (Py = pyridine) (2), Er(COT)I(MeCN)2 (MeCN = acetonitrile) (3), and Er(COT)(Tp*) (Tp* = tris(3,5-dimethyl-1-pyrazolyl)borate) (4) shows that the Er-COT unit stabilizes anisotropy despite deliberate de-optimization. All four half-sandwich complexes display SMM behavior with effective energy barriers of U eff = 95.6(9), 102.9(3.1), 107.1(1.3), and 133.6(2.2) cm-1 for 1-4 by a multi-relaxation-process fitting. More importantly, the basic state splittings remain intact and the anisotropy axes are within several degrees of normal to the COT2- ring according to complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) calculations. Further investigation of the MLPA conceptual framework is warranted as it can provide building units with well-defined magnetic orientation and strength. We envision that the through-barrier processes observed herein, such as quantum tunneling, can be mitigated by formation of larger clusters and molecule-based materials

There are no universal rules for induction

In a material theory of induction, inductive inferences are warranted by facts that prevail locally. This approach, it is urged, is preferable to formal theories of induction in which the good inductive inferences are delineated as those conforming to universal schemas. An inductive inference problem concerning indeterministic, nonprobabilistic systems in physics is posed, and it is argued that Bayesians cannot responsibly analyze it, thereby demonstrating that the probability calculus is not the universal logic of induction. Copyright 2010 by the Philosophy of Science Association.All right reserved

Integrability of the hyperbolic reduced Maxwell-Bloch equations for strongly correlated Bose-Einstein condensates

We derive and study the hyperbolic reduced Maxwell-Bloch equations (HRMB) which acts as a simplified model for the dynamics of strongly correlated Bose-Einstein condensates. A proof of their integrability is found by the derivation of a Lax pair which is valid for both the hyperbolic and standard cases of the reduced Maxwell-Bloch equations. The origin of the latter lies in quantum optics. We derive explicit solutions of the HRMB equations that correspond to kinks propagating on the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). These solutions are different from Gross-Pitaevskii solitons because the nonlinearity of the HRMB equations arises from the interaction of the BEC and excited atoms