Preliminary experiments on human sensitivity to rhythmic structure in a grammar with recursive self-similarity

We present the first rhythm detection experiment using a Lindenmayer grammar, a self-similar recursive grammar shown previously to be learnable by adults using speech stimuli. Results show that learners were unable to correctly accept or reject grammatical and ungrammatical strings at the group level, although five (of 40) participants were able to do so with detailed instructions before the exposure phase

Master crossover functions for the one-component fluid "subclass"

Introducing three well-defined dimensionless numbers, we establish the link between the scale dilatation method able to estimate master (i.e. unique) singular behaviors of the one-component fluid "subclass" and the universal crossover functions recently estimated [Garrabos and Bervillier, Phys. Rev. E 74, 021113 (2006)] from the bounded results of the massive renormalization scheme applied to the..

Models linking production and comprehension

To what extent are linguistic representations shared between production and comprehension? What is the nature of the links between production and comprehension processes? In this chapter, we provide an introduction to those models that incorporate explicit assumptions about the degree of sharing and review some supporting evidence. We show that full sharing of representations is uncontroversial only for semantics and syntax, while there is mixed evidence over the degree of overlapping at the level of phonological and phonetic representations. We then propose a taxonomy of production‐comprehension links, ranging from long‐term to fast‐acting. To conclude, we advocate more explicit theorizing about the relationship between language production and language comprehension

Effects of patch size and number within a simple model of patchy colloids

We report on a computer simulation and integral equation study of a simple model of patchy spheres, each of whose surfaces is decorated with two opposite attractive caps, as a function of the fraction $\chi$ of covered attractive surface. The simple model explored --- the two-patch Kern-Frenkel model --- interpolates between a square-well and a hard-sphere potential on changing the coverage $\chi$. We show that integral equation theory provides quantitative predictions in the entire explored region of temperatures and densities from the square-well limit $\chi = 1.0$ down to $\chi \approx 0.6$. For smaller $\chi$, good numerical convergence of the equations is achieved only at temperatures larger than the gas-liquid critical point, where however integral equation theory provides a complete description of the angular dependence. These results are contrasted with those for the one-patch case. We investigate the remaining region of coverage via numerical simulation and show how the gas-liquid critical point moves to smaller densities and temperatures on decreasing $\chi$. Below $\chi \approx 0.3$, crystallization prevents the possibility of observing the evolution of the line of critical points, providing the angular analog of the disappearance of the liquid as an equilibrium phase on decreasing the range for spherical potentials. Finally, we show that the stable ordered phase evolves on decreasing $\chi$ from a three-dimensional crystal of interconnected planes to a two-dimensional independent-planes structure to a one-dimensional fluid of chains when the one-bond-per-patch limit is eventually reached.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, J. Chem. Phys. in pres

Singular Coexistence-curve Diameters: Experiments and Simulations

Precise calculations of the coexistence-curve diameters of a hard-core square-we ll (HCSW) fluid and the restricted primitive model (RPM) electrolyte exhibit mar ked deviations from rectilinear behavior. The HCSW diameter displays a $|t|^{1- alpha}$ singularity that sets in sharply for $|t|\equiv |T-T_c|/T_c\lesssim 10^{-3}$; this compares favorably with extensive data for ${SF}_6$, also reflec ted in C$_2$H$_6$, N$_2$, etc. By contrast, the curvature of the RPM diameter va ries slowly over a wide range $|t|\lesssim 0.1$; this behavior mirrors observati ons for liquid alkali metals, specifically Rb and Cs. Amplitudes for the leading singular terms can be estimated numerically but their values cannot be taken li terally.Comment: 9 pages and 4 figure

Existence of a critical point in the phase diagram of the ideal relativistic neutral Bose gas

We explore the phase transitions of the ideal relativistic neutral Bose gas confined in a cubic box, without assuming the thermodynamic limit nor continuous approximation. While the corresponding non-relativistic canonical partition function is essentially a one-variable function depending on a particular combination of temperature and volume, the relativistic canonical partition function is genuinely a two-variable function of them. Based on an exact expression of the canonical partition function, we performed numerical computations for up to hundred thousand particles. We report that if the number of particles is equal to or greater than a critical value, which amounts to 7616, the ideal relativistic neutral Bose gas features a spinodal curve with a critical point. This enables us to depict the phase diagram of the ideal Bose gas. The consequent phase transition is first-order below the critical pressure or second-order at the critical pressure. The exponents corresponding to the singularities are 1/2 and 2/3 respectively. We also verify the recently observed `Widom line' in the supercritical region.Comment: 1+25 pages, 6 B/W figures: Comment on the Widom line added. Minor improvement. Version to appear in `New Journal of Physics

Are language production problems apparent in adults who no longer meet diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?

In this study, we examined sentence production in a sample of adults (N = 21) who had had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as children, but as adults no longer met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria (APA, 2000). This “remitted” group was assessed on a sentence production task. On each trial, participants saw two objects and a verb. Their task was to construct a sentence using the objects as arguments of the verb. Results showed more ungrammatical and disfluent utterances with one particular type of verb (i.e., participle). In a second set of analyses, we compared the remitted group to both control participants and a “persistent” group, who had ADHD as children and as adults. Results showed that remitters were more likely to produce ungrammatical utterances and to make repair disfluencies compared to controls, and they patterned more similarly to ADHD participants. Conclusions focus on language output in remitted ADHD, and the role of executive functions in language production

Three Way Comparison between Two OMI/Aura and One POLDER/PARASOL Cloud Pressure Products

The cloud pressures determined by three different algorithms, operating on reflectances measured by two space-borne instruments in the "A" train, are compared with each other. The retrieval algorithms are based on absorption in the oxygen A-band near 760 nm, absorption by a collision induced absorption in oxygen near 477nm, and the filling in of Fraunhofer lines by rotational Raman scattering. The first algorithm operates on data collected by the POLDER instrument on board PARASOL, while the latter two operate on data from the OMI instrument on board Aura. The satellites sample the same air mass within about 15 minutes. Using one month of data, the cloud pressures from the three algorithms are found to show a similar behavior, with correlation coefficients larger than 0.85 between the data sets for thick clouds. The average differences in the cloud pressure are also small, between 2 and 45 hPa, for the whole data set. For optically thin to medium thick clouds, the cloud pressure the distribution found by POLDER is very similar to that found by OMI using the O2 - O2 absorption. Somewhat larger differences are found for very thick clouds, and we hypothesise that the strong absorption in the oxygen A-band causes the POLDER instrument to retrieve lower pressures for those scenes

Free Energy Minimizers for a Two--Species Model with Segregation and Liquid-Vapor Transition

We study the coexistence of phases in a two--species model whose free energy is given by the scaling limit of a system with long range interactions (Kac potentials) which are attractive between particles of the same species and repulsive between different species.Comment: 32 pages, 1 fig, plain tex, typeset twic

In Support of the Matrix Language Frame Model: Evidence from Igbo-English Intrasentential Codeswitching

This paper explores the morphosyntactic features of mixed nominal expressions in a sample of empirical Igbo-English intrasentential codeswitching data (i.e. codeswitching within a bilingual clause) in terms of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model. Since both Igbo and English differ in the relative order of head and complement within the nominal argument phrase, the analysed data seem appropriate for testing the veracity of the principal assumption underpinning the MLF model: the notion that the two languages (in our case Igbo and English) participating in codeswitching do not both contribute equally to the morphosyntactic frame of a mixed constituent. As it turns out, the findings provide both empirical and quantitative support for the basic theoretical view that there is a Matrix Language (ML) versus Embedded Language (EL) hierarchy in classic codeswitching as predicted by the MLF model because both Igbo and English do not simultaneously satisfy the roles of the ML in Igbo-English codeswitching