The function of Shp2 tyrosine phosphatase in the dispersal of acetylcholine receptor clusters

Background

Tone languages such as Thai and Mandarin Chinese use differences in fundamental frequency (F₀, pitch) to distinguish lexical meaning. Previous behavioral studies have shown that native speakers of a non-tone language have difficulty discriminating among tone contrasts and are sensitive to different F₀ dimensions than speakers of a tone language. The aim of the present ERP study was to investigate the effect of language background and training on the non-attentive processing of lexical tones. EEG was recorded from 12 adult native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, 12 native speakers of American English, and 11 Thai speakers while they were watching a movie and were presented with multiple tokens of low-falling, mid-level and high-rising Thai lexical tones. High-rising or low-falling tokens were presented as deviants among mid-level standard tokens, and vice versa. EEG data and data from a behavioral discrimination task were collected before and after a two-day perceptual categorization training task.

Results

Behavioral discrimination improved after training in both the Chinese and the English groups. Low-falling tone deviants versus standards elicited a mismatch negativity (MMN) in all language groups. Before, but not after training, the English speakers showed a larger MMN compared to the Chinese, even though English speakers performed worst in the behavioral tasks. The MMN was followed by a late negativity, which became smaller with improved discrimination. The High-rising deviants versus standards elicited a late negativity, which was left-lateralized only in the English and Chinese groups.

Conclusion

Results showed that native speakers of English, Chinese and Thai recruited largely similar mechanisms when non-attentively processing Thai lexical tones. However, native Thai speakers differed from the Chinese and English speakers with respect to the processing of late F₀ contour differences (high-rising versus mid-level tones). In addition, native speakers of a non-tone language (English) were initially more sensitive to F₀ onset differences (low-falling versus mid-level contrast), which was suppressed as a result of training. This result converges with results from previous behavioral studies and supports the view that attentive as well as non-attentive processing of F₀ contrasts is affected by language background, but is malleable even in adult learners.     

Performance prediction of passive time reversal communications

A recent paper [M. Stojanovic J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 1173-1185 (2005)] presented theoretical performance bounds of time reversal communications. In this letter, the performance of time reversal communications is evaluated using at-sea experimental data and compared to the theory for two different approaches; (1) time reversal alone and (2) time reversal combined with channel equalization. It is found that approach (1) shows a good agreement between theory and data. On the other hand, approach (2) indicates that the data is about 3-5 dB below the theory which assumes perfect knowledge of the channel, an infinite number of taps to remove the intersymbol interference, and no need for phase tracking. Taking these into consideration, the theoretical performance can provide a useful upper bound for predicting performance of time reversal communications.     

Secondary ion yields produced by keV atomic and polyatomic ion impacts on a self-assembled monolayer surface

A suite of keV polyatomic or 'cluster' projectiles was used to bombard unoxidized and oxidized self-assembled monolayer surfaces. Negative secondary ion yields, collected at the limit of single ion impacts, were measured and compared for both molecular and fragment ions. In contrast to targets that are orders of magnitude thicker than the penetration range of the primary ions, secondary ion yields from polyatomic projectile impacts on self-assembled monolayers show little to no enhancement when compared with monatomic projectiles at the same velocity. This unusual trend is most likely due to the structural arrangement and bonding characteristics of the monolayer molecules with the Au(111). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electron transfer driven by proton fluctuations in a hydrogen-bonded donor-acceptor assembly

The temperature-isotope dependence of proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) for a noncovalent molecular dyad is reported. The system consists of an excited-state Zn(II) porphyrin that transfers an electron to a naphthalene diimide acceptor through an amidinium-carboxylate interface. Two different isotope effects are observed for variant temperature regimes. A reverse isotope effect (i.e., kH/kD < 1) is observed as T approaches 120 K (kH/kD = 0.9, 120 K), whereas a normal isotope effect (i.e., kH/kD > 1) is recovered as the temperature is increased (kH/kD = 1.2, 300 K). The transition between these limits is smooth, with a crossover temperature of T approximately 160 K. These observations are in accordance with charge-transfer dynamics that are susceptible to bath-induced fluctuations in the proton coordinate.     

Charge recombination in organic photovoltaic devices with high open-circuit voltages

A detailed charge recombination mechanism is presented for organic photovoltaic devices with a high open-circuit voltage. In a binary blend comprised of polyfluorene copolymers, the performance-limiting process is found to be the efficient recombination of tightly bound charge pairs into neutral triplet excitons. We arrive at this conclusion using optical transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy with visible and IR probes and over seven decades of time resolution. By resolving the polarization of the TA signal, we track the movement of polaronic states generated at the heterojunction not only in time but also in space. It is found that the photogenerated charge pairs are remarkably immobile at the heterojunction during their lifetime. The charge pairs are shown to be subject to efficient intersystem crossing and terminally recombine into F8BT triplet excitons within approximately 40 ns. Long-range charge separation competes rather unfavorably with intersystem crossing--75% of all charge pairs decay into triplet excitons. Triplet exciton states are thermodynamically accessible in polymer solar cells with high open circuit voltage, and we therefore suggest this loss mechanism to be general. We discuss guidelines for the design of the next generation of organic photovoltaic materials where separating the metastable interfacial charge pairs within approximately 40 ns is paramount.     

Matched-field replica model optimization and bottom property inversion in shallow water

Matched-field replica models based on an inaccurate knowledge of geoacoustic parameters such as bottom attenuation, shear, and interfacial sound-speed discontinuities, can predict an incorrect number of propagating modes for a shallow-water channel. The resulting degradation in the matched-field ambiguity surface can be substantially reduced by obtaining optimal replica models via modal-sum-limit optimization or bottom-property inversion. The use of these techniques for multi-tone (70, 95, 145, and 195 Hz) source-tow data recorded near San Diego during the first Shallow-Water Evaluation Cell Experiment (SWellEX-1) significantly increased matched-field correlation levels and improved source localization relative to results obtained with a previous nonoptimized model. The predicted number of propagating modes was also reduced substantially. The inversion for bottom properties (attenuation, interfacial sound-speed discontinuities, no shear) provided sediment attenuation estimates which agree well with Hamilton's models and were an order-of-magnitude greater than that used in the nonoptimized model, which accounts for the reduction in the number of modes. A simulated modal decomposition using the inverted optimal replica model verifies the number of modes predicted by the modal-sum-limit optimization.     

Multi-carrier synthetic aperture communication in shallow water: experimental results

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications in the presence of motion is investigated using data collected from the Kauai Acomms MURI 2008 (KAM08) experiment, conducted off the western side of Kauai, Hawaii, in June-July 2008. The experiment involved a vertical array moored in 106 m deep shallow water and a source towed at a speed of 3 knots at ranges between 600 m and 6 km. In order to attain reliable communications with only a single receive element, a synthetic aperture approach is applied. After combining multiple transmissions, an error-free reception is achieved with a low-density parity-check code, confirming the feasibility of coherent synthetic aperture communications using OFDM.     

Stochastic channel simulator based on local scattering functions

This letter addresses the limitations of the stochastic channel simulation approach employed in wireless channels when directly applied to underwater channels. First it is shown analytically why the simulation method fails when the correlated taps each have a different Doppler spectrum. Then, based on the idea of local scattering functions, we propose a simple solution to the problem of simulating a channel with correlated taps where the correlated taps occur in subgroups with each of the subgroups having a different Doppler spectrum, applicable to underwater channels. Our simulation approach is tested successfully on the KAM08 channel.     

Long-range acoustic communication in deep water using a towed array

In September 2010 a long-range acoustic communication (LRAC10) experiment was carried out in deep water off the Southern California Coast. The experiment involved two mobile components: (1) a source towed slowly at a speed of 2-3 knots at ～75-m depth and (2) a horizontal line array towed at 3.5 knots at a depth of ～200 m. Phase-coherent communication sequences were transmitted in the frequency band of 200-300 Hz at various ranges (100-700 km). Initial analysis of the LRAC10 data demonstrates that an information rate of 50 bits/s can be achieved over ～550-km range using quadrature-phase shift-keying (QPSK) modulation and error-correction coding combined with beamforming.