Language Familiarity and Proficiency Leads to Differential Cortical Processing During Translation Between Distantly Related Languages

In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca, but learning it as a second language (L2) remains still difficult to speakers of other languages. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese. In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 and English as L2. These studies, which focused on language translation with close or moderate linguistic distance (LD), have suggested that the Broca area (BA 44/45) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 46) may play an important role on translation. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. The advanced group elicited greater activation on the left prefrontal cortex around the Broca’s area while translating words with low familiarity, but no activation was observed while translating words with high familiarity. On the other hand, the elementary group evoked greater activation on the left temporal area including the superior temporal gyrus (STG) irrespective of the word familiarity. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. These difference on the brain activation patterns between the advanced and elementary group may reflect the difference on the cognitive loads depending on the levels of automatization in one’s language processing.

Factores que Inciden en el Desempeño del Exani-II en la Ciudad de Aguascalientes

En este trabajo se reporta el resultado del análisis de testores realizado sobre los datos del examen EXANI-II aplicado en la ciudad de Aguascalientes en el año 2013 a 10903 sustentantes. El conjunto de datos fue pre-procesado y analizado mediante la técnica conocida como análisis de testores típicos, el cual arrojó un grupo de 6 constructos normalizados y 8 variables de la base de datos que originalmente se constituía de 98 atributos. Es interesante que aunque un buen elemento florece bajo cualquier entorno, este estudio encontró, entre otras cosas que existen planteles que logran un 100% de resultados sobresalientes o satisfactorios, mientras que otros obtienen un alto porcentaje de alumnos con resultado en la categoría de elemental. In this paper, the results of testors analysis applied to EXANI-II test are presented. The data corresponds to the 2013 application of this test, to 10903 students in the city of Aguascalientes. The data set was preprocessed and analyzed using the technique known as typical testor analysis, which identified a group of 6 standardized constructs and 8 variables of the database, which originally was constituted of 98 attributes. It is interesting that although a good element flourishes under any environment, this study found that among other things, there are schools that achieve 100% of outstanding or satisfactory results, while others get a high percentage of students with results in the elementary group.

Syntactic complexity in Iranian learners' English writing and speaking

<p>This study is aimed at demonstrating the use of syntactic complexity in Iranian learners’ English written and spoken discourse using quantitative-qualitative approach. To fulfill this purpose, forty-five female Iranian students from 3 branches of a private language institute in Mashhad were recruited. The subjects were divided into three groups based on Cambridge Placement Test results: elementary, intermediate, and advanced. All groups (each 15 participants) were asked to write a 200-word essay on a topic. Thereafter, the essays were examined manually for the T-units according to the classification used by the experts. In the follow-up phase of the study, participants were asked to attend an interview on the same topic of their writings to evaluate the usage of C-units in their speaking. The findings illustrate the fact that the most frequent element in macro level was clause in both writing and speaking, while in micro level, there were significant differences between elementary group &amp; intermediate group and between the elementary group and advanced group in writing skill and there was a significant difference between elementary group &amp; advanced group in using subordinate clauses in speaking. A future study investigating syntactic complexity in other skills such as reading would be very interesting.</p>

Mixed Moore Cayley Graphs

The degree-diameter problem seeks to find the largest possible number of vertices in a graph having given diameter and given maximum degree. There has been much recent interest in the problem for mixed graphs, where we allow both undirected edges and directed arcs in the graph. For a diameter 2 graph with maximum undirected degree r and directed out-degree z, a straightforward counting argument yields an upper bound M(z, r, 2) = (z+r)2+z+1 for the order of the graph. Apart from the case r = 1, the only three known examples of mixed graphs attaining this bound are Cayley graphs, and there are an infinite number of feasible pairs (r, z) where the existence of mixed Moore graphs with these parameters is unknown. We use a combination of elementary group-theoretical arguments and computational techniques to rule out the existence of further examples of mixed Cayley graphs attaining the Moore bound for all orders up to 485.

Generation of relative commutator subgroups in Chevalley groups

Let Φ be a reduced irreducible root system of rank greater than or equal to 2, let R be a commutative ring and let I, J be two ideals of R. In the present paper we describe generators of the commutator groups of relative elementary subgroups [E(Φ,R,I),E(Φ,R,J)] both as normal subgroups of the elementary Chevalley group E(Φ,R), and as groups. Namely, let xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ ξ ∈ R, be an elementary generator of E(Φ,R). As a normal subgroup of the absolute elementary group E(Φ,R), the relative elementary subgroup is generated by xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I. Classical results due to Stein, Tits and Vaserstein assert that as a group E(Φ,R,I) is generated by zα(ξ,η), where α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, η ∈ R. In the present paper, we prove the following birelative analogues of these results. As a normal subgroup of E(Φ,R) the relative commutator subgroup [E(Φ,R,I),E(Φ,R,J)] is generated by the following three types of generators: (i) [xα(ξ),zα(ζ,η)], (ii) [xα(ξ),x_α(ζ)] and (iii) xα(ξζ), where α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, ζ ∈ J, η ∈ R. As a group, the generators are essentially the same, only that type (iii) should be enlarged to (iv) zα(ξζ,η). For classical groups, these results, with many more computational proofs, were established in previous papers by the authors. There is already an amazing application of these results in the recent work of Stepanov on relative commutator width.