Text Difficulty,Working Memory Capacity and Mind Wandering During Chinese EFL Learners’Reading

This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.

Influence of Working Memory Capacity on the Frequency of Self-Repairs

This article explored the influence of working memory capacity on the frequency of self-repairs.The narrative task and listening span task were used.Twenty post-graduate students participated in this study.Overall,the results of this study illustrated that the working memory is a factor of self-repairs.Speakers who have higher working memory capacity produce lesser self-repairs.This finding provides teachers with a new insight into second language teaching;that is,teachers can improve the amount of lexical knowledge when teaching students who have lower working memory in order to help them produce more accurate language during the process of L2 speech production.

Supercritical carbon dioxide as a new working medium for pneumatic launch:A theoretical study

Compared with the conventionally gaseous or liquid working media,the specific internal energy of supercritical carbon dioxide(SCD)is higher at the same temperature and pressure,and the critical temperature of carbon dioxide is close to room temperature,making SCD a potential new working medium for pneumatic launch.To analyze the feasibility of this conception,an analytical model of a pneumatic catapult is established on basis of the conservations of mass and energy.The model consists of a high-pressure chamber and a low-pressure chamber connected by multiple valves,and there is a movable piston in the low-pressure chamber that can push an aircraft to accelerate.The effects of the launch readiness state of SCD in the high-pressure chamber,the initial volume of the low-pressure chamber and the valve control on the movement of the aircraft are analyzed.It is found that there is a restrictive relation between the temperature and pressure of the launch readiness state of SCD,i.e.,there is a maximum allowable launch readiness pressure when the launch readiness temperature is fixed.If this restrictive relation is not satisfied,the working medium in the low-pressure chamber will drop to its triple point within a few milliseconds,leading to a launch failure.Owing to this restrictive relation,there is an optimal launch readiness state of SCD with the highest working capacity for any allowable launch readiness temperature.The pressure of the low-pressure chamber will decrease significantly as the initial volume increases,leading to a decreased acceleration of the aircraft.The acceleration can be controlled below a critical value by a designed sequential blasting technique of multiple valves.The calculated results show that a 500 kg aircraft can be accelerated from 0 to 58 m/s in 0.9 s with 36 kg of carbon dioxide.This research provides a new technique for the controllable cold launch of an aircraft.

Mismatch negativity,social cognition,and functional outcomes in patients after traumatic brain injury

Mismatch negativity is generated automatically, and is an early monitoring indicator of neuronal integrity impairment and functional abnormality in patients with brain injury, leading to decline of cognitive function. Antipsychotic medication cannot affect mismatch negativity. The present study aimed to explore the relationships of mismatch negativity with neurocognition, daily life and social functional outcomes in patients after brain injury. Twelve patients with traumatic brain injury and 12 healthy controls were recruited in this study. We examined neurocogni-tion with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised China, and daily and social functional outcomes with the Activity of Daily Living Scale and Social Disability Screening Schedule, re-spectively. Mismatch negativity was analyzed from electroencephalogram recording. The results showed that mismatch negativity amplitudes decreased in patients with traumatic brain injury compared with healthy controls. Mismatch negativity amplitude was negatively correlated with measurements of neurocognition and positively correlated with functional outcomes in patients after traumatic brain injury. Further, the most signiifcant positive correlations were found be-tween mismatch negativity in the fronto-central region and measures of functional outcomes. The most signiifcant positive correlations were also found between mismatch negativity at the FCz electrode and daily living function. Mismatch negativity amplitudes were extremely positive-ly associated with Social Disability Screening Schedule scores at the Fz electrode in brain injury patients. These experimental ifndings suggest that mismatch negativity might efifciently relfect functional outcomes in patients after traumatic brain injury.

OPTIMUM DESIGN OF HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE TRACTION GEAR

On the basis of deep investigation of locomotive traction gears manufactured at home and abroad , a variety of measures are putted forward to improve the driving load-bearing capacity and working life of our country's high-speed locomotive traction gears. The measures include the fol- lowing five aspects : optimally selecting the material and heat treatment process , optimally designing the tooth profile . reasonably choosing the manufacture accuracy and technique , optimally choosing the lubricant and the way of lubrication and seal , improving the dynamic feature of the gearing. In the respect of the tooth profile , a hob with optimal cutter angles is designed to make root thickness on the dangerous section as large as possible and the stress concentration as small as possible. Ad- dendum modification coefficient is optimized to minimize the maximum flash temperature in the course of meshing. Finally . finite element analysis method is used to calculate the deformation and the stress of teeth accurately. And on this basis , optimal profile correction and axial modification have been designed with regard to the start , continuious running and high speed travel of the loco- motive .

STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORKING MEMORY AND EFL LISTENING COMPREHENSION

The present study intends to investigate the effect of working memory on listening process and its relationship with listening comprehension.The results indicate that working memory is an effective predictor for EFL listening comprehension,i.e.learners with larger working memory capacity are more likely to have better abilities in listening comprehension,and that although L1 working memory span is significantly correlated with L2 working memory span,L2 working memory span plays a more effective role in differentiating learners' EFL listening comprehension.Additionally,this study provides some pedagogical implications on EFL teaching.

Climate change induced heat stress impact on workplace productivity in a net zero-carbon timber building towards the end of the century

Changing climate intensifies heat stress,resulting in a greater risk of workplace productivity decline in timber office buildings with low internal thermal mass.The impact of climate change induced heat exposure on indoor workplace productivity in timber office buildings has not been extensively researched.Therefore,further investigation to reduce the work capacity decline towards the end of the century is needed.Here,heat exposure in a net zero-carbon timber building near Brussels,Belgium,was evaluated using a reproducible comparative approach with different internal thermal mass levels.The analysis indicated that strategies with increased thermal mass were more effective in limiting the effects of heat exposure on workplace productivity.The medium and high thermal mass strategies reduced workplace productivity loss to 0.1%in the current,0.3%and 0.2%in the midfuture,and 4.9%and 3.9%for future scenarios.In comparison,baseline with low thermal mass yielded a decline of 2.3%,3.3%,and 8.2%.The variation in maximum and minimum wet-bulb globe temperatures were also lower for medium and high thermal mass strategies than for low thermal mass baseline.The study findings lead to the formulation of design guidelines,identification of research gaps,and recommendations for future work.

Wearable positive end-expiratory pressure valve improves exercise performance

We tested a PEEP(4.2 cmH_(2)O)mouthpiece(PMP)on maximal cycling performance in healthy adults.Experiment-1,PMP vs.non-PMP mouthpiece(CON)[n=9(5♂),Age=30±2 yr];Experiment-2,PMP vs.no mouthpiece(NMP)[n=10(7♂),Age=27±1 yr].At timepoint 1 in both experiments(mouthpiece condition randomized)subjects performed graded cycling testing(GXT)(Corival®cycle ergometer)to determine VO_(2peak)(ml*kg*min^(-1)),O2pulse(mlO2*bt^(-1)),GXT endurance time(GXT-T(s)),and VO_(2)(ml*kg*min^(-1))-at-ventilatory-threshold(VO_(2)@VT).At timepoint 272 h later,subjects completed a ventilatory-threshold-endurance-ride[VTER(s)]timed to exhaustion at VO_(2)@VT power(W).One week later at timepoints 3 and 4(time-of-day controlled),subjects repeated testing protocols under the alternate mouthpiece condition.Selected results(paired T-test,p<0.05):Experiment 1 PMP vs.CON,respectively:VO_(2peak)=45.2±2.4 vs.42.4±2.3 p<0.05;VO_(2)@VT=33.7±2.0 vs.32.3±1.6;GXTTTE=521.7±73.4 vs.495.3±72.8(p<0.05);VTER=846.2±166.0 vs.743.1±124.7;O2pulse=24.5±1.4 vs.23.1±1.3(p<0.05).Experiment 2 PMP vs.NMP,respectively:VO_(2peak)=43.3±1.6 vs.41.7±1.6(p<0.05);VO_(2)@VT=31.1±1.2 vs.29.1±1.3(p<0.05);GXT-TTE=511.7±49.6 vs.486.4±49.6(p<0.05);VTER 872.4±134.0 vs.792.9±122.4;O2pulse=24.1±0.9 vs.23.4±0.9(p<0.05).Results demonstrate that the PMP conferred a significant performance benefit to cyclists completing high intensity cycling exercise.