A hemispheric division of labor aids mental rotation.

In the present study, we investigated whether a hemispheric division of labor is most advantageous to performance when lateralized inputs place unequal resource demands on the left and right cerebral hemispheres. In each trial, participants decided whether 2 rotated letters, presented either in the same visual field (within-field trials) or in opposite visual fields (across-field trials), were both of normal orientation, or whether one was normal and the other was mirror-reversed. To discriminate a letter's orientation, one must rotate the letter to the upright position. Therefore, we manipulated whether the two letters imposed similar or dissimilar demands on cognitive resources by varying the number of degrees that each letter needed to be rotated to reach the upright position. As predicted, in 2 experiments we found that the across-field advantage increased as the number of degrees each letter needed to be rotated became more dissimilar. These findings support a current model of hemispheric interactions, which posits that an unequal hemispheric distribution of cognitive load allows the cerebral hemispheres to take the lead for different aspects of cognitive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

c-axis Superfluid Response and Quasiparticle Conductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ and Bi2Sr2CuO6+δ

Josephson plasma resonance for underdoped Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CaCu ₂ O ₈₊ and Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CuO ₆₊ have been measured by sweeping the microwave, frequency continuously. The resonance enables us to determine the superfluid density and quasiparticle conductivity in the c-axis accurately. We show that the. superfluid response and the low energy excitations out of the condensate in the c-axis of these materials are very different from those in the ordinary Josephson multilayer tunnel junctions. The Josephson coupling energy in single layer Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CuO ₆₊ is more than 5000 times smaller than is predicted in interlayer tunneling model.     

Magnetic Torque Measurements on Bi2201 Single Crystal in High Magnetic Fields

The magnetic field direction dependence of the magnetic torque in the superconducting state of Bi ₂ Sr _1.65 La _0.35 CuO ₆₊ (Bi2201) single crystal has been measured in several static magnetic fields up to 200 kOe. The applied field dependence of the anisotropy parameter, , defined by the square root of the effective mass ratio has been obtained by fitting the magnetic torque curves at 17 K by means of the effective mass model. For Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CaCu ₂ O ₈₊ (Bi2212), the values up to 210 kOe were reported previously. At each field, for Bi2201 is larger than that for Bi2212. Since the value decreases as the field increases both for Bi2201 and Bi2212, the reduction of by the application of the high magnetic field is considered to be common for Bi-based layered superconductors.     

Out-of-Plane Negative Magnetoresistance of Bi2Sr1.6La0.4CuO6+δ Single Crystals in the Underdoped Region

In order to investigate a relationship between the carrier concentration and negative magnetoresistance in the underdoped region, we have performed out-of-plane electrical resistivity measurements for underdoped Bi ₂ Sr _1.6 La _0.4 CuO ₆₊ single crystals. Giant negative magnetoresistance has been observed in the most abundant carrier sample with = 0.12 in our experiment. The negative magnetoresistance reduces with decreasing carrier concentration.     

Breakup of AT&T and liberalization of the telecommunicationsbusiness

The author argues that the present status and future direction of liberalization of the telecommunications business in the wake of the breakup of AT&T must be considered from two viewpoints. One viewpoint approaches the telecommunications business as a public business; the other approaches it as a means to promote, in various countries, advancement and diversification of universal telecommunications. In this context he evaluates the impact of the breakup on communication policy worldwide     

Dipyrenylpyridines for electron-transporting materials in organic light emitting devices and their structural effect on electron injection from LiF/Al cathode

3,5-Dipyrenylpyridine (PY1) and 2,6-dipyrenylpyridine (PY2) were synthesized to achieve not only efficient electron injection from cathode but also high electron mobility. The both of compounds showed much higher electron mobilities than that of Alq₃, and have a similar ionization potential and electron affinity. However, the barrier height of electron injection from cathode to PY1 in an organic light emitting device was much smaller than that to PY2, probably due to the steric hindrance to the central pyridine group. These results suggest that the chemical affinity of electron-transporting materials with cathode is more important than their own electron affinity to improve the electron injection.