Feedback consistency effects in visual and auditory word recognition: Where do we stand after more than a decade?

The role of phonology-to-spelling consistency (i.e., feedback consistency) was investigated in 3 lexical decision experiments in both the visual and auditory modalities in French and English. No evidence for a feedback consistency effect was found in the visual modality, either in English or in French, despite the fact that consistency was manipulated for different kinds of units (onsets and rimes). In contrast, robust feedback consistency effects were obtained in the auditory lexical decision task in both English and French when exactly the same items that produced a null effect in the visual modality were used. Neural network simulations are presented to show that previous demonstrations of feedback consistency effects in the visual modality can be simulated with a model that is not sensitive to feedback consistency, suggesting that these effects might have come from various confounds. These simulations, together with the authors' results, suggest that there are no feedback consistency effects in the visual modality. In contrast, such effects are clearly present in the auditory modality. Given that orthographic information is absent from current models of spoken word recognition, the present findings present a major challenge to these models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sorption of Sr on clay minerals modified with ferrocyanides and hydroxides of transition metals

The sorption properties toward strontium of bentonitic clays modified with Fe(II) and Cu(II) ferrocyanides and Ti(IV), Sn(IV), and Sb(V) hydroxides were studied. The sorption properties of modified bentonites significantly surpass those of the natural mineral. The sorption equilibrium is attained in 2 h. The most efficient sorbent is the bentonitic clay modified with titanium hydroxide, with which K _d reaches 3.2 × 10⁴.     

Main results of the development of dispersion type IMF at A.A. Bochvar Institute

At A.A. Bochvar Institute a novel conception of IMF to burn civil and weapon’s grade Pu is currently accepted. It consists in the fact, that instead of using pelletized IMF, that features low serviceability and dust forming route of fuel element fabrication, the usage is made of dispersion type fuel element with aluminium or zirconium matrices.Dispersion fuels feature a high irradiation resistance and reliability; they can consequently reach high burnups and be serviceable under transient conditions.Three basic fuel element versions are under development in VNIINM for both thermal and fast reactors.The first version is a fuel element with a heterogeneous arrangement of fuel (PuO₂ or YSZ granules) within an Al or Zr matrix. The second version of a fuel element has a heat conducting Al or Zr alloy matrix and an isolated arrangement of PuO₂ in a fuel minielement more fully meets the ‘Rock Fuel’ requirements. According to the third version a porous meat of zirconium metallurgically bonded to a fuel cladding is formed through which a PuO₂ powder is introduced. All the versions are technologically simple to fabricate and require minimal quantities of process operations related to treating MA and Pu. Preliminary in-pile tests of IMF prototypes are presented.     

A digital technique for measuring the velocity and attenuation of sound

A digital procedure for measuring the velocity and attenuation of sound in a wide temperature range is described. Commercially available digital instruments are used. Original Russian Text ? A.E. Petrova, S.M. Stishov, 2009, published in Pribory i Tekhnika Eksperimenta, 2009, No. 4, pp. 173–176.     

Synthesis and characterization of yttrium-aluminum-iron and yttrium-cerium-iron citric complexes

Fe-, Y-Fe-Al- and Y-Ce-Fe- citrates were synthesized in ethylene glycol （EG） medium under conditions similar to those used in the polymerized complex method. Their elemental composition, IR,^ 13C and ^1H NMR, X-ray photoelectron and Mossbauer spectra were studied, and formulae describing their composition were proposed. The complexes contained EG bonded as adduct and ester with citric acid ligand and did not contain ligands with deprotonated alcoholic groups. The complexes consisted of agglomerated spheres, 0.7-3 μm in diameter. The local composition of the products was established by energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis. The comparison of the number of the ligands, their average electrical charge and the esterification degree of mono-, di- and trimetallic complexes proved the mixed-metal nature of the species studied. The thermal decomposition of the complexes was studied and a general scheme of the processes taking place was proposed. Highly crystalline, phase homogeneous YaFe4AlO12 was produced after heating the respective complex at 1000 ℃. Ce-doped yttrium-iron garnet, similarly prepared, contained traces of CeO2.