Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6) is a crucial signaling molecule regulating a diverse array of physiological processes, including adaptive immunity, innate immunity, bone metabolism and the development of several tissues including lymph nodes, mammary glands, skin and the central nervous system. It is a member of a group of six closely related TRAF proteins, which serve as adapter molecules, coupling the TNF receptor (TNFR) superfamily to intracellular signaling events. Among the TRAF proteins, TRAF6 is unique in (...) that, in addition to mediating TNFR family signaling, it is also essential for signaling downstream of an unrelated family of receptors, the interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) receptor/Toll‐like receptor (IL‐1R/TLR) superfamily. Gene targeting experiments have identified several indispensable physiological functions of TRAF6, and structural and biochemical studies have revealed the potential mechanisms of its action. By virtue of its many signaling roles, TRAF6 represents an important target in the regulation of many disease processes, including immunity, inflammation and osteoporosis. BioEssays 25:1096–1105, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Eye-tracking technology has become a powerful tool for biomedical-related applications due to its simplicity of operation and low requirements on patient language skills. This study aims to use the machine-learning models and deep-learning networks to identify key features of eye movements in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) under specific visual tasks, thereby facilitating computer-aided diagnosis of AD. Firstly, a three-dimensional (3D) visuospatial memory task is designed to provide participants with visual stimuli while their eye-movement data are recorded and used to build an (...) eye-tracking dataset. Then, we propose a novel deep-learning-based model for identifying patients with Alzheimer's Disease (PwAD) and healthy controls (HCs) based on the collected eye-movement data. The proposed model utilizes a nested autoencoder network to extract the eye-movement features from the generated fixation heatmaps and a weight adaptive network layer for the feature fusion, which can preserve as much useful information as possible for the final binary classification. To fully verify the performance of the proposed model, we also design two types of models based on traditional machine-learning and typical deep-learning for comparison. Furthermore, we have also done ablation experiments to verify the effectiveness of each module of the proposed network. Finally, these models are evaluated by four-fold cross-validation on the built eye-tracking dataset. The proposed model shows 85% average accuracy in AD recognition, outperforming machine-learning methods and other typical deep-learning networks. (shrink)

In order to improve the impact resistance and mechanical performance of anchor rods and satisfy the requirements for supporting rockburst roadways, the energy balance equation of the energy-absorbing support and roadway surrounding rock system is established. Moreover, to effectively prevent rockburst disasters, the energy criterion for roadway instability is derived. From the perspective of an energy-absorbing support, a yield-absorbing anti-shock anchor composed of a rod body, tray, constant resistance energy-absorbing device, and special-shaped nut is designed and developed; compared with ordinary (...) anchor rods, this rod has stronger mechanical properties for resisting impact. Theoretical and numerical simulation studies show that the energy-absorbing device has a repeatable deformation failure mode and a constant yield force. The paper also presents the principle involved in the design of anti-shock bolt supports. The energy-absorbing support not only effectively guides and controls the release and conversion of impact energy but also consumes the impact energy in the buffering process of the anchor to ensure the stability of surrounding rock and support protection system. This study aims to provide reference for roadway support design and to improve rock bolts used in rockburst roadways. (shrink)

IntroductionRace-walking is a sport that mimics normal walking and running. Previous studies on sports science mainly focused on the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. However, there is still a lack of research on the central nervous system, especially the real-time changes in brain network characteristics during race-walking exercise. This study aimed to use a network perspective to investigate the effects of different exercise intensities on brain functional connectivity.Materials and methodsA total of 16 right-handed healthy young athletes were recruited as participants in (...) this study. The cerebral cortex concentration of oxyhemoglobin was measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), the motor cortex (MC) and occipital cortex (OC) during resting and race-walking states. Three specific periods as time windows corresponding to different exercise intensities were divided from the race-walking time of participants, including initial, intermediate and sprint stages. The brain activation and functional connectivity (FC) were calculated to describe the 0.01-0.1 Hz frequency-specific cortical activities.ResultsCompared to the resting state, FC changes mainly exist between MC and OC in the initial stage, while PFC was involved in FC changes in the intermediate stage, and FC changes in the sprint stage were widely present in PFC, MC and OC. In addition, from the initial-development to the sprint stage, the significant changes in FC were displayed in PFC and MC.ConclusionThis brain functional connectivity-based study confirmed that hemodynamic changes at different exercise intensities reflected different brain network-specific characteristics. During race-walking exercise, more extensive brain activation might increase information processing speed. Increased exercise intensity could facilitate the integration of neural signals such as proprioception, motor control and motor planning, which may be an important factor for athletes to maintain sustained motor coordination and activity control at high intensity. This study was beneficial to understanding the neural mechanisms of brain networks under different exercise intensities. (shrink)

Creativity is so important for social and technological development that people are eager to find an easy way to enhance it. Previous studies have shown that mindfulness has significant effects on positive affect, working memory capacity, cognitive flexibility and many other aspects, which are the key to promoting creativity. However, there are few studies on the relationship between mindfulness and creativity. The mechanism between mindfulness and creativity is still uncertain. Meditation is an important method of mindfulness training, but for most (...) people who do not have the basic training, it’s difficult to master how to get into a state of mindfulness. Animation has been shown by many studies to help improve cognition and is often used as a guiding tool. Using animation as the guiding carrier of meditation is more convenient and easier to accept. Therefore, this study adopted the intervention method of animation-guided meditation, aiming to explore: the effect of animation-guided meditation on enhancing creativity; the role of flow and emotion in the influence of mindfulness on creativity. We advertised recruitment through the internal network of a creative industrial park, and the final 95 eligible participants were divided into two groups: animation and audio guided meditation. The animation group was given an animated meditation intervention, and the audio group was given an audio meditation intervention, both interventions were performed 3 times a week and last for 8 weeks. Results: Animation-guided meditation significantly increased participants’ mindfulness and creativity levels; Significantly reduced their cognitive load compared to audio-guided meditation. Mindfulness has a significant direct effect on creativity, and significant indirect effects on creativity; Flow and PA act as the mediating variable. Conclusion: Mindfulness, flow, and PA all helped to improve the subjects’ work creativity. In addition to the direct positive impact of mindfulness on creativity, mindfulness can also have an indirect positive impact on creativity through flow and PA. Compared with audio, animation can significantly reduce cognitive load and help improve users’ cognitive ability, which is more suitable for the guidance materials of mindfulness meditation to enhance the effect of meditation. (shrink)

This study examines whether community social capital in US counties, as captured by strength of civic norms and density of social networks in the counties, affects corporate social responsibility of resident corporations headquartered in the counties. Analyses of longitudinal data from 3688 unique US firms between 1997 and 2009 provide strong empirical support for the propositions that community social capital facilitates positive CSR activities that benefit non-shareholder stakeholders and constrains negative CSR activities that are detrimental to non-shareholder stakeholders. Additionally, we (...) explore the effects of institutional logics arising from community isomorphism on positive and negative CSR activities, respectively. And, we explore the respective effects of corporate engagement in positive and negative CSR activities on corporate financial performance. Firms undertake more positive CSR activities when such activities are more prevalent among other local corporations headquartered in the same county. But, there is no systematic relationship between negative CSR activities and the community-level corporate engagement in negative CSR activities. Positive CSR activities enhance a firm’s future financial performance, and the positive effect is more prominent among firms headquartered in counties with high community social capital. However, negative CSR activities only reduce a firm’s future financial performance among firms headquartered in counties with high community social capital; negative CSR activities do not affect performance among firms headquartered in counties with lower levels of community social capital. Collectively, these results highlight the distinct effects of local social institutions, namely community social capital, on positive CSR activities and negative CSR activities, respectively. (shrink)

Community group-buying platforms are increasingly relying on the interaction between the group-buying leader and consumers, thereby achieving the customer lock-in. In view of this, it is crucial to understand how the group-buying leader to establish a long-term transaction relationship with consumers. In this study, we construct a model based on the role theory and trust transfer theory, and identify two types of interactions of the group-buying leader and two types of consumer trust. Then, the mechanism that how different role interactions (...) of the group-buying leader can be transformed into the lock-in purchasing intention of consumers is further clarified. By interviewing 430 consumers with community group-buying experience in the community through offline questionnaire, the research model has been proven to be effective. To be specific, both role interactions of the merchant and friend can impose a positive impact on interpersonal trust, which will also lead to the trust in community group-buying, and thus enhance the lock-in purchasing intension of consumers from a fixed leader. Overall, this study has made certain contributions to the study of customer relationship. In theory, this study further explains the explanation mechanism of the “acquaintance marketing” phenomenon. Moreover, this study adopts the role theory to analyze the differences of different role interactions of the group-buying leader in relationship quality and purchase decision making, and employs the trust transfer theory to expand the trust transfer effect from the interpersonal trust of the group-buying leader to the trust in community group-buying. In practice, this study provides a new perspective and practical reference for community group-buying enterprises and the group-buying leader on how to better manage customers and maintain a long-term and stable customer relationship. (shrink)

Analytic philosophy has been developing in China for over a century, and philosophers shaped by the analytic tradition have grown into an important philosophical community in China. The views of contemporary analytic philosophers in China on central philosophical issues and their similarities and differences with analytic philosophers in English-speaking countries have not been systematically investigated. Bourget and Chalmers have conducted two large-scale online questionnaire surveys on analytic philosophers in English-speaking countries. Inspired by their studies, a survey on analytic philosophers in (...) China was performed. It is found that philosophers in China had no agreement on most issues. According to the comparative analysis with the results of Bourget and Chalmers’ second survey, there were significant differences in views as well as thinking styles between analytic philosophers in China and English-speaking countries. And these differences may be partially explained by cultural factors and academic environments. (shrink)

Urban inclusive green growth (UIGG) refers to the synergetic enhancement of the economy, the environment, and the society in a city. Achieving such enhancement requires addressing a series of problems in the development of urbanization, such as unemployment, lack of access to education, insufficient medical resources, inequity, and environmental pollution. As firms are critical to city development and urbanization, whether they practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a crucial part in UIGG. In this study, we focus on Chinese cities as (...) examples of UIGG and Chinese listed companies as CSR engagers, employing matched data on Chinese listed companies and cities to investigate how CSR affects UIGG. Specifically, the empirical results of a high-dimensional fixed effect model indicate that CSR significantly promotes UIGG. This finding remains valid after a set of robustness checks, including instrumental variable (IV) regression. CSR can promote UIGG by positively influencing enterprises’ economic performance, innovation, and employment. To promote firms’ substantive CSR actions, the government of Jiangsu Province, China, launched a pilot policy for CSR promotion by issuing an official guidance document, which can be considered a quasi-natural experiment to test the causality between CSR and UIGG. We find that the CSR pilot significantly promoted UIGG. The heterogeneity test results indicate that the influence of CSR on UIGG varies based on the audit company, the nature of the enterprise, and the structure of corporate leadership. (shrink)

Prediction is one of the major challenges in complex systems. The prediction methods have shown to be effective predictors of the evolution of networks. These methods can help policy makers to solve practical problems successfully and make better strategy for the future. In this work, we focus on exporting countries’ data of the International Trade Network. A recommendation system is then used to identify the products that correspond to the production capacity of each individual country but are somehow overlooked by (...) the country. Then, we simulate the evolution of the country’s fitness if it would have followed the recommendations. The result of this work is the combination of these two methods to provide insights to countries on how to enhance the diversification of their exported products in a scientific way and improve national competitiveness significantly, especially for developing countries. (shrink)

The prevalence of mobile phone addiction has increased rapidly in recent years, and it has had a certain negative impact on emotions and cognitive capacities. At the level of neural circuits, the continued increase in activity in the brain regions associated with addiction leads to neural adaptations and structural changes. At present, the spontaneous brain microstates that could be negatively influenced by MPA are unclear. In this study, the temporal characteristics of four resting-state electroencephalogram microstates related to mobile phone addiction (...) tendency were investigated using the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale. We attempted to analyze the correlation between MPAT and corresponding microstates and provide evidence to explain the brain and behavioral changes caused by MPA. The results showed that the total score of the MPATS was positively correlated with the duration of MS1, related to phonological processing and negatively correlated with the duration of MS2, related to visual or imagery processing, and MS4, related to the attentional network; the score of the withdrawal symptoms subscale was additionally associated with duration of MS3, related to the cingulo-opercular emotional network. Based on these results, we believe that MPAT may have some negative effects on attentional networks and sensory brain networks; moreover, withdrawal symptoms may induce some negative emotions. (shrink)

Students often face difficulties and experience negative emotions toward second language learning. The affective tutoring system is a next-generation learning approach that can detect the affective status of learning to increase performance. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, an innovative affective mobile language tutoring system was designed to support Japanese language learning. The effects of AMLTS, along with asynchronous discussion, that were intended to improve performance, were examined using a triangulation method. To investigate the effect on emotion, the proposed (...) AMLTS provides a virtual emotion agent that can interact with users and record emotional events, learning assessments, and the results of the interaction into a database. Learning effectiveness evaluations were conducted via two experiments: prototype evaluation and final evaluation. Sixty-three students, all beginners, were invited to use the AMLTS to learn Japanese. The research results show that the proposed AMLTS affective interaction design significantly improves learner engagement and performance. In the emotion feedback analysis and learning process, AMLTS helped students deepen their understanding of the content, enabled them to clearly understand the content, and to engage in peer interaction and experience positive emotions. In the evaluation of system usability, AMLTS reveals good usability for foreign language acquisition. (shrink)

In this paper, we investigate the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the conditional dependence between China and U.S. stock markets by employing the Copula-mixed-data sampling framework. In the case of EPU, we consider the global EPU, the American EPU, and the China EPU. The empirical analysis based on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index in China and the S&P 500 index in the U.S. shows that the tail dependence between China and U.S. stock markets is symmetrical, and the t (...) Copula outperforms alternative Copulas in terms of in-sample goodness of fit. In particular, we find that the t Copula-MIDAS model with EPU dominates the traditional time-varying t Copula in terms of in-sample fitting. Moreover, we observe that both the GEPU and AEPU have a significantly positive impact on the conditional dependence between China and U.S. stock markets, whereas CEPU has no significant impact. The tail dependence between China and U.S. stock markets exhibits an increasing trend, particularly in the recent years. (shrink)

Meiotic defects cause abnormal chromosome segregation leading to aneuploidy in mammalian oocytes. Chromosome segregation is particularly error‐prone in human oocytes, but the mechanisms behind such errors remain unclear. To explain the frequent chromosome segregation errors, recent investigations have identified multiple meiotic defects and explained how these defects occur in female meiosis. In particular, we review the causes of cohesin exhaustion, leaky spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), inherently unstable meiotic spindle, fragmented kinetochores or centromeres, abnormal aurora kinases (AURK), and clinical genetic variants (...) in human oocytes. We mainly focus on meiotic defects in human oocytes, but also refer to the potential defects of female meiosis in mouse models. (shrink)

It has been widely assumed and proven that a firm’s research and development investment is limited if the availability of cash flow is constrained. The purpose of this study is to verify the opposite proposition: whether firms invest heavily in R&D when more cash flow is available. This paper discusses the heterogeneous relationship between cash flow from different sources and the R&D investment of firms. The study divides the firm’s cash flow into three categories according to the business activities that (...) generate firm finance: cash flow from operating activities, cash flow from investing activities, and cash flow from financing activities. On this basis, a dynamic R&D investment model is constructed, and the relevant data for Chinese listed firms are used for the empirical research. The study finds that Chinese listed firms do not necessarily spend more cash on R&D investment, even if the availability of cash flow is not constrained. For young firms, CFO and CFI do not significantly correlate with R&D investment, and CFF significantly negatively correlates with R&D investment. For mature firms, the correlations between cash flow generated from different activities and R&D investment are nonsignificant. (shrink)

With the rapid development of renewable generators such as distributed photovoltaic and profound changes of the power structure, this paper analyzes the frequency characteristics of the power system with high penetration of renewable generations in the process of low-frequency load shedding and discusses the influence of the distributed renewable generator frequency endurance capabilities on the implementation effect of low-frequency load shedding in detail. Finally, the influences of the distributed renewable generator frequency endurance capability and the capacities of the distributed renewable (...) generator on frequency response characteristics of an actual Hunan power grid are simulated. The simulation results show that more distributed photovoltaic capacity without frequency endurance capability leads to deeper frequency drops after the disturbance and requires more basic rounds of load shedding. When the penetration rate of distributed photovoltaic is too high, it may cause load shedding, resulting in power grid load losses and, at the same time, leading to an overshoot phenomenon in the process of frequency recovery. Therefore, the influence of distributed photovoltaic on the control of low-frequency load shedding should be considered when designing low-frequency load shedding schemes for the power grid with high penetration of distributed photovoltaic. (shrink)

The structure and “metabolism” (movement and conversion of goods and energy) of urban areas has caused cities to be identified as “super‐organisms”, placed between ecosystems and the biosphere, in the hierarchy of living systems. Yet most such analogies are weak, and render the super‐organism model ineffective for sustainable development of cities. Via a cluster analysis of 15 shared traits of the hierarchical living system, we found that industrialized cities are more similar to eukaryotic cells than to multicellular organisms; enclosed systems, (...) such as factories and greenhouses, paralleling organelles in eukaryotic cells. We further developed a “super‐cell” industrialized city model: a “eukarcity” with citynucleus (urban area) as a regulating centre, and organaras (enclosed systems, which provide the majority of goods and services) as the functional components, and cityplasm (natural ecosystems and farmlands) as the matrix. This model may improve the vitality and sustainability of cities through planning and management. (shrink)

Loving-kindness meditation was first practiced by Buddhists and then developed by clinical psychologist. Previous studies on LKM have mainly focused on the impact of real person-guided meditation on depression, anxiety, and other negative psychology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explored the effect and mechanism of media-guided LKM on the improvement of social presence, mindfulness, spirituality, and subjective wellbeing. From the viewpoint of positive psychology, this study compared the different media effects of animated pedagogical agent -guided LKM and audio-guided LKM. (...) A total of 82 flight attendants were recruited from airlines; then, they were randomly assigned to two groups: APA group and audio group, which both underwent an 8-week LKM training intervention. The aforementioned four main variables were measured pre and post the meditation experiment. The results indicated that both APA-guided meditation and audio-guided meditation significantly improved subjects’ spirituality and SWB. Compared with audio-guided meditation, APA-guided meditation significantly improved the subjects’ spirituality, SWB, and social presence. Audio-guided meditation has no significant effect on social presence. This study highlights APA-guided meditation has a positive effect on spirituality, SWB, and social presence, which may provide individuals with a simple and easy method to improve their mental health. (shrink)

The adverse effects of life stress on social networking sites addiction are increasingly recognized, but so far there is little evidence on how and which specific types of life stress are conducive to the addictive behavior. Interpersonal relationship stress being the main source of stress for undergraduates, the purpose of the current paper is thus to delve into whether perceived stress in interpersonal relationships significantly leads to WeChat addiction and, if so, how this type of stress drives the excessive use (...) of WeChat. The data was collected from self-report questionnaires completed by 463 Chinese undergraduate students and then analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results revealed that the positive association between WeChat users’ interpersonal relationship stress and addictive behavior is fully and sequentially mediated by WeChat use intensity and social interaction. More specifically, accumulation of stress in interpersonal relationships gives rise to the intensity of WeChat use, which in turn fuels rising addiction to WeChat both directly and indirectly via social interaction on WeChat. These findings contribute to a more refined understanding of the pathological use of WeChat. (shrink)

China set the goal of expanding early childhood education in 2018, by encouraging the development of public interest kindergartens to provide high-quality, low-cost preschool services to the general public. This is in response to the challenges of accessibility, affordability, and accountability besetting China’s current ECE system. However, the transition toward PIK has been slow due to various complex problems, including the lackluster willingness of ECE providers to become PIK. To better understand the challenges leading to low participation, this study explores (...) the external pressures affecting ECE providers and evaluates the external factors that influence their level of social responsibility. A stratified-random sampling questionnaire survey solicited responses from 832 ECE personnel representing 261 kindergartens from across China. Our findings suggest that institutional pressure has a positive effect on social responsibility and inclusive participation. We also found that institution visibility positively regulates the relationship between institutional pressure and social responsibility. At the same time, the level of environmental perception positively governs the relationship between social responsibility and participation willingness. Kindergartens should have certain social values, including assuming certain behaviors and participating in social activities in the spirit of social service and ensure multiple subjects’ synergetic governance. (shrink)

With the rapid development of the Internet and the normalization of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, Online health communities have gradually become one of the important ways for people to obtain health information, and users have to go through a series of information processing when facing the massive amount of data. Understanding the factors influencing user information processing is necessary to promote users’ health literacy, health knowledge popularization and health behavior shaping. Based on the Heuristic-Systematic Model, Information Ecology Theory, Privacy (...) Trade-Off and Self-Efficacy Theory, we constructed a model of factors influencing user information processing in online health communities. We found that information quality and emotional support had indirect effects on heuristic and systematic information processing, and these effects were mediated by privacy concerns and self-efficacy. In our research model, systematic information processing was most positively influenced directly by self-efficacy. Privacy concerns had a direct negative correlation with both dual information processing pathways. Therefore, OHCs managers should develop relevant regulations to ensure the information quality in OHCs and improve privacy protection services to promote user information processing by improving users’ self-efficacy and reducing their privacy concerns. Providing a user-friendly and interactive environment for users is also recommended to create more emotional support, thus facilitating more systematic information processing. (shrink)

Labels provide a quick and effective solution to obtain people interesting content from large-scale social network information. The current interest label extraction method based on the subgraph stream proves the feasibility of the subgraph stream for user label extraction. However, it is extremely time-consuming for constructing subgraphs. As an effective mathematical method to deal with fuzzy and uncertain information, rough set-based representations for subgraph stream construction are capable of capturing the uncertainties of the social network. Therefore, we propose an effective (...) approach called RS_UNITE_SS, which is suitable for large-scale social network user interest label extraction. Specifically, we first propose the subgraph division algorithm to construct a subgraph stream by incorporating a rough set. Then, the algorithm for user real-time interest label extraction based on upper approximation is proposed by using sequentially characteristics of the subgraph. Empirically, we evaluate RS_UNITE_SS over real-world datasets, and experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is more computationally efficient than existing methods while achieving higher precision value and MRR value. (shrink)

Megaprojects are implemented by different organisations, such as owners, consultants, and contractors. Gradually, these organisations and their connections can form business networks that influence both the market position of individual organisations and project performance. Previous research on large-scale projects mainly focused on static and homogeneous networks that were constructed by one individual project and/or carried out over one-off collaboration. However, this neglected the consideration of project network diversity, as well as repetitive, dynamic, cross-project coopetition relationship and long-term business networks formed (...) by key actors. Here, we chose Chinese skyscrapers over 300 meters that were built from 1996 to 2015 as typical megaproject cases and analysed the formation and evolution of megaproject business networks from the perspective of interorganisational coopetition. We identified the key actors involved and empirically studied their dynamic network positions over time. The main contributions of this study are threefold. First, we found that past collaboration experience has direct and dynamic impacts on the formation of megaproject business networks. Second, we identified key actors in the interorganisational business network and unveiled their dynamic positions with clear patterns. Third, we highlighted the temporal-spatial effect on the formation and development of business networks, alongside developments in the megaproject market. The findings of this study also provide practical applications for owners to choose collaboration partners and to build high-performance teams and for suppliers to enter and sustain the business in the megaprojects networks. (shrink)

The lack of a standardized reliable and valid instrument makes it difficult to measure attitudes toward lesbian women and gay men consistently and thus poses a challenge to compare and contrast intervention measures. This study aimed to validate Herek’s ATLG scale among undergraduates in mainland China and identify factors associated with negative attitudes toward LG. A total of 6,036 eligible undergraduates conveniently drawn from 30 provinces across mainland China were randomly split in half. Item analysis was first used to select (...) unrelated or redundant items for deletion. Exploratory factor analysis were then conducted on the first half of the sample, followed by confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis in the second half. Logistic regression analyses were finally carried out to identify their determinants. Six items were removed from the item analysis. EFA supported the existence of two factors. CFA results indicated that the two-factor model fit the data better than the one-factor model. Logistic regression analyses indicated that being female, majoring in non-health-related disciplines, attributing homosexuality to uncontrollable causes, non-adherence to traditional gender norms and exposure to homosexual content were significantly associated with less negative attitudes toward both L and G. Urban students were marginally less likely to express negative attitudes toward L but not G, while non-heterosexuals and those who had prior personal contact with homosexuals exhibited less negative attitudes toward G but not L. However, grade showed no significant associations with either ATL or ATG. The retained 14-item version of Herek’s ATLG scale has been proven to be a reliable and valid tool. Furthermore, ATL and ATG were determined by different factors and thus would be treated separately. In order to reduce negative attitudes toward LG among undergraduates in mainland China, a comprehensive intervention plan such as conducting comprehensive sex education and pushing the process of legalizing same-sex marriage should be designed, implemented and evaluated. (shrink)

ObjectiveType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a high risk of cognitive decline and dementia, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet clearly understood. This study aimed to explore the functional connectivity (FC) and topological properties among whole brain networks and correlations with impaired cognition and distinguish T2DM from healthy controls (HC) to identify potential biomarkers for cognition abnormalities.MethodsA total of 80 T2DM and 55 well-matched HC were recruited in this study. Subjects’ clinical data, neuropsychological tests and resting-state functional magnetic resonance (...) imaging data were acquired. Whole-brain network FC were mapped, the topological characteristics were analyzed using a graph-theoretic approach, the FC and topological characteristics of the network were compared between T2DM and HC using a general linear model, and correlations between networks and clinical and cognitive characteristics were identified. The support vector machine (SVM) model was used to identify differences between T2DM and HC.ResultsIn patients with T2DM, FC was higher in two core regions [precuneus/posterior cingulated cortex (PCC)_1 and later prefrontal cortex_1] in the default mode network and lower in bilateral superior parietal lobes (within dorsal attention network), and decreased between the right medial frontal cortex and left auditory cortex. The FC of the right frontal medial-left auditory cortex was positively correlated with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scales and negatively correlated with the blood glucose levels. Long-range connectivity between bilateral auditory cortex was missing in the T2DM. The nodal degree centrality and efficiency of PCC were higher in T2DM than in HC (P < 0.005). The nodal degree centrality in the PCC in the SVM model was 97.56% accurate in distinguishing T2DM patients from HC, demonstrating the reliability of the prediction model.ConclusionFunctional abnormalities in the auditory cortex in T2DM may be related to cognitive impairment, such as memory and attention, and nodal degree centrality in the PCC might serve as a potential neuroimaging biomarker to predict and identify T2DM. (shrink)

Complex, multigenic biological traits are shaped by the emergent interaction of proteins being the main functional units at the molecular scale. Based on a phenomenological approach, algorithms for quantifying two different aspects of emergence were introduced (Wegner and Hao in Progr Biophys Mol Biol 161:54–61, 2021) describing: (i) pairwise reciprocal interactions of proteins mutually modifying their contribution to a complex trait (denoted as weak emergence), and (ii) formation of a new, complex trait by a set of n ‘constitutive’ proteins at (...) concentrations exceeding individual threshold values (strong emergence). The latter algorithm is modified here to take account of protein redundancy with respect to a complex trait (‘full redundancy’). Irreducibility is considered a necessary and sufficient criterion for strong biological emergence; if one constitutive protein is missing, or its concentration drops below the threshold the trait is lost. A definition based on ‘unpredictability’ is dismissed, because this criterion is irrelevant for the evolution of a complex trait, and apparent unpredictability may rather reflect our basic deficits in understanding unless we can provide an unequivocal proof for it. The phenomenological approach advocated here allows to identify hidden rules according to which strongly emergent traits may be organized. This is of high value for understanding the evolution of complex traits which seems to require the saltational advent of all constitutive proteins ‘in one turn’ to arrive at a functional trait providing for an improved fitness of the organism. Rather than being a purely random process, it may be guided by fundamental structural principles. (shrink)

Tree branches near the electric power transmission lines are of great threat to the electricity supply. Nowadays, the tasks of clearing threatening tree branches are still mostly operated by hand and simple tools. Traditional structures of the multirotor aerial robot have the problem of fixed structure and limited performance, which affects the stability and efficiency of pruning operation. In this article, in order to obtain better environmental adaptability, an active deformable trees-pruning aerial robot is presented. The deformation of the aerial (...) robot is implemented through two ways, arm telescopic and folding. In order to suppress the influence of internal and external disturbances on the system, Active Disturbance Rejection Control technology is adopted to build the flight controller. Firstly, active deformation aerial robot structure is given, followed by system dynamic model establishment under wind disturbance using the Newton–Euler method. Also, the analysis of the gusts influence on the system is considered. Then, the active deformation aerial robot system is decoupled into a combination of six SISO systems, so that a disturbance rejection controller is designed. Finally, the expanded state observer and the nonlinear state error feedback law are used to inspect and compensate the disturbance. Simulation results of attitude and position tracking as well as the antidisturbance capability show that the active deformation aerial robot with the ADRC flight controller designed in this paper has excellent attitude control capabilities during flight and trees-pruning operation. (shrink)

This essay attempts to provide an alternative approach to the philosophy of religion through a new interpretation of Daoist philosophy in light of Husserl’s phenomenology. I argue that Lao-Zhuang’s wu-wei should be understood as a reduction of our existential and conceptual beliefs about the reality of this world. In Lao-Zhuang, wu-wei is related to the theme of decentering of the subject. In order to be a true self, we have to make space at the core of our being for Dao (...) to appear. The authentic selfhood is constituted in its correctrelation to Dao. In Daoist philosophy of religion, the center of gravity in the relation between Dao and the world (or worlds) is shifted from this world to Dao, and the problematic in the philosophy of religion is displaced from a truth-oriented issue to a receptivity issue. (shrink)

苏珊·朗格是西方美学史上迄今为止惟一的一位声名显赫的女性美学家。本书勾勒了朗格的生平,揭示了朗格哲学美学思想演化的内在脉络,阐述了她的符号论思想、生命形式、逻辑类似、艺术幻象等理论。.

Some of the authors of the essays on Chinese philosophers prefer the pin yin system of romanization for Chinese names and words, while others prefer the Wade‐Giles system. Given that both systems are in wide use today, important names and words are given in both their pin yin and Wade‐Giles formulations. The author's preference is printed first, followed by the alternative romanization within brackets.