Neuronal responses to one-dimensional orientations are combined to represent two-dimensional composite patterns, which plays a key role in intermediate-level vision such as texture segmentation. However, where and how the visual cortex starts to represent composite patterns, such as a plaid consisting of two superimposing gratings of different orientations, remains neurophysiologically elusive. Psychophysical and modeling evidence has suggested the existence of early neural mechanisms specialized in plaid detection [1-6], but the responses of V1 neurons to an optimally orientated grating are actually suppressed by a superimposing grating of different orientation (i.e., cross-orientation inhibition) [7, 8]. Would some other V1 neurons be plaid detectors? Here we used two-photon calcium imaging [9] to compare the responses of V1 superficial-layer neurons to gratings and plaids in awake macaques. We found that many non-orientation-tuned neurons responded weakly to gratings, but strongly to plaids, often with plaid orientation selectivity and cross-angle selectivity. In comparison, most (~94%) orientation-tuned neurons showed more or less cross-orientation inhibition, regardless of the relative stimulus contrasts. Only a small portion (~8%) of them showed plaid facilitation at off-peak orientations. These results suggest separate subpopulations of plaid and grating responding neurons. Because most plaid neurons (~95%) were insensitive to motion direction, they were plaid pattern detectors, not plaid motion detectors.
Objective: The genetic variant rs2237895, located in the Potassium Voltage-Gated Channel Subfamily Q Member 1 (KCNQ1) gene, has been replicated to be associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) susceptibility, but the relationship with lipids is conflicting. Furthermore, the common genetic predisposition to T2DM and lipids was not fully detected. Methods: In total, 5839 individuals (2220 were T2DM patients) across 2885 families were included. The effect of rs2237895 on T2DM and lipids was estimated using linear regression and logistic regression models after adjustment for multiple covariates. Mediation analysis was then used to test whether KCNQ1 participated in T2DM pathogenesis via lipid-mediated pathways. Results: Per allele-C of rs2237895 was associated with 17% (11-23%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%. Conclusion: KCNQ1 had pleiotropic effects on lipids and T2DM, and the unexpected genetic effect on association of HDL-C with T2DM was observed, indicating the different pathways to lipids and T2DM. Further research studies are needed to verify potential biological mechanisms.
The purpose of this paper is to take a diachronic approach and survey the pre-Roman and Roman evidence of communal feasting in Macedonia, in order to understand how such form of social action changed after a well-established form executed by the Macedonian monarchy came under the challenges posed by the years of turmoil following Rome's conquest. The basic premise of this paper is that feasting is a politically-embedded form of social occasion and naturally subject to manipulation. In turn, the scale of communal feasting would reflect different strategies of the manipulating parties, and in particular one can distinguish from the strongly aspirational type of communal feasting aimed at creating national and even sovereign symbolisms from the transactional types of communal feasting in which the host and the participants partake in the small-group manuvers of more limited socio-political implications. Evidence highlighted in this paper include the well-known Hagios Athanasios symposium frieze, the honorific inscription for Apollonios son of Apollonios from Kalindoia (SEG 35.744), and a sample of Macedonian inscriptions concerning local cultic associations and the Macedonian koinon.
By integrating azulene with a quinoid moiety, a novel non-alternant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule BCHF1 exhibiting manifold zwitterionic, quinoidal and diradical behaviors is designed and synthesized. Its zwitterionic feature is evidenced by the changes shown by the 1H-NMR and absorption spectra when the molecule undergoes reversible protonation and deprotonation reactions at varied pH. The diradical facet, manifesting a small singlet–triplet energy gap (ΔES–T), is characterized with a paramagnetic resonance signal detected by the EPR spectroscopy at room temperature. As the diradical properties are not observed in the protonated form, BCHF1+H+, a pH-controlled reversible magnetic switching behavior is illustrated by monitoring the on and off cycles of EPR signals upon successively adding bases and acids to a solution or exposing a thin film of BCHF1+H+ to base vapor followed by acid vapor.
A facile method was developed to fabricate porous tube-like ZnS by sulfurizing rod-like ZIF-L with thioacetamide (TAA) at different durations and the formation mechanism of the porous tube-like ZnS was discussed in detail. The series of sulfide products (ZS-X) were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (SSNMR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–visible diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS). The photocatalytic performances of ZS-X toward Cr(VI) reduction and organic pollutant degradation were explored. It was discovered that ZS-3 (porous tube-like ZnS) exhibited excellent activities under UV light and displayed good reusability and stability after several experimental cycles. In addition, Cr(VI) reduction and organic pollutant degradation were investigated under different pH values and existence of different foreign ions. The photocatalytic activities of ZS-3 were tested toward the matrix of Cr(VI) and reactive red X–3B. The mechanism was proposed and verified by both electrochemical analysis and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurement.
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have been widely detected in ecosystems. However, effective water purification technologies for PPCPs degradation are lacking. In this work, an active activated carbon fiber supported titanate nanotubes (TNTs@ACF) composite was synthesized via one-step hydrothermal process, which was applied for adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of PPCPs under simulated solar light. Characterizations indicated that the successful grafting of TNTs onto ACF was achieved and surface modification occurred. Diclofenac (DCF, a model PPCPs) was rapidly adsorbed onto TNTs@ACF, and subsequently photodegraded (98.8 %) under solar light within 2 h. TNTs@ACF also performed well over a wide range of pH, and was resistant to humic acid. The good adsorption and photocatalytic activity of TNTs@ACF was attributed to the well-defined hybrid structure, enabling corporative adsorption of DCF by TNTs and ACF, and extending the light absorbance to visible region. Furthermore, the description of degradation pathway and evaluation of ecotoxicity for DCF and its intermediates/byproduct were proposed based on experimental analysis, density functional theory (DFT) calculation and quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) analysis, respectively, indicating the photocatalytic degradation of DCF can offer the step-by-step de-toxicity. Our study is expected to offer new strategy as “pre-accumulation and in-situ destruction” for environmental application.
Scale formation is an important challenge in water and wastewater treatment systems. However, due to the complex nature of membrane surfaces, the effects of specific membrane surface characteristics on scale formation are poorly understood. In this study, the independent effect of surface hydrophobicity on gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) scale formation via surface-induced nucleation and bulk homogeneous nucleation was investigated using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) on self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) terminated with −OH, −CH3, and −CF3 functional groups. Results show that higher surface hydrophobicity enhances both surface-induced nucleation of gypsum and attachment of gypsum crystals formed from homogeneous nucleation in the bulk solution. The enhanced surface-induced nucleation is attributed to the lower nucleation energy barrier on a hydrophobic surface, while the increased gypsum crystal attachment results from the favorable hydrophobic interactions between gypsum and more hydrophobic surfaces. Contrary to previous findings, the role of Ca2+ adsorption in surface-induced nucleation was found to be relatively small and similar on the different SAMs. Therefore, increasing material hydrophilicity is a potential approach to reduce gypsum scaling.
Recent studies have suggested that the cognitive process of the human brain is realized as probabilistic inference and can be further modeled by probabilistic graphical models like Markov random fields. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how probabilistic inference can be implemented by a network of spiking neurons in the brain. Previous studies have tried to relate the inference equation of binary Markov random fields to the dynamic equation of spiking neural networks through belief propagation algorithm and reparameterization, but they are valid only for Markov random fields with limited network structure. In this paper, we propose a spiking neural network model that can implement inference of arbitrary binary Markov random fields. Specifically, we design a spiking recurrent neural network and prove that its neuronal dynamics are mathematically equivalent to the inference process of Markov random fields by adopting mean-field theory. Furthermore, our mean-field approach unifies previous works. Theoretical analysis and experimental results, together with the application to image denoising, demonstrate that our proposed spiking neural network can get comparable results to that of mean-field inference.
We compare three countries where public policy has explicitly sought to align incentives of employers and educational institutions around closing the gap between skill formation and labor market demand. In large, heterogeneous countries such as the United States, Russia and China, collaborative arrangements such apprenticeships and other forms of public-private partnerships can be constructed at the subnational level by building on direct, face-to-face ties across educational, business, government, and civic sectors. Drawing on existing literature as well as fieldwork studying a number of specific cases in the three countries, the paper develops a typology of such arrangements and proposes an explanation for the observed variation. It emphasizes the importance of two sets of factors: those that induce cooperation on the part of firms and schools, and those that influence the character of such partnerships.
Identifying and quantifying the major sources of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is essential for the development of pollution mitigation strategies to protect public health. However, urban PM is affected by local primary emissions, transport, and secondary formation; therefore, advanced methods are needed to elucidate the complex sources and transport patterns. Here, an improved source apportionment method was developed by incorporating the receptor model, Lagrangian simulation, and emissions inventories to quantify PM2.5 sources for an industrial city in China. PM2.5 data including ions, metals, organic carbon, and elemental carbon were obtained by analyzing 1 year of sampling results at urban and rural sites. This method identified coal combustion (30.64%), fugitive dust (13.25%), and vehicles (12.51%) as major primary sources. Secondary sources, including sulfate, nitrate, and secondary organic aerosols also contributed strongly (25.28%–30.76% in total) over urban and rural areas. Hebei Province was the major regional source contributor (43.05%–57.51%) except for fugitive dust, on which Inner Mongolia had a greater impact (43.51%). The megacities of Beijing and Tianjin exerted strong regional impacts on the secondary nitrate and secondary organic aerosols factors, contributing 11.32% and 15.65%, respectively. Pollution events were driven largely by secondary inorganic aerosols, highlighting the importance of reducing precursor emissions at the regional scale, particularly in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Overall, our results demonstrate that this novel method offers good flexibility and efficiency for quantifying PM2.5 sources and regional contributions, and that it can be extended to other cities.
