Pastoralism as Institutions: Modeling the Pastoral Landscape in Tibet in the Second and First Millennium BC

Previous archaeological research has made significant advances in our understanding of the chrono-spatial patterns of ancient human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau based on archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and material cultural analysis. The surge of archaeological data in prehistoric Tibet calls for further analysis of the potential social and environmental forces that shaped the prehistoric landscapes of Tibet. This dissertation presents a synthetic analysis of the role of pastoralism in shaping the economy, materiality, and mobility of Tibetan societies in the second and first millennium BC. Based on both previously published archaeological evidence and my own analysis of newly documented archaeological data, I argue that pastoralism can be seen as a social institution that is shaped and reproduced through participation, which fundamentally changes the ecological and cultural landscapes of Tibet in the second and first millennium BC. This research tackles this theme using a multi-methodological approach that includes survey archaeology, excavation, geospatial modeling, and network analysis. I present early pastoralism in Tibet through the lens of emergent institutions that structured the geographic patterns of settlement, cultural interactions and patterns of landscape organizations under changing cultural conditions at both local and trans-regional scales. My research also combines traditional archaeological material culture analysis with landscape archaeology and geospatial analysis in Tibet. My exploratory archaeological survey is the first survey of pastoralist landscapes by identifying and interpreting the long-term ecological and social formation of pastoralist sites across eco-zones in the mountainous regions of Tibet. The research contributes to our understanding of emerging pastoralism in prehistoric Tibet, as well as its durability as a persistent and contemporary tradition on the Tibetan Plateau. At a local scale, I analyzed the material remains of an agropastoral settlement in the first millennium BC, Bangga, suggesting that ancient people occupied Bangga and practiced settled pastoralism in a changing cultural context. In addition to the archaeology in Bangga, I also conducted an exploratory archaeological survey in the Shannan region based on the hypothesis that pastoral activities are continuous through time and space. The survey successfully identified two prehistoric pastoral corrals, Badong and Yukang. Both sites are repeatedly used in prehistoric, historic, and modern times. According to the results of material culture analysis, radiocarbon dating, excavations, ethnoarchaeological GIS analysis, and soil erosion models on those two sites, I further argue that the human-environmental feedback possibly facilities the reproduction of pastoralism on a local scale. At a trans-regional scale, I developed two new geospatial models, coupled with a comprehensive material cultural analysis that interprets how Tibet\u27s cultural landscape is associated with pastoral mobility networks. The pastoral mobility network is constructed under the assumption that herds travel along the best vegetation; the cultural landscape is represented by a social network based on the similarity of ceramics. I discover that the settlement pattern of Tibet between 3600 and 2200 BP is significantly correlated with the pastoral networks. The pastoral network is broadly similar to the ceramic social network, especially in eastern Tibet. The trans-Himalayan participation explains the discrepancies between the pastoral mobility networks and the ceramic social networks and is again validated by a contextual analysis of the newly discovered bronze mirrors in Tibet

Lokalno diskriminantna projekcija difuzije i njena primjena za prepoznavanje emocionalnog stanja iz govornog signala

The existing Diffusion Maps method brings diffusion to data samples by Markov random walk. In this paper, to provide a general solution form of Diffusion Maps, first, we propose the generalized single-graph-diffusion embedding framework on the basis of graph embedding framework. Second, by designing the embedding graph of the framework, an algorithm, namely Locally Discriminant Diffusion Projection (LDDP), is proposed for speech emotion recognition. This algorithm is the projection form of the improved Diffusion Maps, which includes both discriminant information and local information. The linear or kernelized form of LDDP (i.e., LLDDP or KLDDP) is used to achieve the dimensionality reduction of original speech emotion features. We validate the proposed algorithm on two widely used speech emotion databases, EMO-DB and eNTERFACE\u2705. The experimental results show that the proposed LDDP methods, including LLDDP and KLDDP, outperform some other state-of-the-art dimensionality reduction methods which are based on graph embedding or discriminant analysis.Postojeće metode mapiranja difuzije u uzorke podataka primjenjuju Markovljevu slučajnu šetnju. U ovom radu, kako bismo pružili općenito rješenje za mapiranje difuzije, prvo predlažemo generalizirano okruženje za difuziju jednog grafa, zasnovano na okruženju za primjenu grafova. Drugo, konstruirajući ugrađeni graf, predlažemo algoritam lokalno diskriminantne projekcije difuzije (LDDP) za prepoznavanje emocionalnog stanja iz govornog signala. Ovaj algoritam je projekcija poboljšane difuzijske mape koja uključuje diskriminantnu i lokalnu informaciju. Linearna ili jezgrovita formulacija LDDP-a (i.e., LLDDP ili KLDDP) koristi se u svrhu redukcije dimenzionalnosti originalnog skupa značajki za prepoznavanje emocionalnog stanja iz govornog signala. Predloženi algoritam testiran je nad dvama široko korištenim bazama podataka za prepoznavanje emocionalnog stanja iz govornog signala, EMO-DB i eNTERFACE\u2705. Eksperimentalni rezultati pokazuju kako predložena LDDP metoda, uključujući LLDDP i KLDDP, pokazuje bolje ponašanje od nekih drugih najsuvremenijih metoda redukcije dimenzionalnosti, zasnovanim na ugrađenim grafovima ili analizi diskriminantnosti

Connecting Subspace Learning and Extreme Learning Machine in Speech Emotion Recognition

Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) is a powerful tool for endowing computers with the capacity to process information about the affective states of users in human-machine interactions. Recent research has shown the effectiveness of graph embedding based subspace learning and extreme learning machine applied to SER, but there are still various drawbacks in these two techniques that limit their application. Regarding subspace learning, the change from linearity to nonlinearity is usually achieved through kernelisation, while extreme learning machines only take label information into consideration at the output layer. In order to overcome these drawbacks, this paper leverages extreme learning machine for dimensionality reduction and proposes a novel framework to combine spectral regression based subspace learning and extreme learning machine. The proposed framework contains three stages - data mapping, graph decomposition, and regression. At the data mapping stage, various mapping strategies provide different views of the samples. At the graph decomposition stage, specifically designed embedding graphs provide a possibility to better represent the structure of data, through generating virtual coordinates. Finally, at the regression stage, dimension-reduced mappings are achieved by connecting the virtual coordinates and data mapping. Using this framework, we propose several novel dimensionality reduction algorithms, apply them to SER tasks, and compare their performance to relevant state-of-the-art methods. Our results on several paralinguistic corpora show that our proposed techniques lead to significant improvements

Effect of Schizochytrium limacinum supplementation to a low fish-meal diet on growth performance, lipid metabolism, apoptosis, autophagy and intestinal histology of Litopenaeus vannamei

In this experiment, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the addition of Schizochytrium limacinum to low fish meal diets on growth performance, apoptosis, autophagy, lipid metabolism, and intestinal health of Lipenaeus vanamei. The diet containing 25% fish meal was used as a positive control (FM) and the other three diets contained 15% fish meal and were supplemented with 0, 0.3, and 0.6% S. Limacinum (LF, LFLD, LFHD). The shrimp (0.22 ± 0.00 g) were divided into four replicates of 40 shrimp per tank and fed four times daily to apparent satiation for 8 weeks. Results showed that the final weight (FBW) and weight gain rate (WGR) of shrimp fed FM and LFHD diets were significantly increased compared to those fed the LFLD diet (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in survival rate (SR) and feed conversion rate (FCR) among the groups (P>0.05). Supplementation of S. Limacinum in low fish meal diets had no effects on shrimp body composition (P<0.05). There were significant differences (P<0.05) in low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) glucose (GLU), triglycerides (TG), and total cholesterol (TC) in the hemolymph of shrimp fed the LF diet compared to those fed the LFLD and LFHD diets. HE staining and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that the microvilli height, mucosal folds height, mucosal folds width and muscle layer thickness in the intestine of shrimp fed the LF diet were significantly reduced compared to those fed the other three diets (P<0.05). Swelling of the endoplasmic reticulum and irregular mitochondria in the gut of shrimp fed the LF diet was also observed by TEM, and the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of shrimp fed the LFHD diet returned to a healthy state. Hepatopancreas genes expression results were showed that the gene expression of 5′ -AMP-activated protein kinase (ampk), stearoyl-CoA desaturase (scd1), acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (acc1), and malonyl-CoA decarboxylase (mcd) of shrimp fed the LF diet was significantly increased compared to those fed the FM diet (P<0.05). The gene expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (srbep) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (cpt-1) of shrimp fed the LFLD diet was significantly increased compared to those fed the LF diet (P<0.05). The gene expression of acc1, mcd and scd1 of shrimp fed the LFHD diet was significantly reduced compared to those fed the LF diet (P<0.05). Results of genes expression associated with apoptosis in the hepatopancreas showed that the gene expression of B lymphocytoma-2 (bcl-2), BCL2 associated X apoptosis regulator (bax) and cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 8 (caspase 8) of shrimp fed the LF diet was significantly reduced compared to those fed the FM diet (P<0.05). The gene expression of bcl-2 of shrimp fed the LFHD diet was significantly reduced compared to those fed the LF diet (P<0.05). Genes related to autophagy in the hepatopancreas showed that the expression of autophagy-related protein 12 (atg 12), autophagy-related protein 13 (atg 13) and beclin1 of shrimp fed LF the diet was significantly reduced compared to those fed the FM diet (P<0.05). The gene expression of atg 12 and atg 13 of shrimp fed the LFHD diet was significantly increased compared to those fed the LF diet (P<0.05). In summary, reducing fish meal is detrimental to the growth performance and intestinal health of shrimp, and 0.6% S. Limacinum supplementation can improve the growth performance, promotes hepatopancreas lipid metabolism, reduces apoptosis, promotes autophagy and improve intestinal health of Litopenaeus vannamei

Antidiabetic Activity of a Flavonoid-Rich Extract From Sophora davidii (Franch.) Skeels in KK-Ay Mice via Activation of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase

The present study was undertaken to investigate the hypoglycemic activity and potential mechanisms of action of a flavonoid-rich extract from Sophora davidii (Franch.) Skeels (SD-FRE) through in vitro and in vivo studies. Four main flavonoids of SD-FRE namely apigenin, maackiain, leachianone A and leachianone B were purified and identified. In vitro, SD-FRE significantly promoted the translocation and expression of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) in L6 cells, which was significantly inhibited by Compound C (AMPK inhibitor), but not by Wortmannin (PI3K inhibitor) or Gö6983 (PKC inhibitor). These results indicated that SD-FRE enhanced GLUT4 expression and translocation to the plasma membrane via the AMPK pathway and finally resulted in an increase of glucose uptake. In vivo, using a spontaneously type 2 diabetic model, KK-Ay mice received intragastric administration of SD-FRE for 4 weeks. As a consequence, SD-FRE significantly alleviated the hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia in these mice. Hepatic steatosis, islet hypertrophy and larger adipocyte size were observed in KK-Ay mice. However, these pathological changes were effectively relieved by SD-FRE treatment. SD-FRE promoted GLUT4 expression and activated AMPK phosphorylation in insulin target tissues (muscle, adipose tissue and liver) of KK-Ay mice, thus facilitating glucose utilization to ameliorate insulin resistance. Regulation of ACC phosphorylation and PPARγ were also involved in the antidiabetic effects of SD-FRE. Taken together, these findings indicated that SD-FRE has the potential to alleviate type 2 diabetes

Genome-wide association studies and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing identify regulatory variants influencing eyebrow thickness in humans

Hair plays an important role in primates and is clearly subject to adaptive selection. While humans have lost most facial hair, eyebrows are a notable exception. Eyebrow thickness is heritable and widely believed to be subject to sexual selection. Nevertheless, few genomic studies have explored its genetic basis. Here, we performed a genome-wide scan for eyebrow thickness in 2961 Han Chinese. We identified two new loci of genome-wide significance, at 3q26.33 near SOX2 (rs1345417: P = 6.51×10−10) and at 5q13.2 near FOXD1 (rs12651896: P = 1.73×10−8). We further replicated our findings in the Uyghurs, a population from China characterized by East Asian-European admixture (N = 721), the CANDELA cohort from five Latin American countries (N = 2301), and the Rotterdam Study cohort of Dutch Europeans (N = 4411). A meta-analysis combining the full GWAS results from the three cohorts of full or partial Asian descent (Han Chinese, Uyghur and Latin Americans, N = 5983) highlighted a third signal of genome-wide significance at 2q12.3 (rs1866188: P = 5.81×10−11) near EDAR. We performed fine-mapping and prioritized four variants for further experimental verification. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing provided evidence that rs1345417 and rs12651896 affect the transcriptional activity of the nearby SOX2 and FOXD1 genes, which are both involved in hair development. Finally, suitable statistical analyses revealed that none of the associated variants showed clear signals of selection in any of the populations tested. Contrary to popular speculation, we found no evidence that eyebrow thickness is subject to strong selective pressure