Can experience with different types of writing system modulate holistic processing in speech perception?

Conference Theme: Mind, Technology, and SocietyHolistic processing (HP) is an expertise marker in visual perception; nevertheless, it can be modulated by writing experience (Tso, Au, & Hsiao, 2014). We have recently found that HP also indicates expertise in Cantonese speech perception (Liu & Hsiao, 2014). Nevertheless, Cantonese has a logographic writing system where one syllable corresponds to one character, whereas in alphabetic languages, each syllable can be decomposed into phonemes that correspond to letters. This distinction between logographic and alphabetic languages may also modulate HP effects in speech perception. Here we tested HP effects through the composite paradigm with Korean syllables. In contrast to Cantonese speech perception, native Korean speakers were less holistic than novices in Korean syllable perception. Thus, experience with an alphabetic language may promote analytic processing of its spoken syllables. Similar to visual perception, our results suggest that HP as an expertise marker in speech perception depends on the listeners’ learning experience.postprin

Long-term and seasonal changes in nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, and dissolved oxygen in deep bay, Hong Kong

Deep Bay is a semienclosed bay that receives sewage from Shenzhen, a fast-growing city in China. NH 4 is the main N component of the sewage (>50% of total N) in the inner bay, and a twofold increase in NH 4 and PO 4 concentrations is attributed to increased sewage loading over the 21-year period (1986-2006). During this time series, the maximum annual average NH 4 and PO 4 concentrations exceeded 500 and 39 μM, respectively. The inner bay (Stns DM1 and DM2) has a long residence time and very high nutrient loads and yet much lower phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll (Chl) 2 mg L -1) than expected. Because it is shallow (̃2 m), phytoplankton growth is likely limited by light due to mixing and suspended sediments, as well as by ammonium toxicity, and biomass accumulation is reduced by grazing, which may reduce the occurrence of hypoxia. Since nutrients were not limiting in the inner bay, the significant long-term increase in Chl a (0. 52-0. 57 μg L -1 year -1) was attributed to climatic effects in which the significant increase in rainfall (11 mm year -1) decreased salinity, increased stratification, and improved water stability. The outer bay (DM3 to DM5) has a high flushing rate (0. 2 day -1), is deeper (3 to 5 m), and has summer stratification, yet there are few large algal blooms and hypoxic events since dilution by the Pearl River discharge in summer, and the invasion of coastal water in winter is likely greater than the phytoplankton growth rate. A significant long-term increase in NO 3 (0. 45-0. 94 μM year -1) occurred in the outer bay, but no increasing trend was observed for SiO 4 or PO 4, and these long-term trends in NO 3, PO 4, and SiO 4 in the outer bay agreed with those long-term trends in the Pearl River discharge. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) has approximately doubled from 35-62 to 68-107 μM in the outer bay during the last two decades, and consequently DIN to PO 4 molar ratios have also increased over twofold since there was no change in PO 4. The rapid increase in salinity and DO and the decrease in nutrients and suspended solids from the inner to the outer bay suggest that the sewage effluent from the inner bay is rapidly diluted and appears to have a limited effect on the phytoplankton of the adjacent waters beyond Deep Bay. Therefore, physical processes play a key role in reducing the risk of algal blooms and hypoxic events in Deep Bay. © 2009 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 01 Dec 201

Miniature Magnetic Robots For In-Pipe Locomotion

Inspection of both small and large diameter bore pipelines for pipe integrity and defect identification with a single system has previously been impractical; especially using wall-press locomotion methods with low adaptive range. A miniature magnetic wallclimbing robot has been developed as a robotic solution for the inspection of 50mm bore diameter pipelines which can scale in-pipe geometry obstacles to access larger connected pipelines. Using magnetic arrays directed through steel flux plates within the wheels, the robot uses magnetic forces to adhere to the pipe. The system is 3D printed and includes soft printed material rubber wheels. The robot prototype is wirelessly driven, controlled remotely through serial Bluetooth communication radio at 2.4 GHz rated up to 100m. The robot’s unique compact geometry and magnetic design allows it to scale concave rightangle wall cases in just a 50mm diameter bore. By entering pipe networks through these small existing access points the robot removes the need for expensive drilling procedures required to fit launch vessels

Enhancing Nanoparticle-Based Visible Detection by Controlling the Extent of Aggregation

Visible indication based on the aggregation of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) is highly advantageous for rapid on-site detection of biological entities, which even untrained persons can perform without specialized instrumentation. However, since the extent of aggregation should exceed a certain minimum threshold to produce visible change, further applications of this conventional method have been hampered by insufficient sensitivity or certain limiting characteristics of the target. Here we report a signal amplification strategy to enhance visible detection by introducing switchable linkers (SLs), which are designed to lose their function to bridge NPs in the presence of target and control the extent of aggregation. By precisely designing the system, considering the quantitative relationship between the functionalized NPs and SLs, highly sensitive and quantitative visible detection is possible. We confirmed the ultrahigh sensitivity of this method by detecting the presence of 20 fM of streptavidin and fewer than 100 CFU/mL of Escherichia coli

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Neural correlates of font sensitivity effects in the perception of simplified and traditional Chinese characters

Poster presentationSession: Object recognition: ReadingChanges in font regularity within a word or between words are shown to affect experts more than novices in visual word recognition (Gauthier et al., 2006). Consistent with this finding, we recently found that expert Chinese readers showed stronger left side bias (i.e., the preference to judge a character made from two left-halves of a mirror-symmetric character more similar to the original character than one from two right-halves; Hsiao & Cottrell, 2009) in perceiving characters in a familiar font than in an unfamiliar font. Nevertheless, this font sensitivity effect was limited to characters with the visual complexity of the script that the readers were most familiar with. Here we used a masked repetition priming paradigm in a semantic decision task with EEG recording to examine font sensitivity effects in simplified and traditional Chinese readers with simplified, traditional, and shared (shared between the two scripts) character stimuli. In each trial, the target character was presented in a familiar font (song), while the prime was in either the same (song) or a different, unfamiliar font (feng). Since simplified script readers are not familiar with traditional characters, they may demonstrate less font sensitivity to traditional characters. In contrast, because the visual complexity of shared characters are similar to simplified but not traditional characters, font sensitivity effects may only be observed in traditional characters among traditional Chinese readers. Consistent with our hypothesis, the font change across the prime and target affected N1 amplitude among simplified Chinese readers when perceiving simplified and shared but not traditional characters. In contrast, traditional Chinese readers demonstrated a marginal font sensitivity effect only in traditional characters. These results suggest that font sensitivity depends on experience with the visual complexity of the script. The heterogeneity in visual complexity among Chinese characters provides this unique opportunity to reveal this effect

Optimal viewing position in Face recognition

2011 亞太視覺會議Poster: Face and object recognitionThe existence of an optimal viewing position (OVP) in visual word recognition has been consistently reported. For English words, the best recognition performance is usually obtained when the initial fixation is directed to the left of the word center. This effect has been argued to involve interplay of different variables, including perceptual learning, i.e., people prefer fixating at word beginnings during reading, and hemispheric asymmetry, i.e., fixating at word beginning projects most of the word to the left hemisphere, where language processes are lateralized. Here we examine the OVP in face recognition. Previous research showed that people prefer to fixate the left side of a face when viewing faces, suggesting the OVP in face recognition should be to be left of the center. Nevertheless, face processing has been shown to have right hemisphere lateralization, suggesting the OVP should be to the right of the center in order to project most of the face to the right hemisphere. Our results showed that the best face recognition performance was obtained when the initial fixation was directed to the left of the center. This result suggests that perceptual learning has greater influence on the OVP in face recognition than hemispheric asymmetry.link_to_OA_fulltextThe 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Vision (APCV 2011), Hong Kong, 15-18 July 2011. In i-Perception, 2011, v. 2 n. 4, p. 24

Holistic processing in speech perception: experts' and novices' processing of isolated Cantonese syllables

Conference Theme: Cognitive Science Meets Artificial Intelligence: Human and Artificial Agents in Interactive ContextsSession: Speech and ProsodyHolistic processing is an expertise marker in visual perception. Here we tested participants’ perception of Cantonese syllables through composite paradigm commonly used for measuring holistic processing in vision research. We found that participants were more holistic in processing syllable initials than finals, possibly because initials are shorter and more easily combined with neighboring segments. More importantly, experts’ perception of syllable initials was strongly affected by finals (i.e., holistic processing), even when the initials were separated or disconnected from finals; whereas in novices, holistic processing gradually decreased with segment separation and disconnection. As for syllable final perception, experts were strongly influenced by initials, yet not when the segments were separated/disconnected. In contrast, novices showed little holistic processing in all conditions. These results showed that experts’ perception of syllable parts were more influenced by neighboring segments, suggesting that holistic processing may also be an expertise marker in auditory perception