A COMPOSITIONAL STUDY OF A SELECTION OF SONG DYNASTY CHINESE CERAMICS FROM THE JAVA SEA SHIPWRECK: RESULTS FROM LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS

Although much historical work has been done on early trading networks in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean regions, few published projects have utilized the rich contributions that underwater archaeology can make to the study of such relationships and their intricacies. In this paper, I use the twelfth-thirteenth century Java Sea Shipwreck as a starting point to examine medieval maritime exchange networks and the production of trade goods in East and Southeast Asia during the early second millennium AD. Specifically, I report on the results of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis conducted at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago on a number of high-fired Chinese ceramics from the shipwreck. This geochemical analysis was undertaken in order to assess correlations between style and material and to identify potential kiln sites where the pieces were manufactured. By doing so, we can better understand the organization, intensity, and scale of ceramic production in China at the time and how these commodities linked Chinese producers to consumers throughout East and Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean World

The role of linguistic contrasts in the auditory feedback control of Speech

Thesis (Ph. D. in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-180).Speakers use auditory feedback to monitor their own speech, ensuring that the intended output matches the observed output. By altering the acoustic feedback signal before it reaches the speaker's ear, we can induce auditory errors: differences between what is expected and what is heard. This dissertation investigates the neural mechanisms responsible for the detection and consequent correction of these auditory errors. Linguistic influences on feedback control were assessed in two experiments employing auditory perturbation. In a behavioral experiment, subjects spoke four-word sentences while the fundamental frequency (FO) of the stressed word was perturbed either upwards or downwards, causing the word to sound more or less stressed. Subjects adapted by altering both the FO and the intensity contrast between stressed and unstressed words, even though intensity remained unperturbed. An integrated model of prosodic control is proposed in which FO and intensity are modulated together to achieve a stress target. In a second experiment, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure neural responses to speech with and without auditory perturbation. Subjects were found to compensate more for formant shifts that resulted in a phonetic category change than for formant shifts that did not, despite the identical magnitudes of the shifts. Furthermore, the extent of neural activation in superior temporal and inferior frontal regions was greater for cross-category than for within-category shifts, evidence that a stronger cortical error signal accompanies a linguistically-relevant acoustic change. Taken together, these results demonstrate that auditory feedback control is sensitive to linguistic contrasts learned through auditory experience.by Caroline A. Niziolek.Ph.D.in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technolog

Standardized management systems in the context of active employee participation in occupational health and safety

Purpose: This paper seeks to conceptualize and clarify the active employee participation in health and safety (taking into account scope and depth ) and develop a scale to measure it and use this indicator in practice for comparative analysis. Design/Methodology/Approach: The conceptual and theoretical model for employee participation in OHS is tested on a sample of 289 respondents. The research was conducted using the PAPI (Paper & Pen Personal Interview) method. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used. The developed construct (characterized by an adequately high level of validity and reliability) was used to compare companies in the implemented management system. In comparative analysis was used Mann–Whitney U test. Findings: It was found that it is possible to measure active participation in OHS (EFA and CFA analyzes) and that proactive indicator consists of one dimension (15 items). The comparative analyses conducted corroborate the relationship between implementing a standardized management system and a level of active participation of employees in OHS. Practical Implications: The measurement and identification of determinants impacting on a high level of employee engagement in OHS will allow the management to take adequate and effective actions in respect of the safety of all organization members because employee participation in OHS is a condition necessary for the successful implementation of OHS management system and establishing high OHS culture which is correlated with a level of security in the company. Originality/Value: The study presents an original approach to the problem of active participation in OSH - completes the theoretical gap. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to provide a comprehensive, psychometrically sound, operationally valid measure of participation in OHS. The model for active employee participation in OHS and the universal measurement scale developed and validated in this study represents a step forward towards the effective and reliable measurement of employee participation.peer-reviewe

The Effects of Midline Cerebellar rTMS on Human Pharyngeal Cortical Activity in the Intact Swallowing Motor System

We sought to compare the effects of 10 Hz cerebellar vermis (vs. unilateral hemispheric and sham) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on cortical neuroelectrical activity and thereafter 10 Hz cerebellar vermis (vs. sham) rTMS on swallowing behaviour. Healthy participants (n = 25) were randomly allocated to receive vermis, unilateral hemisphere or sham 10 Hz cerebellar rTMS. Recordings were made using pharyngeal electromyography and manometry catheters, obtaining motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and pressure recordings. The amplitudes of MEPs elicited using single-pulse TMS delivered to the pharyngeal areas of the motor cortex bilaterally were measured pre- and post-cerebellar stimulation. As in previous studies, abductor policis brevis (APB) MEPs were measured to assess post-rTMS modulation specificity. Swallowing was assessed using a swallowing accuracy task. Measurements were made at baseline and 15-min intervals for an hour post-intervention. Measurements involved TMS being used to elicit 10 MEPs bilaterally over the pharyngeal areas of the motor cortex, over the APB cortical representation adjacent to the pharyngeal area with the lowest resting motor threshold and 5 MEPs bilaterally over pharyngeal areas of the cerebellar hemispheres. Swallowing accuracy was assessed by giving participants 10 attempts to swallow and hit a digital target. Cerebellar vermis rTMS caused significant suppression of cortical pharyngeal MEP amplitudes compared with unilateral rTMS and sham (P = 0.0005, 0.002). APB and cerebellar MEP amplitudes were unaffected as were pharyngeal and APB MEP latencies. Following cerebellar vermis rTMS there was a significant reduction in swallowing accuracy compared with sham (P = 0.001). Our findings demonstrate cerebellar vermis rTMS exerts a suppressive effect on pharyngeal motor cortical activity and swallowing behaviour

Osteocytes and mechanical loading: The Wnt connection

Bone adapts to the mechanical forces that it experiences. Orthodontic tooth movement harnesses the cell‐ and tissue‐level properties of mechanotransduction to achieve alignment and reorganization of the dentition. However, the mechanisms of action that permit bone resorption and formation in response to loads placed on the teeth are incompletely elucidated, though several mechanisms have been identified. Wnt/Lrp5 signalling in osteocytes is a key pathway that modulates bone tissue's response to load. Numerous mouse models that harbour knock‐in, knockout and transgenic/overexpression alleles targeting genes related to Wnt signalling point to the necessity of Wnt/Lrp5, and its localization to osteocytes, for proper mechanotransduction in bone. Alveolar bone is rich in osteocytes and is a highly mechanoresponsive tissue in which components of the canonical Wnt signalling cascade have been identified. As Wnt‐based agents become clinically available in the next several years, the major challenge that lies ahead will be to gain a more complete understanding of Wnt biology in alveolar bone so that improved/expedited tooth movement becomes a possibility

What Does Motor Efference Copy Represent? Evidence from Speech Production

How precisely does the brain predict the sensory consequences of our actions? Efference copy is thought to reflect the predicted sensation of self-produced motor acts, such as the auditory feedback heard while speaking. Here, we use magnetoencephalographic imaging (MEG-I) in human speakers to demonstrate that efference copy prediction does not track movement variability across repetitions of the same motor task. Specifically, spoken vowels were less accurately predicted when they were less similar to a speaker's median production, even though the prediction is thought to be based on the very motor commands that generate each vowel. Auditory cortical responses to less prototypical speech productions were less suppressed, resembling responses to speech errors, and were correlated with later corrective movement, suggesting that the suppression may be functionally significant for error correction. The failure of the motor system to accurately predict less prototypical speech productions suggests that the efferent-driven suppression does not reflect a sensory prediction, but a sensory goal

High-bone-mass causing mutant LRP5 receptors are resistant to endogenous inhibitors in vivo

Certain missense mutations affecting LRP5 cause high bone mass (HBM) in humans. Based on in vitro evidence, HBM LRP5 receptors are thought to exert their effects by providing resistance to binding/inhibition of secreted LRP5 inhibitors such as sclerostin (SOST) and Dickkopf homolog-1 (DKK1). We previously reported the creation of two Lrp5 HBM knock-in mouse models, in which the human p.A214V or p.G171V missense mutations were knocked into the endogenous Lrp5 locus. To determine whether HBM knock-in mice are resistant to SOST- or DKK1-induced osteopenia, we bred Lrp5 HBM mice with transgenic mice that overexpress human SOST in osteocytes ((8kb) Dmp1-SOST) or mouse DKK1 in osteoblasts and osteocytes ((2.3kb) Col1a1-Dkk1). We observed that the (8kb) Dmp1-SOST transgene significantly lowered whole-body bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), femoral and vertebral trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV), and periosteal bone-formation rate (BFR) in wild-type mice but not in mice with Lrp5 p.G171V and p.A214V alleles. The (2.3kb) Col1a1-Dkk1 transgene significantly lowered whole-body BMD, BMC, and vertebral BV/TV in wild-type mice and affected p.A214V mice more than p.G171V mice. These in vivo data support in vitro studies regarding the mechanism of HBM-causing mutations, and imply that HBM LRP5 receptors differ in their relative sensitivity to inhibition by SOST and DKK1

The Effects of Midline Cerebellar rTMS on Human Pharyngeal Cortical Activity in the Intact Swallowing Motor System

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: registration 2020-09-09, accepted 2020-09-09, online 2020-09-26, pub-electronic 2020-09-26, pub-print 2021-02Publication status: PublishedFunder: Medical Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000265; Grant(s): MR/P006183/1Abstract: We sought to compare the effects of 10 Hz cerebellar vermis (vs. unilateral hemispheric and sham) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on cortical neuroelectrical activity and thereafter 10 Hz cerebellar vermis (vs. sham) rTMS on swallowing behaviour. Healthy participants (n = 25) were randomly allocated to receive vermis, unilateral hemisphere or sham 10 Hz cerebellar rTMS. Recordings were made using pharyngeal electromyography and manometry catheters, obtaining motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and pressure recordings. The amplitudes of MEPs elicited using single-pulse TMS delivered to the pharyngeal areas of the motor cortex bilaterally were measured pre- and post-cerebellar stimulation. As in previous studies, abductor policis brevis (APB) MEPs were measured to assess post-rTMS modulation specificity. Swallowing was assessed using a swallowing accuracy task. Measurements were made at baseline and 15-min intervals for an hour post-intervention. Measurements involved TMS being used to elicit 10 MEPs bilaterally over the pharyngeal areas of the motor cortex, over the APB cortical representation adjacent to the pharyngeal area with the lowest resting motor threshold and 5 MEPs bilaterally over pharyngeal areas of the cerebellar hemispheres. Swallowing accuracy was assessed by giving participants 10 attempts to swallow and hit a digital target. Cerebellar vermis rTMS caused significant suppression of cortical pharyngeal MEP amplitudes compared with unilateral rTMS and sham (P = 0.0005, 0.002). APB and cerebellar MEP amplitudes were unaffected as were pharyngeal and APB MEP latencies. Following cerebellar vermis rTMS there was a significant reduction in swallowing accuracy compared with sham (P = 0.001). Our findings demonstrate cerebellar vermis rTMS exerts a suppressive effect on pharyngeal motor cortical activity and swallowing behaviour