Subdivisions with infinitely supported mask

AbstractIn this paper we investigate the convergence of subdivision schemes associated with masks being polynomially decay sequences. Two-scale vector refinement equations are the formφ(x)=∑α∈Za(α)φ(2x-α),x∈R,where the vector of functions φ=(φ1,…,φr)T is in (L2(R))r and a≕(a(α))α∈Z is polynomially decay sequence of r×r matrices called refinement mask. Associated with the mask a is a linear operator on (L2(R))r given byQaf(x)≔∑α∈Za(α)f(2x-α),x∈R,f=(f1,…,fr)T∈(L2(R))r.By using same methods in [B. Han, R. Q. Jia, Characterization of Riesz bases of wavelets generated from multiresolution analysis, manuscript]; [B. Han, Refinable functions and cascade algorithms in weighted spaces with infinitely supported masks, manuscript]; [R.Q. Jia, Q.T. Jiang, Z.W. Shen, Convergence of cascade algorithms associated with nonhomogeneous refinement equations, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 129 (2001) 415–427]; [R.Q. Jia, Convergence of vector subdivision schemes and construction of biorthogonal multiple wavelets, in: Advances in Wavelet, Hong Kong,1997, Springer, Singapore, 1998, pp. 199–227], a characterization of convergence of the sequences (Qanf)n=1,2,… in the L2-norm is given, which extends the main results in [R.Q. Jia, S.D. Riemenschneider, D.X. Zhou, Vector subdivision schemes and multiple wavelets, Math. Comp. 67 (1998) 1533–1563] on convergence of the subdivision schemes associated with a finitely supported mask to the case in which mask a is polynomially decay sequence. As an application, we also obtain a characterization of smoothness of solutions of the refinement equation mentioned above for the case r=1

Neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing

In spite of the reduced visual acuity, parafoveal information plays an important role in natural reading. However, competing models on reading disagree on whether words are previewed parafoveally at the lexical level. We find neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing by combining a rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT) approach with magnetoencephalography (MEG) and eye-tracking. In a silent reading task, target words are tagged (flickered) subliminally at 60 Hz. The tagging responses measured when fixating on the pre-target word reflect parafoveal processing of the target word. We observe stronger tagging responses during pre-target fixations when followed by low compared with high lexical frequency targets. Moreover, this lexical parafoveal processing is associated with individual reading speed. Our findings suggest that reading unfolds in the fovea and parafovea simultaneously to support fluent reading

Transcendence of Time and Space: The Lived Experiences of Chinese International Graduate Students in the United States

This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of seven Chinese international graduate students in the United States. The students in this study range in age from the twenties to thirties and are pursuing advanced degrees in various disciplines including Education, American Studies, Economics, and the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The phenomenological question is: What are the lived experiences of Chinese international graduate students in the United States? This research is conducted in the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology drawing on the work of philosophers such as Heidegger, Gadamer, Dilthey, Merleau-Ponty, and Casey as foundational "grounding" for the study. Each of these philosophers brings key foundations to help illuminate the phenomenon, through such existentials as lived body, space, time and relation. Van Man provides the methodology to guide the study. Through individual conversations with each participant, the themes generated revolve around orienting to a new environment, both academically and socially; finding familiarity in the midst of unfamiliarity, while living in between two languages and two cultural worlds, both literally and metaphorically. Their journey to the U.S. is a journey with possible return to their home country; however, the return to their past and familiar practices is transformed and different. Their self-doubt and identity navigation are all revealed in this dissertation, such as their eagerness to "fit in" the U.S. environment while still making an effort to maintain their "Chineseness." They also desire to establish friendships with Americans, contribute to their study fields, and experience the joy of freedom to achieve their "American Dreams." This study concludes with pedagogical recommendations that can help international students become more self-oriented and find fulfillment in their studies. The importance of listening and genuine care surfaced. In addition, it takes more a collaborative effort amongst different academic and support units to create a home community where international students can find places to belong

Saccades are locked to the phase of alpha oscillations during natural reading

We saccade 3 to 5 times per second when reading. However, little is known about the neuronal mechanisms coordinating the oculomotor and visual systems during such rapid processing. Here, we ask if brain oscillations play a role in the temporal coordination of the visuomotor integration. We simultaneously acquired MEG and eye-tracking data while participants read sentences silently. Every sentence was embedded with a target word of either high or low lexical frequency. Our key finding demonstrated that saccade onsets were locked to the phase of alpha oscillations (8 to 13 Hz), and in particular, for saccades towards low frequency words. Source modelling demonstrated that the alpha oscillations to which the saccades were locked, were generated in the right-visual motor cortex (BA 7). Our findings suggest that the alpha oscillations serve to time the processing between the oculomotor and visual systems during natural reading, and that this coordination becomes more pronounced for demanding words

Early parafoveal semantic integration in natural reading

Humans can read and comprehend text rapidly, implying that readers might process multiple words per fixation. However, the extent to which parafoveal words are previewed and integrated into the evolving sentence context remains disputed. We investigated parafoveal processing during natural reading by recording brain activity and eye movements using MEG and an eye tracker while participants silently read one-line sentences. The sentences contained an unpredictable target word that was either congruent or incongruent with the sentence context. To measure parafoveal processing, we flickered the target words at 60 Hz and measured the resulting brain responses (i.e., Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging, RIFT) during fixations on the pre-target words. Our results revealed a significantly weaker tagging response for target words that were incongruent with the sentence context compared to congruent ones, even within 100 ms of fixating the word immediately preceding the target. This reduction in the RIFT response was also found to be predictive of individual reading speed. We conclude that semantic information is not only extracted from the parafovea but can also be integrated with the sentence context before the word is fixated. This early and extensive parafoveal processing supports the rapid word processing required for natural reading. Our study suggests that theoretical frameworks of natural reading should incorporate the concept of deep parafoveal processing

Metabolic fingerprinting of Angelica sinensis during growth using UPLC-TOFMS and chemometrics data analysis

BACKGROUND: The radix of Angelica sinensis is widely used as a medicinal herbal and metabolomics research of this plant during growth is necessary. RESULTS: Principal component analysis of the UPLC-QTOFMS data showed that these 27 samples could be separated into 4 different groups. The chemical markers accounting for these separations were identified from the PCA loadings plot. These markers were further verified by accurate mass tandem mass and retention times of available reference standards. The study has shown that accumulation of secondary metabolites of Angelica sinensis is closely related to the growth periods. CONCLUSIONS: The UPLC-QTOFMS based metabolomics approach has great potential for analysis of the alterations of secondary metabolites of Angelica sinensis during growth

Cooperative Open-ended Learning Framework for Zero-shot Coordination

Zero-shot coordination in cooperative artificial intelligence (AI) remains a significant challenge, which means effectively coordinating with a wide range of unseen partners. Previous algorithms have attempted to address this challenge by optimizing fixed objectives within a population to improve strategy or behaviour diversity. However, these approaches can result in a loss of learning and an inability to cooperate with certain strategies within the population, known as cooperative incompatibility. To address this issue, we propose the Cooperative Open-ended LEarning (COLE) framework, which constructs open-ended objectives in cooperative games with two players from the perspective of graph theory to assess and identify the cooperative ability of each strategy. We further specify the framework and propose a practical algorithm that leverages knowledge from game theory and graph theory. Furthermore, an analysis of the learning process of the algorithm shows that it can efficiently overcome cooperative incompatibility. The experimental results in the Overcooked game environment demonstrate that our method outperforms current state-of-the-art methods when coordinating with different-level partners. Our demo is available at https://sites.google.com/view/cole-2023.Comment: 15 pages with 9 pages main bod

Neural Activity Is Dynamically Modulated by Memory Load During the Maintenance of Spatial Objects

Visuospatial working memory (WM) is a fundamental but severely limited ability to temporarily remember selected stimuli. Several studies have investigated the underlying neural mechanisms of maintaining various visuospatial stimuli simultaneously (i.e., WM load, the number of representations that need to be maintained in WM). However, two confounding factors, namely verbal representation and encoding load (the number of items that need to be encoded into WM), have not been well controlled in previous studies. In this study, we developed a novel delayed-match-to-sample task (DMST) controlling for these two confounding factors and recorded scalp EEG signals during the task. We found that behavioral performance deteriorated severely as memory load increased. Neural activity was modulated by WM load in a dynamic manner. Specifically, higher memory load induced stronger amplitude in occipital and central channel-clusters during the early delay period, while the inverse trend was observed in central and frontal channel-clusters during late delay. In addition, the same inverse memory load effect, that was lower memory load induced stronger amplitude, was observed in occipital channel-cluster alpha power during late delay. Finally, significant correlations between neural activity and individual reaction time showed a role of late-delay central and frontal channel-cluster amplitude in predicting behavioral performance. Because the occipital cortex is important for visual information maintenance, the decrease in alpha oscillation was consistent with the cognitive role that is “gating by inhibition.” Together, our results from a well-controlled DMST suggest that WM load not exerted constant but dynamic effect on neural activity during maintenance of visuospatial objects

Effects of in ovo feeding of chlorogenic acid on antioxidant capacity of postnatal broilers

In this study, chlorogenic acid (CGA) was injected into the amniotic cavity of chicken embryos to study the effects of in ovo feeding of CGA on the antioxidant capacity of postnatal broilers. On the 17th day of embryonic age, a total of 300 healthy broiler fertile eggs with similar weights were randomly subjected to five groups as follows; in ovo injection with 0.5 ml CGA at 4 mg/egg (4CGA) or 7 mg/egg (7CGA) or 10 mg/egg (10CGA), or sham-injection with saline (positive control, PC) or no injection (negative control, NC). Each group had six replicates of ten embryos. Six healthy chicks with similar body weights hatched from each replicate were selected and reared until heat stress treatment (35°C ± 1°C, 8 h/d) at 28–42 days of age. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the hatching rate between the groups (p > 0.05). After heat stress treatment, 4CGA group showed an improved intestinal morphology which was demonstrated by a higher villus height in the duodenum and a higher villus height/crypt depth ratio in the jejunum, compared with the NC group (p < 0.05). The antioxidant capacity of chickens was improved by in ovo feeding of CGA since 4CGA decreased the plasma content of malondialdehyde (MDA) (p < 0.05), whereas, it increased the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and catalase (CAT) activities compared with NC group (p < 0.05). Also, the MDA content of the different injection groups had a quadratic effect, with the 4CGA group having the lowest MDA content (Pquadratic < 0.05). In the duodenum, 4CGA injection significantly increased the mRNA expressions of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase 1 (H O -1), glutathione synthetase (GSS), and SOD1 compared to the NC and PC groups (p < 0.05). The mRNA expressions of glutathione reductase (GSR) and GPX7 were significantly increased in all CGA-treated groups compared with the PC group (p < 0.05), while the mRNA expression of CAT was significantly increased by 4CGA group than the NC group (p < 0.05). The mRNA expressions of epigenetic-related genes, ten eleven translocation 1 and 2 (Tet1 and Tet2), and DNA-methyltransferase 3 alpha (DNMT3A) in the duodenum of 4CGA injected group was significantly increased compared with the NC and PC groups (p < 0.05). The mRNA expressions of Nrf2, SOD1, and Tet2 showed a significant quadratic effects with the 4CGA group having the highest expression (Pquadratic < 0.05). In conclusion, in ovo feeding of CGA alleviated heat stress-induced intestinal oxidative damage. Injection with CGA of 4 mg/egg is considered most effective due to its actions in improving intestinal antioxidant capacity, especially in the duodenum. The antioxidant effects of in ovo CGA on postnatal heat-stressed broilers may be related to its regulation of epigenetic mechanisms. Thus, this study provides technical knowledge to support the in ovo feeding of CGA to alleviate oxidative stress in postnatal heat-stressed broilers