Rhizome Severing Increases Root Lifespan of Leymus chinensis in a Typical Steppe of Inner Mongolia

Root lifespan is an important trait that determines plants' ability to acquire and conserve soil resources. There have been several studies investigating characteristics of root lifespan of both woody and herbaceous species. However, most of the studies have focused on non-clonal plants, and there have been little data on root lifespan for clonal plants that occur widely in temperate grasslands.We investigated the effects of rhizome severing on overall root lifespan of Leymus chinensis, a clonal, dominant grass species in the temperate steppe in northern China, in a 2-year field study using modified rhizotron technique. More specifically, we investigated the effects of rhizome severing on root lifespan of roots born in different seasons and distributed at different soil depths. Rhizome severing led to an increase in the overall root lifespan from 81 to 103 days. The increase in root lifespan exhibited spatial and temporal characteristics such that it increased lifespan for roots distributed in the top two soil layers and for roots born in summer and spring, but it had no effect on lifespan of roots in the deep soil layer and born in autumn. We also examined the effect of rhizome severing on carbohydrate and N contents in roots, and found that root carbohydrate and N contents were not affected by rhizome severing. Further, we found that root lifespan of Stipa krylovii and Artemisia frigida, two dominant, non-clonal species in the temperate steppe, was significantly longer (118 d) than that of L. chinensis (81 d), and this value became comparable to that of L. chinensis under rhizome severing (103 d).We found that root lifespan in dominant, clonal L. chinensis was shorter than for the dominant, non-clonal species of S. krylovii and A. frigida. There was a substantial increase in the root lifespan of L. chinensis in response to severing their rhizomes, and this increase in root lifespan exhibited temporal and spatial characteristics. These findings suggest that the presence of rhizomes is likely to account for the observed short lifespan of clonal plant species in the temperate steppe

Individual working memory capacity is uniquely correlated with feature-based attention when combined with spatial attention

A growing literature suggests that working memory and attention are closely related constructs. Both involve the selection of task-relevant information, and both are characterized by capacity limits. Furthermore, studies using a variety of methodological approaches have demonstrated convergent working memory and attention-related processing at the individual, neural and behavioral level. Given the varieties of both constructs, the specific kinds of attention and WM must be considered. We find that individuals’ working memory capacity (WMC) uniquely interacts with feature-based attention when combined with spatial attention in a cuing paradigm (Posner, 1980). Our findings suggest a positive correlation between WM and feature-based attention only within the spotlight of spatial attention. This finding lends support to the controlled attention view of working memory by demonstrating that integrated feature-based expectancies are uniquely correlated with individual performance on a working memory task

Sequential Neural Processes in Abacus Mental Addition: An EEG and fMRI Case Study

Abacus experts are able to mentally calculate multi-digit numbers rapidly. Some behavioral and neuroimaging studies have suggested a visuospatial and visuomotor strategy during abacus mental calculation. However, no study up to now has attempted to dissociate temporally the visuospatial neural process from the visuomotor neural process during abacus mental calculation. In the present study, an abacus expert performed the mental addition tasks (8-digit and 4-digit addends presented in visual or auditory modes) swiftly and accurately. The 100% correct rates in this expert’s task performance were significantly higher than those of ordinary subjects performing 1-digit and 2-digit addition tasks. ERPs, EEG source localizations, and fMRI results taken together suggested visuospatial and visuomotor processes were sequentially arranged during the abacus mental addition with visual addends and could be dissociated from each other temporally. The visuospatial transformation of the numbers, in which the superior parietal lobule was most likely involved, might occur first (around 380 ms) after the onset of the stimuli. The visuomotor processing, in which the superior/middle frontal gyri were most likely involved, might occur later (around 440 ms). Meanwhile, fMRI results suggested that neural networks involved in the abacus mental addition with auditory stimuli were similar to those in the visual abacus mental addition. The most prominently activated brain areas in both conditions included the bilateral superior parietal lobules (BA 7) and bilateral middle frontal gyri (BA 6). These results suggest a supra-modal brain network in abacus mental addition, which may develop from normal mental calculation networks

Does audio‐visual binding as an integrative function of working memory influence the early stages of learning to write?

Working memory has been proposed to account for the differential rates in pro- gress young children make in writing. One crucial aspect of learning to write is the encoding (i.e., integration) and retrieval of the correct phoneme–grapheme pairings, known as binding. In addition to executive functions, binding is regarded as central to the concept of working memory. To test the developmental increase in binding ability and its comparative influence on writing, an experimental study assessed 5- and 6-year-olds’ accuracy in retaining and retrieving bound audio-visual information alongside measures of verbal and visual complex working memory span (i.e., cen- tral executive functions), and transcription skills (i.e., alphabet and spelling). Results demonstrated an age-related increase in the ability to bind, and that binding had sig- nificant associations with working memory and early writing ability, but once bind- ing and age were controlled for it was verbal working memory that made an inde- pendent contribution to individual differences in writing performance. Although the contribution this paper made was through an exploration and expansion of theoreti- cal ideas within writing research, it is likely to make an important practical contribu- tion to instruction in the future both at the level of transcription and text generation as writers develop those skills

Language in international business: a review and agenda for future research

A fast growing number of studies demonstrates that language diversity influences almost all management decisions in modern multinational corporations. Whereas no doubt remains about the practical importance of language, the empirical investigation and theoretical conceptualization of its complex and multifaceted effects still presents a substantial challenge. To summarize and evaluate the current state of the literature in a coherent picture informing future research, we systematically review 264 articles on language in international business. We scrutinize the geographic distributions of data, evaluate the field’s achievements to date in terms of theories and methodologies, and summarize core findings by individual, group, firm, and country levels of analysis. For each of these dimensions, we then put forward a future research agenda. We encourage scholars to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to draw on, integrate, and test a variety of theories from disciplines such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to gain a more profound understanding of language in international business. We advocate more multi-level studies and cross-national research collaborations and suggest greater attention to potential new data sources and means of analysis

Auditory event-related potentials

Auditory event related potentials are electric potentials (AERP, AEP) and magnetic fields (AEF) generated by the synchronous activity of large neural populations in the brain, which are time-locked to some actual or expected sound event

Supramolecular structures of substituted a,a' trehalose derivatives

The structures of five substituted alpha,alpha'-trehalose trehalose derivatives have been determined, and these are compared with those of four previously published analogues. In 2,2',3,3',4,4'-hexaacetato-6,6'-bis-O-methylsulfonyl-alpha,alpha'-trehalose, C26H38O21S2, where the molecules lie across twofold rotation axes in the space group C2, a single C - H...O=S hydrogen bond links the molecules into sheets. 2,2',3,3',4,4,- Hexaacetato-6,6'-bis-O-(4-toluenesulfonyl)-alpha,alpha'-trehalose, C38H46O21S2, crystallizes with Z' = 2 in the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) and a combination of three C - H...O hydrogen bonds, each having a carbonyl O atom as an acceptor, and a C - H...pi(arene) hydrogen bond link the molecules into a three-dimensional framework. 2,2',3,3',4,4'-Hexaacetato-6,6'-diazido- alpha,alpha'-trehalose, C24H32N6O15, crystallizes as a partial ethanol solvate and three C - H...O hydrogen bonds link the substituted trehalose molecules into a three-dimensional framework. In 2,2'3,3'tetraacetato-6,6'-bis(N-acetylamino)-alpha, ,alpha'-trehalose dihydrate, C24H36N2O15.2H(2)O, the substituted trehalose molecules lie across twofold rotation axes in the space group P2(1)2(1)2 and a three-dimensional framework is generated by the combination of O - H...O and N - H...O hydrogen bonds. The diaminotrehalose molecules in 6,6'-amino- alpha,alpha'-trehalose dihydrate, C12H24N2O9.2(H2O), lie across twofold rotation axes in the space group P4(3)2(1)2: a single O - H...N hydrogen bond links the trehalose molecules into sheets, which are linked into a three-dimensional framework by O - H...O hydrogen bonds.</p

Supramolecular structures of substituted a,a' trehalose derivatives

The structures of five substituted alpha,alpha'-trehalose trehalose derivatives have been determined, and these are compared with those of four previously published analogues. In 2,2',3,3',4,4'-hexaacetato-6,6'-bis-O-methylsulfonyl-alpha,alpha'-trehalose, C26H38O21S2, where the molecules lie across twofold rotation axes in the space group C2, a single C - H...O=S hydrogen bond links the molecules into sheets. 2,2',3,3',4,4,- Hexaacetato-6,6'-bis-O-(4-toluenesulfonyl)-alpha,alpha'-trehalose, C38H46O21S2, crystallizes with Z' = 2 in the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) and a combination of three C - H...O hydrogen bonds, each having a carbonyl O atom as an acceptor, and a C - H...pi(arene) hydrogen bond link the molecules into a three-dimensional framework. 2,2',3,3',4,4'-Hexaacetato-6,6'-diazido- alpha,alpha'-trehalose, C24H32N6O15, crystallizes as a partial ethanol solvate and three C - H...O hydrogen bonds link the substituted trehalose molecules into a three-dimensional framework. In 2,2'3,3'tetraacetato-6,6'-bis(N-acetylamino)-alpha, ,alpha'-trehalose dihydrate, C24H36N2O15.2H(2)O, the substituted trehalose molecules lie across twofold rotation axes in the space group P2(1)2(1)2 and a three-dimensional framework is generated by the combination of O - H...O and N - H...O hydrogen bonds. The diaminotrehalose molecules in 6,6'-amino- alpha,alpha'-trehalose dihydrate, C12H24N2O9.2(H2O), lie across twofold rotation axes in the space group P4(3)2(1)2: a single O - H...N hydrogen bond links the trehalose molecules into sheets, which are linked into a three-dimensional framework by O - H...O hydrogen bonds.</p