The Impact of Text Orientation on Form Effects with Chinese, Japanese and English readers

Does visuospatial orientation influence form priming effects in parallel ways in Chinese and English? Given the differences in how orthographic symbols are presented in Chinese versus English, one might expect to find some differences in early word recognition processes and, hence, in the nature of form priming effects. According to perceptual learning accounts, form priming effects (i.e., “form” priming effects) should be influenced by text orientation (Dehaene, Cohen, Sigman, & Vinckier, 2005; Grainger & Holcomb, 2009). In contrast, Witzel, Qiao, and Forster’s (2011) abstract letter unit account proposes that the mechanism responsible for such effect acts at a totally abstract orthographic level (i.e., the visuospatial orientation is irrelevant to the nature of the relevant orthographic code). One goal of the present research was to determine whether or not one of these accounts could explain form priming effects in both languges. Chapter 2 (Yang, Chen, Spinelli & Lupker, 2019) expanded the debate between these positions beyond alphabetic scripts and the syllabic Kana script used by Witzel et al. (2011) to a logographic script (Chinese). I report four experiments with Chinese participants in this chapter. The experiments showed masked form priming effects with targets in four different orientations (left-to-right, top-to-bottom, right-to-left, and bottom-to-top), supporting Witzel et al.’s account. Chapter 3 (Yang, Hino, Chen, Yoshihara, Nakayama, Xue, & Lupker, in press) provided an evaluation of whether the backward priming effect obtained in Experiment 2.3 (i.e., backward primes and forward targets) is truly an orthographic effect or whether it may be either morphologically/meaning- or syllabically/phonologically-based. Five experiments, two involving phonologically-related primes and three involving meaning-related primes, produced no evidence that either of those factors contributed to the backward priming effect, implying that it truly is an orthographic effect. In Chapter 4 (Yang & Lupker, 2019), I examined whether text rotation to different degrees (e.g., 0°, 90°, and 180° rotations) modulated transposed-letter (TL) priming effects in two experiments with English participants. The sizes of the priming effects were similar for horizontal 0°, 90° rotated and 180° rotated words providing further support for abstract letter unit accounts of orthographic coding. These results support abstract letter/character unit accounts of form priming effects while failing to support perceptual learning accounts. Further, these results also indicate a language difference in that Chinese readers have more flexible (i.e., less precise) letter position coding than English readers, a fact that poses an interesting new challenge to existing orthographic coding theories

The Impact of Different Herdsmen’s Size on Grassland Ecosystem of Eastern Transect in Tibetan Plateau: A Case Study from Maqu

In order to address grassland degradation, an individual contracting system, or namely, single-household rangeland management, based on Garrett Hardin theory of “tragedy of the commons”, had been conducted in Maqu since 1980s. Despite the support of local government, such a well-intentioned system saw little fruits on managing degradation, encountering extensive frustration due to its poor practical outcomes. Meanwhile, joint-household rangeland management, as an inheritance of locality-based management, has been vigorously pursued and has played an important role on Maqu’s grassland management system. In order to better illustrate the impact of size on managing the grassland ecosystem, an experiment was set up in which different herdsmen’s scales (single household, small-scale, medium-scale, large-scale, oversized-scale) existing in Maqu grassland was conducted. This study was an attempt to provide a groundbreaking management model, thus inspiring the policy-makers to achieve better solutions

Temporal & Spatial Variation and Benefit Analysis of Farmers Fertilizer at Tarim River Basin

Along with the continuous development of the fertilizer industry, it provides a large extent of impetus to cultivation. This paper analyzes based on the temporal & spatial variation and planting efficiency of farmers fertilizer at Tarim River Basin, it finds that farmers fertilizer provides a large extent of impetus to cultivation. Therefore, using cointegration method to analyze influence of planting efficiency with farmers fertilizer at Tarim River Basin, the model results show that farmers fertilization amount with planting efficiency at Tarim River Basin and prefectures exists a positive correlation, and the influence of the order is same as the fertilization amount with planting efficiency growth. On this basis, it proposes suggestions on farmers reasonable fertilization.Key words: Tarim River Basin; Fertilization; Plant production valu

Up-Regulation of Mitochondrial Activity and Acquirement of Brown Adipose Tissue-Like Property in the White Adipose Tissue of Fsp27 Deficient Mice

Fsp27, a member of the Cide family proteins, was shown to localize to lipid droplet and promote lipid storage in adipocytes. We aimed to understand the biological role of Fsp27 in regulating adipose tissue differentiation, insulin sensitivity and energy balance. Fsp27−/− mice and Fsp27/lep double deficient mice were generated and we examined the adiposity, whole body metabolism, BAT and WAT morphology, insulin sensitivity, mitochondrial activity, and gene expression changes in these mouse strains. Furthermore, we isolated mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) from wildtype and Fsp27−/− mice, followed by their differentiation into adipocytes in vitro. We found that Fsp27 is expressed in both brown adipose tissue (BAT) and white adipose tissue (WAT) and its levels were significantly elevated in the WAT and liver of leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. Fsp27−/− mice had increased energy expenditure, lower levels of plasma triglycerides and free fatty acids. Furthermore, Fsp27−/− and Fsp27/lep double-deficient mice are resistant to diet-induced obesity and display increased insulin sensitivity. Moreover, white adipocytes in Fsp27−/− mice have reduced triglycerides accumulation and smaller lipid droplets, while levels of mitochondrial proteins, mitochondrial size and activity are dramatically increased. We further demonstrated that BAT-specific genes and key metabolic controlling factors such as FoxC2, PPAR and PGC1α were all markedly upregulated. In contrast, factors inhibiting BAT differentiation such as Rb, p107 and RIP140 were down-regulated in the WAT of Fsp27−/− mice. Remarkably, Fsp27−/− MEFs differentiated in vitro show many brown adipocyte characteristics in the presence of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3). Our data thus suggest that Fsp27 acts as a novel regulator in vivo to control WAT identity, mitochondrial activity and insulin sensitivity

The E3 ubiquitin ligase component, Cereblon, is an evolutionarily conserved regulator of Wnt signaling

Immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) are important for the treatment of multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome. Binding of IMiDs to Cereblon (CRBN), the substrate receptor of the CRL4CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase, induces cancer cell death by targeting key neo-substrates for degradation. Despite this clinical significance, the physiological regulation of CRBN remains largely unknown. Herein we demonstrate that Wnt, the extracellular ligand of an essential signal transduction pathway, promotes the CRBN-dependent degradation of a subset of proteins. These substrates include Casein kinase 1α (CK1α), a negative regulator of Wnt signaling that functions as a key component of the β-Catenin destruction complex. Wnt stimulation induces the interaction of CRBN with CK1α and its resultant ubiquitination, and in contrast with previous reports does so in the absence of an IMiD. Mechanistically, the destruction complex is critical in maintaining CK1α stability in the absence of Wnt, and in recruiting CRBN to target CK1α for degradation in response to Wnt. CRBN is required for physiological Wnt signaling, as modulation of CRBN in zebrafish and Drosophila yields Wnt-driven phenotypes. These studies demonstrate an IMiD-independent, Wnt-driven mechanism of CRBN regulation and provide a means of controlling Wnt pathway activity by CRBN, with relevance for development and disease

Full-length transcriptome analysis provides insights into larval shell formation in Mulinia lateralis

Mollusca is the second largest animal phylum and represents one of the most evolutionarily successful animal groups. Mulinia lateralis, a small bivalve, is a promising model organism to facilitate studies of mollusc development. However, because of the lack of published genomic and transcriptomic resources, integrated research on the formation of larval shells in this species, which is a representative developmental process of molluscs and of great importance for larva survival, is hindered. In this study, the blastula, gastrula, trochophore larva, and D-shaped larva of M. lateralis were utilized for generating a comprehensive full-length transcriptome through Pacific BioSciences (PacBio) isoform sequencing (Iso-seq) and Illumina RNA-Seq. A total of 238,919 full-length transcripts with an average length of 3,267 bp and 121,424 annotated genes were obtained. Illumina RNA-Seq data analysis showed that 4,512, 10,637, and 17,829 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained between the two adjacent developmental stages. Functional annotation and enrichment analysis revealed the specific function of genes in shell biomineralization during different developmental stages. Twelve genes that may be involved in the formation of the larval shell of M. lateralis were identified, including insoluble shell matrix protein-encoding gene 1 (ISMP1), ISMP2, ISMP5, chitin synthase, tyrosinase, chitin-binding protein, collagen and pu14 involved in shell matrix deposition, and carbonic anhydrase, solute carrier family 4 member 8 (slc4a8), EF-hand, and a calmodulin coding gene C-2442 participated in ion transportation. In addition, calcium ion binding function, calcium signaling pathway, and endocrine and other factor-regulated calcium reabsorption pathways were significantly enriched. Weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) identified two modules related to biomineralization and larval shell formation, and slc4a8 and ring finger protein 41 (rnf41) were key hub genes that may be involved in this process. Moreover, it could be implied that the process of ion transport occurs earlier than the deposition of the shell matrix. This work provided a clear view of the transcriptome for M. lateralis and will be valuable in elucidating the mechanisms of larval shell formation as well as other developmental processes in molluscs