Reasoning about Sensing Actions in Domains with Multi-Valued Fluents

In this paper, we discuss the weakness of current action languages for sensing actions with respect to modeling domains with multi-valued fluents. To address this problem, we propose a language with sensing actions and multi-valued fluents, called AM_K, provide a transition function based semantics for the language, and demonstrate its use through several examples from the literature. We then define the entailment relationship between action theories and queries in AM_K, denoted by ⊧AM_K, and discuss some properties about AM_K.     

Effective brain connectivity in children with reading difficulties during phonological processing

Using Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined effective connectivity between three left hemisphere brain regions (inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, fusiform gyrus) and bilateral medial frontal gyrus in 12 children with reading difficulties (M age=12.4, range: 8.11-14.10) and 12 control children (M age=12.3, range: 8.9-14.11) during rhyming judgments to visually presented words. More difficult conflicting trials either had similar orthography but different phonology (e.g. pint-mint) or similar phonology but different orthography (e.g. jazz-has). Easier non-conflicting trials had similar orthography and phonology (e.g. dime-lime) or different orthography and phonology (e.g. staff-gain). The modulatory effect from left fusiform gyrus to left inferior parietal lobule was stronger in controls than in children with reading difficulties only for conflicting trials. Modulatory effects from left fusiform gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule to left inferior frontal gyrus were stronger for conflicting trials than for non-conflicting trials only in control children but not in children with reading difficulties. Modulatory effects from left inferior frontal gyrus to inferior parietal lobule, from medial frontal gyrus to left inferior parietal lobule, and from left inferior parietal lobule to medial frontal gyrus were positively correlated with reading skill only in control children. These findings suggest that children with reading difficulties have deficits in integrating orthography and phonology utilizing left inferior parietal lobule, and in engaging phonological rehearsal/segmentation utilizing left inferior frontal gyrus possibly through the indirect pathway connecting posterior to anterior language processing regions, especially when the orthographic and phonological information is conflicting.     

伦理学视阈中的《物权法》

伦理学视阈中的<物权法>,有三个层面的伦理问题.首先,私有财产的正当性是<物权法>的基本伦理问题,只有满足了自主和公正的道德原则的私有财产才是正当的,这是<物权法>的伦理基础.其次,物权平等是<物权法>的核心伦理问题.要实现社会的平等理想,<物权法>难以承受其重,它需要整个社会主义法律体系的有机整合和合理运作.最后,报酬请求权与拾金不昧的美德是否冲突,是<物权法>中的一般性伦理问题,两者并不冲突,<物权法>应该规定报酬请求权.     

内源性注意和外源性注意的ERP研究

内源性注意和外源性注意反映注意指向与集中的自上而下和自下而上的加工。大量事件相关电位的ERP研究考察了内源性注意和外源性注意的神经活动机制。内源性注意诱发了早期N1成分和晚期P300成分,是否诱发P1成分的研究结果不尽一致;外源性注意加强了N1成分、P1成分以及P300成分。研究还表明内源性注意和外源性注意是两种独立的注意系统,以不同的方式影响着脑内的信息加工     

Serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR genotype is associated with intrusion and avoidance symptoms of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Chinese earthquake survivors

Background and Objectives: Prior studies have found that the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) interacts with trauma exposure to increase general risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, there is little knowledge about the effects of the interaction on distinct symptom clusters of PTSD. This study aimed to investigate the relation between the interaction of 5-HTTLPR and earthquake-related exposures and a contemporary phenotypic model of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms in a traumatised adult sample from China.

Design: A cross-sectional design with gene-environment interaction (G?×?E) approach was adopted. Methods: Participants were 1131 survivors who experienced 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. PTSD symptoms were assessed with the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). The 5-HTTLPR polymorphism was genotyped with capillary electrophoresis (CE) in ABI 3730xl genetic Analyzer.

Results: Although there was no significant interaction between 5-HTTLPR and traumatic exposure on total PTSD symptoms, respondents with the LL genotype of 5-HTTLPR who were highly exposed to the earthquake experienced lower intrusion and avoidance symptoms than those with the S-allele carriers.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the 5-HTTLPR may have an important impact on the development of PTSD and add to the extant knowledge on understanding and treating of posttraumatic psychopathology.     

Item frequency in probe-recognition memory search: Converging evidence for a role of item-response learning

In short-term probe-recognition tasks, observers make speeded old–new recognition judgments for items that are members of short lists. However, long-term memory (LTM) for items from previous lists influences current-list performance. The current experiment pursued the nature of these long-term influences—in particular, whether they emerged from item-familiarity or item-response-learning mechanisms. Subjects engaged in varied-mapping (VM) and consistent-mapping (CM) short-term probe-recognition tasks (e.g., Schneider & Shiffrin, Psychological Review, 84, 1–66, 1977). The key manipulation was to vary the frequency with which individual items were presented across trials. We observed a striking dissociation: Whereas increased presentation frequency led to benefits in performance for both old and new test probes in CM search, it resulted in interference effects for both old and new test probes in VM search. Formal modeling suggested that a form of item-response learning took place in both conditions: Each presentation of a test probe led to the storage of that test probe—along with its associated “old” or “new” response—as an exemplar in LTM. These item-response pairs were retrieved along with current-list items in driving observers’ old-– recognition judgments. We conclude that item-response learning is a core component of the LTM mechanisms that influence CM and VM memory search.     

The Body in Religion: The Spatial Mapping of Valence in Tibetan Practitioners of Bön

According to the Body‐Specificity Hypothesis (BSH), people implicitly associate positive ideas with the side of space on which they are able to act more fluently with their dominant hand. Though this hypothesis has been rigorously tested across a variety of populations and tasks, the studies thus far have only been conducted in linguistic and cultural communities which favor the right over the left. Here, we tested the effect of handedness on implicit space‐valence mappings in Tibetan practitioners of Bön who show a strong religious preference for the left, in comparison to an English group. Results showed that Bön right‐handers tended to implicitly associate positive valence more strongly with their dominant side of space despite strong explicit associations between the left and goodness in their religion. This pattern of results found in Bön participants was indistinguishable from that found in English speakers. The findings of the present study support the BSH, demonstrating that space‐valence mappings in people's minds are shaped by their bodily experience, which appears to be independent of space‐valence mappings enshrined in cultural conventions.     

淄潍河流域商周文化东渐历史背景之考古学观察

商周文化东渐是山东地区商周考古的一个重要课题,淄潍河流域则是山东地区商周考古的一个关键性区域,随着考古资料的日益丰富,从考古学角度探讨淄潍河流域商周文化东渐及其历史背景已成为可能。