Younger and older users׳ recognition of virtual agent facial expressions

As technology advances, robots and virtual agents will be introduced into the home and healthcare settings to assist individuals, both young and old, with everyday living tasks. Understanding how users recognize an agent׳s social cues is therefore imperative, especially in social interactions. Facial expression, in particular, is one of the most common non-verbal cues used to display and communicate emotion in on-screen agents (Cassell et al., 2000). Age is important to consider because age-related differences in emotion recognition of human facial expression have been supported (Ruffman et al., 2008), with older adults showing a deficit for recognition of negative facial expressions. Previous work has shown that younger adults can effectively recognize facial emotions displayed by agents (Bartneck and Reichenbach, 2005, Courgeon et al., 2009, Courgeon et al., 2011, Breazeal, 2003); however, little research has compared in-depth younger and older adults’ ability to label a virtual agent׳s facial emotions, an import consideration because social agents will be required to interact with users of varying ages. If such age-related differences exist for recognition of virtual agent facial expressions, we aim to understand if those age-related differences are influenced by the intensity of the emotion, dynamic formation of emotion (i.e., a neutral expression developing into an expression of emotion through motion), or the type of virtual character differing by human-likeness. Study 1 investigated the relationship between age-related differences, the implication of dynamic formation of emotion, and the role of emotion intensity in emotion recognition of the facial expressions of a virtual agent (iCat). Study 2 examined age-related differences in recognition expressed by three types of virtual characters differing by human-likeness (non-humanoid iCat, synthetic human, and human). Study 2 also investigated the role of configural and featural processing as a possible explanation for age-related differences in emotion recognition. First, our findings show age-related differences in the recognition of emotions expressed by a virtual agent, with older adults showing lower recognition for the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral. These age-related difference might be explained by older adults having difficulty discriminating similarity in configural arrangement of facial features for certain emotions; for example, older adults often mislabeled the similar emotions of fear as surprise. Second, our results did not provide evidence for the dynamic formation improving emotion recognition; but, in general, the intensity of the emotion improved recognition. Lastly, we learned that emotion recognition, for older and younger adults, differed by character type, from best to worst: human, synthetic human, and then iCat. Our findings provide guidance for design, as well as the development of a framework of age-related differences in emotion recognition.     

赤红球菌组氨酸激酶的融合表达和功能分析

对赤红球菌的组氨酸激酶基因进行密码子优化，将优化后的组氨酸激酶基因（rhks）构建重组表达质粒pGEX-4T-2-rhks。将此质粒导入到大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）中进行异源表达。在25 ℃和1 mmol/L异丙基-β-D-硫代吡喃半乳糖苷诱导条件下，组氨酸激酶融合蛋白（GST-RHK）获得成功表达，并具有催化活性。经谷胱甘肽琼脂糖亲和层析纯化，获得电泳纯的GST-RHK，其中纯化倍数为3.1，得率为19.5%。该蛋白大小约为72.75 kDa，Km、Vmax和Kcat值分别为20.92 μmol/L、0.17 μmol/（L·min）和1.4 min－1。野生型赤红球菌、组氨酸激酶基因增强株sdrhkE和组氨酸激酶基因敲减株sdrhkD在分别含有苯酚、甲苯、氯苯、异辛烷4 种有机溶剂的培养基中培养，菌株sdrhkD的生长情况都优于野生型赤红球菌，菌株sdrhkE的生长情况都低于野生型赤红球菌。本研究为进一步揭示赤红球菌SD3中组氨酸激酶涉及的信号转导途径与赤红球菌有机溶剂耐受性的关联机制提供一定参考依据。     

雪菊精油对希氏肠球菌产酪胺及相关基因表达的影响

探讨不同质量浓度雪菊精油对希氏肠球菌（Enterococcus hirae）N47产酪胺的影响机制。利用反转录实时定量聚合酶链式反应分析E. hirae在雪菊精油作用下酪氨酸脱羧途径相关基因的表达情况；利用高效液相色谱法检测不同质量浓度雪菊精油对E. hirae产酪胺的影响。并将E. hirae接入到含不同质量浓度雪菊精油的熏马肠中发酵，评估香肠pH值、菌落总数和酪胺积累量。结果表明：在E. hirae纯培养体系和熏马肠体系中，雪菊精油通过抑制微生物的生长和酪氨酸脱羧途径中tyr DC、tyr P基因的表达，降低酪胺的积累量（P＜0.05）。当雪菊精油添加量为1/2最小抑菌浓度（minimal inhibitory concentration，MIC）和MIC时，熏马肠中酪胺的含量分别为78.52 mg/kg和45.83 mg/kg，较对照组分别减少了64.72%和79.41%。     

Comparative evaluation of different statistical tools for the prediction of uniaxial compressive strength of rocks

In this study, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), unit weight (UW), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), Schmidt hardness (SHH), Shore hardness (SSH), point load index (Is₅₀) and P-wave velocity (V_p) properties were determined. To predict the UCS, simple regression (SRA), multiple regression (MRA), artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic expression programming (GEP) have been utilized. The obtained UCS values were compared with the actual UCS values with the help of various graphs. Datasets were modeled using different methods and compared with each other. In the study where the performance indice PI_at was used to determine the best performing method, MRA method is the most successful method with a small difference. It is concluded that the mean PI_at equal to 2.46 for testing dataset suggests the superiority of the MRA, while these values are 2.44, 2.33, and 2.22 for GEP, ANFIS, and ANN techniques, respectively. The results pointed out that the MRA can be used for predicting UCS of rocks with higher capacity in comparison with others. According to the performance index assessment, the weakest model among the nine model is P7, while the most successful models are P2, P9, and P8, respectively.     

重组人淋巴细胞活化基因-3蛋白胞外段的真核表达及鉴定

目的真核表达重组人淋巴细胞活化基因-3(lymphocyte activation gene-3,LAG-3)蛋白胞外段,并进行鉴定。方法用植物血球凝集素(phytohaemagg lutinin,PHA)刺激Jurkat细胞,流式细胞术检测Jurkat细胞中LAG-3蛋白的表达;提取Jurkat细胞总mRNA,RT-PCR法扩增人LAG-3蛋白胞外段基因片段,同时在蛋白C-末端引入His标签,将其克隆入载体pcDNA3. 1+,构建重组质粒,转染Expi293F真核细胞,当细胞活率低于50%时收获细胞上清,经镍柱亲合层析纯化。纯化产物进行4%~20%SDS-PAGE、HPLC及Western blot分析,BCA法测定浓度。结果经菌液PCR、双酶切及测序鉴定,表明质粒构建正确。重组表达蛋白的相对分子质量约60 000,纯化后纯度达95%以上,与鼠抗LAG-3单克隆抗体可发生特异性结合,浓度为2. 4 mg/mL。结论成功构建了重组真核表达质粒LAG-3/pcDNA3. 1+,并于Expi293F细胞中表达,纯化获得了纯度较高的LAG-3蛋白,为后期LAG-3蛋白的相关研究及其单抗的制备奠定了基础。     

Discovery and characterization of tyrosinases from sea anemone pedal disc

Abstract

The formation of underwater adhesion is a complicated physiological process and many different types of enzymes are found to be essential apart from structural proteins. Previous studies have shown that various tyrosinases were present in marine adhesives, but little information is available about the over-expression and enzymatic characterization of these enzymes. Specifically, this study first identified four significantly up-regulated tyrosinases in the pedal disc of Haliplanella luciae by means of multi-omics technology, and made preliminary bioinformatics predictions. Sequence alignment showed that the Tyr1_Hl contained six conserved His residues that bind to copper ions, of which a tyrosinase with diphenolase activity named as Tyr1_Hl^Δ, was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells and purified by affinity chromatography. Enzymatic characterization showed that the activity of Tyr1_Hl^Δ was Cu²⁺ dependent and maximum catalytic activities were in 20?mM Tris–HCl (pH 8.0) at 37?°C. In summary, we identified novel tyrosinases in the pedal disks of sea anemone for the first time and the Tyr1_Hl^Δ was successfully recombinant expressed. Our study will provide basis for future exploration of bio-adhesion mechanism and design of bio-adhesives derived from sea anemones.     

公益型矿业科研院所绩效考核机制探索

绩效考核一直是公益型科研院所管理领域的重点和难点。本文以公益型矿业科研院所为研究对象，系统地梳理绩效考核政策的历史沿革，分析国有科研院所“课题组承包制”绩效评价方法，总结“课题组承包制”绩效考核体系的优缺点；探索“以项目为中心”绩效考核体系，从考核基本原则、指标设计、评定方法与标准以及考核组织与实施方法等四个维度建立公益型矿业科研院所绩效考核评价方法；最后，提出了未来企业绩效考核机制的改进建议。为类似的矿业领域科研院所的人力资源管理模式提供了有益参考和借鉴。     

静不定结构的热应力分析

分析了受约束机构内材料热应力存在的危害,给出静不定结构内热应力的定量描述方式:弹性变形状态时,热应力仅与线膨胀系数、弹性模量及温度变量成正比关系;当热应力达到材料在某温度下的屈服强度时,其热膨胀发生弹塑性转变,热应力为当时温度下的屈服强度。采用热模拟试验机测试了材料的温度与热应力关系,分析结果与数值模型基本吻合,测出刚性约束下45钢在升温至620℃时热应力等于其屈服强度约200 MPa。