Explicit and implicit learning of event sequences: Evidence from event-related brain potentials.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a serial reaction time (RT) task, where single deviant items seldom (Experiment 1) or frequently (Experiment 2) replaced 1 item of a repeatedly presented 10-item standard sequence. Acquisition of sequence knowledge was reflected in faster RTs for standard as compared with deviant items and in an enhanced negativity (N2 component) of the ERP for deviant items. Effects were larger for participants showing explicit knowledge in their verbal reports and in a recognition test. The lateralized readiness potential indicated that correct responses were activated with shorter latencies after training. For deviant items, participants with explicit knowledge showed an initial activation of the incorrect but expected response. These findings suggest that the acquisition of explicit and implicit knowledge is reflected in different electrophysiological correlates and that sequence learning may involve the anticipatory preparation of responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

强震下梁与桥台碰撞特性及防撞防落梁措施研究

基于强震作用下梁与桥台相对位移及碰撞特性研究,结合桥台缩尺模型振动台试验,明确强震作用下桥台碰撞损伤规律,以及不同防撞防落梁装置对桥台结构动力响应的影响。研究表明：设置防撞垫片会使上部梁体与桥台间最大碰撞力削弱约50%;增加桥台隔震支座刚度,避开地震动卓越周期,可以在一定程度限制上部梁体位移,起到减隔震的效果。拉索式防落梁装置对上部梁体靠近桥台时的位移削弱达63.34%,有效保护桥台背墙;钢板式防落梁装置对桥梁结构上部梁体远离桥台侧的位移削弱达37.53%,有效防止发生碰撞作用和落梁现象;链式防落梁装置对上部梁体远离桥台位移削弱作用达93.98%,但同时也增加上部梁体靠近桥台背墙侧位移,能够有效防止落梁发生。     

稀土渗碳技术在同步器齿环热处理中的应用

分析了常规渗碳热处理重载汽车同步器齿环的失效形式及原因,对热处理工艺进行了优化,介绍了同步器齿环的预热处理工艺和稀土渗碳工艺.稀土渗碳后的齿环的强度和韧性等充分加强,材料性能得到很好发挥,台架实验30万次同步器齿环的磨损在正常范围内,取得了预期的效果.     

Demographic/socio-economic factors and dietary habits determining consumer exposure to foodborne bacterial hazards in Turkey through the consumption of meat

Meat is considered a major source of foodborne bacterial pathogens. Assessing the risks for public health of meat consumption is achieved by “Risk Analysis”- a concept firmly established on a global level - so as to ensure the level of consumer protection as stipulated by international trade agreements. Risk analysis identifies and characterizes potential hazards, which allows estimating the associated risks, provided reliable data on consumer exposure are available. The latter varies by geographical region and associated differences in culture and socio-economic position of the consumer. This paper is dedicated to assessing the exposure of the Turkish population to bacterial hazards resulting from consumption of typical traditional meat dishes. It reviews current data on meat consumption in different regions of Turkey, on the basis of which seven typical preparations and consumption scenarios are identified. Major demographic and socio-economic differences along Turkey`s east–west axis were identified, such as the degree of urbanization, consumers’ age, household size, preferred meat animal species, frequency and volumes of meat consumption, and preparation techniques. Considering all these variables allowed a differentiated and reliable assessment of consumers’ exposure to biological hazards. This information is essential for greater accuracy in estimating the public health risks associated with various meat-borne hazards in this country.     

On-line signature verification

We describe a method for on-line handwritten signature verification. The signatures are acquired using a digitizing tablet which captures both dynamic and spatial information of the writing. After preprocessing the signature, several features are extracted. The authenticity of a writer is determined by comparing an input signature to a stored reference set (template) consisting of three signatures. The similarity between an input signature and the reference set is computed using string matching and the similarity value is compared to a threshold. Several approaches for obtaining the optimal threshold value from the reference set are investigated. The best result yields a false reject rate of 2.8% and a false accept rate of 1.6%. Experiments on a database containing a total of 1232 signatures of 102 individuals show that writer-dependent thresholds yield better results than using a common threshold.     

Rapid urease screening of Yersinia on CIN agar plates

Yersinia enterocolitica is an important foodborne pathogen, but isolation of virulent Yersinia from food sources is still time consuming and requires skills. In this article, we describe a rapid urease screening on cefsulodin-irgasan-novobiocin (CIN) agar plates with an agar overlay assay. This test is simple to perform, all colonies on a plate can be checked simultaneously, it only takes minutes for detection of urease-positive colonies and the colonies survive for transfer, further characterisation, and storage. Additionally, this method is useful to isolate virulent (urease-positive and pYV harbouring) Y. enterocolitica from foodstuffs.     

The TRPA1 Agonist Cinnamaldehyde Induces the Secretion of HCO3− by the Porcine Colon

A therapeutic potential of the TRPA1 channel agonist cinnamaldehyde for use in inflammatory bowel disease is emerging, but the mechanisms are unclear. Semi-quantitative qPCR of various parts of the porcine gastrointestinal tract showed that mRNA for TRPA1 was highest in the colonic mucosa. In Ussing chambers, 1 mmol·L⁻¹ cinnamaldehyde induced increases in short circuit current (ΔI_sc) and conductance (ΔG_t) across the colon that were higher than those across the jejunum or after 1 mmol·L⁻¹ thymol. Lidocaine, amiloride or bumetanide did not change the response. The application of 1 mmol·L⁻¹ quinidine or the bilateral replacement of 120 Na⁺, 120 Cl⁻ or 25 HCO₃⁻ reduced ΔG_t, while the removal of Ca²⁺ enhanced ΔG_t with ΔI_sc numerically higher. ΔI_sc decreased after 0.5 NPPB, 0.01 indometacin and the bilateral replacement of 120 Na⁺ or 25 HCO₃⁻. The removal of 120 Cl⁻ had no effect. Cinnamaldehyde also activates TRPV3, but comparative measurements involving patch clamp experiments on overexpressing cells demonstrated that much higher concentrations are required. We suggest that cinnamaldehyde stimulates the secretion of HCO₃⁻ via apical CFTR and basolateral Na⁺-HCO₃⁻ cotransport, preventing acidosis and damage to the epithelium and the colonic microbiome. Signaling may involve the opening of TRPA1, depolarization of the epithelium and a rise in PGE2 following a lower uptake of prostaglandins via OATP2A1.     

What happens where during disasters? A Workflow for the multifaceted characterization of crisis events based on Twitter data

Twitter data are a valuable source of information for rescue and helping activities in case of natural disasters and technical accidents. Several methods for disaster‐ and event‐related tweet filtering and classification are available to analyse social media streams. Rather than processing single tweets, taking into account space and time is likely to reveal even more insights regarding local event dynamics and impacts on population and environment. This study focuses on the design and evaluation of a generic workflow for Twitter data analysis that leverages that additional information to characterize crisis events more comprehensively. The workflow covers data acquisition, analysis and visualization, and aims at the provision of a multifaceted and detailed picture of events that happen in affected areas. This is approached by utilizing agile and flexible analysis methods providing different and complementary views on the data. Utilizing state‐of‐the‐art deep learning and clustering methods, we are interested in the question, whether our workflow is suitable to reconstruct and picture the course of events during major natural disasters from Twitter data. Experimental results obtained with a data set acquired during hurricane Florence in September 2018 demonstrate the effectiveness of the applied methods but also indicate further interesting research questions and directions.     

Neopentane cracking catalyzed by iron- and manganese-promoted sulfated zirconia

Cracking of neopentane was catalyzed by a sulfated oxide of zirconium promoted with iron and manganese. Reaction at 300–450°C, atmospheric pressure, and neopentane partial pressures of 0.00025–0.005 bar gave methane as the principal product, along with C₂ and C₃ hydrocarbons, butenes, and coke. The order of reaction in neopentane was determined to be 1, consistent with a monomolecular reaction mechanism and with the formation of methane andt-butyl cations; the latter was presumably converted into several products, including only little isobutylene. At 450°C and a neopentane partial pressure of 0.005 bar, the rate of cracking at 5 min onstream was 5×10^–8 mol/(g of catalyst s). Under the same conditions, the rates observed for unpromoted sulfated zirconia and USY zeolite were 3×10^–8 and 6×10^–9 mol/ (g of catalyst s), respectively. The observation that the promoted sulfated zirconia is not much more active than the other catalysts is contrasted to published results showing that the former catalyst is more than two orders of magnitude more active than the others forn-butane isomerization at temperatures <100°C. The results raise a question about whether the superacidity attributed to sulfated zirconia as a low-temperature butane isomerization catalyst pertains at the high temperatures of cracking.