Effects of note-taking on the accuracy and fluency of consecutive interpreters' immediate free recall of source texts: A three-stage developmental study.

Note-taking for consecutive interpreting (CI) is a special type of note-taking in that selective notes are taken in a highly multi-tasking condition under time pressure during a CI speech segment but are used to enable a complete recall of the source speech immediately. Given the specialty of interpreters' note-taking, it is still unclear in what ways note-taking affects interpreters' memory performance. Moreover, the effect of note-taking is theoretically assumed to depend on interpreting expertise, which has not been substantiated by empirical research. This study addresses these questions by investigating the effect of note-taking on the accuracy and fluency of interpreters' memory of the source text at different training stages. An oral recall experiment was administered to student interpreters at three critical note-taking training stages: the initial stage (with one-month training in note-taking), after the critical development stage (with six-month training in note-taking), and the advanced stage (with two-year training in note-taking), with a sample size of 53, 53 and 35 at each stage respectively. Participants listened to and immediately recalled speech segments consecutively in two note-taking conditions: with and without note-taking. Recall accuracy was measured by completeness of information recalled, and recall fluency was measured by oral fluency during recall. Results showed that note-taking significantly enhanced both accuracy and fluency of interpreters' recall of the source text at all the three stages, revealing a facilitative effect of note-taking on source text memory. The size of the note-taking effect increased as interpreting training experience accumulated, indicating that interpreting training enhanced the facilitative role of note-taking. However, the developmental trajectories of the note-taking effect on recall accuracy and fluency differed. As interpreting training proceeded, the note-taking effect on recall fluency was first improved (from Stage 1 to Stage 2), and later was the note-taking effect on recall accuracy (from Stage 1 to Stage 3). The findings shed light on the cognitive mechanisms of how note-taking functions for consecutive interpreters. A potential practical implication for interpreter training is that a step-by-step note-taking training approach may be beneficial.

Speech errors in consecutive interpreting: Effects of language proficiency, working memory, and anxiety.

Interpreting can be seen as a form of language production, where interpreters extract conceptual information from the source language and express it in the target language. Hence, like language production, interpreting contains speech errors at various (e.g., conceptual, syntactic, lexical and phonological) levels. The current study delved into the impact of language proficiency, working memory, and anxiety on the occurrence of speech errors across these linguistic strata during consecutive interpreting from English (a second language) into Chinese (a first language) by student interpreters. We showed that speech errors in general decreased as a function of the interpreter's proficiency in the source (second) language and increased as a function of the interpreter's anxiety. Conceptual errors, which result from mistaken comprehension of the source language, decreased as a function of language proficiency and working memory. Lexical errors increased as a function of the interpreter's tendency of anxiety. Syntactic errors also decreased as a function of language proficiency and increased as a function of anxiety. Phonological errors were not sensitive to any of the three cognitive traits. We discussed implications for the cognitive processes underlying interpreting and for interpreting training.

Affective Norms for Chinese Words of Typical Life Scenes Rated by Older Adults (ANCO).

The present study provides an affective norm collected from older adults for 1,050 Chinese words that are closely related to the typical life scenes commonly encountered by older adults. Data were collected for key affective dimensions of valence and arousal using the method of adapted Self-Assessment Manikin (Bradley & Lang, 1994) in a paper-and-pencil procedure. The results showed that the current database (ANCO) was of high reliability and validity. Valence and arousal were in an asymmetrically quadratic relationship in the valence-by-arousal space; i.e., older adults rated negative words as the highest arousing, followed by positive and neutral words. In addition, by comparing affective ratings of the shared words between the present norm collected from older Chinese adults and previous norms collected from young Chinese adults (Wang et al., 2008; Yao et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2016), we found that compared with young adults, older ones perceived negative words as more negative and more arousing, and perceived positive words as more positive and less arousing. ANCO can serve as a valuable source of information for age-related affective research and help explicate the effects of emotion on linguistic and cognitive processes.

The influences of ambient fine particulate matter constituents on plasma hormones, circulating TMAO levels and blood pressure: A panel study in China.

Considerable investigations have been carried out to address the relationship between ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and blood pressure (BP) in patients with hypertension. However, few studies have explored the influence of PM2.5 and its constituents on Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), an established risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly in severely air-polluted areas. To explore the potential impact of PM2.5 constituents on BP, plasma hormones, and TMAO, a panel study was conducted to investigate changes in BP, plasma hormones, and TMAO in response to ambient air pollution exposure in stage 1 hypertensive young adults. Linear mixed effect models were used to estimate the cumulative effects of fine particulate matters (PM2.5) and its constituents on BP, plasma hormones and TMAO. We found that one interquartile range (IQR) (35 µg/m3) increase in 0-1 day moving-average PM2.5 concentrations was statistically significantly associated with elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) with estimated values of 0.13 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03 to 0.23) mmHg, 0.18 (95% CI: 0.08 to 0.28) mmHg, and 0.17 (95% CI: 0.09 to 0.26) mmHg, respectively. Hormone disturbance in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system was also associated with PM2.5 exposure. Elevated TMAO levels with an IQR increase for 0-4, 0-5, 0-6 moving-average concentrations of PM2.5 were found, and the increased values ranged from 26.28 (95% CI: 2.92 to 49.64) to 60.78 (31.95-89.61) ng/ml. More importantly, the PM2.5-bound metal constituents, such as manganese (Mn), titanium (Ti), and selenium (Se) showed robust associations with elevated BP and plasma TMAO levels. This study demonstrates associations between PM2.5 metal constituents and increased BP, changes in plasma hormones and TMAO, in stage 1 hypertensive young adults. Source control, aiming to reduce the emission of PM2.5-bound metals should be implemented to reduce the risk of hypertension and CVD.

Neural correlates of contributions of interpreting training to second language semantic integration.

How interpreting training may enhance semantic integration in general language processing (instead of language processing during interpreting) was not clear, and its neural correlates remained unexplored. Two groups of university students with different amounts of interpreting training experience (more-IE and less-IE) performed a second language (L2) reading task, in which the target sentence ended with three types of lateralized words: expected words, words of related semantic violation (related violation), and words of unrelated semantic violation (unrelated violation). N400 responses elicited by the final words were used to index semantic integration. Two major findings suggested potential contributions of interpreting training to L2 semantic integration. First, the more-IE group exhibited smaller N400 amplitudes than the less-IE group for expected words, and no group differences were obtained for the two violations. Second, N400 amplitudes for related violations were generally smaller than those for unrelated violations in the right visual field, and this difference was more fully captured (more broadly distributed over the scalp) in the more-IE group than in the less-IE group. Therefore, smaller N400 amplitudes for expected words but not for violations, and broader scalp distribution of the differences between related and unrelated violations constitute the neural correlates for the potential contributions of interpreting training to general L2 semantic integration. The results also suggest possible connections between different types of language experience.

Cross-script phonological activation in Chinese-English bilinguals: The effect of SOA from masked priming.

The issue of bilingual phonological access remains unclear for bilinguals with cross-script language systems, which is especially true when the time course of phonological activation is involved. To investigate the time course of cross-script phonological activation, the present study asked Chinese-English bilinguals to complete a word naming task that was conducted in a forward-masked phonological priming paradigm in three stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) conditions. By comparing the interlingual and intralingual phonological priming effects in a within-subjects design, we found that (a) target naming in Chinese and English was facilitated by a phonologically similar English or Chinese prime in the three SOA conditions (43 ms, 75 ms, and 150 ms) and the facilitation effect of the prime reached the peak when the pronunciation of the prime-target pair most resembled each other and (b) manipulation of the SOAs affected both the naming latencies of target words and the sizes of the phonological priming effect. In particular, naming latencies in each prime-target type displayed an increasing tendency as the SOA prolonged. Moreover, despite the varied sizes of the priming effect in the three SOA conditions, we found a consistent pattern that the priming effects in two interlingual conditions resembled their respective intralingual conditions along the time course. Taken together, these findings provide strong support for an integrated phonological representation of bilinguals and further extend the language nonselective access hypothesis to language pairs with very different orthographic systems. Implications for the manipulation of the SOAs in the masked priming paradigm are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube/Covalent Organic Framework Nanocomposite Ultrathin Membrane with High Organic Solvent Resistance for Molecule Separation.

Covalent organic framework (COF)-based membranes are burgeoning candidates for separation technologies owing to their well-ordered channel structures. The exponential interest in the stability of the COF membrane on exposure to harsh organic solvents is directed to develop a composite membrane for dye separations in polar aprotic solvents. Here, we reported a nanocomposite membrane composing of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/COF (an imine-based COF) hybrid on a commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrate, with a thickness of ∼58 nm prepared in a diffusion cell. This membrane displayed high permeability and stability toward nonpolar and aprotic solvents. It exhibited high permeability for lower viscous organic solvents such as hexane (66 L m-2 h-1 bar-1), acetone (60 L m-2 h-1 bar-1), and acetonitrile (59 L m-2 h-1 bar-1) with a desirable dye rejection (92.8% for Brilliant blue in acetone). The long-time operation demonstrated the excellent stability of the nanocomposite membrane. We herein reported a facile and mild method to prepare an ultrathin COF-based nanocomposite membrane with a porous, robust structure coupled with solvent durability capable of efficient dye separation.

Chloroplastic Os3BGlu6 contributes significantly to cellular ABA pools and impacts drought tolerance and photosynthesis in rice.

Cellular abscisic acid (ABA) concentration is determined by both de novo biosynthesis and recycling via ß-glucosidase(s). However, which rice ß-glucosidase(s) are involved in this process remains unknown. Here, we report on a chloroplastic ß-glucosidase isoenzyme, Os3BGlu6, that functions in ABA recycling in rice. Disruption of Os3BGlu6 in rice resulted in dwarfism, lower ABA content in leaves, drought-sensitivity, lower photosynthesis rate and higher intercellular CO2 concentration. Os3BGlu6 could hydrolyze ABA-GE to ABA in vitro. The reversion and overexpression rice lines restored or increased the drought tolerance as shown by the higher ß-glucosidase activity, ABA concentrations and expressions of ABA- and drought-responsive genes. Drought induced Os3BGlu6 to form dimers, and the degree of polymerization correlated well with the increase in cellular ABA concentrations and drought tolerance in rice. Os3BGlu6 was responsive to drought and ABA treatments, and the protein was localized to the chloroplast. Disruption of Os3BGlu6 resulted in the increased stomatal density and impaired stomatal movement. Transcriptomics revealed that disruption of Os3BGlu6 resulted in chloroplastic oxidative stress and lowered Rubisco activity even under normal conditions. Taken together, these results suggest that chloroplastically localized Os3BGlu6 significantly affects cellular ABA pools, thereby affecting drought tolerance and photosynthesis in rice.

A Dy2 dimer derived from a two-dimensional network with a high Ueff value.

A new Dy2-dimer-based two-dimensional network Dy(L)(HL)(phen) (1-Dy) has been synthesized by a hydrothermal method. 1-Dy displays an obvious single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior with a high Ueff value of approximately 160 K under a zero dc field.

How Does Consecutive Interpreting Training Influence Working Memory: A Longitudinal Study of Potential Links Between the Two.

With an intention to contribute to the issue of how language experience may influence working memory (WM), we focused on consecutive interpreting (CI), analyzed its potential links with WM functions and tested these links in a longitudinal experiment, trying to answer the specific question of how CI training may influence WM. Two comparable groups of Chinese learners of English received either CI or general second language (L2) training for one semester, and were tested before and after the training with the tasks of n-back (non-verbal updating), L2 listening span, and letter running span (verbal spans). CI performance was tested in the posttest. The results showed that (1) updating efficiency in both the pretest and posttest predicted CI performance, and CI training enhanced updating efficiency while general L2 training did not; (2) the relationship between verbal spans and CI performance was weaker (i.e., only pretest L2 listening span correlated with CI performance and predicted CI performance with marginal significance), and CI training did not make a unique contribution to these spans (i.e., no group differences). The results indicated an "interpreter advantage" in updating, which was probably due to that updating was more central in the CI task than WM spans. Theoretically, we believe that updating and CI are closely related because they share the same underlying mechanism, or more specifically updating and the recalling process in the CI task share the same attentional control process, a unique link between updating and the CI task. Methodological implications are discussed.

On the predictive validity of various corpus-based frequency norms in L2 English lexical processing.

The predictive validity of various corpus-based frequency norms in first-language lexical processing has been intensively investigated in previous research, but less attention has been paid to this issue in second-language (L2) processing. To bridge the gap, in the present study we took English as a case in point and compared the predictive power of a large set of corpus-based frequency norms for the performance of an L2 English visual lexical decision task (LDT). Our results showed that, in general, the frequency norms from SUBTLEX-US and WorldLex-Blog tended to predict L2 performance better in reaction times, whereas the frequency norms from corpora with a mixture of written and spoken genres (CELEX, WorldLex-Blog, BNC, ANC, and COCA) tended to predict L2 accuracy better. Although replicated in both low- and high-proficiency L2 English learners, these patterns were not exactly the same as those found in LDT data from native English speakers. In addition, we only observed some limited advantages of the lemma frequency and contextual diversity measures over the wordform frequency measure in predicting L2 lexical processing. The results of the present study, especially the detailed comparisons among the different corpora, provide methodological implications for future L2 lexical research.

Interpreting experience enhances early attentional processing, conflict monitoring and interference suppression along the time course of processing.

To explore how interpreting experience may modulate young adults' executive functioning, the present study conducted two ERP studies using the Flanker task, and recruited university students of more or less interpreting experience. Experiment 1 revealed that participants of more interpreting experience exhibited larger N1 and N2 amplitudes in both congruent and incongruent conditions, which, according to previous research, are respectively evidence for advantages in early attentional processing and monitoring. As for the response time (RT) data, a smaller interference effect for the group of more interpreting experience was obtained, showing an advantage in inhibition. The P3 results were quite mixed, with the results of the first half P3 time window mainly supporting a monitoring advantage, and the results of the second half mainly supporting an inhibition advantage. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with two participant groups more closely matched in age and L2 AoA. The pattern of the results was similar to that in Experiment 1, except that the inhibition advantage from the P3 component appeared earlier, and that the inhibition advantage in RT data was only marginally significant. Both experiments have produced results that can be integrated into a coherent whole along the time course of processing, indicating that interpreting experience may enhance early attentional processing, conflict monitoring and interference suppression, with the latter two as parts of inhibitory control.

Photokinesis and Djopsin gene expression analysis during the regeneration of planarian eyes.

Planarians provide the ideal model for studying eye development, with their simple eye structure and exceptionally rapid regeneration. Here, we observed the eye morphogenesis, photophobic behavior, spectral sensitivity and expression pattern of Djopsin in the freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica. The results showed that: (i) Djopsin encoding the putative protein belonged to the rhabdomeric opsins group and displayed high conservation during animal evolution; (ii) planarians displayed diverse photophobic response to different visible wavelengths and were more sensitive to light blue (495 nm) and yellow (635 nm); (iii) the morphogenesis and functional recovery of eyes were related to the expression pattern of Djopsin during head regeneration; and (iv) Djopsin gene plays a major role in functional recovery during eye regeneration and visual system maintenance in adult planarians.

Directed Evolution of Dunaliella salina Ds-26-16 and Salt-Tolerant Response in Escherichia coli.

Identification and evolution of salt tolerant genes are crucial steps in developing salt tolerant crops or microorganisms using biotechnology. Ds-26-16, a salt tolerant gene that was isolated from Dunaliella salina, encodes a transcription factor that can confer salt tolerance to a number of organisms including Escherichia coli (E. coli), Haematococcus pluvialis and tobacco. To further improve its salt tolerance, a random mutagenesis library was constructed using deoxyinosine triphosphate-mediated error-prone PCR technology, and then screened using an E. coli expression system that is based on its broad-spectrum salt tolerance. Seven variants with enhanced salt tolerance were obtained. Variant EP-5 that contained mutation S32P showed the most improvement with the E. coli transformant enduring salt concentrations up to 1.54 M, in comparison with 1.03 M for the wild type gene. Besides, Ds-26-16 and EP-5 also conferred E. coli transformant tolerance to freezing, cold, heat, Cu2+ and alkaline. Homology modeling revealed that mutation S32P in EP-5 caused the conformational change of N- and C-terminal α-helixes. Expression of Ds-26-16 and EP-5 maintained normal cellular morphology, increased the intracellular antioxidant enzymatic activity, reduced malondialdehyde content, and stimulated Nitric Oxide synthesis, thus enhancing salt tolerance to E. coli transformants.

Classes in Translating and Interpreting Produce Differential Gains in Switching and Updating.

The present longitudinal study was intended to investigate whether the two bilingual experiences of written translation and consecutive interpreting (featured with similar language switching experience but different processing demands) would produce different cognitive control effects in young adults. Three groups of Chinese-English young adult bilinguals, who differed mainly in their half-year long bilingual experience: one for general L2 training, one for written translation and one for oral consecutive interpreting, were tested twice on the number Stroop, switching color-shape and N-back tasks. The results show that the interpreting experience produced significant cognitive advantages in switching (switch cost) and updating, while the translating experience produced marginally significant improvements in updating. The findings indicate that the experience of language switching under higher processing demands brings more domain-general advantages, suggesting that processing demand may be a decisive factor for the presence or absence of the hot-debated bilingual advantages.

An emerging trend of equal authorship credit in major public health journals.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to identify the longitudinal trends and characteristics of the practice of explicitly giving equal credit to multiple authors of publications in public health journals. Manual searches were conducted to identify original research articles, published in five public health journals with the highest IFs according to the "2012 JCR Science Edition" between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2013, which awarded equal credit to multiple authors (Epidemiologic Reviews, Environmental Health Perspectives, the International Journal of Epidemiology, Epidemiology, and the Annual Review of Public Health). The Instructions to Authors in the five journals were also examined with regard to information about giving equal credit to multiple authors. FINDINGS: Statistically significant differences were noted in the annual prevalence in Environmental Health Perspectives, International Journal of Epidemiology, and Epidemiology (r = 0.753, P = 0.012; r = 0.894, P = 0.000; r = 0.522, P = 0.122, respectively). The first two authors listed in the by-line received equal credit in the majority of articles, but this practice was also extended to authors in nearly every position on the by-line in some publications. The authors given equal credit in articles appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives, International Journal of Epidemiology, and Epidemiology were primarily from European and North American countries. Finally, none of the journals provided specific guidance regarding this practice in their Instructions to Authors. CONCLUSIONS: An emerging trend of giving equal credit to multiple authors is observed in the public health journals. This practice should be better addressed in the guidance provided by journals to authors.

Auxiliary ligand field dominated single-molecule magnets of a series of indole-derivative ß-diketone mononuclear Dy(iii) complexes.

A series of four indole-derivative ß-diketone mononuclear dysprosium complexes, namely, Dy(EIFD)3(bpy)·CH3CN (), Dy(EIFD)3(phen)·CH2Cl2 (), Dy(EIFD)3(dpq)·CH2Cl2 (), and Dy(EIFD)3(dppz)·2H2O () (EIFD = 1-(1-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-4,4,4-trifluorobutane-1,3-dione, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, dpq = dipyrazine[2,3-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline, dppz = dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine) have been isolated by reactions of EIFD, DyCl3·6H2O and a series of auxiliary ligands. X-ray crystallographic analysis reveals that complexes are all eight-coordinated mononuclear structures. Magnetic studies indicate that complexes are all single-molecule magnets. Notably, the auxiliary ligands play an essential role in regulating their magnetism. The corresponding structural and magnetic parameters have been discussed in detail.

Structural Priming and Frequency Effects Interact in Chinese Sentence Comprehension.

Previous research in several European languages has shown that the language processing system is sensitive to both structural frequency and structural priming effects. However, it is currently not clear whether these two types of effects interact during online sentence comprehension, especially for languages that do not have morphological markings. To explore this issue, the present study investigated the possible interplay between structural priming and frequency effects for sentences containing the Chinese ambiguous construction V NP1 de NP2 in a self-paced reading experiment. The sentences were disambiguated to either the more frequent/preferred NP structure or the less frequent VP structure. Each target sentence was preceded by a prime sentence of three possible types: NP primes, VP primes, and neutral primes. When the ambiguous construction V NP1 de NP2 was disambiguated to the dispreferred VP structure, participants experienced more processing difficulty following an NP prime relative to following a VP prime or a neutral baseline. When the ambiguity was resolved to the preferred NP structure, prime type had no effect. These results suggest that structural priming in comprehension is modulated by the baseline frequency of alternative structures, with the less frequent structure being more subject to structural priming effects. These results are discussed in the context of the error-based, implicit learning account of structural priming.

Discovery, synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-(4-(N-phenethylsulfamoyl)phenoxy)acetamides (SAPAs) as novel sphingomyelin synthase 1 inhibitors.

Sphingomyelin synthase (SMS) has been proved to be a potential drug target for the treatment of atherosclerosis. However, few SMS inhibitors have been reported. In this paper, structure-based virtual screening was performed on hSMS1. SAPA 1a was discovered as a novel SMS1 inhibitor with an IC50 value of 5.2 µM in enzymatic assay. A series of 2-(4-(N-phenethylsulfamoyl)phenoxy)acetamides (SAPAs) were synthesized and their biological activities toward SMS1 were evaluated. Among them, SAPA 1j was found to be the most potent SMS1 inhibitor with an IC50 value of 2.1 µM in in vitro assay. The molecular docking studies suggested the interaction modes of SMS1 inhibitors and PC with the active site of SMS1. Site-directed mutagenesis validated the involvement of residues Arg342 and Tyr338 in enzymatic sphingomyelin production. The discovery of SAPA derivatives as a novel class of SMS1 inhibitors would advance the development of more effective SMS1 inhibitors.

Identification and expression analysis of a heat-shock protein 70 gene in Polycelis sp.

Heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) is ubiquitously found in a variety of organisms and plays an important role in cytoprotection, environmental monitoring, and disease resistance. In this study, the full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) of hsp70 from planarian Polycelis sp. was first cloned using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The expression levels of Pyhsp70 were analyzed in the presence of various stressors by real-time PCR, and its temporal-spatial expression patterns were also examined in both intact and regenerative animals by whole-mount in situ hybridization. The results show that (1) the deduced amino acid sequence of Pyhsp70 includes three typical HSP70 family signature motifs and is highly conserved during evolution; (2) Pyhsp70 expression is induced by prolonged starvation, tissue damage, and ionic liquid but inhibited by high or low temperatures; and (3) Pyhsp70 mRNA is mainly expressed in the head peripheral region and in the regenerating blastema during regeneration. These results suggest that the highly expressed Pyhsp70 gene may contribute to enhance cytoprotection and tolerance against stress-induced molecular damage, and the migration of neoblasts to the wound, which might also be involved in the proliferation and differentiation of neoblasts. Our work provides basic data for the study of stress responses and regenerative mechanism in freshwater planarians.