A social-semantic working-memory account for two canonical language areas.

Language and social cognition are traditionally studied as separate cognitive domains, yet accumulative studies reveal overlapping neural correlates at the left ventral temporoparietal junction (vTPJ) and the left lateral anterior temporal lobe (lATL), which have been attributed to sentence processing and social concept activation. We propose a common cognitive component underlying both effects: social-semantic working memory. We confirmed two key predictions of our hypothesis using functional MRI. First, the left vTPJ and lATL showed sensitivity to sentences only when the sentences conveyed social meaning; second, these regions showed persistent social-semantic-selective activity after the linguistic stimuli disappeared. We additionally found that both regions were sensitive to the socialness of non-linguistic stimuli and were more tightly connected with the social-semantic-processing areas than with the sentence-processing areas. The converging evidence indicates the social-semantic working-memory function of the left vTPJ and lATL and challenges the general-semantic and/or syntactic accounts for the neural activity of these regions.

A large dataset of semantic ratings and its computational extension.

Evidence from psychology and cognitive neuroscience indicates that the human brain's semantic system contains several specific subsystems, each representing a particular dimension of semantic information. Word ratings on these different semantic dimensions can help investigate the behavioral and neural impacts of semantic dimensions on language processes and build computational representations of language meaning according to the semantic space of the human cognitive system. Existing semantic rating databases provide ratings for hundreds to thousands of words, which can hardly support a comprehensive semantic analysis of natural texts or speech. This article reports a large database, the Six Semantic Dimension Database (SSDD), which contains subjective ratings for 17,940 commonly used Chinese words on six major semantic dimensions: vision, motor, socialness, emotion, time, and space. Furthermore, using computational models to learn the mapping relations between subjective ratings and word embeddings, we include the estimated semantic ratings for 1,427,992 Chinese and 1,515,633 English words in the SSDD. The SSDD will aid studies on natural language processing, text analysis, and semantic representation in the brain.

Heterologous expression, fermentation strategies and molecular modification of collagen for versatile applications.

Collagen is a kind of high macromolecular protein with unique tissue distribution and distinctive functions in the body. At present, most collagen products are extracted from the tissues and organs of mammals or marine fish. However, this method exhibits several disadvantages, including low efficiency and serious waste generation, which makes it difficult to meet the current market demand. With the rapid development of synthetic biology and the deepening of high-density fermentation technology, the collagen preparation by biosynthesis strategy emerges as the times require. Co-expression with the proline hydroxylase gene can solve the problem of non-hydroxylated collagen, but the yield may be affected. Therefore, improving the expression through molecular modification and dynamic regulation of synthesis is an entry point for future research. Due to the defects in certain properties of the natural collagen, modification of properties would be benefit for meeting the requirements of practical application. In this paper, in-depth investigations on recombinant expression, fermentation, and modification studies of collagen are conducted. Also, it summarizes the research progress of collagen in food, medicine, and beauty industry in recent years. Furthermore, the future development trend and application prospect of collagen are discussed, which would provide guidance for its preparation and application.

Optical properties of broadband reflection of cholesteric liquid crystal by thermal diffusion of benzotriazoles.

Polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal broadband reflective films are prepared by the thermal diffusion of a benzotriazoles organic ultraviolet (UV) absorber (UV-327) combined with photopolymerization. A gradient of UV intensity is established in the direction of film thickness, inducing the formation of a pitch gradient distribution, thus broadening the reflected bandwidth. The effects of UV-327 concentration, UV irradiation intensity, irradiation time, polymerization temperature, and C6M concentration on the reflected bandwidth of the sample are examined in detail. The results indicate that the diffusion method of the organic UV absorber enables the reflected bandwidth to be broadened under appropriate conditions.

Tree species richness and diversity predicts the magnitude of urban heat island mitigation effects of greenspaces.

The Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE) is a widely recognised phenomenon that profoundly affects the quality of life for urban citizens. Urban greenspace can help mitigate the UHIE, but the characteristics that determine the extent to which any given greenspace can cool an urban area are not well understood. A key characteristic is likely to be the properties of trees that are found in a greenspace. Here, we explore the sensitivity of the strength of the cooling effect to tree community structure for greenspaces in Changzhou, China. Land surface temperatures were retrieved from Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 TIRS and were used to evaluate the temperature drop amplitude (TDA) and cooling range (CR) of 15 greenspaces across each of the four seasons. Tree community structure of the greenspaces was investigated using 156 sample plots across the 15 greenspaces. We found that a number of plant community structure indicators of greenspaces have a significant impact on the strength of the cooling effect. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index, tree species richness and tree canopy coverage of greenspaces are all positively correlated with the magnitude of the temperature drop amplitude, with the strength of their influence varying seasonally. We also find that mean crown width is positively correlated with cooling range in summer and autumn, while greenspace tree density is negatively correlated with cooling range in winter. Our findings improve understanding of the relationship between plant community structure and the cooling effect of greenspaces. In particular, we highlight the important role that tree species diversity provides for mitigating the UHIE, and suggest that if planners wish to improve the role of urban greenspaces in cooling cities, they should include a higher diversity of trees species.