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How do animation directors and music composers integrate personal creativity and expression into their work, and how do audiences understand and appreciate it as being important and worthy of discussion? This study explores the influence of music on audiences’ cognition of animation by using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Scholars specializing in aesthetics and music have conducted much research on music aesthetics and music itself. In recent years, further studies on music and film have also been carried out. However, there is a lack of research regarding audiences’ cognition of music in animation. This study focuses on the popular form of sand animation and provides insights into audiences’ cognition differences and preferences in order to uncover the core factors. The findings are that: (1) the audience perceived more consistent and subtle differences in the use of musical instruments, rhythm cadence and video–audio fit; there were also obvious differences in the perceptions of vocal skills, performance skills and musical style as well as emotional transmission; (2) three aspects of the audiences’ evaluation of an animation were affected by music: creativity, cultural meaning and preferences. The seven elements that constitute animation music (use of orchestration, vocal skills, musical style, rhythm cadence, performance techniques, emotional transmission and video–audio fit) exerted varying degrees of influence on the audiences’ evaluation of the animation film. Amongst these, video–audio fit was found to be the most important element, as it simultaneously affected the audiences’ evaluation in terms of creativity, cultural meaning and preferences; (3) audiences of different ages and professional backgrounds showed significant differences in evaluating animation films in terms of creativity, culture and preference; and (4) differences in music had a significant impact on audiences’ perceptions and evaluations of 10 facets of animation films, including the story content, role identification and spiritual fit.

Pitch perception training is one of the important aspects of music learning. Long-term training is required for improving one's sense of pitch. However, conventional standard pitch perception training is typically monotonous and is therefore prone to be unfavored by students. With advancements in multimedia technology, it is currently possible to utilize digital games in pitch perception training. In recent years, virtual reality has become a technology trend with wide application in various fields. In this paper, a pitch perception training game combining the elements of shooting game in VR environment is proposed. In the proposed game, different monsters correspondingly appear at different game levels along with a specific pitch. The player has to use a gun to select the pitch corresponding to the targeted monster using a piano-keyboard-like bullet magazine, and pull the trigger to defeat the monster. Through this game, it is expected that the player will become more motivated to participate in pitch perception training.

Stress derived from an adverse environment during brain development could contribute to psychiatric disorders. To study the influence of stress occurring at birth on behavior development in human, we performed an intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of valproic acid (VPA; 200 mg/kg), a histone deacetylation inhibitor (HDACi), into male rat pups at the age of postnatal day 7 (P7) that is equivalent to an infant at 36–40 weeks gestation. Our results showed that neuronal differentiation genes, doublecortin (DCX) and NeuroD1, were downregulated in the hippocampus at 24 h post VPA injection. In addition, the cell proliferation was increased in the dentate gyrus and amygdala of rats receiving VPA injection. DCX+ and NeuN+ cell population was decreased in the dentate gyrus at 24 h post VPA injection. Moreover, microglial morphological changes in the hippocampus and amygdala were rapidly induced at 24 h after VPA injection. Through a series of behavior tests, we found that rats receiving VPA injection displayed depressive and anxiety-like behaviors at the late postnatal ages, and had impaired social interaction at 8 weeks old. In summary, a single postnatal administration of VPA not only disrupted neural cell differentiation program but also induced anxious, depressive, and impaired social behaviors. Our findings also shed light on early life stress to infants as a significant risk factor with regard to developing emotional disorders in youth, and that these effects may continue into adulthood, possibly due to altered gene expression and neuron-glia interaction occurring in the hippocampus and amygdala at an early age.

This research proposes an interactive audio-visual system for the new trend in performing arts that incorporates interactive technology into traditional performance. In order to break the limit of movement space and to simplify the hardware and software configuration, smartphones are used to replace regular wireless sensors and to track the arm movements of the performer. The detected sensor data are sent to the interactive systems on computers through WIFI for further analysis and interpretation of which the result will be used to control the real-time audio and video processing.

The recent model showed that seawater (SW) mitochondrion-rich (MR) cells with hole-type apical openings secrete Cl(-) through the transporters including the Na(+), K(+)-ATPase (NKA), Na(+), K(+), 2Cl(-) cotransporter (NKCC), and cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). The present study focused on the dynamic elimination of the Cl(-) secretory capacity and illustrated different phases (i.e., acute and regulatory phases) of branchial MR cells in response to hypoosmotic challenge. Time-course remodeling of the cell surfaces and the altered expressions of typical ion transporters were observed in the branchial MR cells of SW-acclimated brackish medaka (Oryzias dancena) when exposed to fresh water (FW). On the 1st day post-transfer, rapid changes were shown in the acute phase: the flat-type MR cells with large apical surfaces replaced the hole-type cells, the gene expression of both Odnkcc1a and Odcftr decreased, and the apical immunostaining signals of CFTR protein disappeared. The basolateral immunostaining signals of NKCC1a protein decreased throughout the regulatory phase (>1day post-transfer). During this period, the size and number of NKA-immunoreactive MR cells were significantly reduced and elevated, respectively. Branchial NKA expression and activity were maintained at constant levels in both phases. The results revealed that when SW-acclimated brackish medaka were transferred to hypoosmotic FW for 24h, the Cl(-) secretory capacity of MR cells was eliminated, whereas NKCC1a protein was retained to maintain the hypoosmoregulatory endurance of the gills. The time-course acute and regulatory phases of gill MR cells showed different strategies of the euryhaline medaka when subjected to hypoosmotic environments.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and p53 play important roles in controlling cancer invasion and metastasis. However, discrepancies still exist in the relationship between the expression of an epithelial marker E-cadherin and predicting short survival of patients in many types of cancer. In this study, we aimed to determine the levels of E-cadherin, Twist, and p53 in tumor tissues from patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and their clinical significances.The protein expression of 112 OSCC tumor and 16 benign tissues was examined by immunohistochemistry staining. Overall survival rates of 112 OSCC patients were measured using Kaplan-Meier estimates and the log-rank tests.E-cadherin and p53 downregulation were found in 70 of 112 (62.5 %) and 66 of 112 (59.0 %), respectively, and Twist overexpression was found in 72 of 112 (64.3 %) studied cases of OSCC patients. Expression of E-cadherin was significantly associated with tumor location (P = 0.004) and mortality (P = 0.010). Patients with lower E-cadherin expression (P = 0.024), betel quid chewing (P = 0.006), smoking (P = 0.001), tumor size2 cm (P = 0.001), advanced tumor stage (P = 0.043), and recurrence (P0.001) exhibited a poorer outcome. Multivariate analysis showed that E-cadherin is an independent marker for survival prediction. Additionally, low E-cadherin expression is significantly correlated with low p53 expression.E-cadherin is an independent marker for survival prediction in OSCC. Co-evaluation of E-cadherin and p53 expression might be a valuable tool for predicting OSCC patient outcome.