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It is known that movements of visual attention are influenced by features in a scene, such as colors, that are associated with value or with loss. The present study examined the detailed nature of these attentional effects by employing the gap paradigm-a technique that has been used to separately reveal changes in attentional capture and shifting, and changes in attentional disengagement. In four experiments, participants either looked toward or away from stimuli with colors that had been associated either with gains or with losses. We found that participants were faster to look to colors associated with gains and slower to look away from them, revealing effects of gains on both attentional capture and attentional disengagement. On the other hand, participants were both slower to look to features associated with loss, and faster to look away from such features. The pattern of results suggested, however, that the latter finding was not due to more rapid disengagement from loss-associated colors, but instead to more rapid shifting of attention away from such colors. Taken together, the results reveal a complex pattern of effects of gains and losses on the disengagement, capture, and shifting of visual attention, revealing a remarkable flexibility of the attention system.

Background Stem CO2 efflux (ES) plays a critical role in the carbon budget of forest ecosystems. Thinning is a core practice for sustainable management of plantations. It is therefore necessary and urgent to study the effect and mechanism of thinning intensity (TI) on ES. Methods In this study, five TIs were applied in Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr 21-, 25-, and 41-year-old stands in North China in 2010. Portable infrared gas analyzer (Li-8100 A) was used to measure ES and its association with environmental factors at monthly intervals from May to October in 2013 to 2015. In addition, nutrients, wood structure and nonstructural carbon (NSC) data were measured in August 2016. Results The results show that ES increased with increasing TI. The maximum ES values occurred at a TI of 35 % (3.29, 4.57 and 2.98 µmol∙m-2∙s-1) and were 1.54-, 1.94- and 2.89-fold greater than the minimum ES value in the CK stands (2.14, 2.35 and 1.03 µmol∙m-2∙s-1) in July for the 21-, 25- and 41-year-old forests, respectively. The ES of the trees in low-density stands was more sensitive to temperature than that of the trees in high-density stands. Soluble sugars (SS) and temperature are the main factors affecting ES. When the stand density is low enough as 41-year-old L. principis-rupprechtii forests with TI 35 %, bark thickness (BT) and humidity should be considered in addition to air temperature (Ta), wood temperature (Tw), sapwood width (SW), nitrogen concentration (N) and SS in the evaluation of ES. If a change in stand density is ignored, the CO2 released from individual 21-, 25- and 41-year-old trees could be underestimated by 168.89 %, 101.94 % and 200.49 %, respectively. CO2 release was estimated based on the stem equation in combination with the factors influencing ES for reference. Conclusions We suggest that it is not sufficient to conventional models which quantify ES only by temperature and that incorporating the associated drivers (e.g. density, SS, SW and N) based on stand density into conventional models can improve the accuracy of ES estimates.

The CO2 efflux of branches and leaves plays an important role in ecosystem carbon balance. Using a carbon flux system, the efflux of Larix gmelinii var. principis-rupprechtii (Dahurian larch) was investigated in 27 years (immature), 31 years (near-mature), and 47 years (mature) stands at diurnal, seasonal, and spatial scales (direction and height) as well as its connection with environmental factors from May to October 2020. Diurnal variation in efflux was a single peak, and the maximum occurring between 14:00 and 16:00. Seasonal variation also exhibited a single peak, with the maximum in late July and the minimum in early October. From May to September, efflux on the south side was the largest among the three stands, and mean values on the south side of 27 year-old, 31 year-old, and 47 year-old trees were 0.50, 0.97 and 1.05 μmol·m–2·s–1, respectively. The minimum occurred on the north side. Except for the maximum in July and September in the 27 year-old stand in the middle of the canopy, the maximum efflux in the upper canopy, and the means in the 27 year-old, 31 year-old, and 47 year-old stands were 0.49, 0.96 and 1.04 μmol·m–2·s–1, respectively; the minimum occurred in the lower canopy. Temperatures and relative humidity influenced seasonal variations in efflux. Seasonal variation in temperature sensitivity coefficient (Q10) was opposite that of temperature, increasing with decreasing temperature. At the spatial scale, maximum Q10 occurred in the mid canopy. With the efflux and temperature data in different locations, it is possible to better estimate efflux variations in each stand.

// Xiangzhen Wang 1, 2 , Nana Ma 3 , Qiannan Sun 4 , Chenlingzi Huang 1 , Yanmei Liu 5 , Xin Luo 1 1 The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510630 2 Nanshan Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, 518052 3 The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang medical college of Henan, Xinxiang, Henan, China, 453100 4 Changzhi City People’s Hospital of Shanxin Medical University Affiliated Hospital, Changzhi, Shanxi, China, 046000 5 Huadu District, Guangzhou City People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510630 Correspondence to: Xiangzhen Wang, email: 1093456531@qq.com Xin Luo, email: tluox@126.com Keywords: NF-κB, Asherman syndrome, intrauterine adhesion, pregnancy, uterine disease Received: October 09, 2016 Accepted: January 09, 2017 Published: January 27, 2017 ABSTRACT Asherman syndrome (intrauterine adhesion) is often associated with menstrual abnormalities, infertility and recurrent miscarriage in female. Currently the molecular mechanism regulating the pathogenesis of Asherman syndrome is not known. Here we revealed that the inflammatory factor NF-κB expression is significantly elevated in the endometrial samples of Asherman syndrome patients. To further study the molecular mechanisms, we established an Asherman syndrome rat model and confirmed the important role of NF-κB in the pathogenesis of Asherman syndrome. In addition, our rat model provided direct evidence that intrauterine adhesion results in impaired pregnancy, supporting the clinical association between intrauterine adhesion and mis-regulated pregnancy. Our result identified NF-κB as a novel pathogenesis factor of Asherman syndrome and provided new insights for the prevention and treatment of intrauterine adhesions in Asherman syndrome patients.

A dielectric object placed in the near-field region of an antenna produces a scattered field, which alters the input impedance of the antenna. This property can be used to measure the electric parameters of dielectric materials. A wideband system for measuring the dielectric properties in the frequency range from 1.1 to 3.5 GHz is designed and prototyped. The system consists of a wideband directional antenna, a wideband radio frequency circuit, and a data processing unit and has been tested by using different dielectric samples across the frequency band, and good measurement results have been obtained.