Chen Chen

We report the design and characterization of a CMOS pixel direct charge sensor, Topmetal-II-, fabricated in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS Integrated Circuit process. The sensor utilizes exposed metal patches on top of each pixel to directly collect charge. Each pixel contains a low-noise charge-sensitive preamplifier to establish the analog signal and a discriminator with tunable threshold to generate hits. The analog signal from each pixel is accessible through time-shared multiplexing over the entire array. Hits are read out digitally through a column-based priority logic structure. Tests show that the sensor achieved a <15e- analog noise and a 200e- minimum threshold for digital readout per pixel. The sensor is capable of detecting both electrons and ions drifting in gas. These characteristics enable its use as the charge readout device in future Time Projection Chambers without gaseous gain mechanism, which has unique advantages in low background and low rate-density experiments.

This conceptual study advances hospitality servicescape theory by proposing a multi-dimensional emotional differentiation framework within the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) paradigm. While prior hospitality research has consistently validated emotional mediation between servicescape stimuli and behavioral intention, it has largely relied on simplified affective dimensions derived from the Pleasure–Arousal–Dominance model. Drawing upon foundational emotion theory in psychology and experiential marketing, this paper argues that hospitality emotions are heterogeneous and may exert differentiated effects on satisfaction and loyalty outcomes. The proposed framework classifies hospitality emotions into four categories—hedonic, relational, inspirational, and immersive—and integrates them within established satisfaction and behavioral intention models. The study further posits that different emotional categories may predict distinct loyalty expressions, including revisit intention, recommendation intention, customer engagement, and brand attachment. By enriching the Organism component of the S-O-R structure, the framework refines theoretical precision in hospitality marketing and offers a structured foundation for future empirical investigation into differentiated emotional pathways.

Objective: Cognitive impairment is a common neurological complication in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Brain network analysis based on graph theory is a promising tool for studying CI. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the changes of functional brain networks in patients on MHD with and without CI by using graph theory and further explore the underlying neuropathological mechanism of CI in these patients.Methods: A total of 39 patients on MHD and 25 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and years of education were enrolled in the study. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and T1-weighted high-resolution anatomical data were obtained, and functional brain networks for each subject were constructed. The brain network parameters at the global and regional levels were calculated, and a one-way analysis of covariance was used to compare the differences across the three groups. The associations between the changed graph-theory parameters and cognitive function scores in patients on MHD were evaluated using Spearman correlation analysis.Results: Compared with HCs, the global parameters [sigma, gamma, and local efficiency ] in both patient groups decreased significantly. The clustering coefficient in patients with CI was significantly lower than that in the other two groups. The regional parameters were significantly lower in the right superior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral and gyrus rectus of patients with CI than those of patients without CI; however the nodal local efficiency in the left amygdala was significantly increased. The global Cp and regional parameters in the three brain regions were significantly correlated with the cognitive function scores.Conclusion: This study confirmed that the topology of the functional brain network was disrupted in patients on MHD with and without CI and the disruption of brain network was more severe in patients with CI. The abnormal brain network parameters are closely related to cognitive function in patients on MHD.

With the rapid development of Internet technology, network education, as a new form of education, has had a profound impact on traditional education. This paper aims to discuss the impact and reform of online education on traditional education, and forecast its future development trend. This paper adopts the method of literature review and case analysis, firstly analyzes how online education breaks the limitation of time and space, realizes the sharing and dissemination of educational resources, and thus promotes the reform and innovation of educational model. Secondly, it discusses the advantages of online education in personalized learning, fine management, integrated teaching, etc., and predicts its future development direction in education fairness, smart education, high-quality education resources, etc. The main survey results show that online education has the characteristics of flexibility, accessibility and personalization，which can provide customized learning experience for learners. However, it also faces challenges such as quality assurance and cyber security. Therefore, this paper puts forward corresponding coping strategies, including strengthening supervision mechanism, improving teachers' quality and optimizing curriculum design. The conclusion points out that online education will continue to lead the reform in the field of education, provide more people with high-quality and efficient learning opportunities, and help the continuous progress of human society.

Exaggerated contraction of airway smooth muscle is the major cause of symptoms in asthma, but the mechanisms that prevent exaggerated contraction are incompletely understood. Here, we showed that integrin α 9β 1on airway smooth muscle localizes the polyamine catabolizing enzyme spermidine/spermine N 1-acetyltransferase in close proximity to the lipid kinase PIP5K1γ. As PIP5K1γ is the major source of PIP2 in airway smooth muscle and its activity is regulated by higher-order polyamines, this interaction inhibited IP3-dependent airway smooth muscle contraction. Mice lacking integrin α 9β 1 in smooth muscle had increased airway responsiveness in vivo, and loss or inhibition of integrin α 9β 1 increased in vitro airway narrowing and airway smooth muscle contraction in murine and human airways. Contraction was enhanced in control airways by the higher-order polyamine spermine or by cell-permeable PIP2, but these interventions had no effect on airways lacking integrin α 9β 1 or treated with integrin α 9β 1-blocking antibodies. Enhancement of SSAT activity or knockdown of PIP5K1γ inhibited airway contraction, but only in the presence of functional integrin α 9β 1. Therefore, integrin α 9β 1 appears to serve as a brake on airway smooth muscle contraction by recruiting SSAT, which facilitates local catabolism of polyamines and thereby inhibits PIP5K1γ. Targeting key components of this pathway could thus lead to new treatment strategies for asthma.

Overview of Contemporary Western Thoughts on Writing intricately explores the complex relationship between writing and sense and elucidates philosophical ideas on writing of French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy from the perspectives of touch, coexistence and otherness. Writing is not only the physical act of putting words into form and leaving traces; it is also the authentic mode of existence by which humans creatively self-express which positions sense into a dynamic and incessant production, making it no longer a static representation. Nancy's philosophy of writing presents a novel framework for understanding the sense of existence, of otherness, and of art.

Integrins are transmembrane heterodimeric receptors that contribute to diverse biological functions and play critical roles in many human diseases. Studies using integrin subunit knockout mice and inhibitory antibodies have identified important roles for nearly every integrin heterodimer and led to the development of a number of potentially useful therapeutics. One notable exception is the α v β 1 integrin. α v and β 1 subunits are individually present in numerous dimer pairs, making it challenging to infer specific roles for α v β 1 by genetic inactivation of individual subunits, and α v β 1 complex-specific blocking antibodies do not yet exist. We therefore developed a potent and highly specific small-molecule inhibitor of α v β 1 to probe the function of this understudied integrin. We found that α v β 1, which is highly expressed on activated fibroblasts, directly binds to the latency-associated peptide of transforming growth factor-β 1 and mediates TGFb1 activation. Therapeutic delivery of this α v β 1 inhibitor attenuated bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis and carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis, suggesting that drugs based on this lead compound could be broadly useful for treatment of diseases characterized by excessive tissue fibrosis.

Previous studies have identified the critical role of the left fusiform cortex in visual word form processing, learning, and memory. However, this so-called visual word form area's other functions are not clear. In this study, we used fMRI and the subsequent memory paradigm to examine whether the putative VWFA was involved in the processing and successful memory encoding of faces as well as words. Twenty-two native Chinese speakers were recruited to memorize the visual forms of faces and Chinese words. Episodic memory for the studied material was tested 3. h after the scan with a recognition test. The fusiform face area and the VWFA were functionally defined using separate localizer tasks. We found that, both within and across subjects, stronger activity in the VWFA was associated with better recognition memory of both words and faces. Furthermore, activation in the VWFA did not differ significantly during the encoding of faces and words. Our results revealed the important role of the so-called VWFA in face processing and memory and supported the view that the left mid-fusiform cortex plays a general role in the successful processing and memory of different types of visual objects. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.

The evolution of the technology standard alliance is examined using complex adaptive system theory. Taking TSA as a dynamic CAS, an echo model is constructed to depict the mechanism of its evolution, and a model is simulated on the NetLogo platform. The echo model includes a basic model, an extended model, and a three-layer echo model. The adhesive aggregation of agents is explained, and the three evolutionary stages of agents’ entry, migration, and exit are analyzed. Moreover, the adaptability of agents in TSA is quantified. The results of simulation show the evolution of the TSA in relation to the two aspects of agent adhesion aggregation and agent resource interaction, and they demonstrate the dynamic and complex hierarchical structure of the TSA system. It is proposed that greater matching ability, moderate behavior income, and lower behavior cost are more conducive to the evolution and development of TSA. Additionally, the echo model is reconstructed to expand the range of application of CAS theory.

Cardiac Arrest leads to a global hypoxic-ischemic injury in the brain leading to a poor neurological outcome. Understanding the mechanisms of functional disruption in various regions of the brain may be essential for the development of improved diagnostic and therapeutic solutions. Using controlled laboratory experiment with animal models of CA, our primary focus here is on understanding the functional changes in the thalamus and the cortex, associated with the injury and acute recovery upon resuscitation. Specifically, to study the changes in thalamocortical synchrony through these periods, we acquired local field potentials from the ventroposterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus and the forelimb somatosensory cortex in rats after asphyxial CA. Band-specific relative Hilbert phases were used to analyze synchrony between the LFPs. We observed that the CA induced global ischemia changes the local phase-relationships by introducing a phase-lag in both the thalamus and the cortex, while the synchrony between the two regions is nearly completely lost after CA. © 2013 IEEE.

Increased airway smooth muscle contractility and the development of airway hyperresponsiveness are cardinal features of asthma, but the signaling pathways that promote these changes are poorly understood. Tyrosine phosphorylation is tightly regulated by the opposing actions of protein tyrosine kinases and phosphatases, but little is known about whether tyrosine phosphatases influence AHR. Here, we demonstrate that genetic inactivation of receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatase J, which encodes CD148, protected mice from the development of increased AHR in two different asthma models. Surprisingly, CD148 deficiency minimally affected the inflammatory response to allergen, but significantly altered baseline pulmonary resistance. Mice specifically lacking CD148 in smooth muscle had decreased AHR, and the frequency of calcium oscillations in CD148-deficient ASM was substantially attenuated, suggesting that signaling pathway alterations may underlie ASM contractility. Biochemical analysis of CD148-deficient ASM revealed hyper-phosphorylation of the C-terminal inhibitory tyrosine of SRC family kinases, implicating CD148 as a critical positive regulator of SFK signaling in ASM. The effect of CD148 deficiency on ASM contractility could be mimicked by treatment of both mouse trachea and human bronchi with specific SFK inhibitors. Our studies identify CD148 and the SFKs it regulates in ASM as potential targets for the treatment of AHR.

© 2013, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.Overweight and obesity are rapidly becoming a central public health challenge around the world. Previous studies have suggested that elevated Body Mass Index might be associated with structural changes in both gray and white matter, but this association is still not well understood. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between BMI and brain structure with a relatively large sample of young adults in a small age range. Voxel-based morphometry results showed significant negative correlations between BMI and gray-matter volumes in the midcingulate cortex, left orbital frontal cortex, and left ventromedial prefrontal cortex. There was also a significant negative correlation between BMI and white matter integrity as indexed by fractional anisotropy in bilateral cingulum. Further tractography analysis showed a significant negative correlation between BMI and the number of fibers passing the MCC region. Regression analysis showed that gray matter and white matter in these regions both contributed to the variance of BMI. These results remained significant even when analysis was restricted to the subjects with normal weights. Finally, we found that decision-making ability mediated the association between the structure of the MCC and BMI. These results shed light on the structural neural basis of weight variations.

© The Author 2017.Topological Weyl semimetal, a new state of quantum matter, has sparked enormous research interest recently. Possessing unique Weyl fermions in the bulk and Fermi arcs on the surface, TWSs offer a rare platform for realizing many exotic physical phenomena. TWSs can be classified into type-I that respect Lorentz symmetry and type-II that do not. Here, we directly visualize the electronic structure of MoTe 2, a recently proposed type-II TWS. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we unravel the unique surface Fermi arcs, in good agreement with our ab initio calculations that have nontrivial topological nature. Our work not only leads to new understandings of the unusual properties discovered in this family of compounds, but also allows for the further exploration of exotic properties and practical applications of type-II TWSs, as well as the interplay between superconductivity and their topological order.

Objectives: The aim of the current study was to differentiate between neural activity that represents neural anomalies that are responsible for persistent developmental stuttering from the activity that is a result of compensating for stuttering. This was done by investigating alterations to the intrinsic functional architecture of speech-language processes of patients with PDS before and after a short-term intervention. Methods: The resting-state functional connectivity and cortical thickness were examined before and after the intervention. The structural data were used to validate the functional results. Fifteen stuttering patients who received intervention, 13 stuttering patients who did not receive intervention, and 13 fluent controls participated. Results: Before the intervention, both groups of PDS patients showed significant RSFC and cortical thickness reductions in the left pars-opercularis and RSFC increases in the cerebellum, as compared to fluent controls. The intervention was effective in reducing stuttering in PDS- patients and lowering their RSFC in the cerebellum to the level of fluent controls. The intervention effect was specific to the PDS-group. The intervention did not change RSFC and cortical thickness in the left PO, which remained at its preintervention level. Conclusions: The results suggest that the left PO is a locus where the intrinsic functional architecture of speech-language processes is altered in PDS patients, suggesting an etiologic role of this region in PDS. The cerebellum showed intervention-induced neural reorganization, suggesting a compensatory response when stuttering occurs. Copyright © 2012 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.

Previous research has consistently demonstrated the importance of parents' expectations and adolescents' expectations on adolescents' academic achievement. Less is known, however, about the reciprocal relationships among these constructs. To address this issue, we analyzed two waves of data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 using longitudinal cross-lagged path models. The sample consisted of 14,376 students. Results indicated that there was a reciprocal relationship between parents' expectations and adolescents' expectations. Moreover, there was a reciprocal relationship between expectations and adolescents' academic achievement. Multiple-group analyses of gender and ethnicity revealed that the effects of parents' expectations on students' expectations were stronger among males than among females. With respect to ethnic differences, the effects of adolescents' expectations were weakest on parents' expectations among African Americans as compared to the other ethnic groups. Implications of these findings are discussed. © 2010 The Author.

Using the ER-fMRI technique, the present study was designed to investigate the neural substrates of language switching among second-language learners. Twelve Chinese college students who were learning English were scanned when they performed language switching tasks. Compared to non-switching conditions, language switching elicited greater activation in the right superior prefrontal cortex, left middle and superior frontal cortex, and right middle cingulum and caudate. When the direction of switching was considered, forward switching, but not backward switching, activated several brain regions related to executive functions relative to non-switching conditions. These results suggest that neural correlates of language switching differ depending on the direction of the switch and that there does not seem to be a specific brain area acting as a "language switch". © 2006.

There are great individual differences in learning abilities, but their neural bases, especially among normal populations, are not well understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a training paradigm, the present study investigated individual differences in cerebral asymmetry in fusiform regions when processing a new writing system and their correlation to subsequent visual character learning. Twelve Chinese adults underwent a 2-week training to learn 120 Korean characters and they were scanned before and after the training. Results showed that left-hemispheric dominance during the pretraining task was predictive of better posttraining performance. These results have significant implications for our understanding of the neural basis of language learning, especially in terms of individual differences. © 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Existing cognitive and neural imaging studies have suggested a frontoparietal network of multiple, cooperative components for verbal working memory. We used functional MRI to investigate whether this neural network is also involved in the processing of second language by nonfluent bilinguals. Twelve native Chinese speakers who had limited English proficiency were scanned while performing working memory tasks in Chinese and English. They were asked to make judgment continuously whether the word presented on the screen was semantically related to another word presented two words earlier. On a different task, they were asked to make judgment whether the target word rhymed with the other word. A naming and judgment task in each language was adopted to control for the visual process, initial lexical process, and motor responses. Behavioral data showed that subjects performed better at tasks in their native language than in English. Imaging results showed that all working memory tasks in both L1 and L2 elicited a very similar pattern of left-hemisphere-dominated activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, pars opercularis region, pars triangularis region, precentral cortex, and parietal lobule. Consistent with the behavioral data, the volume of activation in the left opercularis region, left parietal lobule, and right precentral region was greater for L2 than for L1. These results suggest that working memory in L1 and L2 is mediated by a unitary neural system, which is capable of recruiting surrounding cortical resources to meet the increased computational demand caused by low L2 proficiency. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analyses were conducted of data from 5 studies related to the academic achievement and cognitive abilities of students in Japan, Taiwan, Mainland China, and the United States. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data were available for students in kindergarten and grades 1, 5, and 11. The analyses compared the top 10 percent of students with the 10 percent of the students whose scores clustered most closely to the average on tests of cognitive ability and then on tests of mathematics achievement. The high ability students in Asian samples outperformed high ability American students in mathematics at grade level 1, 5, and 11 but not in reading. Parents of high ability students in the United States had a higher opinion of their children's ability and performance than did Japanese parents of high ability students. Many factors related to high ability and/or to high achievement are discussed, including mothers’ and students'evaluations of the students’ abilities and personality characteristics, attributional beliefs, sources of motivation, psychological well-being, and demographic factors. The relation of cognitive ability to academic achievement is also discussed. © 1993, The Association of the Gifted. All rights reserved.

A decade of heightened emphasis in the United States on mathematics and science education has had little influence on academic achievement or parental attitudes. American elementary school children in 1990 lagged behind their Chinese and Japanese peers to as great a degree as they did in 1980. Comparison of the performance of elementary and secondary school students between 1980 and 1990 reveals a decline from first to eleventh grade in the relative position of American students in mathematics. Parental satisfaction with American students' achievement and education remains high and standards remain low. Innate ability continues to be emphasized by Americans as a basis for achievement. American eleventh graders report more indications of stress than do their Chinese and Japanese counterparts.

A total of 1151 children from indigenous Quechua-speaking families residing in squatter settlements of the city and in two remote rural environments in Peru was given a battery of 16 tests of academic achievement and cognitive abilities. The former tests assessed reading and mathematics achievement and the latter tapped a broad range of cognitive functions. Children were enrolled in first, second, or third grade or did not attend school. "Younger" children were from 6 to 8 years old, and "older" children were from 9 to 12 years old. Large differences in cognitive functioning were associated with attendance at school, grade in school, age, and urban-rural residence. Gender was found to account for less than 5% of the variance in children's performance on cognitive and academic tasks. Gender effects appeared to decline with increased amount of schooling. This was reflected in interactions involving gender and schooling and in a greater number of significant gender effects for children who did not attend school or were in first grade. The results present a complicated picture of various interactional effects of task, location, age, and schooling on the detected gender differences in cognitive abilities and academic achievement. © 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation.

This study explores the effect of attending school on children's achievement in reading and mathematics and on a test of general information. The major focus was on the interaction between three variables: children's age [young or old ], location, and the number of years of schooling. A follow-up study was conducted nine years after the original testing. Schooling had a positive effect on children's performance, but the degree of influence depended upon all three of the major variables. Schooling tended to have a greater effect on the achievement scores than on the general information scores. In general, scores were highest among children residing in the city and lowest among children living in the remote jungle areas. After controlling for location, age, and years of education, family variables such as parental education and home quality had a small, but significant influence on children's knowledge of reading, mathematics, and general information. © 1990.

Legal Judgment Prediction (LJP) is a typical application of Artificial Intelligence in the intelligent judiciary. Current research primarily focuses on automatically predicting law articles, charges, and terms of penalty based on the fact description of cases. However, existing methods for LJP have limitations, such as neglecting document structure and ignoring case similarities. We propose a novel framework called Graph Contrastive Learning with Augmentation (GCLA) for legal judgment prediction to address these issues. GCLA constructs trainable document-level graphs for fact description, capturing local and global context through sentence-level subgraphs. Graph augmentation enhances robustness. We introduce a comparison case relation perspective, using graph contrastive learning to model case-text label relationships effectively. Experimental results on real-world datasets demonstrate the competitive performance of GCLA.

Some institutional investors are exposed to social norms and public scrutiny. Prior research indicates that these norm-constrained institutions engage in negative screening and invest less in firms operating in ‘sin’ industries. We examine whether social norms also motivate these institutions to engage in positive screening—where they invest more in firms with better corporate social responsibility performance—and CSR-related activism—where they promote improvements in the CSR of existing investees. We find that firms with superior CSR performance have greater ownership by norm-constrained institutions, consistent with positive screening, and we use a natural experiment to establish causality. We also find that increases in the shareholdings of norm-constrained institutions are associated with subsequent improvements in CSR, consistent with activism. Further, we rule out an alternative explanation for our results where the positive screening and activism are ‘profit-driven’ rather than driven by social pressure. Thus, our results suggest that the influence of social norms on stock markets is more pervasive than documented in the prior literature.

Studies on bilingual word processing have demonstrated that the two languages in a mental lexicon can be parallelly activated. However, it is under discussion whether the activated, non-target language gets involved in the target language. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the first language translation in the second language word processing. The tasks of semantic relatedness judgment and lexical decision were both adopted, to explore the relation of the possible L1 involvement and the task demand. Besides, bilinguals with relatively higher and lower L2 proficiency were recruited, to clarify the potential influence of L2 proficiency. Results showed that the manipulation of L1 translation exerted an influence on bilinguals’ task performances, indicating that L1 translation was involved, but did not just serve as a by-product when bilinguals were processing L2 words. And about the influence of L2 proficiency, the higher proficiency bilinguals performed better than the lower proficiency ones when the L1 translations could be taken advantage of, indicating a better access to L1 translation in L2 word processing, as bilinguals’ L2 proficiency increased. As for the task demands, the L1 translation was partially involved in Experiment 1 while a full involvement was observed in Experiment 2, suggesting a differed depth of L1 translation involvement, if the task demands allowed. The present study supplemented the previous ones due to its participants and tasks ; besides, it provided an interesting view into interpreting the “task schema” of the BIA+ model.

This paper analyzes the impact mechanism of executive poverty experience on innovation performance from the two logics of “innate endowment” and “endogenous power.” It then explores the moderating role of executive characteristics, firm nature, and market competition from the perspective of heterogeneity, and finally proves the influence mechanism. Using the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2020, the empirical results show that executives’ poverty experience improves corporate innovation performance. Further studies find that female executives with poverty experience have a more significant impact on innovation performance. Additionally, state-owned enterprises weaken the positive effects of executives with poverty experiences on innovation performance. The impact of executive poverty experience on innovation performance is more significant in fierce market competition. The mediating result suggests that executive poverty experience improves innovation performance partly by inhibiting R&D manipulation. The findings remain valid through Propensity Score Matching tests, the Heckman two-stage, and alternative indicator measures. Using the early life poverty experience of executives, this study promotes research on the factors influencing corporate innovation. It also provides empirical evidence for improving corporate innovation performance through a study of moderating effects and influencing mechanisms.

Enterprise Network has increasingly gained popularity in academia. Over the past few decades, a substantial amount of EN studies have been published in China. Drawing upon a sample of 603 papers retrieved from the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index database between 1998 and 2020, this study aims to delve into the status quo, knowledge base, research focus, and evolutionary trends of EN research in China. A multifaceted bibliometric analysis was performed using CiteSpace. The findings mainly indicate that the research on EN in China has a clear development context, and the research content gradually changes from macro to micro. In addition to foreign Social Network theories, the research results of domestic scholars have become the basic knowledge in this field. The research includes these topics: the conceptualization of EN, EN as indicators of enterprise development, EN’s impact on start-ups, mechanisms of EN’s effect and governance of EN. The potential direction for future research has been identified as the integration between EN and other forms of networks, and the structure of EN.