Gender effect on the right-left discrimination task in a sample of heroin-dependent patients

Rationale: Discriminating right from left is an everyday cognitive ability. Repeated exposure to certain drugs, such as heroin, can produce poor performance on many cognitive tasks. However, it is yet unclear whether drug abuse impairs the ability of right-left discrimination. Objectives: The aim of the present study is to examine whether the spatial ability measured by the right-left discrimination task can be affected by heroin abuse and whether such drug effect, if it exists, is gender related. Methods: A paper-and-pen test was used. The test consists of line drawings of a person with no arm, one arm, or both arms crossing the vertical body axis of the figure. The line drawings are viewed from the back, from the front, or randomly alternating between the back and front drawings. The subjects task is to mark which is the right or left hand in the figure as fast as possible. Results: A main finding in this study was that the ability to discriminate between left and right in visual space was impaired in heroin-dependent patients. Especially, heroin-dependent females performed poorer than control females in all conditions but heroin-dependent males only performed poorly in part of conditions. Conclusions: Recent heroin abuse impairs the ability of right-left discrimination and such impairment is gender related: heroin-dependent females demonstrated greater performance deficits than males.

一种柔性冲压自动化生产线系统的研制

本文介绍了一种用于大型汽车覆盖件冲压生产的柔性自动化生产线，系统由６台压机、１２台上下料机械手、１台翻转传输装置、４台穿梭传输装置及１台磁力分层装置构成．给出了生产线的主要性能指标、机械手结构简图及单元控制系统框图，简要介绍了系统的工作原理。

工程地质三维可视化技术及其工程应用研究

Study of 3D visualization technology of engineering geology and its application to engineering is a cross subject which includes geosciences, computer, software and information technology. Being an important part of the secondary theme of National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) whose name is Study of Multi-Scale Structure and Occurrence Environment of Complicated Geological Engineering Mass(No.2002CB412701), the dissertation involves the studies of key problems of 3D geological modeling, integrated applications of multi-format geological data, effective modeling methods of complex approximately layered geological mass as well as applications of 3D virtual reality information management technology.The main research findings are listed below:Integrated application method of multi-format geological data is proposed,which has solved the integrated application of drill holes, engineering geology plandrawings, sectional drawings and cutting drawings as well as exploratory trenchsketch. Its application can provide as more as possible fundamental data for 3Dgeological modeling.A 3D surface construction method combined Laplace interpolation points withoriginal points is proposed, so the deformation of 3D model and the crossing error ofupper and lower surface of model resulted from lack of data when constructing alaminated stratum can be eliminated.3D modeling method of approximately layered geological mass is proposed,which has solved the problems of general modeling method based on the sections or points and faces when constructing terrain and concordant strata.The 3D geological model of VII dam site of Xiangjiaba hydropower stationhas been constructed. The applications of 3D geological model to the auto-plotting ofsectional drawing and the converting of numerical analysis model are also discussed.3D virtual reality information integrated platform is developed, whose mostimportant character is that it is a software platform having the functions of 3D virtualreality flying and multi-format data management simultaneously. Therefore, theplatform can load different 3D model so as to satisfy the different engineeringdemands.The relics of Aigong Cave of Longyou Stone Caves are recovered. Thereinforcement plans of 1# and 2# cave in phoenix hill also be expressed. The intuitiveexpression provided decision makers and designers a very good environment.The basic framework and specific functions of 3D geological informationsystem are proposed.The main research findings in the dissertation have been successfully applied to some important engineering such as Xiangjiaba hydropower station, a military airport and Longyou Stone Caves etc.

左侧梭状回内文字的字形加工：中文正常阅读者，中文文盲、非中文母语被试的对比研究

Reading is an important human-specific skill obtained through extensive learning experience and is reliance on the ability to rapidly recognize single words. According to the behavioral studies, the most important stage of reading is the representation of “visual word form”, which is independent on surface visual features of the reading materials. The prelexical visual word form representation is characterized by the abstractive and highly effective and precise processing. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have investigated the neural basis underlying the visual word form processing. On the basis of summary of the existing literature, the current thesis aimed to address three fundamental questions involving neural basis of word recognition. First, is there a dedicated neural network that is specialized for word recognition? Second, is the orthographic information represented in the putative word/character selective region (VWFA)? Third, what is the role of reading experience in the genesis of the VWFA, is experience a main driver to shape VWFA instead of evolutionary selectivity? Nineteen Chinese literate volunteers, 5 Chinese illiterates and 4 native English speakers participated in this study, and performed perceptual tasks during fMRI scanning. To address the first question, we compared the differential responses to three categories of visual objects, i.e., faces, line drawings of objects and Chinese characters, and defined the region of interesting (ROI) for the next experiment. To address the second question, Chinese character orthography was manipulated to reveal possible differential responses to real characters, false characters, radical combinations, and stroke combinations in the regions defined by the first experiment. To examine the role of reading experience in genesis of specialization for character, the responses for unfamiliar Chinese characters in Chinese illiterates and native English speakers were compared with that in the Chinese literates, and tracked the change in cortical activation after a short-term reading training in the illiterates. Data were analyzed in two dimensions. Both BOLD signal amplitude and spatial distribution pattern among multi-voxels were used to systematically investigate the responsiveness of the left fusiform gyrus to Chinese characters. Our results provide strong and clear evidence for the existence of functionally specialized regions in the human ventral occipital-temporal cortex. In the skilled readers a region specialized for written words could be consistently found in the lateral part of the left fusiform gyrus, line drawings in the median part and faces in the middle. Our results further show that spatial distribution analysis, a method that was not commonly used in neuroimaging of reading, appears to be a more effective measurement for category specialization for visual objects processing. Although we failed to provide evidence that VWFA processes orthographic information in terms of signal intensitiy, we do show that response pattern of real characters and radical collections in this area is different from that of false characters and random stroke combinations. Our last set of experiments suggests that the selective bias to reading material is clearly experience dependent. The response to unknown characters in both English speakers/readers and Chinese illiterates is fundamentally different from that of the skilled Chinese readers. The response pattern for unknown characters is more similar to that for line drawings rather as a weak version of character in skilled Chinese readers. Short-term training is not sufficient to produce VWFA bias even when tested with learned characters, rather the learned characters generated a overall upward shift of the activation of the left fusiform region. Formation of a dedicated region specialized for visual word/character might depend on long-term extensive reading experience, or there might be a critical period for reading acquisition.

幼儿绘画表征的发展－－发展过程及其影响因素

Two major questions in this study are the development of children's representative drawing and the influence of semantic representation and image representation on it. Children aged from 3 and a half to 7 participated the experiments. Two-dimension and three-dimension displays were used in four experiments. The results show that: The development of children's representational drawing can be divided into stages. They become maturer in selecting the strategies of the representational drawing, which are different in nature across different ages. There is a development from feature processing to integrative processing in children's drawing. At the feature processing stage, the typological features are represented easily. No matter global or partial. They tend to use unconnected parts to represent, which is called the strategy of distributed representation, those displays without prominent features. In integrative processing stage, the features of two-dimension display are integrated according to its gestalt. And the features of three-dimension display are integrated by its prototypical view across the main axis of the display. Cubic representations were found in some of the children's drawings, but none of them can do it from a perspective view before 7 years old. The semantic processing of the display, both global and partial meaning, can influence the development of the representational drawing. The structural features of the display influence the development of drawing representation. Semantic principles and structural features influence the representational drawings together. For three-dimension display, the semantic face and structural face coexist and work together. Children's ability to draw the display according to the right perspective rather than the prototypical view increase along with them growing up.