Wild Birds Learn Songs from Experimental Vocal Tutors

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What We Can Learn about Reading Development from the Analysis of Eye Movements

The paper presents the results of the study on reading mechanisms in children of primary school age performed using eye tracking. The participants were 36 second-grade pupils. Eye movements were registered when reading a specially developed set of sentences containing words with controlled length and frequency. Neuropsychological assessment and reading of words with regular and irregular spelling were also performed. The results confirm the data of reading analysis obtained in other languages and show that characteristics of eye movements during reading depend on the length and frequency of the word. The results indicate a close relationship between the characteristics of the oculomotor activity and the level of the development of reading skills. Analysis of the relationship of eye movements and neuropsychological assessments of the cognitive abilities of children shows that the executive functions and functions for visuospatial information processing are the most important in the second year of reading aquisition. The role of auditory information processing functions requires further investigation.     

Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn from It

Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn from It . Robert Borofsky. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. 372 pp.     

Macaque Monkeys Can Learn Token Values from Human Models through Vicarious Reward

Monkeys can learn the symbolic meaning of tokens, and exchange them to get a reward. Monkeys can also learn the symbolic value of a token by observing conspecifics but it is not clear if they can learn passively by observing other actors, e.g., humans. To answer this question, we tested two monkeys in a token exchange paradigm in three experiments. Monkeys learned token values through observation of human models exchanging them. We used, after a phase of object familiarization, different sets of tokens. One token of each set was rewarded with a bit of apple. Other tokens had zero value (neutral tokens). Each token was presented only in one set. During the observation phase, monkeys watched the human model exchange tokens and watched them consume rewards (vicarious rewards). In the test phase, the monkeys were asked to exchange one of the tokens for food reward. Sets of three tokens were used in the first experiment and sets of two tokens were used in the second and third experiments. The valuable token was presented with different probabilities in the observation phase during the first and second experiments in which the monkeys exchanged the valuable token more frequently than any of the neutral tokens. The third experiments examined the effect of unequal probabilities. Our results support the view that monkeys can learn from non-conspecific actors through vicarious reward, even a symbolic task like the token-exchange task.     

Some Unorthodox Thoughts: What Western Agriculture Should Learn from Chinese Agriculture

Starting from the experience of research carried out in Hubei, subtropical intensive agricultural area of China, I focus on some aspects that make this agricultural and cultural system different and peculiar from Western countries. Reducing the length of food-webs supporting human population, integrating aquatic and terrestrial production systems; having had insects such as silkworm and plants such as soybeans as key factors in the production of proteins and fiber. Herbivory of fishes and adoption of husbandry made by small animals coupled with a very limited use of ruminants such as cow and buffalo are among the many strategies developed by the Chinese culture and their peculiar history. Many of these strategies that have permitted supporting an immense population can be better considered by Western countries.     

Community Members' Engagement with and Involvement in Genomic Research: Lessons to Learn from the Field

In this paper, we describe the potential role laypersons on ethics committees can play in ensuring community concerns are addressed in the design and implementation of genomic research. We draw inferences from the outcome of an empirical study of the impact of training of laypersons to address community engagement issues in ethics review of research protocol. While this paper does not advocate a particular solution, it describes the importance of community engagement in genomic research, the current limitations there are in engaging communities in the design of these research projects and how communities can be indirectly engaged in the design and implementation of genomic research through the engagement of laypersons on ethics committees. However, to ensure that these laypersons can play this role, their capacity needs to be built to play this role appropriately. There is evidence to show that where resources are invested in building the capacity of laypersons to play their role as community ‘watchdogs’ in research, they play this role aptly. Community engagement is important in genomic research as genomic researchers will increasingly require community perspectives in critical ethics decision making.     

香樟叶出油最佳提取条件的实验研究

本文研究了以香樟叶为原料,采用索氏提取器提取粗香樟油的最佳条件。选用6种有机溶剂分别作提取剂,每10g樟叶加溶剂90mL,提取60min,提取两次,由粗樟油得率,确定最佳溶剂为无水乙醇;用无水乙醇进行正交实验,确定出最佳提取条件为无水乙醇110mL,提取100min,粒度1cm左右,连续提取两次。在这个条件下进行验证实验,其粗樟油得率为25．04％。     

The Upside of Failure: How Regional Student Groups Learn from Their Mistakes

Success is the result of planning, hard work, determination, foresight, and a little bit of luck. Unfortunately, nobody has thought to pave the road to success. Although failure can be discouraging and time-consuming, it presents incredible learning opportunities—the biggest difference between those who succeed and those who abandon their projects lies in their response to adversity. This article reviews events undertaken by the Regional Student Groups (RSGs) in India and Argentina, the problems they encountered, and what can be learned from them. RSG-India attempted to organize an online scientific meeting (also known as a virtual conference) with geographically dispersed stakeholders, a totally new concept for them. RSG-Argentina tackled the challenge of organizing a two-day symposium, their first event ever. Some of the complications they faced were easy to fix, others led to the cancellation of activities, and all of them resulted in valuable lessons. The main goal of this article is to highlight, through their experiences, the universal importance of a healthy panel of contingency plans.