Written by Julian Barnes,a well-known contemporary British writer,The Porcupine is a novel with a touch on Bulgaria’s social realities in the early 1990s.However,it is not a realistic novel in a conventional sense.It...Written by Julian Barnes,a well-known contemporary British writer,The Porcupine is a novel with a touch on Bulgaria’s social realities in the early 1990s.However,it is not a realistic novel in a conventional sense.It is composed of forty-three sections,long or short,fragmented in form and laid out by means of montage strategies.In the novel,Barnes used“continuous montage”and“parallel montage”strategies to unveil the plot and tell the story and employed“psychological montage”and“contrast montage”strategies to showcase characters’consciousness and personalities.The ingenious use of different montage strategies in the novel challenges the linear narrative paradigm in traditionally realistic novels,enriches its narrative structures and textual dimensions,and highlights its dramatic conflict,hence reflecting the narrative innovation in Barnes’s fictional writing and providing new space for the studies of his novels from the viewpoint of narratology and/or postmodernism.展开更多
This paper addresses the narrative construction of the moment of death as depicted in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and in Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending. Following Orr’s definition of positive influence, described as a...This paper addresses the narrative construction of the moment of death as depicted in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and in Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending. Following Orr’s definition of positive influence, described as a “site for cultural renewal”, it pursues the analysis of complexity and confluence of literary traditions in these texts. Though both Anna Karenina and The Sense of an Ending seem to insist on portraying a chronicle of struggle between a moment and a process of dying, it is nevertheless a physical moment of life ending which becomes an intensely condensed, and almost photographic, representation of the intimate, psychologically depicted, dying process. It is argued that the moment of death reveals, for instance, Anna’s unresolved internal conflict between psychological and physiological phenomena shaping human behaviour. Similarly, Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending builds upon a subtle dialogic tension between a process of psychological dying and a moment of physically conceived death. Specifically, this paper brings to light the repetitive occurence of the intense epiphanic moments which shape the thematic and the structural development of both Anna Karenina and The Sense of an Ending.展开更多
Various studies indicate that low levels of estradiol negatively impact cognitive abilities. Extracts from the fungus Hericium erinaceus (HE) contain bioactive components that promote the proper functioning of the ner...Various studies indicate that low levels of estradiol negatively impact cognitive abilities. Extracts from the fungus Hericium erinaceus (HE) contain bioactive components that promote the proper functioning of the nervous system and potential effects on protection against neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and motor dysfunctions. The objective was to evaluate the effects of the administration of the HE mushroom extract on visuospatial memory and morphology of neurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus in ovariectomized rats. 40 young Wistar rats weighing 90 ± 10 g BW were used, which were distributed into four groups of 10 animals;Control Group, non-ovariectomized and untreated rats;Group E2, ovariectomized rats treated with estradiol (2 μg/kg/body weight);Group HE, ovariectomized rats treated with the extract of the fungus Hericium erinaceus (0.5 mg/kg body weight) and Group Ovx/ST, ovariectomized rats, without treatment. The animals were tested in the Barnes and Open Field maze, then they were sacrificed, and their brains were obtained to perform a histological analysis of neuronal morphology in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus. The most outstanding results showed that the Ovx/ST group recorded the longest time to arrive at the escape box and stay in the Barnes maze. A correlation was observed between neuronal damage and function;in the groups that did not present satisfactory performance in the maze tests, morphological alterations were identified such as the presence of some neuronal somata with degeneration characteristics such as pyknosis, nuclear basophilia and shrinkage of the cells. Its soma, as well as a decrease in the nuclear area of CA1 and CA3 neurons. It is concluded that the fungus Hericium erinaceus exerted a neuroprotective effect on the neuronal bodies of the hippocampus, associated with better performance in the visuospatial recognition memory test.展开更多
Anthropogenic noise can affect a number of behavioral,physiological,and ecological aspects of animals from major taxonomic groups,raising serious conservation concerns.For example,noise pollution impacts communicative...Anthropogenic noise can affect a number of behavioral,physiological,and ecological aspects of animals from major taxonomic groups,raising serious conservation concerns.For example,noise pollution impacts communicative behavior and perception of signals,movements and distribution,as well as predator–prey interactions,such as hunting success or predator detection and predation risk assessment.We have carried out an experimental playback study,in which we investigated whether exposure to anthropogenic noise(sound of a tractor)distracts free-ranging barn swallows Hirundo rustica from paying attention to an approaching human“predator”(the“cognitive distraction”hypothesis),or whether noise leads to increased responsiveness to this“predator”(the“increased threat”hypothesis).The subjects were male barn swallows attending their breeding territories during the time when the females were incubating.We found that barn swallow males initiated fight at signifcantly greater distances to the approaching human“predator”in the noise treatment than during the quiet control trials.These results suggest that anthropogenic noise causes increased vigilance and reactivity rather than a distraction,enabling birds to avoid the“predator”more quickly.We further discuss the mechanism behind the increased alertness in response to noise and contrast the“increased threat”mechanism,usually tested in previous studies,with an alternative“cognitive sensitization”mechanism.展开更多
Brood parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of other birds,and the parasitized hosts can reduce the cost of raising unrelated offspring through the recognition of parasitic eggs.Hosts can adopt vision-based cognitive ...Brood parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of other birds,and the parasitized hosts can reduce the cost of raising unrelated offspring through the recognition of parasitic eggs.Hosts can adopt vision-based cognitive mechanisms to recognize foreign eggs by comparing the colors of foreign and host eggs.However,there is currently no uniform conclusion as to whether this comparison involves the single or multiple threshold decision rules.In this study,we tested both hypotheses by adding model eggs of different colors to the nests of Barn Swallows(Hirundo rustica)of two geographical populations breeding in Hainan and Heilongjiang Provinces in China.Results showed that Barn Swallows rejected more white model eggs(moderate mimetic to their own eggs)and blue model eggs(highly non-mimetic eggs with shorter reflectance spectrum)than red model eggs(highly nonmimetic eggs with longer reflectance spectrum).There was no difference in the rejection rate of model eggs between the two populations of Barn Swallows,and clutch size was not a factor affecting egg recognition.Our results are consistent with the single rejection threshold model.This study provides strong experimental evidence that the color of model eggs can has an important effect on egg recognition in Barn Swallows,opening up new avenues to uncover the evolution of cuckoo egg mimicry and explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the visual recognition of foreign eggs by hosts.展开更多
文摘Written by Julian Barnes,a well-known contemporary British writer,The Porcupine is a novel with a touch on Bulgaria’s social realities in the early 1990s.However,it is not a realistic novel in a conventional sense.It is composed of forty-three sections,long or short,fragmented in form and laid out by means of montage strategies.In the novel,Barnes used“continuous montage”and“parallel montage”strategies to unveil the plot and tell the story and employed“psychological montage”and“contrast montage”strategies to showcase characters’consciousness and personalities.The ingenious use of different montage strategies in the novel challenges the linear narrative paradigm in traditionally realistic novels,enriches its narrative structures and textual dimensions,and highlights its dramatic conflict,hence reflecting the narrative innovation in Barnes’s fictional writing and providing new space for the studies of his novels from the viewpoint of narratology and/or postmodernism.
文摘This paper addresses the narrative construction of the moment of death as depicted in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and in Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending. Following Orr’s definition of positive influence, described as a “site for cultural renewal”, it pursues the analysis of complexity and confluence of literary traditions in these texts. Though both Anna Karenina and The Sense of an Ending seem to insist on portraying a chronicle of struggle between a moment and a process of dying, it is nevertheless a physical moment of life ending which becomes an intensely condensed, and almost photographic, representation of the intimate, psychologically depicted, dying process. It is argued that the moment of death reveals, for instance, Anna’s unresolved internal conflict between psychological and physiological phenomena shaping human behaviour. Similarly, Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending builds upon a subtle dialogic tension between a process of psychological dying and a moment of physically conceived death. Specifically, this paper brings to light the repetitive occurence of the intense epiphanic moments which shape the thematic and the structural development of both Anna Karenina and The Sense of an Ending.
文摘Various studies indicate that low levels of estradiol negatively impact cognitive abilities. Extracts from the fungus Hericium erinaceus (HE) contain bioactive components that promote the proper functioning of the nervous system and potential effects on protection against neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and motor dysfunctions. The objective was to evaluate the effects of the administration of the HE mushroom extract on visuospatial memory and morphology of neurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus in ovariectomized rats. 40 young Wistar rats weighing 90 ± 10 g BW were used, which were distributed into four groups of 10 animals;Control Group, non-ovariectomized and untreated rats;Group E2, ovariectomized rats treated with estradiol (2 μg/kg/body weight);Group HE, ovariectomized rats treated with the extract of the fungus Hericium erinaceus (0.5 mg/kg body weight) and Group Ovx/ST, ovariectomized rats, without treatment. The animals were tested in the Barnes and Open Field maze, then they were sacrificed, and their brains were obtained to perform a histological analysis of neuronal morphology in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus. The most outstanding results showed that the Ovx/ST group recorded the longest time to arrive at the escape box and stay in the Barnes maze. A correlation was observed between neuronal damage and function;in the groups that did not present satisfactory performance in the maze tests, morphological alterations were identified such as the presence of some neuronal somata with degeneration characteristics such as pyknosis, nuclear basophilia and shrinkage of the cells. Its soma, as well as a decrease in the nuclear area of CA1 and CA3 neurons. It is concluded that the fungus Hericium erinaceus exerted a neuroprotective effect on the neuronal bodies of the hippocampus, associated with better performance in the visuospatial recognition memory test.
基金This study was supported by the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyhski University in Warsaw(grant to P.M.).
文摘Anthropogenic noise can affect a number of behavioral,physiological,and ecological aspects of animals from major taxonomic groups,raising serious conservation concerns.For example,noise pollution impacts communicative behavior and perception of signals,movements and distribution,as well as predator–prey interactions,such as hunting success or predator detection and predation risk assessment.We have carried out an experimental playback study,in which we investigated whether exposure to anthropogenic noise(sound of a tractor)distracts free-ranging barn swallows Hirundo rustica from paying attention to an approaching human“predator”(the“cognitive distraction”hypothesis),or whether noise leads to increased responsiveness to this“predator”(the“increased threat”hypothesis).The subjects were male barn swallows attending their breeding territories during the time when the females were incubating.We found that barn swallow males initiated fight at signifcantly greater distances to the approaching human“predator”in the noise treatment than during the quiet control trials.These results suggest that anthropogenic noise causes increased vigilance and reactivity rather than a distraction,enabling birds to avoid the“predator”more quickly.We further discuss the mechanism behind the increased alertness in response to noise and contrast the“increased threat”mechanism,usually tested in previous studies,with an alternative“cognitive sensitization”mechanism.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31970427 and 32270526 to W.L.)。
文摘Brood parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of other birds,and the parasitized hosts can reduce the cost of raising unrelated offspring through the recognition of parasitic eggs.Hosts can adopt vision-based cognitive mechanisms to recognize foreign eggs by comparing the colors of foreign and host eggs.However,there is currently no uniform conclusion as to whether this comparison involves the single or multiple threshold decision rules.In this study,we tested both hypotheses by adding model eggs of different colors to the nests of Barn Swallows(Hirundo rustica)of two geographical populations breeding in Hainan and Heilongjiang Provinces in China.Results showed that Barn Swallows rejected more white model eggs(moderate mimetic to their own eggs)and blue model eggs(highly non-mimetic eggs with shorter reflectance spectrum)than red model eggs(highly nonmimetic eggs with longer reflectance spectrum).There was no difference in the rejection rate of model eggs between the two populations of Barn Swallows,and clutch size was not a factor affecting egg recognition.Our results are consistent with the single rejection threshold model.This study provides strong experimental evidence that the color of model eggs can has an important effect on egg recognition in Barn Swallows,opening up new avenues to uncover the evolution of cuckoo egg mimicry and explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the visual recognition of foreign eggs by hosts.
