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Children appear to have some arithmetic abilities before formal instruction in school, but the extent of these abilities as well as the mechanisms underlying them are poorly understood. Over two studies, an initial exploratory study of preschool children in the U.S. (N = 207; Age = 2.89-4.30 years) and a pre-registered replication of preschool children in Italy (N = 130; Age = 3-6.33 years), we documented some basic behavioral signatures of exact arithmetic using a non-symbolic subtraction task. Furthermore, we investigated the underlying mechanism by analyzing the relationship between individual differences in exact subtraction and assessments of other numerical and non-numerical abilities. Across both studies, children performed above chance on an exact non-symbolic arithmetic task, generally showing better performance on problems involving smaller quantities compared to those involving larger quantities. Furthermore, individual differences in non-verbal approximate number abilities and cardinal number knowledge were related to different aspects of subtraction performance. Specifically, non-verbal approximate numerical abilities were related to subtraction performance in older but not younger children. Across both studies we found evidence that cardinal number knowledge was related to performance on subtraction problems where the answer was zero (i.e., subtractive negation problems). Moreover, subtractive negation problems were only solved above chance by children who had a basic understanding of cardinality. Together these finding suggest that core non-verbal numerical abilities, as well as emerging knowledge of symbolic numbers provide a basis for some, albeit limited exact arithmetic abilities before formal schooling.

Microsoroid ferns (Microsoroideae) are the third largest subfamily of the Polypodiaceae, containing ca. 180 species (PPG I, 2016) and found mainly in tropical and subtropical Asia, Australasia, the Pacific Islands, Madagascar, and tropical Africa. The relationships between groups of this subfamily have long been controversial, especially the delimitation of the genus Microsorum, which, based on current understanding, is not a monophyletic entity. By using mostly DNA sequence data, as well as the micro-morphological information (spore ornamentation), the focus of this thesis is to clarify the delimitation of each genus and subgroup within Microsoroideae, in order to improve our understanding of the diversity of the subfamily. In the first and second study, molecular data was used to infer the phylogenetic relationships of microsoroid ferns. The results of the first study confirmed the placement of the Java Fern (Leptochilus pteropus), the common plant used in aquaria, in the monophyletic Leptochilus, with L. macrophyllus as the most basal branch. The second study shows that five tribes should be recognized within Microsoroideae, containing ca. 11 genera/groups with 205-225 species total. The previous Microsorum s.l. is divided into six clades in two tribes, Microsoreae and Lecanoptereae. By integrating molecular and micro-morphological data in the third study, more information is provided regarding possible classification, especially in tribe Microsoreae, indicating that there are two potentially new genera that need to be further confirmed. Most species of the six subfamilies of Polypodiaceae are epiphytic. Microsoreae is, in this respect, exceptional with a relatively low percentage of epiphytes. Therefore, in the fourth study, I explored the evolution of the substrate preference of the microsoroid ferns by combining the data of divergence time estimation based on fossils, trying to answer the questions “why” and “when”. The results show that the evolution of substrate preference has possibly been influenced by climate fluctuations and the colonization of new geographic regions during the Oligocene-Miocene periods. Microsoroideae on kallioimarrekasvien heimon (Polypodiaceae) kolmanneksi suurin alaheimo ja siihen kuuluu noin 200 lajia. Alaheimon lajeja tavataan Aasian, Australian (sekä niiden välisen laajan saariston), Tyynenmeren saarien, Madagaskarin ja Afrikan trooppisilla ja subtrooppisilla alueilla. Alaheimon ryhmien väliset sukulaisuussuhteet ovat pitkään olleet epäselviä, erityisesti se mitä lajeja kuuluu nimisukuun Microsorum. Nykyisen käsityksen mukaan sukuun luetut lajit eivät polveudu yhteisestä kantamuodosta eli se ei ole monofyleettinen. Etenkin sekvenssitason tuntomerkkien ja hienorakenteen (itiöiden pintarakenne) avulla tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää alaheimon sukujen ja ryhmien sukulaisuussuhteita jotta alaheimon monimuotoisuutta voitaisiin ymmärtää paremmin. Ensimmäisessä ja toisessa osatutkimuksessa on käytetty sekvenssitason tuntomerkkejä alaheimon polveutumishistorian selvittämiseksi. Ensimmäinen tutkimus varmisti yleisen akvaariokasvin, jaavansaniaisen kuuluvan sukuun Leptochilus ja lajin L. macrophyllus edustavan suvun vanhinta kehityslinjaa. Toinen tutkimus osoitti, että alaheimon lajit voidaan luokitella yhteensä viiteen sukuryhmään (tribus) joihin kuuluu yhteensä noin 11 sukua ja 200 lajia. Aiemmin laajasti rajattu (sensu lato) Microsorum voidaan jakaa kuuteen monofyleettiseen ryhmään jotka kuuluvat kahteen sukuryhmään, Microsorae ja Lecanopterae. Kolmannessa tutkimuksessa selvitettin erityisesti sukuryhmää Microsorae sekvenssitason ja hienorakenteen tuntomerkkien avulla ja havaittiin, että kahden uuden suvun kuvaaminen lienee tarpeen. Suurin osa kallioimarrekasvien heimon lajeista on päällyskasveja (epifyyttejä). Sukuryhmä on tässä suhteessa poikkeuksellinen koska vain murto-osa sen lajeista on kasvutavaltaan tällaisia. Neljännessä osatutkimuksessa yhdistin tiedot sukuryhmän polveutumishistoriasta, fossiileista ja kasvualustasta ja yritin selvittää miksi ja milloin lajit ovat sopeutuneet kasvamaan erilaisilla kasvualustoilla. Tulosten perusteella voidaan olettaa, että sukuryhmässä tähän ovat vaikuttaneet oligoseeni- ja mioseenikausien ilmastolliset muutokset sekä näiden saniaislajien levinneisyysalueiden laajentuminen.

Microsoroideae is the third largest of the six subfamilies of Polypodiaceae, containing over 180 species. These ferns are widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World and Oceania. We documented the spore ornamentation and integrated these data into the latest phylogenetic hypotheses, including a sampling of 100 taxa representing each of 17 major lineages of microsoroid ferns. This enabled us to reconstruct the ancestral states of the spore morphology. The results show verrucate ornamentation as an ancestral state for Goniophlebieae and Lecanoptereae, globular for Microsoreae, and rugulate surface for Lepisoreae. In addition, spore ornamentation can be used to distinguish certain clades of the microsoroid ferns. Among all five tribes, Lecanoptereae show most diversity in spore surface ornamentation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10265-020-01238-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This article explores the “wholistic” as a central concept of “the good life” as expressed by the Bnkis, Tayal Indigenous Elders, who participated in the Day Club, Tayal territory of Northern Taiwan. In particular, we analyze the stories of care experienced by the Bnkis from the standpoint of wholistic relationships. The stories were recorded primarily between 2015 and 2018. In this analysis we used a critical qualitative design approach, privileging Tayal epistemology and informed by Tayal hermeneutics. Our results show that the concept of well-being for the Bnkis is closely linked to their relationships with people and with the land and spirituality. Through these relationships, the continuation of Gaga—Tayal law and cosmology—has been adapted organically over time. We argue that Gaga is central to Tayal Elder/Bnkis care and essential to Bnkis’ well-being. We propose that the concept of wholistic relationships embedded in the Tayal law of Gaga is vital in developing an elderly care system that is genuinely culturally relevant in the long run. This research demonstrates how the wholistic concept can improve human health and well-being, and ultimately provides an implication to sustainable development.

This study evaluated how differences in economic risk-taking in Westerners and East Asians reflect cultural differences in the analytic or holistic processing of probabilistic outcomes during value-based decisions. Twenty-seven Americans (US) and 51 Taiwanese (TW) young adults completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Lottery Choice Task (LCT) experiment. Participants accepted or rejected stakes with varying probabilities of winning or losing different magnitudes of points. TW participants accepted more stakes when win probabilities were > 0.50, whereas US participants reduced their acceptance rates of winning stakes more discriminately as win probabilities decreased. Both groups rejected losing stakes (win probabilities < 0.50) with similar frequency. Critically, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) responses correspondingly showed greater discrimination between win probability conditions in US than TW groups. Our findings highlight a neurocognitive mechanism in the VMPFC for how cultural differences in distinguishing between probabilistic reward outcomes shape neural computations of risk and prospects.

The microsoroid ferns are one of the largest subfamilies of the Polypodiaceae with over 180 species mainly found in the humid forests of tropical Australasia. The phylogenetic relationships are still unclear, especially the delimitation of the genus Microsorum which has been recognized to be non-monophyletic. We analysed the microsoroid ferns using six chloroplast DNA regions (rbcL, rps4+rps4-trnS, trnL+trnL-trnF, atpA, atpB and matK) in order to present a robust hypothesis of their phylogeny. Our results suggest that they comprise up to 17 genera; of them, 12 agree with a previously accepted generic classification. Five tribes are proposed based on the phylogenetic relationships. Most of the species traditionally included in the genus Microsorum are found in six genera belonging to two tribes. In addition to the commonly used DNA markers, the additional atpA and matK are helpful to provide information about the phylogenetic relationships of the microsoroid ferns.

Young adults proactively engage frontoparietal processing of contextual cues to preempt subsequent events. Rather than being preemptive, older adults engage these brain areas reactively upon event occurrences. Reactive frontoparietal processes in older adults, however, might be insufficient for complex contextual neural computations where utilities of contexts are not straightforward but dependent on a set of stimulus-response rules. Applying non-linear logic (XOR) rules in an fMRI experiment, we found higher default-mode network (DMN) activity critical for correctly responding to such contingency in older but not younger adults. Moreover, older individuals with higher proactive cue processing showed better performances with less DMN activity. Thus, DMN processing provides critical support when older adults are faced with complex contextual contingencies. These findings suggest an age-related change in the neurocomputational role of introspective processes in decision-making from young to older adulthood.

The boundary mixture model is derived to predict the performance of the microbubble drag reduction technique for a flat plate. The flat plate with a porous material microbubble injecting system and resistance-measuring system are set up to measure the frictional resistance of the flat plate without and with injected microbubbles. The tests are conducted in a water tunnel and a towing tank. The test results show that the boundary mixture model predicts the drag reduction well for the flat plate when testing with injected microbubbles in the water tunnel. However, the boundary mixture model overestimates the drag reduction effect for the flat plate tested in the towing tank. The possible mechanism for the overestimation of drag reduction effect in the towing tank may be due to the different behaviors of microbubbles in the velocity gradient of boundary layer.

With increasing living standards, a modern product is required to provide emotional links between a user’s personality and their work environment, in addition to satisfying functional and physiological needs. Since office workers in Taiwan have average daily working hours of over 8 h, they spend lots of time on office chairs, and nowadays more companies are willing to buy good chairs so that their employees can deliver higher efficiency under a more comfortable office environment. After interviewing a group of experts, office chairs are classified into 7 types, and the participants’ personality traits are classified into 4 categories. The influence of different personality traits on the evaluation of office chairs by attractiveness is analyzed by quantification theory type I. Design elements that can better deliver an office chair’s attractiveness are determined. The results allow future designers to improve their designs by identifying the preferences of target users under difference office scenarios.

The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Harmonised Common Structural Rules (CSR-H) have been released and will take effect on July 1, 2015. The local loads under extreme motion conditions, defined in the CSR-H, were investigated for an oil tanker by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, STAR-CCM+, and included bow flare slamming pressure and bottom slamming pressure at the bottom of the bow or stern bottom. The extreme motion defined in the CSR-H was investigated using the potential code HydroSTAR. To benchmark the numerical results, resistance and seakeeping model tests were performed on the oil tanker. The two test results were simulated using the two software packages, respectively, and the numerical results were in good agreement with the test results. Finally, this study demonstrated that the slamming pressures defined by the CSR-H are safe and conservative with regard to the structural design.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

Single-pole switching scheme is widely used in the Extra High Voltage system. However, the substantial negativesequence current injected to the turbine-generators imposes the electromagnetic (E/M) torque of double system- frequency components during the dead time (between single-pole clearing and line reclosing). This would induce supersynchronous resonance (SPSR) torque amplifications on low pressure turbine generator blades and even lead to fatigue damage. This paper proposes the design of a mechanical filter (MF) with natural frequency close to double-system frequency. From the simulation results, it is found that such a filter not only successfully damps the resonant effect, but also has the characteristics of feasibility and compact.