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In order to cope with severe environmental crises such as pollution and climate, the Chinese government has put forward the strategic goal of "double carbon" and vigorously developed green emerging industries such as cultural industry. Based on the super efficiency model and the input oriented Malmquist index model, this paper comprehensively measures the innovation efficiency of cultural industry, and selects the panel data of the Yangtze River economic belt from 2015 to 2021 for empirical analysis. In addition, the spatial econometric model is introduced to explore the driving factors affecting the innovation efficiency of cultural industry from the perspective of time and space. The results show that: (1) the overall innovation efficiency of the cultural industry in the Yangtze River economic belt is high, but there is significant spatial heterogeneity. (2) The average Malmquist index of the innovation efficiency of the cultural industry in the Yangtze River economic belt is 1.123, which reflects the continuous improvement of the level of industrial innovation. Environmental factors such as sulfur dioxide emissions in waste gas, investment in industrial pollution control, and per capita GDP have a significant impact on the innovation efficiency of cultural industry in the Yangtze River economic belt. Finally, the paper puts forward policy suggestions to promote the high-quality development of cultural industry from the perspective of technology, policy and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to environmental pollution, energy consumption, climate change and other reasons, the Chinese government proposed the “double carbon” goal to encourage the wide application of green technology. The green technology represented by CiteSpace has brought new ideas to the traditional study of American literature, which is conducive to energy conservation and emission reduction and the sustainable progress of scientific research. With the help of CiteSpace tool, this paper traces the hot spots and frontiers in the field of American literature research. Through the visualization research of knowledge map of green technology, we get valuable conclusions: first, the domestic research of American literature has gradually evolved from scattered stage to mature stage. Famous scholars such as Yukuo Wang, Ruoxi Pu, Li Jin, Jincai Yang and Ying Liu have emerged. And they have made landmark achievements in feminist criticism, historical context, new slave narrative, racial discrimination, spatial turn and so on. Second, the research object is diverse and rich, and the mainstream and tributaries blend. It includes ethnic groups such as Chinese and African Americans. It focuses on writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Faulkner, Melville, Whitman and Hemingway, including “intertextuality”, “tea culture”, “ecocriticism” and “Orientalism”. Third, although the current research on American literature is fruitful, the discrete and multivariate distribution of specific topics is significant. The use of green technology has brought new impetus to the study of traditional literature, greatly improved the efficiency of scientific research and reduced resource consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasingly serious problems of environmental pollution and resource waste, promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of education has become a new trend. Online foreign language education is a new mode of green transformation development relying on digital technology. Based on the new background of green technology, this paper focuses on the evaluation of online foreign language teaching satisfaction and the key influencing factors. The entropy weight method was used to construct the evaluation index of online foreign language teaching satisfaction, the multiple linear regression model and confirmatory factor analysis model were used to systematically analyze the main factors affecting the satisfaction, and the questionnaire was used to investigate the data of online foreign language courses such as American Literature, American Culture, College English, Comprehensive English, and History of Foreign Literature. The results show that: (1) college students have a high degree of satisfaction with online foreign language teaching, and the satisfaction index based on entropy weight method is above level 2. (2) Through the multiple linear regression model, the four dimensions of teaching involvement, teaching communication, teaching skills and teaching effect all have a significant impact on the satisfaction of online foreign language teaching. (3) Based on the confirmatory factor model, online foreign language teaching satisfaction is affected by multiple latent and explicit variables, and the effect direction is generally positive. Finally, the paper puts forward specific strategies to improve the effect of green and low-carbon digital technology on foreign language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new energy industry helps to meet the challenges of energy exhaustion and environmental pollution. Based on the panel data from 2015 to 2021, this paper uses the BCC model and Tobit model to construct the empirical measurement of technology innovation efficiency of listed new energy enterprises with three-stage DEA technology and uses the convergence model to test the efficiency difference. The results show that: (1) Using the traditional BCC model, the technical innovation level of new energy enterprises is insufficient, and the overall comprehensive efficiency and pure technical efficiency are 0.220 and 0.302 respectively, which need to be improved. (2) The three-stage DEA model was used to control environmental factors and statistical errors, and the overall efficiency of technological innovation of new energy enterprises increased. The comprehensive efficiency and scale efficiency increased to 0.541 and 0.896 respectively. (3) The technological innovation efficiency of new energy enterprises presents temporal and spatial heterogeneity. The coefficient of variation of technological innovation efficiency of new energy enterprises ranged from 0.084 to 1.000 with significant differences. The technological innovation efficiency of new energy enterprises in eastern, central and western China shows a U-shaped fluctuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of environmental pollution and energy depletion, online teaching is the key means to reduce the waste of resources and achieve the sustainable goal of education. This paper constructs a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model to scientifically estimate the satisfaction of online teaching mode and introduces a multiple linear regression model and structural equation model respectively to empirically analyze the factors affecting satisfaction. The results show that: (1) Online teaching in colleges and universities has achieved remarkable results, and students' satisfaction is at a good level. According to the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, the comprehensive satisfaction scores for the dimensions of teacher questioning, flipped classroom, platform resources, student learning, and teacher engagement are in the range [80, 90]. (2) Teaching platform resources, student discussion and online skills are the key factors of online teaching satisfaction. According to the results of multiple linear regression analysis, the factors A11, B21, and C21 are significant at the 1% level in terms of significance level, with p-values of 0.008, 0.010, and 0.004, respectively. (3) The influence paths of teaching knowledge, teaching interaction and teaching platform on teaching satisfaction are different. According to the calculation results of structural equation model, teaching knowledge and teaching interaction have a positive impact on teaching satisfaction, and the regression coefficients for both are 0.123 and 0.930, respectively, while the regression coefficient of teaching platform on teaching satisfaction is -0.168, which has a negative impact. Finally, it is necessary for universities to build a three-dimensional element of a "teacher-student platform" to continuously optimize the path of online teaching satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: With the rapid development of new technologies and resources, many avenues exist to adapt and grow as a profession. Embracing change can lead to growth, evolution, and new opportunities. Audiologists have the potential to harness many of these technological advancements to improve patient health care. Adoption and incorporation of these new technologies will likely benefit educational experiences, research methods, clinical practice, and clinical outcomes. Method: This commentary highlights some historical perspectives and accepted practices while illustrating opportunities to embrace new ideas and technologies. We also provide examples of how such adoption may yield positive outcomes. Specifically, we address embracing technology in audiology education, how artificial intelligence may influence patient performance in realistic listening scenarios, the convergence between hearing aids and consumer electronics, and the emergence of audiology telehealth services and their inclusion in clinical practice. Models of change are also discussed and related to audiology. Conclusion: This commentary aims to be a call to action for the entire profession of audiology to consider conscientiously the adoption of useful, evidence-based technological advancements in education, research, and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to cope with the increasingly severe energy crisis and climate and environmental change, energy conservation and environmental protection industry has become an emerging field for the optimization of China‘s economic structure and the development of green circular economy. However, lack of funds restricts the growth of energy conservation and environmental protection industries. Aiming at the financing difficulty of energy conservation and environmental protection industry, this paper introduces supply chain finance theory and game theory to establish accounts receivable game model. In a two-level supply chain composed of the core manufacturer and the supplier with financial constraints, the optimal decision and profit of the supplier, manufacturer, and bank under the condition of three-party compliance are studied, by using the Stackelberg game model. At the same time, the supply chain financing game under complete information condition and incomplete information condition is analyzed theoretically. Finally, through the method of example analysis, it is proved that the supplier’s initial capital, the manufacturer’s order quantity, the bank interest rate, the supplier’s financing pledge rate and so on have a significant impact on the supply chain financing income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to cope with the increasingly severe energy crisis and climate and environmental change, energy conservation and environmental protection industry has become an emerging field for the optimization of China‘s economic structure and the development of green circular economy. However, lack of funds restricts the growth of energy conservation and environmental protection industries. Aiming at the financing difficulty of energy conservation and environmental protection industry, this paper introduces supply chain finance theory and game theory to establish accounts receivable game model. In a two-level supply chain composed of the core manufacturer and the supplier with financial constraints, the optimal decision and profit of the supplier, manufacturer, and bank under the condition of three-party compliance are studied, by using the Stackelberg game model. At the same time, the supply chain financing game under complete information condition and incomplete information condition is analyzed theoretically. Finally, through the method of example analysis, it is proved that the supplier’s initial capital, the manufacturer’s order quantity, the bank interest rate, the supplier’s financing pledge rate and so on have a significant impact on the supply chain financing in [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The summer heat waves (HWs) in Northeast China (NEC) during 1961-2016 can be classified into two types, namely, wave train HWs and blocking HWs based on the hierarchical clustering algorithm by using ERA-Interim daily datasets. Wave train HWs occurred accompanied by eastward-moving wave trains with a "2121" structure formed over Eurasia, while the blocking HWs occurred with blocking circulation anomalies over Eurasia. In general, the blocking HWs could cause the positive temperature anomalies in NEC to last longer than wave train HWs. During the period from 1961 to 2016, the wave train HWs experienced an interdecadal variation from less to more, while the blocking HWs experienced interdecadal variations of less-more-less. Regression analysis and information flow indicate that the interdecadal variation of the wave train HWs is associated with Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), while the interdecadal variation of the blocking HWs is more likely associated with PDO. The positive phase of AMO (negative phase of PDO) could increase the wave train (blocking) HWs by strengthening the zonal wave train similar to the Silk Road pattern (the arched wave train like the polar-Eurasian pattern). The observed results are in agreement with the numerical experiments with the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model, version 5.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf cuticular anatomy of the Beilschmiedia Nees group were studied for taxonomic purposes and species from America, Asia, and Australia were well represented, however species sampling from the Africa mainland was rarely sampled. Here we studied 14 species of Beilschmiedia from the Africa mainland using light and scanning electron microscopy. The leaves of all the studied species are hypostomatic with paracytic stomata. The presence or absence of peristomatal ridges constitutes a distinctive character of taxonomic significance. Stomatal orientation is sunken, superficial or raised; lower stomatal ledges are narrow lipshaped and stomatal rim surface is smooth or rough. The anticlinal wall is uniformly straight and angular on the adaxial surface and curved, sinuous or undulate on the abaxial surface. Uniformity of thickness of the anticlinal walls is variable, beaded or not beaded, rarely buttressed or unevenly thickened. The periclinal wall is usually smooth or rarely punctate. Leaf micromorphological characters partially support the existing infra-generic classification that is based on macromorphology. This study provides supplementary data of leaf micromorphology for classification of the Beilschmiedia group. We confirmed the taxonomic usefulness of leaf epidermis characters to some extent in grouping of the African Beilschmiedia species, especially those of stomata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tinnitus is a sound heard by 15% of the general population in the absence of any external sound. Because external sounds can sometimes mask tinnitus, tinnitus is assumed to affect the perception of external sounds, leading to hypotheses such as "tinnitus filling in the temporal gap" in animal models and "tinnitus inducing hearing difficulty" in human subjects. Here we compared performance in temporal, spectral, intensive, masking and speech-in-noise perception tasks between 45 human listeners with chronic tinnitus (18 females and 27 males with a range of ages and degrees of hearing loss) and 27 young, normal- hearing listeners without tinnitus (11 females and 16 males). After controlling for age, hearing loss, and stimulus variables, we discovered that, contradictory to the widely held assumption, tinnitus does not interfere with the perception of external sounds in 32 of the 36 measures. We interpret the present result to reflect a bottom-up pathway for the external sound and a separate top-down pathway for tinnitus. We propose that these two perceptual pathways can be independently modulated by attention, which leads to the asymmetrical interaction between external and internal sounds, and several other puzzling tinnitus phenomena such as discrepancy in loudness between tinnitus rating and matching. The present results suggest not only a need for new theories involving attention and central noise in animal tinnitus models but also a shift in focus from treating tinnitus to managing its comorbid conditions when addressing complaints about hearing difficulty in individuals with tinnitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract China's ecological civilization construction is committed to promoting ecological construction and regional development from multiple dimensions, and some scholars have proposed that the role of environmental regulation in the Porter hypothesis may be affected by other regulations. Therefore, this study proposes to expand the Porter Hypothesis from a single environmental regulation to multi-dimensional regulations. We propose the interaction mechanism of different dimensional regulations—economic, social, and environmental—of the ecological provinces in China. Through empirical analysis using provincial panel data for 1999–2016 in China, we made the following observations: First, multi-dimensional regulations of China's ecological province construction have a significant positive impact on regional development, which shows that China's comprehensive construction from multiple dimensions is generally successful. Second, environmental regulation is more likely to play a role through the channel of multi-dimensional regulations, which supports that other dimensional regulations have a significant effect in the Porter hypothesis. Third, environmental regulation may increase costs and have potential inhibitory effects on economic development. It may be an effective way to reduce the negative impact of environmental regulation through matching with other reasonable dimensional regulations. In summary, expanding the Porter hypothesis from single environmental regulation to multi-dimensional regulations is applicable and valuable in China's ecological province construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we characterize disk-cyclic and codisk-cyclic weighted pseudo-shifts on Banach sequence spaces, and consider the bilateral operator weighted shifts on ℓ2(Z,K) as a special case. Moreover, we present a counter-example to show that a result in [Y. X. Liang and Z. H. Zhou], Disk-cyclicity and Codisk-cyclicity of certain shift operators, Operators and Matrices, 9(2015), 831-846] is not correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has documented that collaborative dialogue promotes L2 learning in both face-to-face (F2F) and synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) modalities. However, relatively little research has explored modality effects on collaborative dialogue. Thus, motivated by sociocultual theory, this study examines how F2F compares with SCMC regarding the generation of collaborative dialogue specifically in terms of its frequency and nature. Thirty-two Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) students participated in this study and completed two types of collaborative tasks (i.e. dictogloss and jigsaw) in dyads in both modalities. The analyses of learners' exchanges focused on language-related episodes (LREs), the instantiation of collaborative dialogue. The identified LREs were categorized based on their focus, outcome and type. A follow-up questionnaire was conducted to elicit students' perspectives. The results revealed that LREs were more frequent in SCMC than in F2F. Furthermore, the analyses of the nature of LREs indicated some cross-modality differences: whereas SCMC LREs had the features of orthographical, correct and self-correction outcomes, F2F LREs were characterized by incorrect and request for assistance outcomes. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for the future research were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite China's rapid economic growth and embedding into global value chains, not much is known about the primary places where buyers and sellers from China and abroad meet, do business, and circulate information and knowledge: that is, the national/ international trade fairs in the country. Previous reports suggest that the number and size of such events in China is growing and that the trade fair business is in the process of catching up. Under these circumstances, trade fairs may develop into import or export events, where buyers and sellers engage in transactions, or into temporary clusters, where they exchange knowledge for industrial upgrading and innovation. In this context this paper explores the interaction and communication patterns of firms at Chinese trade fairs and investigates whether these events are similar to those in Europe and North America. The analysis involves systematic comparison of the communication and interaction practices at three national/international trade fairs in Shanghai and Chengdu, based on a total of 102 semistructured interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study for the development of trade fair ecologies in two Chinese cities Chengdu and Shanghai. The topics discussed include trade fair ecologies in China, communication patterns of exhibitors at several Chinese trade fairs of the cities, and statistics on the number of exhibitors and visitors by origin and exhibition space at trade fairs of the cities. The other topics discussed include comparison of Chinese trade fairs with that of Europe and North America.

In this paper, we characterize the boundedness and compactness of extended Cesráo operator from Hardy space to Zygmund-type space on the unit ball of Cn [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we characterize nth differentiation composition operators from weighted Banach space of holomorphic function to weighted Bloch space, and give some necessary and sufficient conditions for the boundedness and compactness of the operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This study was to characterize the continuously changing trends of HIV prevalence, risks, sexual behaviors, and testing behaviors among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chongqing, China. Methods. Five consecutive cross-sectional surveys were conducted among MSM in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2013. Testing for HIV and syphilis was performed, and HIV risks, sexual behavior, prevention, and HIV testing behavior were collected using the same questionnaire. Results. HIV prevalence increased from 13.0% to 19.7% from 2006 to 2013 (p = 0.004), with an increase of 1.0% per year. Syphilis prevalence peaked in 2008 with a positive rate of 11.6% and then experienced a sharp drop to 2.8% in 2012 and 2.9% in 2013. Percentage of those who ever received HIV testing in the last year increased from 17.0% to 43.3% (p < 0.001); condom use at the last anal intercourse and reported consistent condom use in the last 6 months increased from 51.8% to 71.0% (p < 0.001) and from 24.7% to 47.9% (p < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions. HIV continued to spread among MSM in Chongqing even when a decline in prevalence of syphilis and increase in awareness rate, condom use, and HIV testing seeking behaviors seemed to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let Bn be the unit ball of Cn and φ = (φ1, . . . , φn) a holomorphic self-map of Bn. Let 0 < p,s < ∞, −n−1 < q < ∞, q s > −1,α > 0, and let Cφ be the composition operator between the space F(p, q, s) and α-Bloch space Bα induced by φ. This paper gives an estimate of the essential norm of Cφ. As a consequence, a necessary and sufficient condition for the composition operator Cφ to be compact from F(p, q, s) to Bα is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because the Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays multiple roles in liver pathobiology, it is critical to identify gene targets that mediate such diverse effects. Here we report a novel role of β-catenin in controlling ascorbic acid biosynthesis in murine liver through regulation of expression of regucalcin or senescence marker protein 30 and L-gulonolactone oxidase. Reverse transcription-PCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry demonstrate decreased regucalcin expression in β-catenin-null livers and greater expression in β-catenin overexpressing transgenic livers, HepG2 hepatoma cells (contain constitutively active β-catenin), regenerating livers, and in hepatocellular cancer tissues that exhibit β-catenin activation. Interestingly, coprecipitation and immunofluorescence studies also demonstrate an association of β-catenin and regucalcin. Luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays verified a functional TCF-4-binding site located between -163 and -157 (CTTTGCA) on the regucalcin promoter to be critical for regulation by β-catenin. Significantly lower serum ascorbate levels were observed in β-catenin knockout mice secondary to decreased expression of regucalcin and also of L-gulonolactone oxidase, the penultimate and last (also rate-limiting) steps in the synthesis of ascorbic acid, respectively. These mice also show enhanced basal hepatocyte apoptosis. To test if ascorbate deficiency secondary to β-catenin loss and regucalcin decrease was contributing to apoptosis, β-catenin-null hepatocytes or regucalcin small interfering RNA-transfected HepG2 cells were cultured, which exhibited significant apoptosis that was alleviated by the addition of ascorbic acid. Thus, through regucalcin and L-gulonolactone oxidase expression, β-catenin regulates vitamin C biosynthesis in murine liver, which in turn maybe one of the mechanisms contributing to the role of β-catenin in cell survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cochlear-implant users perform far below normal-hearing subjects in background noise. Speech recognition with varying numbers of competing female, male, and child talkers was evaluated in normal-hearing subjects, cochlear-implant users, and normal-hearing subjects utilizing an eight-channel sine-carrier cochlear-implant simulation. Target sentences were spoken by a male. Normal-hearing subjects obtained considerably better speech reception thresholds than cochlear-implant subjects; the largest discrepancy was 24 dB with a female masker. Evaluation of one implant subject with normal hearing in the contralateral ear suggested that this difference is not caused by age-related disparities between the subject groups. Normal-hearing subjects showed a significant advantage with fewer competing talkers, obtaining release from masking with up to three talker maskers. Cochlear-implant and simulation subjects showed little such effect, although there was a substantial difference between the implant and simulation results with talker maskers. All three groups benefited from a voice pitch difference between target and masker, with the female talker providing significantly less masking than the male. Child talkers produced more masking than expected, given their fundamental frequency, syllabic rate, and temporal modulation characteristics. Neither a simulation nor testing in steady-state noise predicts the difficulties cochlear-implant users experience in real-life noisy situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear sensory and neural processing mechanisms have been exploited to enhance spectral contrast for improvement of speech understanding in noise. The “companding” algorithm employs both two-tone suppression and adaptive gain mechanisms to achieve spectral enhancement. This study implemented a 50-channel companding strategy and evaluated its efficiency as a front-end noise suppression technique in cochlear implants. The key parameters were identified and evaluated to optimize the companding performance. Both normal-hearing (NH) listeners and cochlear-implant (CI) users performed phoneme and sentence recognition tests in quiet and in steady-state speech-shaped noise. Data from the NH listeners showed that for noise conditions, the implemented strategy improved vowel perception but not consonant and sentence perception. However, the CI users showed significant improvements in both phoneme and sentence perception in noise. Maximum average improvement for vowel recognition was 21.3 percentage points (p<0.05) at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), followed by 17.7 percentage points (p<0.05) at 5 dB SNR for sentence recognition and 12.1 percentage points (p<0.05) at 5 dB SNR for consonant recognition. While the observed results could be attributed to the enhanced spectral contrast, it is likely that the corresponding temporal changes caused by companding also played a significant role and should be addressed by future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Blake S. Wilson and Michael F. Dorman on cochlear implants, and Alon Asher and William A. Segal on optoelectronic retinal prosthesis.

The Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays an important role in embryonic liver development, morphogenesis, and organogenesis. Here, we report on the activation of β-catenin during early postnatal liver growth. Modulation of β-catenin expression was studied in CD-1 mice livers over a time course of 0 to 30 postnatal days (PD) and 3 mo. Increases in total and active β-catenin were observed in developing livers from PD 5 to 20. A concomitant increase in the β-catenin-transcription factor (TCF) complex along with nuclear and cytoplasmic β-catenin was also evident, which coincided with ongoing hepatocyte proliferation by PCNA immunohistochemistry. This activation of β-catenin was multifactorial, including cyclical inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3β, suppression of casein kinase-IIαα, and a transient increase in β-catenin gene expression. Coprecipitation experiments revealed the formation of the β-catenin-cadherin complex at PD 5, whereas adequate β-catenin-c-Met complex at the hepatocyte membrane did not form until PD 20, which might be contributing to the free β-catenin pool during early postnatal growth. Furthermore, β-catenin liver-specific knockout mice exhibited smaller livers at PD 30, secondary to diminished hepatocyte proliferation. These data indicate that the activation of β-catenin is critical for early postnatal liver growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a new surface representation method, called patchwork, to extend three-dimensional surface reconstruction capabilities from multiple images. A patchwork is the combination of several patches that are built one by one. This design potentially allows for the reconstruction of an object with arbitrarily large dimensions while preserving a fine level of detail. We formally demonstrate that this strategy leads to a spatial complexity independent of the dimensions of the reconstructed object and to a time complexity that is linear with respect to the object area. The former property ensures that we never run out of storage and the latter means that reconstructing an object can be done in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, we show that the patchwork representation handles equivalently open and closed surfaces, whereas most of the existing approaches are limited to a specific scenario, an open or closed surface, but not both. The patchwork concept is orthogonal to the method chosen for surface optimization. Most of the existing optimization techniques can be cast into this framework. To illustrate the possibilities offered by this approach, we propose two applications that demonstrate how our method dramatically extends a recent accurate graph technique based on minimal cuts. We first revisit the popular carving techniques. This results in a well-posed reconstruction problem that still enjoys the tractability of voxel space. We also show how we can advantageously combine several image-driven criteria to achieve a finely detailed geometry by surface propagation. These two examples demonstrate the versatility and flexibility of patchwork reconstruction. They underscore other properties inherited from patchwork representation: Although some min-cut methods have difficulty in handling complex shapes (e.g., with complex topologies), they can naturally manipulate any geometry through the patchwork representation while preserving their intrinsic qualities. The above properties of patchwork representation and reconstruction are demonstrated with real image sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cochlear implant (CI) users have enjoyed good speech recognition in quiet, they still have difficulties understanding speech in noise. We conducted three experiments to determine whether a directional microphone and an adaptive multichannel noise reduction algorithm could enhance CI performance in noise and whether Speech Transmission Index (STI) can be used to predict CI performance in various acoustic and signal processing conditions. In Experiment I, CI users listened to speech in noise processed by 4 hearing aid settings: omni-directional microphone, omni-directional microphone plus noise reduction, directional microphone, and directional microphone plus noise reduction. The directional microphone significantly improved speech recognition in noise. Both directional microphone and noise reduction algorithm improved overall preference. In Experiment II, normal hearing individuals listened to the recorded speech produced by 4- or 8-channel CI simulations. The 8-channel simulation yielded similar speech recognition results as in Experiment I, whereas the 4-channel simulation produced no significant difference among the 4 settings. In Experiment III, we examined the relationship between STIs and speech recognition. The results suggested that STI could predict actual and simulated CI speech intelligibility with acoustic degradation and the directional microphone, but not the noise reduction algorithm. Implications for intelligibility enhancement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three experiments were conducted to study relative contributions of speaking rate, temporal envelope, and temporal fine structure to clear speech perception. Experiment I used uniform time scaling to match the speaking rate between clear and conversational speech. Experiment II decreased the speaking rate in conversational speech without processing artifacts by increasing silent gaps between phonetic segments. Experiment III created “auditory chimeras” by mixing the temporal envelope of clear speech with the fine structure of conversational speech, and vice versa. Speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners was measured over a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios to derive speech reception thresholds (SRT). The results showed that processing artifacts in uniform time scaling, particularly time compression, reduced speech intelligibility. Inserting gaps in conversational speech improved the SRT by 1.3 dB, but this improvement might be a result of increased short-term signal-to-noise ratios during level normalization. Data from auditory chimeras indicated that the temporal envelope cue contributed more to the clear speech advantage at high signal-to-noise ratios, whereas the temporal fine structure cue contributed more at low signal-to-noise ratios. Taken together, these results suggest that acoustic cues for the clear speech advantage are multiple and distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in normal development. However, its aberrant activation is associated with several cancers. The aim of this study is to examine the Wnt/B-catenin pathway in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 31). Paraffin sections from tumors (n = 16) and normal pancreata (n = 3) were used to determine the localization of β-catenin. An additional 15 frozen tumors, adjacent normal pancreata (n = 5), or normal pancreata (n = 4) were utilized for protein isolation. Tumors were also examined for mutations in exon 3 of the CTNNB1 gene. More than 65% of the tumors showed an increase in total β-catenin, consistent with its enhanced membranous, cytoplasmic, and nuclear localization, but only two showed mutations in CTNNB1. The majority of the remaining tumors demonstrated concurrent increases in Wnt-1 and frizzled-2 (positive regulators) and a decrease in Ser45/Thr41-phospho-β-catenin. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay demonstrated B-catenin--T-cell factor binding in tumors only. Adenomatous polyposis coli and axin, which are both negative regulators, remained unchanged. Unexpectedly, total glycogen synthase kinase-3β protein was elevated in these tumors. Elevated levels of E-cadherin were also observed, although E-cadherin--β-catenin association in tumors remained unaffected. Thus, Wnt/β-catenin activation was observed in 65% of pancreatic adenocarcinomas, independently of B-catenin gene mutations in most tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Speech perception in participants with auditory neuropathy (AN) was systematically studied to answer the following 2 questions: Does noise present a particular problem for people with AN? Can clear speech and cochlear implants alleviate this problem? Method: The researchers evaluated the advantage in intelligibility of clear speech over conversational speech in 13 participants with AN. Of these participants, 7 had received a cochlear implant. Eight sentence-recognition experiments were conducted to examine the clear speech advantage in 2 listening conditions (quiet and noise) using 4 stimulation modes (monaural acoustic, diotic acoustic, monaural electric, and binaurally combined acoustic and electric stimulation). Results: Participants with AN performed more poorly in speech recognition in noise than did the normal-hearing, cochlear-impaired, and cochlear implant controls. A significant clear speech advantage was observed, ranging from 9 to 23 percentage points in intelligibility for all listening conditions and stimulation modes. Electric stimulation via a cochlear implant produced significantly higher intelligibility than acoustic stimulation in both quiet and in noise. Binaural hearing with either diotic acoustic stimulation or combined acoustic and electric stimulation produced significantly higher intelligibility than monaural stimulation in quiet but not in noise. Conclusions: Participants with AN most likely derive the clear speech advantage from enhanced temporal properties in clear speech and improved neural synchrony with electric stimulation. Although the present result supports cochlear implantation as one treatment choice for people with AN, it suggests that the use of innovative hearing aids may be another viable option to improve speech perception in noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on a multiresonant transducer that may be used to replace a traditional speech processor in cochlear implant applications. The transducer, made from an array of micromachined polymer resonators, is capable of passively splitting sound into its frequency sub-bands without the need for analog-to-digital conversion and subsequent digital processing. Since all bands are mechanically filtered in parallel, there is low latency in the output signals. The simplicity of the device, high channel capability, low power requirements, and small form factor (less than 1 cm) make it a good candidate for a completely implantable bionic ear device. Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a functional architecture, system level design, and electronic evaluation of a unilateral vestibular prosthesis. The sensing unit of the prosthesis is a custom-designed one-axis microelectromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscope. Similar to the natural semicircular canal, the MEMS gyroscope senses angular motion of the head and generates voltages proportional to the corresponding angular acceleration. The voltage is then converted into electric current pulses according to the physiological data relating angular acceleration to the spike count in the vestibular nerve. The current pulses can be delivered to stimulate the corresponding vestibular nerve branch. Electronic properties of the vestibular prosthesis prototype have been systematically evaluated and found to meet the design specifications. A unique feature of the present vestibular implant prototype is the scalability: the sensing unit, pulse generator, and the current source can be potentially implemented on a single chip using integrated MEMS technology. Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptual consequences of disrupted auditory nerve activity were systematically studied in 21 subjects who had been clinically diagnosed with auditory neuropathy (AN), a recently defined disorder characterized by normal outer hair cell function but disrupted auditory nerve function. Neurological and electrophysical evidence suggests that disrupted auditory nerve activity is due to desynchronized or reduced neural activity or both. Psychophysical measures showed that the disrupted neural activity has minimal effects on intensity-related perception, such as loudness discrimination, pitch discrimination at high frequencies, and sound localization using interaural level differences. In contrast, the disrupted neural activity significantly impairs timing related perception, such as pitch discrimination at low frequencies, temporal integration, gap detection, temporal modulation detection, backward and forward masking, signal detection in noise, binaural beats, and sound localization using interaural time differences. These perceptual consequences are the opposite of what is typically observed in cochlear-impaired subjects who have impaired intensity perception but relatively normal temporal processing after taking their impaired intensity perception into account. These differences in perceptual consequences between auditory neuropathy and cochlear damage suggest the use of different neural codes in auditory perception: a suboptimal spike count code for intensity processing, a synchronized spike code for temporal processing, and a duplex code for frequency processing. We also proposed two underlying physiological models based on desynchronized and reduced discharge in the auditory nerve to successfully account for the observed neurological and behavioral data. These methods and measures cannot differentiate between these two AN models, but future studies using electric stimulation of the auditory nerve via a cochlear implant might. These results not only show the unique contribution of neural synchrony to sensory perception but also provide guidance for translational research in terms of better diagnosis and management of human communication disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequency modulation (FM) detection was investigated in acoustic and electric hearing to characterize cochlear-implant subjects' ability to detect dynamic frequency changes and to assess the relative contributions of temporal and spectral cues to frequency processing. Difference limens were measured for frequency upward sweeps, downward sweeps, and sinusoidal FM as a function of standard frequency and modulation rate. In electric hearing, factors including electrode position and stimulation level were also studied. Electric hearing data showed that the difference limen increased monotonically as a function of standard frequency regardless of the modulation type, the modulation rate, the electrode position, and the stimulation level. In contrast, acoustic hearing data showed that the difference limen was nearly a constant as a function of standard frequency. This difference was interpreted to mean that temporal cues are used only at low standard frequencies and at low modulation rates. At higher standard frequencies and modulation rates, the reliance on the place cue is increased, accounting for the better performance in acoustic hearing than for electric hearing with single-electrode stimulation. The present data suggest a speech processing strategy that encodes slow frequency changes using lower stimulation rates than those typically employed by contemporary cochlear-implant speech processors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on utilizing advanced hearing aid technologies as pre-processsors to enhance cochlear implant performance. Technology advances for cochlear implants, on the other hand, have greatly focused on the miniaturization of the speech processor, electrode array mechanics and speech coding strategies. Most of the advanced features available in hearing aids are not widely available in cochlear implants. If they are offered, they are often in a less sophisticated form. For example, among the three cochlear implant manufacturers, only one offers first-order directional microphones

It is important to know what cues the sensory system extracts from natural stimuli and how the brain uses them to form perception. To explore this issue, Smith, Delgutte, and Oxenham [Nature (London) 416, 87-90 (2002)] mixed one sound's temporal envelope with another sound's fine temporal structure to produce auditory chimaeras and found that "the perceptual importance of the envelope increases with the number of frequency bands, while that of the fine structure diminishes." This study addressed two technical issues related to natural cochlear filtering and artificial filter ringing in the chimaerizing algorithm. In addition, this study found that the dichotomy in auditory perception revealed by auditory chimaeras is an epiphenomenon of the classic dichotomy between low- and high-frequency processing. Finally, this study found that the temporal envelope determines sound location as long as the interaural level difference cue is present. The present result reinforces the original hypothesis that the temporal envelope is critical for speech perception whereas temporal fine structure is critical for pitch perception, but does not support the assertion regarding the temporal envelope and fine structure as the acoustic basis for the "what" and "where" mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech recognition performance was measured in normal-hearing and cochlear-implant listeners with maskers consisting of either steady-state speech-spectrum-shaped noise or a competing sentence. Target sentences from a male talker were presented in the presence of one of three competing talkers (same male, different male, or female! or speech-spectrum-shaped noise generated from this talker at several target-to-masker ratios. For the normal-hearing listeners, target-masker combinations were processed through a noise-excited vocoder designed to simulate a cochlear implant. With unprocessed stimuli, a normal-hearing control group maintained high levels of intelligibility down to target-to-masker ratios as low as 0 dB and showed a release from masking, producing better performance with single-talker maskers than with steady-state noise. In contrast, no masking release was observed in either implant or normal-hearing subjects listening through an implant simulation. The performance of the simulation and implant groups did not improve when the single-talker masker was a different talker compared to the same talker as the target speech, as was found in the normal-hearing control. These results are interpreted as evidence for a significant role of informational masking and modulation interference in cochlear implant speech recognition with fluctuating maskers. This informational masking may originate from increased target-masker similarity when spectral resolution is reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on CD4[sup +] T cell recognition of MHC class II-restricted epitopes from NY-ESO-1 presented by a prevalent HLA DP4 allele. Generation of CD4[sup +] T cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells after in vitro stimulation with synthetic peptides; Recognition of a naturally processed NY-ESO-1 epitope on tumor cells by TE4-2.

This article focuses on Mandarin tone recognition in acoustic and electric hearing. Mandarin tone recognition can be achieved using either spectral cues or temporal cues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative contribution of envelope and fine-structure cues in normal hearing and cochlear-implanted listeners to Mandarin tone recognition in quiet and in noise. One native Mandarin-speaking cochlear-implanted and four normal-hearing listeners participated in the experiment. The cochlear-implanted listener had substantial low-frequency residual hearing in the non-implanted ear.

As the only medical device used in the treatment for deafness, the cochlear implant has benefited to more than half a million individuals worldwide. However, the device has limited penetration due to its high cost, especially in low- and middle-income countries. China alone has 27.8 million deaf people, but less than 100,000 of them have received a cochlear implant. The Nurotron Venus device was developed to address the need for an affordable yet safe and effective cochlear implant. The present study describes the design, development, and evaluation of the Nurotron intracochlear electrode array. The standard array is 22 mm in length from the round window marker to the apical tip of the carrier and has 24 electrodes, with a surface area of 0.32 mm² and center-to-center spacing of 0.85 mm. The Nurotron array has been tested to meet the mechanical, chemical, and electrical requirements specified by the ISO Standard 14708-07. Human temporal bone and clinical trial results showed that the Nurotron array is easy to insert (7.8/10 rating with 10 indicating the highest ease of use) and has a low complication rate (12.5%) of severe insertion trauma while achieving high device stability and reliability (6 array failures in 43,000 patient years of experience). As a critical component, the Nurotron array has contributed to the high level of Nurotron implant speech performance, equivalent to that produced by other existing devices. The Nurotron device has benefited 10,000 deaf people and helped reduce the unit cost from US$25,000 in 2011 to US$4,620 in 2017 through the Chinese Government Tender Program. New, slim, and micromachined electrodes are being developed to further improve performance and accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong cold air outbreak tracking has been a key meteorological focal point over the years. With observational data and gridded datasets, we used the “three-dimensional wind speed trajectory inverse method” to trace cold air intrusion tracks that occurred during the winter half-years for the central and eastern parts of Inner Mongolia in 1970–2013. The results indicated that there were a total of 303 northwest and 32 westward tracks intruding from along the north end and southern side of the Altai Mountains, respectively, 118 northward tracks intruding from the two individual sides of the Yablonoi Mountains, and 16 occurrences of “other” tracks. The imminent circulation evolution pattern prior to outbreaks essentially causes three categories of cold air masses to undergo dramatic temperature increases, thereby reducing the impacts of source regional differences on the subject air masses. The measure of the annual frequency reduction in northwest tracks was determined to be 0.41 incidents every ten years, while other tracks’ annual frequencies increased, which essentially implies the probable increase of extreme cold in northeast and central China and an increase in the frequency of continuous cold weather exceeding a three-day span in southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The isothermal oxidation behaviors for the as-deposited and heat-treated Ni–11.5Cr–4.5Co–0.5Al sheet by EB-PVD were investigated. The annealed of sheet was carried out at 800°C for 16h in 5×10−3 Pa. The oxidation exposures were conducted on electrical resistance furnace in 1atm of laboratory air at 800°C up to 120h. The mass gain during subsequent oxidation was measured using a microbalance with a resolution of 10−5 g. Surfaces and cross-sections of the oxidized specimens were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Phase identification of the oxide scale was performed by glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) and Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-rays (EDAX). The results show the heat-treated sheet with identical composition exhibited much more stable oxidation behavior than the as-deposited sheet. At 800°C after 96h isothermal exposure, the oxide scales of as-deposited sheet consisted mainly of an external NiO layer, a middle NiO and NiCr2O4 mixed layer and internal rich-Cr2O3 contained cobalt oxide layer. But those of heat-treated sheet exhibits NiO and Cr2O3 mixed layer with <1μm thickness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The wnt/beta-catenin pathway plays an important role in liver biology. Because of its diverse roles in liver, it is critical to identify novel targets, which might dictate such roles. Using ?-catenin conditional knockout mice (KO), we identified regucalcin as a novel target of this pathway. Regucalcin is a Ca2+ binding protein, which regulates Ca2+ transport from cytoplasm to nucleus in regenerating liver. mRNA expression of regucalcin was downregulated over 35-fold in KO as compared to wild-type controls (WT), which was confirmed by RT-PCR. An analysis of regucalcin protein expression by Western blotting showed the presence of regucalcin in WT at 1, 3 & 6 months, whereas it was decreased by 1 month and absent after 3 months in KO. Immunohistochemistry confirmed normal expression of regucalcin protein in nucleus and cytosol of WT hepatocytes, which was markedly diminished in KO. Also, beta-catenin overexpressing mice showed elevated levels of regucalcin as compared to the WT. An analysis of the promoter region of mouse regucalcin gene revealed at least 3 putative Tcf-binding sites. Finally, regucalcin protein expression mirrors that of beta-catenin nuclear translocation following 2/3 partial hepatectomy in the mouse. Also, higher regucalcin levels were observed in HepG2 (active-beta-catenin) as compared to Hep3B (normal beta-catenin) hepatoma cells, suggesting a possible link between beta-catenin and regucalcin in beta-catenin-active HCCs. In conclusion, regucalcin is regulated by beta-catenin in the liver, and may play a role in liver regeneration and tumorigenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overdose of acetaminophen (APAP) is the leading cause of acute liver failure (ALF). Understanding the mechanisms of liver regeneration following APAP-induced liver injury are of high therapeutic relevance. To investigate the role of Wnt/β-catenin, an important pathway in liver biology, in liver regeneration after APAP-induced ALF, male CD-1 mice were treated with a non-lethal dose of APAP (500 mg/kg), which induced extensive liver injury and subsequent regeneration. Rapid induction in the total and active β-catenin was evident at 1-3 hr after APAP treatment, along with its nuclear translocation at 6 hr. Further studies revealed that both canonical (GSK-3βdependent) and non-canonical (c-met-dependent) pathways were involved in β-catenin activation. Administration of a lethal dose of APAP (700 mg/kg) known to inhibit liver regeneration completely suppressed β-catenin activation. Further, β-catenin conditional knockout mice, which have low CYP2E1 expression, exhibited increased APAP-mediated injury and decreased cell proliferation following CYP2E1 induction. Furthermore, suppression of β-catenin activation was observed in human APAP-induced ALF liver samples along with suppression of liver regeneration. Taken together, these data indicate that β-catenin activation plays an important role in stimulation of liver regeneration following APAP overdose and might have therapeutic and prognostic implications in APAP ALF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

β-Catenin is a potent oncogene known to be involved in a variety of cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of siRNA-mediated β-catenin knockdown on the growth of human hepatoma cell lines with (HepG2) or without (Hep3B) β-catenin mutation (activation). Transfection of HepG2 and Hep3B cells with human β-catenin (CTNNB1) siRNA resulted in a significant decrease in β-catenin protein in Hep3B cells by 40% (24hr) & 75% (72hr), and in HepG2 cells by 20% (24hr) & 60% (72hr) along with concomitant decreases in its target genes such as cyclin-D1 and Glutamine synthetase. Cell viability by MTT assay & DNA synthesis by 3H-thymidine incorporation both decreased within 24hr (40% & 20% in HepG2 and Hep3B, respectively), which further decreased at 72hr (75% & 60% in HepG2 and Hep3B, respectively). Finally, β-catenin knockdown resulted in its decreased activation shown by the TOPFLASH-reporter assay. These data indicate that β-catenin is essential for survival and growth of hepatoma cell lines independent of β-catenin mutation and provide a proof-of-principle that β-catenin knockdown would be a valid and effective therapy against HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles published in the March 2006 issue of "Audiology and Neurotology."

• This is the first report of the co-administration of CoronaVac with IIV4 in adults aged 18–59 years. • The occurrence of adverse reactions (AR) in all groups was no more than 20% and 98.9% of the ARs were mild or moderate. • Both concomitant or separate administration of CoronaVac and IIV4 could induce sufficient immunogenicity. • A slight interference with the immune response to CoronaVac was observed in participants in C2 subgroup. • At least two doses of CoronaVac are needed to fulfill the primary immunization of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. Studies are needed for evidence of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine co-administered with influenza vaccine. A randomized, open-label, controlled study was conducted in Zhejiang Province, China. Eligible healthy adults aged 18–59 years underwent randomization at a ratio of 1:1:2 to receive inactivated quadrivalent influenza vaccine (IIV4) either concomitantly with the first (C1 subgroup) or the second (C2 subgroup) dose of CoronaVac, or 14 days after the first dose of CoronaVac (S group). The primary purpose of the study was to prove the non-inferiority in seroconversion rate of antibody against SARS-CoV-2. Overall, 480 participants were enrolled, with 120, 120, and 240 randomly assigned to the C1, C2, and S groups, respectively. As lower bound of the two-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) of the difference for the seroconversion rate of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was over −10%, the immune response for CoronaVac in the C group (93.1% [89.0, 96.0]) was non-inferior to that in the S group (95.2% [91.5, 97.6]) in the per-protocol set. A lower GMT of antibody against SARS-CoV-2 was observed in the C group as compared to the S group (27.5 vs. 38.1, P = 0.0001). Decrease of immune response to CoronaVac was mainly observed in participants received IIV4 concomitantly with their second dose of CoronaVac (C2 subgroup), with a seroconversion rate of 89.7% (95CI: 82.6%-94.5%) and a GMT of 23.3. The occurrences of vaccine related adverse reactions were no more than 20% and comparable among different groups. Most of the adverse reactions were mild and moderate. Co-administration of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine and seasonal influenza vaccine, especially the administration regimen that the seasonal influenza vaccine co-administered with the first dose of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, would be feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term loudness perception of a sound has been presumed to depend on the spatial distribution of activated auditory nerve fibers as well as their temporal firing pattern. The relative contributions of those two factors were investigated by measuring loudness adaptation to sinusoidally amplitude-modulated 12-kHz tones. The tones had a total duration of 180 s and were either unmodulated or 100%-modulated at one of three frequencies (4, 20, or 100 Hz), and additionally varied in modulation depth from 0% to 100% at the 4-Hz frequency only. Every 30 s, normal-hearing subjects estimated the loudness of one of the stimuli played at 15 dB above threshold in random order. Without any amplitude modulation, the loudness of the unmodulated tone after 180 s was only 20% of the loudness at the onset of the stimulus. Amplitude modulation systematically reduced the amount of loudness adaptation, with the 100%-modulated stimuli, regardless of modulation frequency, maintaining on average 55%-80% of the loudness at onset after 180 s. Because the present low-frequency amplitude modulation produced minimal changes in long-term spectral cues affecting the spatial distribution of excitation produced by a 12-kHz pure tone, the present result indicates that neural synchronization is critical to maintaining loudness perception over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-firm linkages have been commonly applied to measure urban relations. However, this is believed to be less suited to the study of today's project-based and people-centred production network of creative sectors. This paper aims to re-delineate creative city networks by highlighting the role of social relations in representing the inter-city links in cultural production. Using a large number of interpersonal connections extracted from a virtual community of designers in China (Zcool), we demonstrate the architectural features of this specialised urban network and probe for explanatory factors with regard to its centrality and connectivity. Our findings suggest that the structure of urban networks in design communities in China is polycentric, with a few large cities dominating the network. The centrality of cities is highly dependent on their economic and political power but does not necessarily follow the existing urban hierarchy. The presence of super celebrities plays a more important role than the size of the population. Moreover, it is the real-world communications arising from transport connectivity, cultural homogeneity, and economic closeness rather than geographical proximity that determines the strength of inter-city connectivity in virtual communities of designers. The paper contributes to current scholarship about urban networks in cultural production by adding a 'socialised' account in the conceptualisation of creative city networks and a better understanding of the formation mechanism of such networks. • Creative city networks are re-conceptualized with a socialised account • The structure of urban networks in design communities of China is different from the existing urban hierarchy • The centrality of cities in virtual communities of designers is dependent on their economic and political power • The connectivity of creative cities is determined by social interactions rather than geographical proximity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]