The Efficacy of a One-to-one Technology Initiative in Improving the Four Cs

The Ozarks Educational Research Initiative, a consortium of 19 Southwest Missouri public school districts, partnered with Missouri State University’s Institute for School Improvement from 2011 – 2015 to investigate effective practices for utilizing one-to-one digital technologies in the classroom. The focus of this descriptive study was to determine whether a one-to-one technology initiative would result in improving any of the “four Cs” (communication, collaboration, creativity, or critical thinking) of the Framework for 21st Century Learning. Of the teachers surveyed who have one-to-one classrooms, three-quarters of them (77.5%) believe there were improvements in the four Cs as a result of the introduction of one-to-one technology (laptops, tablets, or iPads) into their classrooms

Efficacy of Interaction among College Students in a Web-Based Environment

In order to investigate the efficacy of interaction among college students in a Web-based learning environment, three interactive tools (discussion board, e-mail, and online chat) were evaluated regarding the level of interaction and tool preference among a diverse group of college students in terms of age, gender, and online learning experience. A survey instrument was developed and used to assess and encourage interactive qualities in distance courses. A four-factor split-plot ANOVA was applied to analyze the data. The survey’s questions were repeated across each of the three tools in order to determine interaction efficacy levels in a Web-based environment. Discussion board, e-mail, and online chat each had statistically significant interactions with one another across four different factors: Instructional Design, Instructor Engagement, Learner Engagement, and Tool Preference. E-mail was the most preferred method of interaction, particularly among younger students. Implications for practice and research are discussed

A Pre- and Post- MCCG 2012 Evaluation on the Impacts of Corporate Governance and Intellectual Capital with Firm Performance

This paper aims to examine and compare the impact of corporate governance (CG) and intellectual capital (IC) on firm performance (FP) between pre- Malaysia Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) 2012 and post- MCCG 2012 of GLCs. Panel data analysis was used. The data were collected from the annual report of the 32 GLCs from 2005 to 2012 (pre- MCCG 2012) and from 2013 to 2020 (post- MCCG 2012). There was a total of 512 firm-year observations. The CG of post- MCCG 2012 has a greater impact on earnings per share (EPS) compared to pre- MCCG 2012. The IC of pre- MCCG 2012 has a greater impact on return on equity (ROE), Tobin’s Q and EPS. Keywords: Corporate Governance; Intellectual Capital; MCCG 2012; Government-Linked Companies eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7iSI8.390

You’ve Got Mail: Student Preferences of Instructor Communication in Online Courses in an Age of Advancing Technologies

The purpose of this study was to determine students\u27 current preferred ways to receive course communication from their online instructors. In a time when technology is changing daily, and a time when young people are often the most up-to-date with that new technology, students’ preferences for how they receive online course communication is apt to change often too. In order to determine students’ current preferences, a survey was administered two semesters to both graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in an at least online course at a university in the Midwest. Survey results indicated that 97% of the students preferred to receive communication from their online instructors through email, and secondly, through course announcements posted in the learning management system. These findings provide valuable information for instructors who teach online courses to help them determine the most effective strategies for communicating with their students

Histone deacetylase 3 binds to and regulates the GCMa transcription factor

Human GCMa transcription factor regulates expression of syncytin, a placental fusogenic protein mediating trophoblastic fusion. Recently, we have demonstrated that CBP-mediated GCMa acetylation underlies the activated cAMP/PKA signaling pathway that stimulates trophoblastic fusion. Because protein acetylation is a reversible modification governed by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylase (HDACs), in this study we investigated the key HDACs responsible for deacetylation of GCMa and thus the reduction in GCMa activity to avoid unwanted fusion events that may have adverse effects on placental morphogenesis. We herein demonstrate that the HDAC inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA), increases the level of acetylated GCMa and that HDAC1, 3, 4 and 5 interact with and deacetylate GCMa. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down assays further verified direct interaction between GCMa and HDAC3 or CBP and HDAC3. HDAC3 counteracts the transcriptional coactivator activity of CBP and the enhancement effect of CBP on GCMa-mediated transcriptional activation. Correlatively, we found in placental cells that HDAC3 associates with the proximal GCMa-binding site (pGBS) in the syncytin promoter and dissociates from pGBS in the presence of forskolin, which stimulates the association of CBP and GCMa with pGBS. Our studies support that trophoblastic fusion in placental morphogenesis depends on the regulation of GCMa activity by HAT and HDAC

A novel self-aligned fabrication process for nickel-indiffused lithium niobate ridge optical waveguides

[[abstract]]A novel self-aligned fabrication process for Ni : LiNbO3 ridge waveguides has been proposed. By using the self-aligned trilayered structure composed of Ni/Ti/Si, the fabrication process is significantly simplified, and takes advantage of suppression of the unwanted planar waveguides and high-coupling efficiency to a single-mode fiber as compared to the conventional processes. Detailed investigations into the characteristics of the ridge waveguides have also proved to be informative under different fabrication parameters. Moreover, the novel self-aligned fabrication process was applied to fabricate a ridge waveguide Mach-Zehnder modulator. The measured half-wave voltage and extinction ratio were 20.5 V and 12 dB (@ 1.3 \mum), and were 4.2 V and 8 dB (@0.6328gm).[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子

Effect of different a-InGaZnO TFTs channel thickness upon self-heating stress

In this work, Indium-Galium-Zinc-Oxide Thin Film Transistors (IGZO TFTs) with different channel thickness has been compared after self-heating stress (SHS). In previous literatures, self-heating of TFTs has been widely discussed and Joule Heat caused during driving TFTs has been compared with different channel length and width [1]. However, different channel thickness hasn’t been investigated. Although TFTs with a larger channel thickness possess a greater drain current, a less degradation is observed when comparing with small channel thickness structures, demonstrated in Figure 1(a). The ΔVt shift in the transfer characteristics are well described by the stretched-exponential equation. The Eτ value, which is the average effective barrier height for electron transport, is extracted in Figure (b). Results has shown that in the thick IGZO TFTs, the value is almost twice of that in the thin IGZO TFTs. From COMSOL simulations demonstrated in Figure 1(c), in could be noticed that different channel thickness effects the electrical field locating at the gate insulator. Therefore, a model is proposed to explain the degradation difference, illustrated in Figure (4). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

LLM4TS: Two-Stage Fine-Tuning for Time-Series Forecasting with Pre-Trained LLMs

In this work, we leverage pre-trained Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance time-series forecasting. Mirroring the growing interest in unifying models for Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision, we envision creating an analogous model for long-term time-series forecasting. Due to limited large-scale time-series data for building robust foundation models, our approach LLM4TS focuses on leveraging the strengths of pre-trained LLMs. By combining time-series patching with temporal encoding, we have enhanced the capability of LLMs to handle time-series data effectively. Inspired by the supervised fine-tuning in chatbot domains, we prioritize a two-stage fine-tuning process: first conducting supervised fine-tuning to orient the LLM towards time-series data, followed by task-specific downstream fine-tuning. Furthermore, to unlock the flexibility of pre-trained LLMs without extensive parameter adjustments, we adopt several Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning (PEFT) techniques. Drawing on these innovations, LLM4TS has yielded state-of-the-art results in long-term forecasting. Our model has also shown exceptional capabilities as both a robust representation learner and an effective few-shot learner, thanks to the knowledge transferred from the pre-trained LLM