Examining the online reading behavior and performance of fifth-graders: evidence from eye-movement data

Online reading is developing at an increasingly rapid rate, but the debate concerning whether learning is more effective when using hypertexts than when using traditional linear texts is still persistent. In addition, several researchers stated that online reading comprehension always starts with a question, but little empirical evidence has been gathered to investigate this claim. This study used eye-tracking technology and retrospective think aloud technique to examine online reading behaviors of fifth-graders (N = 50). The participants were asked to read four texts on the website. The present study employed a three-way mixed design: 2 (reading ability: high vs. low) 2 (reading goals: with vs. without) 2 (text types: hypertext vs. linear text). The dependent variables were eye-movement indices and the frequencies of using online reading strategy. The results show that fifth-graders, irrespective of their reading ability, found it difficult to navigate the nonlinear structure of hypertexts when searching for and integrating information. When they read with goals, they adjusted their reading speed and the focus of their attention. Their offline reading ability also influenced their online reading performance. These results suggest that online reading skills and strategies have to be taught in order to enhance the online reading abilities of elementary-school students

An Integrated Bus and Taxi Routes for a Mobile Trip Planning System

With the popular usage of Google Maps and smart phones, more and more people are using smart phones to surf and inquire about travel information. As a result, every major city plans to push the existing online public transportation trip planning system beyond traditional computer users to mobile phone users. The trip planning system is based on the starting and ending points that a user inputs, and guides the user to take a bus or metro through an electronic map interface. The system usually provides different kind of alternative travel routes with the estimated time of arrival. However, people who use the public transport system may encounter some uncertainties, such as long waiting times, long routes, long walking distances, etc. In each big city, the taxi is a universal transport vehicle which is available at almost anytime, anywhere. Taxis can save passengers’ walking distance and travel time with a deficit of high cost. Therefore, we design a trip planning system to unify the Taipei public transportation system with taxis. The users can inquire of a travel route through the mobile phones. This system uses Google Maps as a base map. The users assign an upper limit of fare which they are willing to pay. The system will balance between travel time and travel cost to obtain a route which may combine usage of the bus and taxi. Because of the high density of bus stations in Taipei city, the route search may consume a lot of system resources. We propose an improvement method to eliminate some intermediate bus stations in route search processing

Chaos of Wolbachia Sequences Inside the Compact Fig Syconia of Ficus benjamina (Ficus: Moraceae)

Figs and fig wasps form a peculiar closed community in which the Ficus tree provides a compact syconium (inflorescence) habitat for the lives of a complex assemblage of Chalcidoid insects. These diverse fig wasp species have intimate ecological relationships within the closed world of the fig syconia. Previous surveys of Wolbachia, maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria that infect vast numbers of arthropod hosts, showed that fig wasps have some of the highest known incidences of Wolbachia amongst all insects. We ask whether the evolutionary patterns of Wolbachia sequences in this closed syconium community are different from those in the outside world. In the present study, we sampled all 17 fig wasp species living on Ficus benjamina, covering 4 families, 6 subfamilies, and 8 genera of wasps. We made a thorough survey of Wolbachia infection patterns and studied evolutionary patterns in wsp (Wolbachia Surface Protein) sequences. We find evidence for high infection incidences, frequent recombination between Wolbachia strains, and considerable horizontal transfer, suggesting rapid evolution of Wolbachia sequences within the syconium community. Though the fig wasps have relatively limited contact with outside world, Wolbachia may be introduced to the syconium community via horizontal transmission by fig wasps species that have winged males and visit the syconia earlier

Extending the Pre-Training of BLOOM for Improved Support of Traditional Chinese: Models, Methods and Results

In this paper we present the multilingual language model BLOOM-zh that features enhanced support for Traditional Chinese. BLOOM-zh has its origins in the open-source BLOOM models presented by BigScience in 2022. Starting from released models, we extended the pre-training of BLOOM by additional 7.4 billion tokens in Traditional Chinese and English covering a variety of domains such as news articles, books, encyclopedias, educational materials as well as spoken language. In order to show the properties of BLOOM-zh, both existing and newly created benchmark scenarios are used for evaluating the performance. BLOOM-zh outperforms its predecessor on most Traditional Chinese benchmarks while maintaining its English capability. We release all our models to the research community

Efficacy and Safety of a Chinese Herbal Medicine Formula (RCM-104) in the Management of Simple Obesity: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Objective. This study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a Chinese herbal medicine formula (RCM-104) for the management of simple obesity. Method. Obese subjects aged between 18 and 60 years were selected for 12-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Subjects were randomly assigned to take 4 capsules of either the RCM-104 formula (n = 59) or placebo (n = 58), 3 times daily for 12 weeks. Measures of BW, BMI and WC, HC, WHR and BF composition were assessed at baseline and once every four weeks during the 12 week treatment period. Results. Of the 117 subjects randomised, 92 were included in the ITT analysis. The weight, BMI and BF in RCM-104 group were reduced by 1.5 kg, 0.6 kg/m2 and 0.9% and those in the placebo group were increased by 0.5 kg, 0.2 kg/m2 and 0.1% respectively. There were significant differences in BW and BMI (P < 0.05) between the two groups. Eleven items of the WLQOQ were significantly improved in the RCM-104 group while only 2 items were significantly improved in the placebo group. Adverse events were minor in both groups. Conclusion. RCM-104 treatment appears to be well tolerated and beneficial in reducing BW and BMI in obese subjects

Growth and Characteristics of High-quality InN by Plasma- Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The high-quality InN epifilms and InN microdisks have been grown with InGaN buffer layers at low temperatures by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The samples were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence. The characteristics of the InN epifilms and InN microdisks were studied, and the role of InGaN buffer was evaluated

miRTarBase update 2014: an information resource for experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules capable of negatively regulating gene expression to control many cellular mechanisms. The miRTarBase database (http://mirtarbase.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/) provides the most current and comprehensive information of experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions. The database was launched in 2010 with data sources for >100 published studies in the identification of miRNA targets, molecular networks of miRNA targets and systems biology, and the current release (2013, version 4) includes significant expansions and enhancements over the initial release (2010, version 1). This article reports the current status of and recent improvements to the database, including (i) a 14-fold increase to miRNA-target interaction entries, (ii) a miRNA-target network, (iii) expression profile of miRNA and its target gene, (iv) miRNA target-associated diseases and (v) additional utilities including an upgrade reminder and an error reporting/user feedback system