Effects of English Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards in the Elementary English Classrooms

The purpose of the study was to probe the effectiveness of English language teaching through Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs). Three specific factors were probed: (a) the results from immediate test and retention test; (b) students’ perceptions related to the utilization of IWBs; (c) the advantages and disadvantages of the technology-supported instruction. Forty-three students from Grade 3 students in Sahes Elementary School in Taiwan were engaged in either technology-supported group or none technology-supported group. The results revealed that the experimental group through technology-supported instruction significantly outperformed the control group on students’ immediate test and retention test. Moreover, students’ perceptions related to the IWBs indicated that most of them enjoying learning English in the technology-supported classrooms. Finally, the results also showed the advantages and disadvantages through the IWBs instructions. The study revealed that teaching through technology was an effective way to help students in English learning

Is deck C an advantageous deck in the Iowa Gambling Task?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dunn <it>et al.</it> performed a critical review identifying some problems in the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH). Most of the arguments presented by Dunn focused on the insufficiencies for replication of skin conductance responses and somatic brain loops, but the study did not carefully reassess the core-task of SMH. In a related study, Lin and Chiu et al. identified a serious problem, namely the "prominent deck B phenomenon" in the original IGT. Building on this observation, Lin and Chiu also posited that deck C rather than deck A was preferred by normal decision makers due to good gain-loss frequency rather than good final-outcome. To verify this hypothesis, a modified IGT was designed that possessed high contrast of gain-loss value in each trial, with the aim of achieving a balance between decks A and C in terms of gain-loss frequency. Based on the basic assumption of IGT, participants should prefer deck C to deck A based on consideration of final-outcome. In contrast, based on the prediction of gain-loss frequency, participants should have roughly equal preferences for decks A and C.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This investigation recruited 48 college students (24 males and 24 females) as participants. Two-stage IGT with high-contrast gain-loss value was launched to examine the deck C argument. Each participant completed the modified IGT twice and immediately afterwards was administered a questionnaire to assess their consciousness and final preferences following the game.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The experimental results supported the predictions regarding gain-loss frequency participants choose the deck C with nearly identical frequency to deck A, despite deck C having a better final outcome than deck A. The "sunken deck C" phenomenon is clearly identified in this version of IGT which achieves a balance in gain-loss frequency. Moreover, the "sunken deck C" phenomenon not only appears during the first stage, but also during the second stage of IGT. In addition, questionnaires indicated that normal decision makers disliked deck C at the consciousness (explicit) levels.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the modified version of IGT, deck C was no longer preferred by normal decision makers, despite having a better long-term outcome than deck A. This study identified two problems in the original IGT. First, the gain-loss frequency between decks A and C is pseudo-balanced. Second, the covered phenomenon leads to most IGT related studies misinterpreting the effect of gain-loss frequency in situations involving long-term outcomes, and even leads to overstatement of the foresight of normal decision makers.</p

A method for computing Lucas sequences

AbstractMost of public-key cryptosystems rely on one-way functions, which can be used to encrypt and sign messages. Their encryption and signature operations are based on the computation of exponentiation. Recently, some public-key cryptosystems are proposed and based on Lucas functions, and the Lucas sequences are performed as S = V(d)modN. In this paper, we will transform the concept of addition chains for computing the exponentiation evaluations to the Lucas chains for computing the Lucas sequences. Theoretically, the shorter Lucas chain for d is generated, the less computation time for evaluating the value V(d) is required. Therefore, we proposed a heuristic algorithm for evaluating a shorter Lucas chain and then use it to compute the Lucas sequence with less modular multiplications

CR3 and Dectin-1 Collaborate in Macrophage Cytokine Response through Association on Lipid Rafts and Activation of Syk-JNK-AP-1 Pathway

Copyright: © 2015 Huang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited Acknowledgments We are grateful to the Second Core Laboratory of Research Core Facility at the National Taiwan University Hospital for confocal microscopy service and providing ultracentrifuge. We thank Dr. William E. Goldman (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC) for kindly providing WT and ags1-null mutant of H. capsulatum G186A. Funding: This work is supported by research grants 101-2320-B-002-030-MY3 from the Ministry of Science and Technology (http://www.most.gov.tw) and AS-101-TP-B06-3 from Academia Sinica (http://www.sinica.edu.tw) to BAWH. GDB is funded by research grant 102705 from Welcome Trust (http://www.wellcome.ac.uk). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

CSR committee and firm value during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper investigates whether the presence of CSR committees has a mitigating effect on firm value (measured by Tobin's Q) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing UK listed firm data, we find that although the pandemic results in lower firm value, the presence of CSR committees helps to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on firm value. The results suggest that the formation of CSR committees is not a symbolic impression management tool but an effective sustainability governance mechanism during the crisis. Our results should be helpful for regulators and companies in making decisions related to CSR committees

Is deck B a disadvantageous deck in the Iowa Gambling Task?

BACKGROUND: The Iowa gambling task is a popular test for examining monetary decision behavior under uncertainty. According to Dunn et al. review article, the difficult-to-explain phenomenon of "prominent deck B" was revealed, namely that normal decision makers prefer bad final-outcome deck B to good final-outcome decks C or D. This phenomenon was demonstrated especially clearly by Wilder et al. and Toplak et al. The "prominent deck B" phenomenon is inconsistent with the basic assumption in the IGT; however, most IGT-related studies utilized the "summation" of bad decks A and B when presenting their data, thereby avoiding the problems associated with deck B. METHODS: To verify the "prominent deck B" phenomenon, this study launched a two-stage simple version IGT, namely, an AACC and BBDD version, which possesses a balanced gain-loss structure between advantageous and disadvantageous decks and facilitates monitoring of participant preferences after the first 100 trials. RESULTS: The experimental results suggested that the "prominent deck B" phenomenon exists in the IGT. Moreover, participants cannot suppress their preference for deck B under the uncertain condition, even during the second stage of the game. Although this result is incongruent with the basic assumption in IGT, an increasing number of studies are finding similar results. The results of the AACC and BBDD versions can be congruent with the decision literatures in terms of gain-loss frequency. CONCLUSION: Based on the experimental findings, participants can apply the "gain-stay, loss-shift" strategy to overcome situations involving uncertainty. This investigation found that the largest loss in the IGT did not inspire decision makers to avoid choosing bad deck B

Maintaining the structural integrity of thebamboo mosaic virus 3′ untranslated region isnecessary for retaining the catalytic constant forminus-strand RNA synthesis

Background: Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) and the Potato virus X (PVX) are members of the genus Potexvirus andhave a single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome. The 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of the BaMV RNA genomewas mapped structurally into ABC (a cloverleaf-like), D (a stem-loop), and E (pseudoknot) domains. The BaMVreplicase complex that was isolated from the infected plants was able to recognize the 3′ UTR of PVX RNA toinitiate minus-strand RNA synthesis in vitro.Results: To investigate whether the 3′ UTR of PVX RNA is also compatible with BaMV replicase in vivo, weconstructed chimera mutants using a BaMV backbone containing the PVX 3′ UTR, which was inserted in or used toreplace the various domains in the 3′ UTR of BaMV. None of the mutants, except for the mutant with the PVX3′ UTR inserted upstream of the BaMV 3′ UTR, exhibited a detectable accumulation of viral RNA in Nicotianabenthamiana plants. The in vitro BaMV RdRp replication assay demonstrated that the RNA products were generatedby the short RNA transcripts, which were derived from the chimera mutants to various extents. Furthermore, theVmax/KM of the BaMV 3′ UTR (rABCDE) was approximately three fold higher than rABCP, rP, and rDE in minus-strandRNA synthesis. These mutants failed to accumulate viral products in protoplasts and plants, but were adequatelyreplicated in vitro.Conclusions: Among the various studied BaMV/PVX chimera mutants, the BaMV-S/PABCDE that containednon-interrupted BaMV 3′ UTR was the only mutant that exhibited a wild-type level of viral product accumulation inprotoplasts and plants. These results indicate that the continuity of the domains in the 3′ UTR of BaMV RNA wasnot interrupted and the domains were not replaced with the 3′ UTR of PVX RNA in vivo

Maternal autoimmune disease and risk of offspring autism spectrum disorder – a nationwide population-based cohort study

IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which cause long term social and behavior impairment, and its prevalence is on the rise. Studies about the association between maternal autoimmune diseases and offspring ASD have controversial results. The aim of this study was to investigate whether maternal autoimmune diseases increase the risk of ASD in offspring from a population-based perspective.MethodsThe data sources were Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) and Taiwan’s Maternal and Child Health Database (MCHD), which were integrated and used to identify newborns whose mothers were diagnosed with autoimmune disease. Newborns were matched by maternal age, neonatal gender, and date of birth with controls whose mothers were without autoimmune disease using a ratio of 1:4 between 2004 and 2019. Data on diagnoses of autoimmune disease and autism spectrum disorders were retrieved from NHIRD. Patients who had at least 3 outpatient visits or at least 1 admission with a diagnosis of autoimmune disease and autism spectrum disorders were defined as incidence cases. The risks of ASD in offspring were compared between mothers with or without autoimmune disorders.ResultsWe identified 20,865 newborns whose mothers had been diagnosed with autoimmune disease before pregnancy and matched them at a ratio of 1:4 with a total of 83,460 newborn whose mothers were without autoimmune disease, by maternal age, neonatal gender, and date of birth. They were randomly selected as the control group. The cumulative incidence rates of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were significantly higher among the offspring of mothers with autoimmune diseases. After adjusting for cofactors, the risk of ASD remained significantly higher in children whose mother had autoimmune diseases. Regarding to specific maternal autoimmune disease, Sjögren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis were both associated with elevated risks of ASD in offspring.ConclusionMother with autoimmune disease might be associated with increasing the risk of autism spectrum disorder in offspring

Anatomical Asymmetry in Goiter: A Demonstration by Three-dimensional Power Doppler Ultrasound

The aim of the present study was to examine the anatomical differences in volumetric and intraparenchymal vascular parameters between the two thyroid lobes of patients with goiter, using three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound. A total of 89 outpatients with goiter, including 55 with autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD) and 34 with simple goiter (SG), were evaluated by three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound. Volumetric and intraparenchymal vascular indices including vascularization index, flow index and vascular flow index of each lobe were measured using the Virtual Organ Computer-Aided Analysis system. In all patients with goiter, the volume and vascular indices (vascularization index, flow index and vascular flow index) of the right thyroid lobe were significantly greater than those of the left lobe (p < 0.05). Differences in vascular indices were present in SG but not in ATD. ATD was associated with a larger thyroid volume and higher vascular indices compared with those of SG (p < 0.001), but there were no significant differences in volumetry and vascular indices between euthyroid ATD and SG. In conclusion, the right thyroid lobe was found to be significantly larger and more vascular than the left lobe in subjects with goiter, as measured by three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound. In addition, ATD was associated with a higher thyroid volume and vascular indices compared with those of SG

The aging trajectories of brain functional hierarchy and its impact on cognition across the adult lifespan

IntroductionThe hierarchical network architecture of the human brain, pivotal to cognition and behavior, can be explored via gradient analysis using restingstate functional MRI data. Although it has been employed to understand brain development and disorders, the impact of aging on this hierarchical architecture and its link to cognitive decline remains elusive.MethodsThis study utilized resting-state functional MRI data from 350 healthy adults (aged 20–85) to investigate the functional hierarchical network using connectome gradient analysis with a cross-age sliding window approach. Gradient-related metrics were estimated and correlated with age to evaluate trajectory of gradient changes across lifespan.ResultsThe principal gradient (unimodal-to-transmodal) demonstrated a significant non-linear relationship with age, whereas the secondary gradient (visual-to-somatomotor) showed a simple linear decreasing pattern. Among the principal gradient, significant age-related changes were observed in the somatomotor, dorsal attention, limbic and default mode networks. The changes in the gradient scores of both the somatomotor and frontal–parietal networks were associated with greater working memory and visuospatial ability. Gender differences were found in global gradient metrics and gradient scores of somatomotor and default mode networks in the principal gradient, with no interaction with age effect.DiscussionOur study delves into the aging trajectories of functional connectome gradient and its cognitive impact across the adult lifespan, providing insights for future research into the biological underpinnings of brain function and pathological models of atypical aging processes