Language Immersion Teachers\u27 Perspectives of Foreign Language Learning for Students With Disabilities

Foreign language learning for students with disabilities can be different from that of their nondisabled peers because of their special needs. Understanding the perspectives of language immersion teachers regarding their challenges and the support needed while working with students with disabilities in language immersion programs is important because such programs are growing rapidly nationwide. In addition, there is little research on the perspectives of these teachers in elementary school settings. The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a deeper understanding of foreign language learning needs of students with disabilities from language immersion teachers\u27 perspectives. Ajzen\u27s theory of planned behavior served as the theoretical framework for the study. The research questions focused on language immersion teachers\u27 perspectives of behaviors, needed support, and academic performance of students with disabilities. Data collection included interviews that were coded and themes developed to answer the research questions. Findings through individual interviews with the 12 language immersion teachers who were employed in the district indicated that students with disabilities needed extra support in learning a foreign language, behaviors affected their academic performance, and language immersion teachers needed additional support to learn appropriate strategies to handle behaviors in order to effectively serve students with disabilities. This study might contribute to a positive social change in education by furthering the knowledge of issues and support needed in inclusive environments for students with disabilities. Results might help foreign language teachers enhance learning for those students with disabilities in elementary school language immersion programs

Retirement Strategy Study Based on Simulation Experiment

To minimize negative effects, it is necessary to well-consider workers’ retirement intentions and decisions when government formulates and implements postponing statutory retirement age scheme having significant influences on interests of government and workers. In reality, formation of workers’ retirement strategies is not based on perfect information and complete rationality, but affected by social relation network. This paper establishes a simulation experiment model to simulate reflections of workers being confronted with a delaying retirement scheme. The results after running a simple experiment show that a worker’ retirement intention and decision may change after referring to link-persons’ mainstream opinions no matter how decision-making ability he/she has

SUR-Net: Predicting the Satisfied User Ratio Curve for Image Compression with Deep Learning

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The Satisfied User Ratio (SUR) curve for a lossy image compression scheme, e.g., JPEG, characterizes the probability distribution of the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) level, the smallest distortion level that can be perceived by a subject. We propose the first deep learning approach to predict such SUR curves. Instead of the direct approach of regressing the SUR curve itself for a given reference image, our model is trained on pairs of images, original and compressed. Relying on a Siamese Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), feature pooling, a fully connected regression-head, and transfer learning, we achieved a good prediction performance. Experiments on the MCL-JCI dataset showed a mean Bhattacharyya distance between the predicted and the original JND distributions of only 0.072

Novel phenanthrene-degrading bacteria identified by DNA-stable isotope probing

Microorganisms responsible for the degradation of phenanthrene in a clean forest soil sample were identified by DNA-based stable isotope probing (SIP). The soil was artificially amended with either 12C- or 13C-labeled phenanthrene, and soil DNA was extracted on days 3, 6 and 9. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) results revealed that the fragments of 219- And 241-bp in HaeIII digests were distributed throughout the gradient profile at three different sampling time points, and both fragments were more dominant in the heavy fractions of the samples exposed to the 13C-labeled contaminant. 16S rRNA sequencing of the 13C-enriched fraction suggested that Acidobacterium spp. within the class Acidobacteria, and Collimonas spp. within the class Betaproteobacteria, were directly involved in the uptake and degradation of phenanthrene at different times. To our knowledge, this is the first report that the genus Collimonas has the ability to degrade PAHs. Two PAH-RHDα genes were identified in 13C-labeled DNA. However, isolation of pure cultures indicated that strains of Staphylococcus sp. PHE-3, Pseudomonas sp. PHE- 1, and Pseudomonas sp. PHE-2 in the soil had high phenanthrene-degrading ability. This emphasizes the role of a culture-independent method in the functional understanding of microbial communities in situ

Identification of Benzo[a]pyrene-metabolizing bacteria in forest soils by using DNA-based stable-isotope probing

DNA-based stable-isotope probing (DNA-SIP) was used in this study to investigate the uncultivated bacteria with benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) metabolism capacities in two Chinese forest soils (Mt. Maoer in Heilongjiang Province and Mt. Baicaowa in Hubei Province). We characterized three different phylotypes with responsibility for BaP degradation, none of which were previously reported as BaP-degrading microorganisms by SIP. In Mt. Maoer soil microcosms, the putative BaP degraders were classified as belonging to the genus Terrimonas (family Chitinophagaceae, order Sphingobacteriales), whereas Burkholderia spp. were the key BaP degraders in Mt. Baicaowa soils. The addition of metabolic salicylate significantly increased BaP degradation efficiency in Mt. Maoer soils, and the BaP-metabolizing bacteria shifted to the microorganisms in the family Oxalobacteraceae (genus unclassified). Meanwhile, salicylate addition did not change either BaP degradation or putative BaP degraders in Mt. Baicaowa. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase (PAH-RHD) genes were amplified, sequenced, and quantified in the DNA-SIP (13)C heavy fraction to further confirm the BaP metabolism. By illuminating the microbial diversity and salicylate additive effects on BaP degradation across different soils, the results increased our understanding of BaP natural attenuation and provided a possible approach to enhance the bioremediation of BaP-contaminated soils

Chemical Dealloying Synthesis of CuS Nanowire-on-Nanoplate Network as Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries

CuS is a metal sulfide anode material used in constructing lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with great promise. However, its practical application is limited by rapid capacity decline, poor cycling, and rate performance. In this work, the CuS nanowire-on-nanoplate network is synthesized through an improved dealloying method under two contrasting reaction temperatures. When used as an LIB anode, the as-obtained CuS network exhibits superior cycling performance (420 mAh·g −1 retained after 100 cycles at 0.2 C). When at 3 C, it still delivers a capacity of around 350 mAh·g −1 . The improved electrochemical performances of the CuS anode should be attributed to the well-designed nanowire-on-nanoplate network structure in which the introduction of nanowires improves Li storage sites, shortens Li-ion diffusion distance, enhances the conductivity of active materials, and offers multiscale spaces for buffering the volume variation. The fabrication route adopted in this paper has an important significance for developing the dealloying technique and designing more suitable anode structures for LIBs

Bis{tris­[3-(2-pyrid­yl)-1H-pyrazole]manganese(II)} dodeca­molybdo(V,VI)phosphate hexa­hydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Mn(C8H7N3)3]2[PMo12O40]·6H2O, consists of a complex [Mn(C8H7N3)3]2+ cation, half of a mixed-valent MoV,VI α-Keggin-type [PMo12O40]4− heteropolyanion, and three uncoordinated water mol­ecules. The Mn2+ cation is surrounded by six N atoms from three chelating 3-(2-pyrid­yl)-1H-pyrazole ligands in a distorted octa­hedral coordination. In the heteropolyanion, two O atoms of the central PO4 group ( symmetry) are equally disordered about an inversion centre. N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding between the cations, anions and the uncoordinated water mol­ecules leads to a consolidation of the structure