Internationalization in Higher Education – International Student’s Chinese Learning as Serious Leisure in Taiwan

Due to the economic and commercial rise of China, the economic value, political value, and instrumental advantages produced by Chinese have become more significant. The fever for learning Chinese continues to intensify all over the world, and Chinese instruction has become increasingly popular. Taiwan is a country with Chinese as its official language; and an important issue rose in international educational policy is how to attract international students to study Chinese in Taiwan. At the same time, Taiwan has promoted the internationalization of universities in the recent years; it hopes to elevate the visibility of its universities on the international stage, and intends to broaden diplomacy and promote economic development. This study found that international students who came to Taiwan to learn Chinese tended to be Asians. The different original residence locations of international students would significantly affect learning Chinese as serious leisure. International students who rented apartments with others off-campus or who chose home-stays had greater life planning, effort in Chinese learning, continuous benefits from Chinese learning, and a sense of community identification with their learning peers, as compared to international students who lived in school dormitories or lived alone off-campus. International students who had mor e disposable income each month were more likely to gain lasting benefits from Chinese learning and strong community identification with their learning peers. Key words: International education; International students; Chinese learning; Language learning as serious leisure Resumé: En raison de l'essor économique et commercial de la Chine, la valeur économique, la valeur politique et les avantages instrumentaux produits par les Chinois sont devenus plus importants. L'enthouiasme pour apprendre le chinois continue de s'intensifier dans le monde entier, et l'enseignement du chinois est devenu de plus en plus populaire. La langue officielle de Taiwan est le chinois, et l'une des questions importantes dans la politique éducative internationale est de savoir comment attirer des étudiants étrangers à étudier le chinois à Taiwan. En même temps, Taiwan a favorisé l'internationalisation des universités dans les années récentes. Il espère rehausser la visibilité de ses universités sur la scène internationale et il a l'intention d'élargir la diplomatie et promouvoir le développement économique. Cette étude a révélé que les étudiants étrangers qui sont venus à Taiwan pour apprendre le chinois sont plutôt des Asiatiques. Les localisations différentes de résidence originale des étudiants étrangers auraient une influence significative sur leur apprentissage du chinois en tant que loisir sérieux. Les étudiants étrangers qui ont loué des appartements avec d'autres étudiants en dehors du campus ou ceux qui ont choisi une famille d'acceuil avaient une planification de vie plus longue et un effort d'apprendre le Chinois plus grand. Ils bénéficiaient des avantages continus de l'apprentissage du chinois et avaient un sentiment d'identification de communauté avec leurs partenaires de l'apprentissage, par rapport aux étudiants étrangers qui vivaient dans les dortoirs scolaires ou vivaient seuls en dehors du campus. Les étudiants étrangers qui avaient un revenu disponible plus élevé chaque mois étaient plus susceptibles d'obtenir des avantages durables de l'apprentissage du chinois et avaient une identification forte de communauté avec leurs partenaire de l'apprentissage. Mots-clés: éducation internationale; étudiants internationaux; apprentissage du chinois; apprentissage de langue en tant que loisir sérieu

A Practical Case Study of the Interactive TV Service as a Time-Critical Product

In this paper, we conducted a case study of time-critical goods - NG goods. We expected the study to integrate the field of information management and the TV broadcasting field, thereby creating a new wave of potential for the information management field after e-commerce. We suggest two perspectives germane to industry development: the development of the whole industry, and, the operation of the individual companie

Regulation of axon repulsion by MAX-1 SUMOylation and AP-3.

During neural development, growing axons express specific surface receptors in response to various environmental guidance cues. These axon guidance receptors are regulated through intracellular trafficking and degradation to enable navigating axons to reach their targets. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the UNC-5 receptor is necessary for dorsal migration of developing motor axons. We previously found that MAX-1 is required for UNC-5-mediated axon repulsion, but its mechanism of action remained unclear. Here, we demonstrate that UNC-5-mediated axon repulsion in C. elegans motor axons requires both max-1 SUMOylation and the AP-3 complex β subunit gene, apb-3 Genetic interaction studies show that max-1 is SUMOylated by gei-17/PIAS1 and acts upstream of apb-3 Biochemical analysis suggests that constitutive interaction of MAX-1 and UNC-5 receptor is weakened by MAX-1 SUMOylation and by the presence of APB-3, a competitive interactor with UNC-5. Overexpression of APB-3 reroutes the trafficking of UNC-5 receptor into the lysosome for protein degradation. In vivo fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments shows that MAX-1 SUMOylation and APB-3 are required for proper trafficking of UNC-5 receptor in the axon. Our results demonstrate that SUMOylation of MAX-1 plays an important role in regulating AP-3-mediated trafficking and degradation of UNC-5 receptors during axon guidance

A modeling study of land surface processes and surface energy budgets using the maximum entropy production theory

Land surface model (LSM) plays an important role in numerical climate simulations. However, the existing LSMs have been found to produce inconsistent surface energy and water budgets due to the deficiencies in parameterization of land surface processes. In particular, surface heat flux parameterizations using the conventional gradient-based methods are subject to large modeling error and uncertainty. The primary goal of this study is to investigate the potential applications of an innovative approach, the Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) model of surface heat fluxes, in facilitating the understanding of land surface processes and global surface energy budgets. Specifically, two objectives, by applying the MEP model, are conducted to (1) improve model predictions of surface temperature, surface soil moisture, and near-surface air temperature for used in LSMs as well as climate models (2) reconstruct the global surface heat flux budgets. A coupled model of surface temperature, surface soil moisture, and near-surface air temperature is formulated based on the classical Force-Restore Method (FRM) incorporating the MEP model of surface heat fluxes, referred to as the FRMEP model. The FRMEP model is driven by surface net radiation and precipitation without explicitly using other meteorological variables and location specific empirical tuning parameters. The case studies suggest that the FRMEP model outperforms the classical FRMs, which are forced by observed or gradient-based parameterized surface heat fluxes. The FRMEP model well captures the diurnal and seasonal variations of surface temperature, surface soil moisture, near-surface air temperature, as well as surface heat fluxes. The results presented in this study justify the potential usefulness of the MEP model in climatic and hydrological studies. In this study, the 2001-2010 climatology of global surface heat flux budgets along with the corresponding trend and uncertainty is re-estimated using the MEP model and the input data from remote sensing observations and reanalysis data products. The MEP model generates the first dataset of global ocean surface conductive heat flux, which is not available from the existing data products. Global sublimation/deposition, sensible, and surface conductive heat fluxes over land snow-ice and sea ice covered areas are produced separately owing to the unique formulation of the MEP model. The uncertainties of MEP modeled surface heat fluxes are less than those of existing estimates and bounded by that of surface net radiation. Analysis of MEP heat fluxes suggests a global increase of land surface heat fluxes and a decrease of ocean surface heat fluxes during 2001-2010 consistent with the trends of surface radiation. The results indicate that the MEP model can be applied as an alternative approach to meet the challenge of monitoring and modeling global surface energy budgets. The new estimates of global surface heat fluxes based on the MEP model lead to a broader view of global energy and water cycles from a surface perspective.Ph.D

Light disrupts social memory via a retina-to-supraoptic nucleus circuit.

The formation of social memory between individuals of the opposite sex is crucial for expanding mating options or establishing monogamous pair bonding. A specialized neuronal circuit that regulates social memory could enhance an individuals mating opportunities and provide a parallel pathway for computing social behaviors. While the influence of light exposure on various forms of memory, such as fear and object memory, has been studied, its modulation of social recognition memory remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that acute exposure to light impairs social recognition memory (SRM) in mice. Unlike sound and touch stimuli, light inhibits oxytocin neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) via M1 SON-projecting intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) and GABAergic neurons in the perinuclear zone of the SON (pSON). We further show that optogenetic activation of SON oxytocin neurons using channelrhodopsin is sufficient to enhance SRM performance, even under light conditions. Our findings unveil a dedicated neuronal circuit through which luminance affects SRM, utilizing a non-image-forming visual pathway, distinct from the canonical modulatory role of the oxytocin system

Adaptive fast block-matching algorithm by switching search patterns for sequences with wide-range motion content

[[abstract]]Content with rapid, moderate, and slow motion is frequently mixed together in real video sequences. Until now, no fast block-matching algorithm (FBMA), including the well-known three-step search (TSS), the block-based gradient descent search (BBGDS), and the diamond search (DS), can efficiently remove the temporal redundancy of sequences with wide range motion content. This paper proposes an adaptive FBMA, called A-TDB, to solve this problem. Based on the characteristics of a proposed predicted profit list, the A-TDB can adaptively switch search patterns among the TSS, DS, and BBGDS, according to the motion content. Experimental results reveal that the A-TDB successfully adopts the search patterns to remove the temporal redundancy of sequences with slow, moderate and rapid motion content.[[fileno]]203021101000