On Context Theory and Interactive Language Teaching

In this paper, the author explores the importance of context in interactive language teaching and how to make the classroom activities interactive through the application of context theory from the perspective of comprehension (listening, reading) and production (speaking and writing) and how to build context in foreign language classroom in accordance with the linguistic rules of English to promote the students’ communicative competence in the context

Application of Interactive Autonomous Learning Mode to Teach College English Writing

Writing is usually considered as an individual activity, emphasizing the result instead of the process in which students undergo to reach the final goal. However, writing process is of great importance to the students. In the writing process, they can develop writing competence and learner autonomy through interaction. Thus, this thesis intends to demonstrate the effectiveness of applying Interactive Autonomous Learning Mode to writing instruction in college classroom setting

Vegetation Changes in Alberta Oil Sands, Canada, Based on Remotely Sensed Data from 1995 to 2020

There are rich oil and gas resources in Alberta oil sand mining area in Canada. Since the 1960s, the Canadian government decided to increase the mining intensity. However, the exploitation will bring many adverse effects. In recent years, more people pay attention to the environmental protection and ecological restoration of mining area, such as issues related with changes of vegetated lands. Thus, the authors used the Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-8 OLI remote sensing images as the basic data sources, and obtained the land cover classification maps from 1995 to 2020 by ENVI. Based on the NDVI, NDMI and RVI, three images in each period are processed and output to explore the long-term impact of exploitation. The results show that from 1995 to 2020, the proportion of vegetation around mining areas decreased sharply, the scale of construction land in the mining area increased, and the vegetated land was changed to land types such as tailings pond, oil sand mine and other land types. In addition, three vegetation indexes decreased from 1995 to 2020. Although the exploitation of oil sand mining area brings great economic benefits, the environmental protection (especially vegetation) in oil sand mining areas should be paid more attention

Selection Method for Kernel Function in Nonparametric Extrapolation Based on Multicriteria Decision-Making Technology

Selecting the most appropriate kernel function to extrapolate a load set is the paramount step in compiling load spectrum, as it affects the results of nonparametric extrapolation largely. Aiming at this issue, this paper provides a new approach in selecting kernel function for the nonparametric extrapolation. To solve the complexity and uncertainty of nonparametric extrapolation, characteristics of four kernel functions and their effects on the results are explained in the “from-to” diagram obtained by rainflow counting. Multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) is then applied to solve the selection problem of kernel function. To evaluate the dispersion degrees of the mean and amplitude of a load set accurately, their range, standard deviation, and interquartile range are selected as the evaluation criteria. The weight of each criterion, which represents the impact degree on the selection of the kernel function, is calculated separately using the eigenvector and entropy method. The comprehensive weights are obtained by applying the optimization theory and Jaynes’ maximum entropy principle. Finally, the importance of each criterion is discussed according to their calculated comprehensive weights, and the selection method for kernel functions is obtained, which is illustrated by extrapolating the output torque of the power split device of hybrid electrical vehicles

Tumor microenvironment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: Implications in immunotherapy

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive and lethal cancers. Surgical resection is the only curable treatment option, but it is available for only a small fraction of patients at the time of diagnosis. With current therapeutic regimens, the average 5-year survival rate is less than 10% in pancreatic cancer patients. Immunotherapy has emerged as one of the most promising treatment options for multiple solid tumors of advanced stage. However, its clinical efficacy is suboptimal in most clinical trials on pancreatic cancer. Current studies have suggested that the tumor microenvironment is likely the underlying barrier affecting immunotherapy drug efficacy in pancreatic cancer. In this review, we discuss the role of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer and the latest advances in immunotherapy on pancreatic cancer

Verifiable key-aggregate searchable encryption with a designated server in multi-owner setting

Key-aggregate searchable encryption (KASE) schemes support selective data sharing and keyword-based ciphertext searching by using the constant-size shared key and trapdoor, making these schemes attractive for resource-constrained users to store, share, and search encrypted data in public clouds. However, most previously proposed KASE schemes suffer from our proposed "off-line keyword guessing attack (KGA)" and some other weaknesses. Consequently, they fail to gain the keyword ciphertext indistinguishability and trapdoor indistinguishability, which are vital security goals of searchable encryption. Inspired by the relationship of public key encryption with keyword search (PEKS) and KASE, we design a new KASE scheme called key-aggregate searchable encryption with a designated server (dKASE). The dKASE scheme achieves our proposed keyword ciphertext indistinguishability against chosen keyword attack (KC-IND-CKA) and keyword trapdoor indistinguishability against keyword guessing attack (KT-IND-KGA) security models, where the latter model captures off-line KGA. Then, we extend the dKASE scheme to verifiable dKASE in multi-owner setting (dVKASEM) scheme. With dVKASEM, when multiple data owners authorize a user to access data, the user merely needs to store his single key and generate a single trapdoor to query these owners’ data. Besides, the adoption of the aggregate signature significantly reduces the overhead of verifying whether data has been tampered with. Performance analysis illustrates that our schemes are efficient

Assessing Large Language Models in Mechanical Engineering Education: A Study on Mechanics-Focused Conceptual Understanding

This study is a pioneering endeavor to investigate the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) in addressing conceptual questions within the domain of mechanical engineering with a focus on mechanics. Our examination involves a manually crafted exam encompassing 126 multiple-choice questions, spanning various aspects of mechanics courses, including Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Vibration, Engineering Statics and Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials, Theory of Elasticity, and Continuum Mechanics. Three LLMs, including ChatGPT (GPT-3.5), ChatGPT (GPT-4), and Claude (Claude-2.1), were subjected to evaluation against engineering faculties and students with or without mechanical engineering background. The findings reveal GPT-4's superior performance over the other two LLMs and human cohorts in answering questions across various mechanics topics, except for Continuum Mechanics. This signals the potential future improvements for GPT models in handling symbolic calculations and tensor analyses. The performances of LLMs were all significantly improved with explanations prompted prior to direct responses, underscoring the crucial role of prompt engineering. Interestingly, GPT-3.5 demonstrates improved performance with prompts covering a broader domain, while GPT-4 excels with prompts focusing on specific subjects. Finally, GPT-4 exhibits notable advancements in mitigating input bias, as evidenced by guessing preferences for humans. This study unveils the substantial potential of LLMs as highly knowledgeable assistants in both mechanical pedagogy and scientific research.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures, and 1 tabl