Breaking Barriers in Academic Writing: The Uses of Chat AI Models in Empowering International TESOL Students

This study explores Chat AI, specifically Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), among international TESOL students to enhance academic writing. The research addresses the complexity of academic writing for TESOL students and the potential of Chat AI as a promising tool by investigating perceptions, experiences, and impacts. Previous studies note positive outcomes like increased motivation and creativity but also identify limitations, including occasional inaccuracies. Using purposive sampling, this qualitative study involves five international TESOL students with Chat AI experience. Semi-structured interviews, lasting 15-30 minutes, are conducted in person or through video conferencing, recorded, transcribed, and anonymized for thematic analysis. Findings reveal positive perceptions of Chat AI, highlighting convenience, accessibility, and prompt feedback. Despite benefits in idea generation, vocabulary improvement, and template provision, limitations include occasional inaccuracies and plagiarism concerns. Despite drawbacks, Chat AI is seen as valuable for writing proficiency. International TESOL students view Chat AI positively, appreciating its functionalities. Suggestions include incorporating correct references to address plagiarism concerns and establishing responsible usage guidelines. Continued research is recommended for a comprehensive understanding and broader insights from teachers

The Temporality of Mediacy: The Time of Narrators in Short, First-Person Fiction.

This study outlines a new theory of time in first-person narrative fiction based on the concept mediacy. By applying a phenomenological understanding of time to narrators of first-person fiction, the study draws a distinction between narration and narratization. Narration refers to the narrative act, the act of telling. This study contends that although a literary narrative may serve as record of past events, it is primarily a notation of the narrative act. The narrative act is a unified experience that exhibits a structure of beginning, middle, and end, which is notated in a literary text. A narratization, in contrast, refers to the extended temporal field in which the narrator orients himself/herself. Unlike narration, which is recorded in a literary text, narratization usually is only implied by the narration. During a narrative act, which is a basic action, the narrator orients himself/herself on the basis of some envisioned future that s/he hopes to achieve, partly through the act of telling. On the basis of that envisioned future, the narrator determines the actions s/he needs to take to achieve that future. The narrative act, then, is constructed in part on the basis of the futural dimension of the expansive temporal field, which is configured by the narrator in the act of telling. This study differs from traditional analyses of time in narrative in that it recognizes a futural orientation on the part of the narrator, or mediator, who is engaged in a narrative act, in addition to his/her orientations toward the past and the present. This study recognizes that the narrative act, of which literary narrative is a record, is a dialectic between past and future. The implications of this theory of time in narrative are explored in analyses of short stories by Cynthia Rich, Lee Smith, and Raymond Carver

Beckmann Rearrangement of Cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) Oxime: Tandem Beckmann-Electrophilic Aromatic Addition

The Beckmann rearrangement has been performed on the oxime of cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) with thionyl chloride affording the ring-expanded 10-membered ring amide exclusively in high yield. Modified conditions afford a helical pentacycle derived from an unusual tandem Beckmann rearrangement and electrophilic aromatic addition followed by demethylation and tautomerization

Temperature field forecast in concrete dam with the use of ARIMA models and the finite element method

This article describes a forecasting method, with the application of statistical models Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and a heat conduction model to forecast the temperature field in a buttress block of Itaipu dam. Monthly temperature series in 2010-2014 of surface thermometers to block were fitted with cubic splines and the series, now daily, were used as inputs for specific ARIMA models to produce forecasts as outputs. These outputs were used as boundary conditions to the thermal model of the block and this solved by the Finite Element Method (FEM). Obtained thus predicted temperature fields of block. The error MAPE between the values obtained by MEF and the real, in a test point, (where is an internal thermometer) measured the performance of the forecast of ARIMA models, and this was satisfactory, achieving near 15%. The proposed method has an innovative character for thermal analysis structures, in particular in concrete dams

Metal-Free Tandem Beckmann–Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Cascade Affording Diaryl Imines, Ketones, Amines, and Quinazolines

A cascade reaction sequence involving a Beckmann rearrangement on benzophenone oxime followed by an electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) on the intermediate nitrilium ion affords N-phenyl diaryl imines that may then be hydrolyzed to ketones, or reduced to the corresponding amines. Reaction with benzonitrile afforded 2,4-diphenylquinazoline through a Beckmann–Ritter–EAS cascade

A Thermodynamic and Kinetic Characterization of the Solvent Dependence of the Saddle-Crown Equilibrium of Cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) Oxime

The equilibration of the saddle conformer of cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) oxime to the corresponding crown conformer was followed by (1)H NMR in five separate solvents, and kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were determined from the NMR data. The oxime saddle conformers of 3 are favored in CDCl(3) (K(eq) = [saddle]/[crown] = 1.4), whereas the CTV oxime crown conformer 3a is favored in three more polar solvents studied (DMSO-d(6), acetonitrile-d(3), acetone-d(6)). Surprisingly, the CTV oxime crown conformer is also slightly favored in the nonpolar solvent 1,4-dioxane-d(8). These behaviors are discussed in terms of hydrogen bonding, entropy, and possible host-guest considerations. An X-ray crystal structure was obtained for CTV monoketone, and structures of the different conformers of CTV, CTV ketone, and CTV oxime were calculated with semiempirical AM1 methods for direct comparison of their ground-state energies

A Pre-transplant Blood-based Lipid Signature for Prediction of Antibody-mediated Rejection in Kidney Transplant Patients

Purpose. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the potential of the pre-transplant lipidome to predict post-transplant antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) in kidney transplant patients. Methods. Patients were selected from a prospective observational cohort of a single-center adult kidney transplant center in the United States. The study included 16 kidney transplant patients who develop AMR within 2 years post-transplant and 29 stable control (SC) kidney transplant patients who did not develop AMR at any time within the post-transplant follow up. Selection of group differences on the day of transplant was determined by t-test analysis. Stepwise forward method was used to create Linear Discrimination Analysis with regularized correction (RLDA). Changes over time were estimated using sparse partial least square method which is validated by permutation testing. T-test was performed to compare two time points for the same group and groups at matched time points. JMP Pro 13 and MetaboAnalyst were used in the analysis of the Data. Results. A comparison of lipids classes on the day of transplant revealed PLs relative concentration differences between SC and AMR. Concentration of phosphatidylcholine (PC) was significantly diminished in AMR, while there was a trend for increased concentration of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC). AMR group also showed significantly lower concentration of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), plasmanylethanolamine (PE-O), and plasmenylethanolamine (PE-P). Our data demonstrated that there are significant differences in the lipidome between SC and AMR on the day of transplant. The analysis identified 7 distinct lipids that discriminated between AMR and SC (AUC) =0.95 (95%CI=0.84- 0.98), R2=0.63 (95%CI=0.4-0.8). A sPLSDA analysis of the data revealed a statistically significant alteration in the lipid profile at 6 months post-transplant compared to the day of transplant. The analysis revealed a panel of 13 lipids that were found to differentiate the two groups at 6 month post-transplant . Further data analysis confirms the presence of a sustained lipid metabolic difference between SC and AMR over time that distinguish between the patients with favorable and non-favorable transplant outcomes. Conclusion. This study demonstrates the potential of the pre-transplant lipidome towards determining AMR in kidney transplant patients, raising the possibility of using this information in risk stratification of patients about to undergo transplant.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1086/thumbnail.jp

Rearrangement of Cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) Diketone: 9,10-Diarylanthracenes with OLED Applications

Electroluminescent 9,10-diaryl anthracenes have been shown to be promising host and hole-transporting materials in organic electroluminescence due to their high thermal stability, electrochemical reversibility, and wide band gap useful for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), especially blue OLEDs. Oxidation of cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) to the corresponding diketone and subsequent bromination resulted in an unexpected rearrangement to a highly functionalized 9-aryl-10-bromoanthracene derivative, which was employed in Suzuki couplings to synthesize a series of 9,10-diaryl compounds that are structural analogues of anthracene derivatives used in the preparation of OLEDs but are more highly functionalized, including electron-donating methoxy groups in addition to substitution by a carboxylic acid moiety. The UV/fluorescence solution spectra show strong emissions at 446, 438, and 479 nm, respectively, for the anthracene 10-phenyl, 10-naphthyl, and 10-pyrenyl adducts containing a benzoic acid functional group, whereas the analogues bearing the hydroxymethylene moiety from reduction of the benzoic acid to the corresponding alcohols gave much shorter emission wavelengths of 408, 417, and 476 nm, respectively, and had somewhat higher quantum yields, suggesting they are better candidates for OLED applications

Possible Scenarios on the Future of Polytechnic State University of Bicol (PSUB) – Research Culture by 2030 using Jim Dator’s Archetypes of Alternative Futures

This paper explores possible scenarios for the Research Culture of Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC), to be known as Polytechnic State University of Bicol (PSUB). The paper utilized Jim Dator’s four archetypes of alternative futures to construct PSUB’s Research Culture possible scenarios by 2030. This paper highlights the assumption that the research culture in PSUB is of world class quality and all of its faculty members are actively involved in research, its disciplined, collapsed, transformative, or business as usual scenarios. Four plausible scenarios have surfaced in this paper: Progressive Research Culture, Lax and Deficit Research Culture, Sophisticated Research Culture, and Transformative Research Culture. The article explored areas for a preferred future by 2030. It requires multiple drivers along faculty, students, administration and community for a better research culture. This study proved to be useful in crafting and anticipating the future scenarios of PSUB’s research culture. Preliminary as it may, this study highlighted important building blocks of the four future scenarios. Dator’s framework was proved to be very useful in developing the four scenarios, the use of other future study tools will further amplify plausible scenarios for the Polytechnic State University of Bicol

Spatial connectivity of aquatic macrophytes and flood cycle influence species richness of an ant community of a Brazilian floodplain

Despite the environmental and economic importance of Pantanal, there are few studies quantifying the influence of sazonality and spatial variation on biological diversity in this ecosystem. In this context, the present work aimed to study the assemblage of ants associated with macrophytes during the flood and dry period of Paraguay river, in marginal environments in the Pantanal of Porto Murtinho, Mato Grosso do Sul. We observed a wide variation in the temporal distribution of the diversity of the assemblages of ants, since from 37 species, 36 occurred in the dry and 20 in the flood period. Of the total of macrophyte species observed, in only 12.5% we found a more specific correlation with ants that were nesting in spaces provided by plants representing a total of 10.52% of the species analized.