Learning to teach moral education through drama in a Chinese primary school

This thesis explores the possibilities of introducing drama to facilitate primary children’s moral learning in the Chinese educational context. As she is an inexperienced teacher, the author also focuses on her own self-improvement in learning to teach through educational drama as well as examining drama’s potential to complement the moral education curriculum for primary aged children in China. The thesis begins with a literature review that explores the authority-oriented nature of the moral education curriculum in mainland China and points out that basic challenges still exist in the current course despite reforms that have been implemented since 1999 on a national scale. It then argues for the potential of story-based drama as an innovative pedagogy that may help students develop their autonomous moral thinking as a way to address some of the shortcomings that exist in the present moral curriculum. The key methodological approach is that of reflective practitioner case study, using mixed methods to assess the impact of the author’s teaching on the children’s moral thinking. The fieldwork itself was undertaken in May and June, 2016, with two groups of children in two different primary schools in Beijing, China. There were fifteen sessions taught to 31 children in total, including one preparatory workshop and three story-based schemes of work in each school. In terms of the main findings, on the one hand, the author offers practical suggestions for other learner teachers who might wish to create a playful, cooperative and ensemble-based drama classroom in the light of her own experience. On the other hand, it also reveals that the incorporation of story-based drama into the existing school curriculum is workable, and this new approach can be seen to some extent to assist pupils in aspects of their citizenship education, imaginative development and dialogic thinking capabilities. The evidence also suggests that educational drama can promote gifted children’s moral growth by developing their peer relationships and creative thinking abilities. The author recommends that a longitudinal study on a larger scale can be conducted by experienced teachers to stimulate more and deeper research on the use of story-based drama in similar contexts, that this may further extend the understanding of Chinese teachers of this resourceful new approach and begin to inform policy makers

Intrinsic Cerebro-Cerebellar Functional Connectivity Reveals the Function of Cerebellum VI in Reading-Related Skills

Funding This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 31971036, 31971039, and 31571158).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Diagnostic accuracy of autoverification and guidance system for COVID-19 RT-PCR results

Background: To date, most countries worldwide have declared that the pandemic of COVID-19 is over, while the WHO has not officially ended the COVID-19 pandemic, and China still insists on the personalized dynamic COVID-free policy. Large-scale nucleic acid testing in Chinese communities and the manual interpretation for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detection results pose a huge challenge for labour, quality and turnaround time (TAT) requirements. To solve this specific issue while increase the efficiency and accuracy of interpretation, we created an autoverification and guidance system (AGS) that can automatically interpret and report the COVID-19 reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results relaying on computer-based autoverification procedure and then validated its performance in real-world environments. This would be conductive to transmission risk prediction, COVID-19 prevention and control and timely medical treatment for positive patients in the context of the predictive, preventive and personalized medicine (PPPM). Methods: A diagnostic accuracy test was conducted with 380,693 participants from two COVID-19 test sites in China, the Hong Kong Hybribio Medical Laboratory (n = 266,035) and the mobile medical shelter at a Shanghai airport (n = 114,658). These participants underwent SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR from March 28 to April 10, 2022. All RT-PCR results were interpreted by laboratorians and by using AGS simultaneously. Considering the manual interpretation as gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy were applied to evaluate the diagnostic value of the AGS on the interpretation of RT-PCR results. Results: Among the 266,035 samples in Hong Kong, there were 16,356 (6.15%) positive, 231,073 (86.86%) negative, 18,606 (6.99%) indefinite, 231,073 (86.86%, negative) no retest required and 34,962 (13.14%, positive and indefinite) retest required; the 114,658 samples in Shanghai consisted of 76 (0.07%) positive, 109,956 (95.90%) negative, 4626 (4.03%) indefinite, 109,956 (95.90%, negative) no retest required and 4702 (4.10%, positive and indefinite) retest required. Compared to the fashioned manual interpretation, the AGS is a procedure of high accuracy [99.96% (95%CI, 99.95–99.97%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 100–100%) in Shanghai] with perfect sensitivity [99.98% (95%CI, 99.97–99.98%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 100–100%) in Shanghai], specificity [99.87% (95%CI, 99.82–99.90%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 99.92–100%) in Shanghai], PPV [99.98% (95%CI, 99.97–99.99%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 99.99–100%) in Shanghai] and NPV [99.85% (95%CI, 99.80–99.88%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 99.90–100%) in Shanghai]. The need for manual interpretation of total samples was dramatically reduced from 100% to 13.1% and the interpretation time fell from 53 h to 26 min in Hong Kong; while the manual interpretation of total samples was decreased from 100% to 4.1% and the interpretation time dropped from 20 h to 16 min at Shanghai. Conclusions: The AGS is a procedure of high accuracy and significantly relieves both labour and time from the challenge of large-scale screening of SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR. It should be recommended as a powerful screening, diagnostic and predictive system for SARS-CoV-2 to contribute timely the ending of the COVID-19 pandemic following the concept of PPPM

Effectiveness of a standardized quality control management procedure for COVID-19 RT-PCR testing: A large-scale diagnostic accuracy study in China

Background: The study aimed to construct a standardized quality control management procedure (QCMP) and access its accuracy in the quality control of COVID-19 reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Methods: Considering the initial RT-PCR results without applying QCMP as the gold standard, a large-scale diagnostic accuracy study including 4,385,925 participants at three COVID-19 RT-PCR testing sites in China, Foshan (as a pilot test), Guangzhou and Shenyang (as validation sites), was conducted from May 21, 2021, to December 15, 2022. Results: In the pilot test, the RT-PCR with QCMP had a high accuracy of 99.18% with 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value (PPV), and 99.17% negative predictive value (NPV). The rate of retesting was reduced from 1.98% to 1.16%. Its accuracy was then consistently validated in Guangzhou and Shenyang. Conclusions: The RT-PCR with QCMP showed excellent accuracy in identifying true negative COVID-19 and relieved the labor and time spent on retesting

Streptococcus sputorum, a novel member of Streptococcus with multidrug resistance, exhibits cytotoxicity

We describe the genomic and phenotypic characteristics of a novel member of Streptococcus with multidrug resistance (MDR) isolated from hospital samples. Strains SP218 and SP219 were identified as a novel Streptococcus, S. sputorum, using whole-genome sequencing and biochemical tests. Average nucleotide identity values of strains SP218 and SP219 with S. pseudopneumoniae IS7493 and S. pneumoniae ST556 were 94.3% and 93.3%, respectively. Genome-to-genome distance values of strains SP218 and SP219 with S. pseudopneumoniae IS7493 and S. pneumoniae ST556 were 56.70% (54–59.5%) and 56.40% (52.8–59.9%), respectively. The biochemical test results distinguished these strains from S. pseudopneumoniae and S. pneumoniae, particularly hydrolysis of equine urate and utilization of ribose to produce acid. These isolates were resistant to six major classes of antibiotics, which correlated with horizontal gene transfer and mutation. Notably, strain SP219 exhibited cytotoxicity against human lung epithelial cell line A549. Our results indicate the pathogenic potential of S. sputorum, and provide valuable insights into mitis group of streptococci.National Natural Science Foundation of Chin

Genetics of Resistance to Common Root Rot (Spot Blotch), Fusarium Crown Rot, and Sharp Eyespot in Wheat

Due to soil changes, high density planting, and the use of straw-returning methods, wheat common root rot (spot blotch), Fusarium crown rot (FCR), and sharp eyespot (sheath blight) have become severe threats to global wheat production. Only a few wheat genotypes show moderate resistance to these root and crown rot fungal diseases, and the genetic determinants of wheat resistance to these devastating diseases are poorly understood. This review summarizes recent results of genetic studies of wheat resistance to common root rot, Fusarium crown rot, and sharp eyespot. Wheat germplasm with relatively higher resistance are highlighted and genetic loci controlling the resistance to each disease are summarized

Real-Time Compensation for SLD Light-Power Fluctuation in an Interferometric Fiber-Optic Gyroscope

An interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) demodulates a rotation signal via interferometric light intensity. However, the working environments of IFOGs typically involve great uncertainty. Fluctuations in temperature, air pressure, electromagnetic field, and the power system all cause the power of the superluminescent diode (SLD) light source to fluctuate as well. In this invited paper, we studied the effects of SLD power fluctuation on the dynamic and static performance characteristics of a gyro system through the use of a light-power feedback loop. Fluctuations of 0.5 mA, 1 mA, and 5 mA in the SLD source entering the IFOG caused zero-bias stability to be 69, 135, and 679 times worse. We established an effective method to monitor power fluctuations of SLD light sources and to compensate for their effects without increasing hardware complexity or system cost. In brief, we established a real-time power-sensing and -compensating system. Experimental results showed that for every 0.1 mA increase in the fluctuation amplitude of the driving current, the zero-bias stability became 4 to 7 times worse, which could be reduced about 95% through the use of SLD power compensation

SIMULATION OF EFFECTS OF GRAIN DISTRIBUTION MORPHOLOGY ON FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF SHORT CRACKS AT WELD TOE (MT)

Fatigue cracks of the welded structure often initiate at the weld toe. Under the complex metallurgical-physical process, the grain sizes and their distribution morphology at the weld toe site show obvious variation. In order to investigate the influence of grain distribution morphology on the fatigue behavior of the weld toe short cracks, metallographic tests were carried out for different areas of the weld toe for the cruciform joint specimen to obtain the average grain sizes of the coarse-grain region and the fine-grain region. Two-dimensional representative volume element（RVE） models considering grain distribution morphology were constructed. Based on FIP parameters and McDowell model, the nucleation and fatigue propagation behavior of the weld toe short cracks with different grain distribution morphology were simulated. The results showed that grain size and orientation are important factors influencing the nucleation behavior of the weld toe short cracks. The grain distribution morphology has little effect on the early behavior of short cracks, but the effect is gradually significant with the cracks propagating to a certain threshold length. In general, the fine-to-coarse grain transition mode can reduce the growth rate of short cracks