The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on the Listening Skills of Lower-intermediate EFL Learners in Chinese Technical College: A Pilot Study

The dynamic assessment, based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and the concept of zone of proximal development, has been considered capable of unifying assessment and instruction in the development of the assessee. This study aims to explore whether dynamic assessment can promote the integration of listening comprehension assessment and instruction while at the same time enhance students’ study in listening. Five second-year English majors from a technical college in an underdeveloped area of a coastal province in China took part in the study. The assessment adopted the cake format in which participants were firstly played a length of audio material and asked to answer comprehension questions and verbalize their comprehending process. The researcher then intervened to mediate the task. Afterwards the participants were played the audio material again and asked to retell. This process continued until the listener gained sufficient understanding of the audio material. An analysis of the data from the researcher’s notes, students’ notes, students’ verbal reports and reflective reports revealed that dynamic assessment can provide both the researcher and the participants a better understanding of the problems in listening. The data also indicated that the researcher’s intervention and mediation geared at participants’ problems helped construct the mediated learning experience for the participants.  The conclusion is that dynamic assessment can realize the integration of listening comprehension assessment and instruction, and promote the development of students’ listening study at both macro- and micro-levels.

A Probabilistic Framework for Post-Disaster Functionality Recovery of Community Building Portfolios

One distinguished feature of a resilient community is its ability and rapidity to recover from severe natural hazard events. The building portfolio acts as a crucial link in supporting the overall recovery of a community, as on the one hand, it relies on communitys lifeline systems to maintain functionality, and on the other hand, it interfaces with people in the most direct manner to sustain social and economic vitality in the community. In this study, we introduce a probabilistic framework for postdisaster functionality recovery of community building portfolios, which at the same time allows the timevariant dependencies among different infrastructure systems (water, power, transportation, building portfolio) to be collectively reflected in the recovery outcome of the communitys building portfolio. The post-disaster functionality restoration at individual building level is modeled as a discrete-state, continuous time Markov Chain (CTMC). To capture the functional dependency of a building on the availability of utilities (i.e. water and power), as well as its restoration dependency on the efficiency of the transportation system, the time-variant system-level performances of these lifelines are first deaggregated (or downscaled) to each building site, then their impacts on building restoration are incorporated in the building-level CTMC. The CTMCs of all individual buildings can then be aggregated to obtain the overall building portfolio recovery trajectory and recovery time. Such coupling of physical systems of distinct topologies over a consistent spatial and temporal scale can provide a rich array of information to support community recovery planning in a systematic manner. Lastly, this framework is implemented to Shelby County, TN under a scenario earthquake event.This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0800200) and by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under Cooperative Agreement No. 70NANB15H044

Research on ricochet and its regularity of projectiles obliquely penetrating into concrete target

To address the ricochet problem in penetration process, the mathematical model of projectile penetrating into concrete target is established according to the basic kinetic equation and surface layer mechanism. The motion trajectory of projectile nose is obtained. Experimental studies on projectiles with different nose penetrating into concrete targets are conducted to explain the ricochet problem. These studies analyze fifty-four penetration conditions under different initial velocities and oblique angles when the projectiles have flat, hemispherical, ogive noses and conical noses. The regularity and critical angles of ricochet are analyzed with different nose shapes at different velocities. Results show that the ricochet angle increases depending on nose sharp and penetration velocity. The factors affecting the ricochet from big to small were analyzed via orthogonal test. The results show that with increasing the velocity from 652 m/s to 1022 m/s, the critical angle increases from 44° to 66°. The order of factors affecting the ricochet from big to small is the shape of the nose, the material of the projectiles and the penetrating velocity respectively

A Stochastic Approach to Model Household Re-occupancy in A Community Following A Natural Hazard

additionally, based on available social science studies, we further define a set of time-dependent conditional re-occupancy probability functions (CRPFs) that give the probability of a household re-occupying its pre-event dwelling units at any time conditional on the change in households JFS and its income level. Finally, the time-variant household-level re-occupancy probability is derived by solving the DTMC with partially absorbing boundary conditions described by the CRPFs. The community-level HRO is then obtained through aggregating the household-level re-occupancy state across the community over the recovery time horizon. The model will be further calibrated by data collected in ongoing field studies with an ultimate goal of supporting further researches on community resilience planning.The re-occupancy of displaced households in a community following a hazard event is a complex social process driven collectively by the functionality states of community building portfolios and supporting lifelines. This study presents a novel approach for household re-occupancy (HRO) modeling using discrete state, Discrete Time Markov Chain (DTMC). Our hypothesis is that the reoccupancy state of a displaced household at a post-event time is collectively determined by the joint functionality status (JFS) (of its related school(s), workplace(s) and pre-event dwelling unit) and by the resourcefulness of the household largely determined by its income level. Accordingly, we construct a one-step transition probability matrix of the DTMC modeling the households JFS as a function of the functionality states of its school(s), workplace(s) and pre-event dwelling unitThis research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0800200) and by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under Cooperative Agreement No. 70NANB15H044

Multi-omics Integrated Analysis of the Protective Effect of EZH2 inhibition in Mice with Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical syndrome associated with high morbidity and mortality. Inhibition of the methyltransferase Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2) by its inhibitor 3-DZNeP (3-Deazaneplanocin A) exerts renal benefits in acute renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). However, the underlying mechanisms is not completely known. This study aimed to elucidate the pathological mechanism of EZH2 in renal IRI by combination of multi-omics analysis and expression profiling in a public clinical cohort. Methods: In this study, C57BL/6J mice were used to establish acute kidney injury model, which were treated with 3-DZNeP for 24 hours. Kidney samples were collected for RNA-seq analysis, which was combined with publicly available EZH2-ChIP-seq data of mouse embryonic stem cell for a joint analysis to identify differentially expressed genes. Several selected differentially expressed genes were verified by quantitative PCR. Finally, single-nucleus sequencing data and expression profiling in public clinical datasets were used to confirm the negative correlation of the selected genes with EZH2 expression. Results: 3-DZNeP treatment significantly improved renal pathology and function in IRI mice. Through RNA-seq analysis combined with EZH2 ChIP-seq database, 162 differentially expressed genes were found, which might be involved in EZH2-mediated pathology in IRI kidneys. Four differential expressed genes (Scd1, Cidea, Ghr, and Kl) related to lipid metabolism or cell growth were selected based on GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, which were validated by quantitative PCR. Data from snRNA-seq revealed the negative correlation of these four genes with Ezh2 expression in different subpopulations of proximal tubular cells in IRI mice in different pattern. Finally, the negative correlation of these four genes with EZH2 expression was confirmed in patients with acute kidney injury in two clinical datasets. Conclusions: Our study indicates that Scd1, Cidea, Ghr, and Kl are downstream genes regulated by EZH2 in AKI. Upregulation of EZH2 in AKI inhibits the expression of these four genes in different population of proximal tubular cells to minimize normal physiological function, and promote acute or chronic cell injuries following acute kidney injury

Antibiotic-Induced Primary Biles Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Endoribonuclease Nsp15 Activity in Mouse Gut

The gut microbiome profile of COVID-19 patients was found to correlate with a viral load of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 severity, and dysfunctional immune responses, suggesting that gut microbiota may be involved in anti-infection. In order to investigate the role of gut microbiota in anti-infection against SARS-CoV-2, we established a high-throughput in vitro screening system for COVID-19 therapeutics by targeting the endoribonuclease (Nsp15). We also evaluated the activity inhibition of the target by substances of intestinal origin, using a mouse model in an attempt to explore the interactions between gut microbiota and SARS-CoV-2. The results unexpectedly revealed that antibiotic treatment induced the appearance of substances with Nsp15 activity inhibition in the intestine of mice. Comprehensive analysis based on functional profiling of the fecal metagenomes and endoribonuclease assay of antibiotic-enriched bacteria and metabolites demonstrated that the Nsp15 inhibitors were the primary bile acids that accumulated in the gut as a result of antibiotic-induced deficiency of bile acid metabolizing microbes. This study provides a new perspective on the development of COVID-19 therapeutics using primary bile acids

Challenges to Effective Education in Secondary Schools in China

China’s education system has received recent attention from around the world. Educators in the US are interested in getting to know more about Asian pedagogy – a test-centered ethos with a rigorous focus on math, science and engineering. At the same time Chinese educators are trying to blend a western emphasis on critical thinking, problem-solving etc skills and extra curricular and community-oriented pursuit into their own tradition. While most of the research in the US is focused on positive aspects of education in China, this paper looks specifically at the challenges Chinese education is facing. The focus is teachers, the current teacher training in China and commonly shared views of effective teachers. The hope is that there will be interest in a creative mix of the best of the East and the West in both Chinese and the US secondary education for benefit of all

Identification and characterization of a novel transcript isoform of STING that suppresses innate immune response

DNA derived from microbial pathogens constitutes a danger signal in the cytosol to be detected by DNA sensors, such as cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), DDX41, IFI16 and Mre11. Following the detection of cytosolic DNA, cGAS can produce endogenous cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) 2’3’-cGAMP, which directly binds to stimulator of IFN genes (STING), also known as TMEM173, MPYS, MITA or ERIS, to induce the production of type I interferons (IFNs) and pro-inflammatory cytokines through IRF3 and NF-κB pathways. STING also functions as a direct sensor of bacterial CDNs such as c-di-GMP and c-di-AMP. DDX41, IFI16, and Mre11 also associate with STING to induce type I IFN production. STING therefore plays a central role in DNA-induced innate immune signaling pathways. However, innate immunity is a double-edged sword. To avoid excessive innate immune activation that may result in inflammation and tissue damage, STING activity should be tightly controlled. Although several regulators of STING have been reported, more studies are still necessary in order to get a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of STING activity. In this study, I identified and characterized a novel transcript isoform of STING designated STINGβ, which functions as a dominant inhibitor of the original STINGα isoform. STINGβ transcript was found to be widely expressed in different cell lines and human tissues. Importantly, the expression of STINGβ was inversely correlated with IFNβ induction in cells infected with Sendai virus (SeV), herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) or vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). The mRNA level of STINGβ, but not SITNGα, was also dampened in peripheral blood leukocytes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. STINGβ was expressed from its own promoter regulated independently of STINGα. Although STINGβ has no transmembrane domain, it was also found to localize primarily in the endoplasmic reticulum together with SITNGα. Functionally, STINGβ effectively suppressed the production of type I IFNs and pro-inflammatory cytokines by inhibiting the activation of IRF3 and NF-κB pathways induced by STINGα, RIG-I-like receptors and TRIF as well as CDNs and various RNA and DNA viruses. STINGβ also inhibited the phosphorylation of TBK1 and IRF3 induced by these stimuli. By co-immunoprecipitation, STINGβ was shown to interact with STINGα, MAVS, TBK1 and IKKε. In HeLa cells, STINGβ co-localized with both STINGα and TBK1. Overexpression of STINGβ prevented TBK1 from complex formation with STINGα or TRIF. Both STINGα and STINGβ were pulled-down by 2’3’-cGAMP agarose. Moreover, overexpression of STINGβ reduced the binding affinity of STINGα to 2’3’-cGAMP. STINGβ also antagonized the antiviral function of STINGα. Depletion of STINGβ could boost the induction of type I IFNs by cytosolic DNA and enhanced antiviral effect. Taken together, STINGβ generated by alternative transcriptional initiation functions as a physiological suppressor of innate immune response.published_or_final_versionBiochemistryDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph

Microsoft Word - 21410_0_art_file_1_1139507572.doc

Abstract This paper investigates the potential of various approaches for improving sweep in parts of the Daqing Oil Field that have been EOR targets. Possibilities included (1) gel treatments that are directed at channeling through fractures, (2) colloidal dispersion gels, (3) reduced polymer degradation, (4) more viscous polymer solutions, and (5) foams and other methods. Our studies indicated that the polymer flood should have provided excellent sweep throughout the vast majority of the patterns under consideration. However, since ASP flooding is being considered to increase recovery efficiency from the Daqing Oil Field, mobility control and sweep improvement will be especially important and challenging during implementation of any future ASP process. Fractures were present in a number of Daqing wells (both injectors and producers). Because the fractures were narrow far from the wellbore, severe channeling did not occur. On the contrary, fractures near the wellbore aided reservoir sweep. These near-wellbore fractures substantially increased the injectivity index during injection of polymer solutions and increased oil productivity index in the production wells. These observations may be valuable during implementation of future floods where very low-mobility chemical (i.e., ASP) banks must be injected to maintain mobility control. Several modes of polymer degradation were considered, with mechanical (shear) degradation being of most concern. Appropriate use of near-wellbore fractures may effectively mitigate mechanical degradation, as well as improving injectivity. Several new polymers show potential for cost-effective improvements at Daqing. Increased polymer concentration was also considered. A number of other approaches are (or have been) under investigation, including colloidal dispersion gels, foams, ASP foams, steam, microbes, and polymer solutions prepared with reduced salinity. Introduction Laboratory research began in the 1960s, investigating the potential of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes in the Daqing Oil Field. Use of polymer flooding was identified as a key method to improve areal and vertical sweep efficiency, as well as providing mobility control. 1 Consequently, the world's largest polymer flood was implemented at Daqing, beginning in 1996. 2,3 By 2004, 22.7% of total production from the Daqing Oil Field was attributed to polymer flooding. Polymer flooding should boost the ultimate recovery for the field to over 50% original oil in place (OOIP)-10% OOIP more than from waterflooding. Alkaline/surfactant/polymer flooding (ASP) has also experienced extensive laboratory testing in China. The ASP technique was gradually perfected for application at Daqing and has been pilot tested on a large scale. Although field tests of polymer and ASP flooding have been very successful at Daqing, concerns about sweep efficiency persist-particularly the possibility of channeling expensive chemical formulations through the reservoir. Therefore, the sweep efficiency at Daqing is receiving intense scrutiny, and possibilities for improvement are being considered. In this paper, we examine the nature of reservoir sweep in parts of the Daqing Oil Field that have been EOR targets. We investigate the potential of various approaches for improving sweep, including (1) gel treatments that are directed at channeling through fractures, (2) colloidal dispersion gels, (3) reduced polymer degradation, (4) more viscous polymer solutions, and (5) foams and other methods (e.g., thermal and microbial techniques). Our objective is to establish better options for improving sweep in the main producing zone in the future. Sweep Efficiency in the Daqing Oil Field Stratification. What is the nature of the sweep efficiency problem at Daqing? This study focused on the Eastern Berxi polymer flooding area of the Daqing field-specifically on 17 production wells and 8 injection wells. Layer PI, a principal target for EOR at Daqing, is composed of up to seven named "zones." The gross pay for Layer PI varied between 18 and 33 SPE 9944

Incorporating N Atoms into SnO2 Nanostructure as an Approach to Enhance Gas Sensing Property for Acetone

The development of high-performance acetone gas sensor is of great significance for environmental protection and personal safety. SnO2 has been intensively applied in chemical sensing areas, because of its low cost, high mobility of electrons, and good chemical stability. Herein, we incorporated nitrogen atoms into the SnO2 nanostructure by simple solvothermal and subsequent calcination to improve gas sensing property for acetone. The crystallization, morphology, element composition, and microstructure of as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), Raman spectroscopy, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS), and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method. It has been found that N-incorporating resulted in decreased crystallite size, reduced band-gap width, increased surface oxygen vacancies, enlarged surface area, and narrowed pore size distribution. When evaluated as gas sensor, nitrogen-incorporated SnO2 nanostructure exhibited excellent sensitivity for acetone gas at the optimal operating temperature of 300 °C with high sensor response (Rair/Rgas − 1 = 357) and low limit of detection (7 ppb). The nitrogen-incorporated SnO2 gas sensor shows a good selectivity to acetone in the interfering gases of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, hydrogen, and methane. Furthermore, the possible gas-sensing mechanism of N-incorporated SnO2 toward acetone has been carefully discussed