118 research outputs found
Critical thinking in Chinese higher education: a case study of knowledge transfer
The issue of critical thinking (CT) amongst Chinese students has emerged as an important topic among educators. While there is some literature on CT and Chinese students’ performance, no study has tackled how this increasing focus on CT is impacting on higher education in China and what CT means to policy makers, teachers and students. This thesis sets out to fill this gap using insights from the theory of knowledge transfer. This theoretical framework was chosen in order to examine the ways in which Western CT theory and practice is gradually being imported to and integrated into Chinese culture, largely focusing on the understanding of CT. Using a case study approach, the thesis reports on empirical findings that have emerged from analysing Chinese Ministry of Education press releases and mission statements, observing university CT classes and studying chats about CT on a student internet discussion forum. Findings show that: 1. some core aspects of modern Western approaches to CT, such as how to deal with uncertainty, are missing in Chinese teaching; 2. disposition and emotion are sidelined in favour of a strong focus on logic and reason, and their inseparable relationship to reasoning ability found by Western scholars was neglected. 3. CT is regarded as crucial by Chinese educators and students but currently the teaching fails to make CT accessible and interesting to students and might therefore not foster CT itself. These findings have important implications for how policy makers and educators might continue to implement and teach CT in China
EREG is a risk factor for the prognosis of patients with cervical cancer
BackgroundCervical cancer continues to threaten women's health worldwide. Identifying critical oncogenic molecules is important to drug development and prognosis prediction for patients with cervical cancer. Recent studies have demonstrated that epiregulin (EREG) is upregulated in various cancer types, which contributes to cancer progression by triggering the EGFR signaling pathway. However, the role of EREG is still unclear.MethodsIn this study, we first conducted a comprehensive biological analysis to investigate the expression of EREG in cervical cancer. Then, we investigated the correlations between EREG expression level and clinicopathological features. In addition, we validated the effects of EREG expression on the proliferation and apoptosis of cervical cancer cells.ResultsBased on the public database, we found that the expression of EREG was higher in advanced cervical cancer samples. Survival analysis showed that EREG was a risk factor for the prognosis of cervical cancer. In vitro experiments demonstrated that EREG knockdown undermined proliferation and promoted apoptosis in cancer cells.ConclusionEREG plays a vital role in the progression of cervical cancer, which contributes to hyperactive cell proliferation and decreased cell apoptosis. It might be a valuable target for prognosis prediction and drug development for cervical cancer in the future
Characterization of the parent and hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the soil of the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) were investigated in the soil of the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica. Various analytes were detected, and the concentration of OH-PAHs was 0.300–1.847 ng·g−1 dry weight, with the dominant components being danthron and 1-hydroxy-phenanthrene. The relationship between soil total organic matter (TOM), OH-PAHs, and the parent PAHs in the soil was studied. No significant correlation was detected between the spatial distribution of OH-PAHs and the occurrence of PAHs, whereas a positive correlation with TOM was found
Evaluation of Fengyun-3C Soil Moisture Products Using In-Situ Data from the Chinese Automatic Soil Moisture Observation Stations: A Case Study in Henan Province, China
Soil moisture (SM) products derived from passive satellite missions are playing an increasingly important role in agricultural applications, especially crop monitoring and disaster warning. Evaluating the dependability of satellite-derived soil moisture products on a large scale is crucial. In this study, we assessed the level 2 (L2) SM product from the Chinese Fengyun-3C (FY-3C) radiometer against in-situ measurements collected from the Chinese Automatic Soil Moisture Observation Stations (CASMOS) during a one-year period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 across Henan in China. In contrast, we also investigated the skill of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) and Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) SM products simultaneously. Four statistical parameters were used to evaluate these products’ reliability: mean difference, root-mean-square error (RMSE), unbiased RMSE (ubRMSE), and the correlation coefficient. Our assessment results revealed that the FY-3C L2 SM product generally showed a poor correlation with the in-situ SM data from CASMOS on both temporal and spatial scales. The AMSR2 L3 SM product of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) algorithm had a similar level of skill as FY-3C in the study area. The SMAP L3 SM product outperformed the FY-3C temporally but showed lower performance in capturing the SM spatial variation. A time-series analysis indicated that the correlations and estimated error varied systematically through the growing periods of the key crops in our study area. FY-3C L2 SM data tended to overestimate soil moisture during May, August, and September when the crops reached maximum vegetation density and tended to underestimate the soil moisture content during the rest of the year. The comparison between the statistical parameters and the ground vegetation water content (VWC) further showed that the FY-3C SM product performed much better under a low VWC condition (0.3 kg/m2), and the performance generally decreased with increased VWC. To improve the accuracy of the FY-3C SM product, an improved algorithm that can better characterize the variations of the ground VWC should be applied in the future
Quantitative analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in neoadjuvant treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer: a retrospective study
PurposeTo explore the clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) quantitative analysis in the evaluation and prognosis of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC).MethodsEighty-three consecutive patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and total mesorectal excision for LARC were retrospectively included. According to pathological results, patients were categorized into complete or incomplete response groups. Differences in ultrasonic parameters, pathological results, and clinical data between groups were evaluated. The cutoff point for a complete response as determined by quantitative analysis of CEUS was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic curve; additionally, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed.ResultsOf the 83 patients, 12 (14.5%) achieved a complete response and 71 (85.5%) did not. There were significant between-group differences in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, differentiation degree, proportion of tumor occupying the lumen, anterior-posterior and superior-inferior diameters of the lesion, and intensity of enhancement (P<0.05). CEUS quantitative analysis showed significant between-group differences in peak intensity (PI) and area under the curve (AUC) values (P<0.05). The OS and PFS of patients with high PI, high AUC value, and poorly differentiated cancer were significantly worse than those with low PI, low AUC values, and moderately to highly differentiated cancer (P<0.05). High CEA levels (hazard ratio: 1.02, 95% confidence interval: 1.01–1.04; P=0.002) and low differentiation (2.72, 1.12–6.62; P=0.028) were independent risk factors for PFS and OS.ConclusionsCEUS can predict the response to neoadjuvant treatment in patients with LARC. CEUS quantitative analysis is helpful for clinical prognosis
In-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite
The Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters (CATCH) space mission plans
to launch three types of micro-satellites (A, B, and C). The type-B CATCH
satellites are dedicated to locating transients and detecting their
time-dependent energy spectra. A type-B satellite is equipped with lightweight
Wolter-I X-ray optics and an array of position-sensitive multi-pixel Silicon
Drift Detectors. To optimize the scientific payloads for operating properly in
orbit and performing the observations with high sensitivities, this work
performs an in-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite using
the Geant4 toolkit. It shows that the persistent background is dominated by the
cosmic X-ray diffuse background and the cosmic-ray protons. The dynamic
background is also estimated considering trapped charged particles in the
radiation belts and low-energy charged particles near the geomagnetic equator,
which is dominated by the incident electrons outside the aperture. The
simulated persistent background within the focal spot is used to estimate the
observation sensitivity, i.e. 4.2210 erg cm s
with an exposure of 10 s and a Crab-like source spectrum, which can be
utilized further to optimize the shielding design. The simulated in-orbit
background also suggests that the magnetic diverter just underneath the optics
may be unnecessary in this kind of micro-satellites, because the dynamic
background induced by charged particles outside the aperture is around 3 orders
of magnitude larger than that inside the aperture.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in
Experimental Astronom
The mHz quasi-regular modulations of 4U 1630--47 during its 1998 outburst
We present the results of a detailed timing and spectral analysis of the
quasi-regular modulation (QRM) phenomenon in the black hole X-ray binary 4U
1630--47 during its 1998 outburst observed by Rossi X-ray Timing Explore
(RXTE). We find that the 50-110 mHz QRM is flux dependent, and the QRM
is detected with simultaneous low frequency quasi-periodic oscillations
(LFQPOs). According to the behavior of the power density spectrum, we divide
the observations into four groups. In the first group, namely behavior A,
LFQPOs are detected, but no mHz QRM. The second group, namely behavior B, a QRM
with frequency above 88 mHz is detected and the 5 Hz and 7
Hz LFQPOs are almost overlapping. In the third group, namely behavior C, the
QRM frequency below 88 mHz is detected and the LFQPOs are significantly
separated. In the forth group, namely behavior D, neither QRM nor LFQPOs are
detected. We study the energy-dependence of the fractional rms, centroid
frequency, and phase-lag of QRM and LFQPOs for behavior B and C. We then study
the evolution of QRM and find that the frequency of QRM increases with
hardness, while its rms decreases with hardness. We also analyze the spectra of
each observation, and find that the QRM rms of behavior B has a positive
correlation with / . Finally, we give
our understanding for this mHz QRM phenomena.Comment: 14pages, 15 figure
The invasion of tobacco mosaic virus RNA induces endoplasmic reticulum stress-related autophagy in HeLa cells
The ability of human cells to defend against viruses originating from distant species has long been ignored. Owing to the pressure of natural evolution and human exploration, some of these viruses may be able to invade human beings. If their ‘fresh’ host had no defences, the viruses could cause a serious pandemic, as seen with HIV, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and avian influenza virus that originated from chimpanzees, the common palm civet and birds, respectively. It is unknown whether the human immune system could tolerate invasion with a plant virus. To model such an alien virus invasion, we chose TMV (tobacco mosaic virus) and used human epithelial carcinoma cells (HeLa cells) as its ‘fresh’ host. We established a reliable system for transfecting TMV-RNA into HeLa cells and found that TMV-RNA triggered autophagy in HeLa cells as shown by the appearance of autophagic vacuoles, the conversion of LC3-I (light chain protein 3-I) to LC3-II, the up-regulated expression of Beclin1 and the accumulation of TMV protein on autophagosomal membranes. We observed suspected TMV virions in HeLa cells by TEM (transmission electron microscopy). Furthermore, we found that TMV-RNA was translated into CP (coat protein) in the ER (endoplasmic reticulum) and that TMV-positive RNA translocated from the cytoplasm to the nucleolus. Finally, we detected greatly increased expression of GRP78 (78 kDa glucose-regulated protein), a typical marker of ERS (ER stress) and found that the formation of autophagosomes was closely related to the expanded ER membrane. Taken together, our data indicate that HeLa cells used ERS and ERS-related autophagy to defend against TMV-RNA
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