Promoting Sustainable Creativity: An Empirical Study on the Application of Mind Mapping Tools in Graphic Design Education

The development of creative thinking and creative problem solving is an important part of modern sustainable education. In teaching graphic design, educators should ensure the cultivation of sustainable creativity among students. Creative thinking and program development can be facilitated with the help of effective thinking tools. Among the various thinking tools, mind maps represent an easy-to-use visual diagram-based divergent thinking tool. However, few studies have examined the impact of mind maps on sustainable creativity in the design discipline. Similarly, few empirical studies have been conducted to analyse deeply the functional structure of and a graphic design education based on mind mapping. This study aims to examine the relation between students’ use of mind mapping tools and sustainable creativity in implementing mind mapping-based graphic design activities with a sample size of 35 first-year design students. Through an empirical experiment, each student was asked to create a mind map and generate a new graphic design work based on the given experimental materials. The results showed that the mind mapping tool plays an important role in the pre-conceptualization phase of the design process. This tool can effectively help designers develop creative ideas, stimulate their minds, and help them maintain their creative energy and have a sustainable and innovative creative ability

Design and Development of an Intelligent Skipping Rope and Service System for Pupils

Regular physical activity (PA) contributes to health, growth and development in childhood and it is essential for children to achieve appropriate PA levels (PAL). However, most children around the world fail to comply with the recommended PAL requirements. Rope skipping, as a highly accessible, enjoyable, and affordable physical activity for students, has been considered a sustainable afterschool physical activity to promote physical fitness of students by educators. The booming development of smart fitness product design and the advent of exergames have brought new possibilities for physical education and rope skipping: personalized guidance, intuitive and interesting feedback and visualized exercise data analysis—there is much room for optimization. In this study, an intelligent skipping rope and its service system were studied for primary school students (aged 7–12) who started to get involved in this sport. First, user needs, product functions, and system requirement were summarized by conducting observations and user interviews. Then, a prototype of the hardware and software interface were designed based on analysis of user research. Next, a usability test of the interactive prototype was carried out and optimization was finally made based on the feedback of the usability evaluation. The final system design includes combined innovations in software and hardware with the intention to increase children’s participation in physical activity and assist them in skipping rope in the right way with proper equipment and programs

Cs(I) Cation Enhanced Cu(II) Catalysis of Water Oxidation

We report here a new catalytic water oxidation system based on Cu­(II) ions and a remarkable countercation effect on the catalysis. In a concentrated fluoride solution at neutral to weakly basic pHs, simple Cu­(II) salts are highly active and robust in catalyzing water oxidation homogeneously. F^– in solution acts as a proton acceptor and an oxidatively robust ligand. F^– coordination prevents precipitation of Cu­(II) as CuF₂/Cu­(OH)₂ and lowers potentials for accessing high-oxidation-state Cu by delocalizing the oxidative charge over F^– ligands. Significantly, the catalytic current is greatly enhanced in a solution of CsF compared to those of KF and NaF. Although countercations are not directly involved in the catalytic redox cycle, UV–vis and ¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance measurements reveal that coordination of F^– to Cu­(II) is dependent on countercations by Coulombic interaction. A less intense interaction between F^– and well-solvated Cs⁺ as compared with Na⁺ and K⁺ leads to a more intense coordination of F^– to Cu­(II), which accounts for the improved catalytic performance

Favorable alleles mining for gelatinization temperature, gel consistency and amylose content in Oryza sativa by association mapping

Abstract Background Improving the gelatinization temperature (GT), gel consistency (GC) and amylose content (AC) for parental grain eating and cooking qualities (ECQs) are key factors for enhancing average grain ECQs for hybrid japonica rice. Results In this study, a genome-wide association mapping (GWAS) for ECQs was performed on a selected sample of 462 rice accessions in 5 environments using 262 simple sequence repeat markers. We identified 10 loci and 27 favorable alleles for GT, GC and AC, and some of these loci were overlapped with starch synthesis-related genes. Four SSR loci for the GT trait were distributed on chromosomes 3, 5, 8, and 9, of which two SSR loci were novel. Two SSR loci associated with the GC trait were distributed on chromosomes 3 and 6, although only one SSR locus was novel. Four SSR loci associated with the AC trait were distributed on chromosomes 3, 6, 10, and 11, of which three SSR loci were novel. The novel loci RM6712 and RM6327 were simultaneously identified in more than 2 environments and were potentially reliable QTLs for ECQs, with 15 parental combinations being predicted. These QTLs and parental combinations should be used in molecular breeding to improve japonica rice average ECQs. Conclusions Among the 10 SSR loci associated with GT, GC and AC for grain ECQs detected in 27 favorable alleles, the favorable allele RM3600-90bp on chromosome 9 could significantly reduce GT, RM5753-115bp on chromosome 6 could significantly increase GC, and RM6327-230bp on chromosome 11 could significantly reduce AC in hybrid japonica rice mixed rice samples

Efficient Nonfullerene Organic Solar Cells with Small Driving Forces for Both Hole and Electron Transfer

State-of-the-art organic solar cells (OSCs) typically suffer from large voltage loss (V-loss) compared to their inorganic and perovskite counterparts. There are some successful attempts to reduce the V-loss by decreasing the energy offsets between the donor and acceptor materials, and the OSC community has demonstrated efficient systems with either small highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) offset or negligible lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) offset between donors and acceptors. However, efficient OSCs based on a donor/acceptor system with both small HOMO and LUMO offsets have not been demonstrated simultaneously. In this work, an efficient nonfullerene OSC is reported based on a donor polymer named PffBT2T-TT and a small-molecular acceptor (O-IDTBR), which have identical bandgaps and close energy levels. The Fourier-transform photocurrent spectroscopy external quantum efficiency (FTPS-EQE) spectrum of the blend overlaps with those of neat PffBT2T-TT and O-IDTBR, indicating the small driving forces for both hole and electron transfer. Meanwhile, the OSCs exhibit a high electroluminescence quantum efficiency (EQE(EL)) of approximate to 1 x 10(-4), which leads to a significantly minimized nonradiative V-loss of 0.24 V. Despite the small driving forces and a low V-loss, a maximum EQE of 67% and a high power conversion efficiency of 10.4% can still be achieved.Funding Agencies|National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2013CB834701, 2014CB643501]; Shenzhen Technology and Innovation Commission [JCYJ20170413173814007, JCYJ20170818113905024]; Hong Kong Research Grants Council [T23-407/13 N, N_HKUST623/13, 16305915, 16322416, 606012, 16306117, 16303917]; HK JEBN Limited, HKUST presidents office [FP201]; National Science Foundation of China [21374090]; Swedish Energy Agency Energimyndigheten [2016-010174]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009-00971]; Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission [ITC-CNERC14SC01, ITS/083/15]</p

Pathway Construction in <i>Corynebacterium glutamicum</i> and Strain Engineering To Produce Rare Sugars from Glycerol

Rare sugars are valuable natural products widely used in pharmaceutical and food industries. In this study, we expected to synthesize rare ketoses from abundant glycerol using dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP)-dependent aldolases. First, a new glycerol assimilation pathway was constructed to synthesize DHAP. The enzymes which convert glycerol to 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde and l-glyceraldehyde were selected, and their corresponding aldehyde synthesis pathways were constructed in vivo. Four aldol pathways based on different aldolases and phosphorylase were gathered. Next, three pathways were assembled and the resulting strains synthesized 5-deoxypsicose, 5-deoxysorbose, and 5-deoxyfructose from glucose and glycerol and produce l-fructose, l-tagatose, l-sorbose, and l-psicose with glycerol as the only carbon source. To achieve higher product titer and yield, the recombinant strains were further engineered and fermentation conditions were optimized. Fed-batch culture of engineered strains obtained 38.1 g/L 5-deoxypsicose with a yield of 0.91 ± 0.04 mol product per mol of glycerol and synthesized 20.8 g/L l-fructose, 10.3 g/L l-tagatose, 1.2 g/L l-sorbose, and 0.95 g/L l-psicose

New insights into the non-enzymatic function of HDAC6

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is a class IIb histone deacetylase that contains two catalytic domains and a zinc-finger ubiquitin binding domain (ZnF-UBP) domain. The deacetylation function of HDAC6 has been extensively studied with common substrates such as α-tubulin, cortactin, and Hsp90. Apart from its deacetylase activity, HDAC6 ZnF-UBP binds to unanchored ubiquitin of specific sequences and serves as a carrier for transporting aggregated proteins. As a result, aggresomes are formed and protein degradation is facilitated by the autophagy-lysosome pathway. This HDAC6-dependent microtubule transport can be used by cells to assemble and activate inflammasomes, which play a critical role in immune regulation. Even viruses can benefit from the carrier of HDAC6 to assist in uncoating their surfaces during their infection cycle. However, HDAC6 is also capable of blocking virus invasion and replication in a non-enzymatic manner. Given these non-enzymatic functions, HDAC6 is closely associated with various diseases, including neurodegeneration, inflammasome-associated diseases, cancer, and viral infections. Small molecule inhibitors targeting the ubiquitin binding pocket of HDAC6 have been investigated. In this review, we focus on mechanisms in non-enzymatic functions of HDAC6 and discuss the rationality and prospects of therapeutic strategies by intervening the activation of HDAC6 ZnF-UBP in concrete diseases

Identification of triaxial strongly deformed bands in ¹⁶⁴Hf

Two new rotational bands of distinct character have been identified in Hf-164. They are suggested to correspond to the long-anticipated triaxial strongly deformed (TSD) bands predicted by theoretical studies. The bands have been linked to known states, and the level spins and energies could be determined. The bands are also substantially stronger in intensity and are located at lower spins than the previously observed TSD bands in Hf-168, hereby making Hf-164 the best even-even system so far for the study of TSD structures in the A similar to 160 mass region. Cranking calculations based on the modified-oscillator model suggest that the bands are associated with four-quasiparticle configurations that involve high-j intruder (i(13/2))(2) proton orbitals