VLOG-BASED EFL TEACHING MODEL FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: IMPACT ON SPEAKING SKILLS AND ENGAGEMENT

This study aims to investigate the efficacy of a vlog-based teaching model in enhancing oral speaking skills and engagement among university students in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. With the digital technologies reshaping educational methodologies, this research integrates vlogs (video blog) into EFL teaching to build a more engaging learning path. The study was conducted over a semester with 30 university EFL learners in China, employing a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the impact of vlog-based learning. Pre-and-post oral speaking tests were administered to assess improvements in students' language proficiency, while questionnaires measured levels of engagement and motivation. Initial findings suggest that the vlog-based teaching model significantly improved students' speaking skills and heightened their engagement in learning English, indicating a promising avenue for digital media integration in language education. This paper contributes to the evolving field of digital media in EFL teaching, offering insights into the potential of vlogs to enrich language learning experiences and outcomes

VLOG-BASED EFL TEACHING MODEL FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: IMPACT ON SPEAKING SKILLS AND ENGAGEMENT

This study aims to investigate the efficacy of a vlog-based teaching model in enhancing oral speaking skills and engagement among university students in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. With the digital technologies reshaping educational methodologies, this research integrates vlogs (video blog) into EFL teaching to build a more engaging learning path. The study was conducted over a semester with 30 university EFL learners in China, employing a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the impact of vlog-based learning. Pre-and-post oral speaking tests were administered to assess improvements in students' language proficiency, while questionnaires measured levels of engagement and motivation. Initial findings suggest that the vlog-based teaching model significantly improved students' speaking skills and heightened their engagement in learning English, indicating a promising avenue for digital media integration in language education. This paper contributes to the evolving field of digital media in EFL teaching, offering insights into the potential of vlogs to enrich language learning experiences and outcomes

A Study of Taxi Service Mode Choice Based on Evolutionary Game Theory

The emergence of online car-hailing service provides an innovative approach to vehicle booking but has negatively influenced the taxi industry in China. This paper modeled taxi service mode choice based on evolutionary game theory (EGT). The modes included the dispatching and online car-hailing modes. We constructed an EGT framework, including determining the strategies and the payoff matrix. We introduced different behaviors, including taxi company management, driver operation, and passenger choice. This allowed us to model the impact of these behaviors on the evolving process of service mode choice. The results show that adjustments in taxi company, driver, and passenger behaviors impact the evolutionary path and convergence speed of our evolutionary game model. However, it also reveals that, regardless of adjustments, the stable states in the game model remain unchanged. The conclusion provides a basis for studying taxi system operation and management. Document type: Articl

Microstructure evolution and surface cleaning of Cu nanoparticles during micro-fields activated sintering technology

For the purpose of extensive utilization of powder metallurgy to micro/nano- fabrication of materials, the micro gear was prepared by a novel method, named as micro- forming fields activated sintering technology (Micro-FAST). Surface-cleaning of particles, especially during the initial stage of sintering, is a crucial issue for the densification mechanism. However, up to date, the mechanism of surface-cleaning is too complicated to be known. In this paper, the process of surface-cleaning of Micro-FAST was studied, employing the high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) for observation of microstructure of micro-particles. According to the evolution of the microstructure, surface-cleaning is mainly ascribed to the effect of electro-thermal focusing. The process of surface-cleaning is achieved through rearrangement of grains, formation of vacancy, migration of vacancy and enhancement of electro-thermal focusing

Hybrid Representation Learning for Cognitive Diagnosis in Late-Life Depression Over 5 Years with Structural MRI

Late-life depression (LLD) is a highly prevalent mood disorder occurring in older adults and is frequently accompanied by cognitive impairment (CI). Studies have shown that LLD may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the heterogeneity of presentation of geriatric depression suggests that multiple biological mechanisms may underlie it. Current biological research on LLD progression incorporates machine learning that combines neuroimaging data with clinical observations. There are few studies on incident cognitive diagnostic outcomes in LLD based on structural MRI (sMRI). In this paper, we describe the development of a hybrid representation learning (HRL) framework for predicting cognitive diagnosis over 5 years based on T1-weighted sMRI data. Specifically, we first extract prediction-oriented MRI features via a deep neural network, and then integrate them with handcrafted MRI features via a Transformer encoder for cognitive diagnosis prediction. Two tasks are investigated in this work, including (1) identifying cognitively normal subjects with LLD and never-depressed older healthy subjects, and (2) identifying LLD subjects who developed CI (or even AD) and those who stayed cognitively normal over five years. To the best of our knowledge, this is among the first attempts to study the complex heterogeneous progression of LLD based on task-oriented and handcrafted MRI features. We validate the proposed HRL on 294 subjects with T1-weighted MRIs from two clinically harmonized studies. Experimental results suggest that the HRL outperforms several classical machine learning and state-of-the-art deep learning methods in LLD identification and prediction tasks

Fabrication of equiatomic FeCo alloy parts with high magnetic properties by fields activated sintering

Electrical field activated sintering technology combined with micro-forming (Micro-FAST), as a new rapid powder sintering/forming method, is used to fabricate FeCo alloy parts. The successfully prepared FeCo parts have a high saturation of 214.11 emu/g and a low coercivity of 16 Oe, and these values are 20% and 10% higher than that of commercially available FeCoV alloy parts on the saturation and coercivity respectively. During the sintering process, the high current application shortened the densification time and enhanced the uniformity of the microstructure significantly. The grain sizes of FeCo alloys were in a range of 5–6 mm, and good isotropy was also shown. The low angle grain boundary (LAGB) accounted for more than 30% and the low angle misorientation accounted for more than 30% of the sample parts. Furthermore, the formation of the nano B2 phase was promoted during the Micro-FAST, and the size of the B2 phase was about 5 nm. The coherent interface between a and B2 was conducive for reducing the coercivity. As a consequence, the outstanding microstructure formed by Micro-FAST makes the FeCo alloys have high saturation and low coercivity

A mechanochemical synthesis of submicron-sized Li2S and a mesoporous Li2S/C hybrid for high performance lithium/sulfur battery cathodes

Lithium sulfide, Li2S, is a promising cathode material for lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs), with a high theoretical capacity of 1166 mA h g−1. However, it suffers from low cycling stability, low-rate capability and high initial activation potential. In addition, commercially available Li2S is of high cost and of large size, over ten microns, which further exacerbate its shortcomings as a sulfur cathode. Exploring new approaches to fabricate small-sized Li2S of low cost and to achieve Li2S cathodes of high electrochemical performance is highly desired. This work reports a novel mechanochemical method for synthesizing Li2S of high purity and submicron size by ball-milling LiH with sulfur in an Ar atmosphere at room temperature. By further milling the as-synthesized Li2S with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) followed by carbonization of PAN at 1000 °C, a Li2S/C hybrid with nano-sized Li2S embedded in a mesoporous carbon matrix is achieved. The hybrid with Li2S as high as 74 wt% shows a high initial capacity of 971 mA h g−1 at 0.1C and retains a capacity of 570 mA h g−1 after 200 cycles as a cathode material for LSBs. A capacity of 610 mA h g−1 is obtained at 1C. The synthesis method of Li2S is facile, environmentally benign, and of high output and low cost. The present work opens a new route for the scalable fabrication of submicron-sized Li2S and for the development of high performance Li2S-based cathodes

A novel triplex real-time PCR assay for the differentiation of lumpy skin disease virus, goatpox virus, and sheeppox virus

IntroductionThree members of Capripoxvirus (CaPV) genus, including lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), goatpox virus (GTPV), and sheeppox virus (SPPV), are mentioned as notifiable forms by World Organization for Animal Health. These viruses have negatively impacted ruminant farming industry worldwide, causing great economic losses. Although SPPV and GTPV cause more severe clinical disease in only one animal species, they can transfer between sheep and goats. Both homologous and heterologous immunization strategies are used to protect animals against CaPVs. However, development of accurate and rapid methods to distinguish these three viruses is helpful for the early detection, disease surveillance, and control of CaPV infection. Therefore, we developed a novel triplex real-time PCR (qPCR) for the differentiation of LSDV, GTPV, and SPPV.MethodsUniversal primers were designed to detect pan-CaPV sequences. Species-specific minor groove binder (MGB)-based probes were designed, which were labeled with FAM for LSDV, HEX for GTPV, and ROX for SPPV. The sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility, and ability of detecting mixed infections were evaluated for the triplex qPCR. Further, 226 clinical samples of the infection and negative controls were subjected to the triplex qPCR, and the results were verified using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and sequencing methods for PRO30 gene.ResultsThe triplex qPCR could successfully distinguish LSDV, GTPV, and SPPV in one reaction, and the assay sensitivity was 5.41, 27.70, and 17.28 copies/μL, respectively. No cross-reactivity was observed with other viruses causing common ruminant diseases, including des petits ruminants virus, foot-and-mouth disease virus, bluetongue virus, ovine contagious pustular dermatitis virus, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus, and bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease virus. Inter-and intra-assay variabilities were < 2.5%. The results indicated that the triplex qPCR was highly specific, sensitive, and reproducible. Simulation experiments revealed that this assay could successfully distinguish two or three viruses in case of mixed infections without any cross-reaction. For clinical samples, the results were completely consistent with the results of PCR-RFLP and sequencing. This demonstrated that the assay was reliable for clinical application.DiscussionThe triplex qPCR is a robust, rapid, and simple tool for identifying various types of CaPV as it can successfully distinguish LSDV, GTPV, and SPPV in one reaction. Furthermore, the assay can facilitate more accurate disease diagnosis and surveillance for better control of CaPV infection