EXPERIENCES OF TEACHING ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION ONLINE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Previous research (Johnson, Veletsianos, & Seaman, 2020) has highlighted that the abrupt shift from traditional in-person to online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic caught many educators off guard, distinguishing it from the well-planned approach to online education before the pandemic. The disparities between well-planned pre-COVID online education and the impromptu shift to online teaching during COVID give rise to diverse challenges for educators in designing and delivering courses in the online setting. This interpretive study aimed to delve into the lived experiences of English teacher educators as they navigated the design and delivery of online English language arts methods courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The questions guiding this study revolved around the insights gained into the experiences of English teacher educators in preparing and teaching online courses, as well as the challenges they faced in designing and delivering online instructional practices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were gathered through online questionnaires, submissions of course syllabi, and the follow-up semi-structured interviews of English teacher educators. The findings reveal that English teacher educators experienced notable disparities between in-person and online instruction, encompassing course aspects such as organizing the course structure, presenting and delivering course content, adapting learning activities, fostering social interactions, and assessing student work and providing feedback. Additionally, this study sheds light on the challenges faced as well as support received by English teacher educators during this transition. By understanding English teacher educators’ online teaching experiences in the context of this pandemic, this research ascertained their needs. This implies the importance of emphasizing preparedness and flexibility to teach through different delivery modes. It also provides valuable insights for higher education administrators in offering targeted support to teacher educators for future online education endeavors

Digital agricultural education in Hungary

With the advent of the digital era in the middle of the 20th century and the German government's introduction of Industry 4.0 in 2011, conventional industries shifted into an economy built on massive Internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The ICTs such as big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile devices, artificial intelligence, 5G network, etc., are not only being used in a variety of businesses but also by an increasing number of people globally. There is no doubt that the use of digital technology in a variety of sectors has effectively increased productivity and decreased costs. Digital agriculture is one of the logical conclusions of Industry 4.0 growth. However, implementing ICT in agriculture may be severely hampered by the risks associated with digital agriculture. One of the main obstacles is unclear Digital Agricultural Education (DAE), a market gap formed by the explosive rise of digital agriculture but with little research. In this exploratory study, we used content analysis as a research methodology, aimed to comprehend Hungary's efforts in digital agriculture education and investigate the challenges by presenting practical examples

DiGAN breakthrough: advancing diabetic data analysis with innovative GAN-based imbalance correction techniques

In the rapidly evolving field of medical diagnostics, the challenge of imbalanced datasets, particularly in diabetes classification, calls for innovative solutions. The study introduces DiGAN, a groundbreaking approach that leverages the power of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) to revolutionize diabetes data analysis. Marking a significant departure from traditional methods, DiGAN applies GANs, typically seen in image processing, to the realm of diabetes data. This novel application is complemented by integrating the unsupervised Laplacian Score for sophisticated feature selection. The pioneering approach not only surpasses the limitations of existing techniques but also sets a new benchmark in classification accuracy with a 90% weighted F1-score, achieving a remarkable improvement of over 20% compared to conventional methods. Additionally, DiGAN demonstrates superior performance over popular SMOTE-based methods in handling extremely imbalanced datasets. This research, focusing on the integrated use of Laplacian Score, GAN, and Random Forest, stands at the forefront of diabetic classification, offering a uniquely effective and innovative solution to the long-standing data imbalance issue in medical diagnostics

Experimental research on the effect of graphite on heat transfer performance of a latent heat storage system

Phase change materials (PCMs) provide a good resolution for the latent heat storage system which can be used in many application fields such as solar energy utilization and waste heat recovery. This study aims to experimentally investigate the impact of graphite powder on the thermal characteristics and heat transfer performance of paraffin with ceresin (PC) as a PCM, using water as the heat transfer fluid. Experimental tests were conducted to analyze the heat transfer performance of PC and the influence of graphite powder on its thermal characteristics. Different masses of graphite powder were employed to assess their effects on the heating rate and the time required for PC to reach its melting temperature. The experimental results revealed that the addition of graphite powder improved the heating rate of both PC and water, attributed to its high thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the time for PC to reach the melting temperature was decreased with varying amounts of graphite powder, achieving a maximum reduction of 17.2% with the addition of 40 g of graphite powder. However, the effectiveness of graphite powder in enhancing heat transfer efficiency was found to be limited, with the optimal promotion effect observed at around 40 g of graphite powder for 500 g of PC. The findings of this investigation provide valuable insights for the design of phase change energy storage systems, with potential applications including heat pump drying units, greenhouse energy storage in modern agriculture, and solar energy storage utilization technology. The theoretical basis established can contribute to the development and optimization of PCM-based systems in diverse practical scenarios

Linking the SO2 emission of cement plants to the sulfur characteristics of their limestones: A study of 80 NSP cement lines in China

In a properly operated new suspension preheater (NSP) cement line, the SO2 emission is mainly originated from sulfides in the raw meal, and limestone, occupying about 85% wt. of the raw meal, is the dominant sulfur source. However, the sulfur characteristics of limestones and then their influences on the SO2 emission have not been clarified yet. In the present study, 80 NSP cement lines with SO2 emission > 200 mg/Nm3 were recorded, the sulfur content and species as well as pyrite morphology of limestones were analyzed and then correlated to their resulting SO2 emission. The results show that the SO2 emission of stack gas increases linearly with the SO3 content of limestone used, and sulfates lead to a 50% reduction in SO2 emission relative to sulfides. Compared with average SO2 emission, euhedral pyrite leads to a slightly higher SO2 emission, whereas metasomatic pyrite results in a lower SO2 emission, which can be attributed to the effects of accompanying elements (Ti, F, K, and Al etc.) on the desulfurization reaction and clinkerization in the whole NSP cement line. The relationships proposed can be used to predict the SO2 emission based on the sulfur characteristics of limestone and to rationally utilize high-sulfur limestone in cement industry

Chinese medicine, Qijudihuang pill, mediates cholesterol metabolism and regulates gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed mice, implications for age related macular degeneration

Background: Traditional Chinese Medicines have been used for thousands of years but without any sound empirical basis. One such preparation is the Qijudihuang pill (QP), a mixture of eight herbs, that has been used in China for the treatment of various conditions including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the aged population. In order to explain the mechanism behind the effect of QP, we used an AMD model of high-fat diet (HFD) fed mice to investigate cholesterol homeostasis, oxidative stress, inflammation and gut microbiota.Methods: Mice were randomly divided into three groups, one group was fed withcontrol diet (CD), the other two groups were fed with high-fat-diet (HFD). OneHFD group was treated with QP, both CD and the other HFD groups were treatedwith vehicles. Tissue samples were collected after the treatment. Cholesterollevels in retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), liver and serum weredetermined using a commercial kit. The expression of enzymes involved incholesterol metabolism, inflammation and oxidative stress was measured withqRT-PCR. Gut microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing.Results: In the majority of the lipid determinations, analytes were elevated by HFD but thiswas reversed by QP. Cholesterol metabolism including the enzymes of bile acid (BA) formationwas suppressed by HFD but again thiswas reversed by QP. BAs play amajor role in signaling between host andmicrobiome and this is disrupted by HFD resulting in major changes in the composition of colonic bacterial communities. Associated with these changes are predictions of the metabolic pathway complexity and abundance of individual pathways. These concerned substrate breakdowns, energy production and the biosynthesis of proinflammatory factors but were changed back to control characteristics by QP.Conclusion: We propose that the ability of QP to reverse these HFD-inducedeffects is related to mechanisms acting to lower cholesterol level, oxidative stress and inflammation, and to modulate gut microbiota

Metabolic regulation by biomaterials in osteoblast

The repair of bone defects resulting from high-energy trauma, infection, or pathological fracture remains a challenge in the field of medicine. The development of biomaterials involved in the metabolic regulation provides a promising solution to this problem and has emerged as a prominent research area in regenerative engineering. While recent research on cell metabolism has advanced our knowledge of metabolic regulation in bone regeneration, the extent to which materials affect intracellular metabolic remains unclear. This review provides a detailed discussion of the mechanisms of bone regeneration, an overview of metabolic regulation in bone regeneration in osteoblasts and biomaterials involved in the metabolic regulation for bone regeneration. Furthermore, it introduces how materials, such as promoting favorable physicochemical characteristics (e.g., bioactivity, appropriate porosity, and superior mechanical properties), incorporating external stimuli (e.g., photothermal, electrical, and magnetic stimulation), and delivering metabolic regulators (e.g., metal ions, bioactive molecules like drugs and peptides, and regulatory metabolites such as alpha ketoglutarate), can affect cell metabolism and lead to changes of cell state. Considering the growing interests in cell metabolic regulation, advanced materials have the potential to help a larger population in overcoming bone defects

Spatial Patterns of Aflatoxin Levels in Relation to Ear-Feeding Insect Damage in Pre-Harvest Corn

Key impediments to increased corn yield and quality in the southeastern US coastal plain region are damage by ear-feeding insects and aflatoxin contamination caused by infection of Aspergillus flavus. Key ear-feeding insects are corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus. In 2006 and 2007, aflatoxin contamination and insect damage were sampled before harvest in three 0.4-hectare corn fields using a grid sampling method. The feeding damage by each of ear/kernel-feeding insects (i.e., corn earworm/fall armyworm damage on the silk/cob, and discoloration of corn kernels by stink bugs), and maize weevil population were assessed at each grid point with five ears. The spatial distribution pattern of aflatoxin contamination was also assessed using the corn samples collected at each sampling point. Aflatoxin level was correlated to the number of maize weevils and stink bug-discolored kernels, but not closely correlated to either husk coverage or corn earworm damage. Contour maps of the maize weevil populations, stink bug-damaged kernels, and aflatoxin levels exhibited an aggregated distribution pattern with a strong edge effect on all three parameters. The separation of silk- and cob-feeding insects from kernel-feeding insects, as well as chewing (i.e., the corn earworm and maize weevil) and piercing-sucking insects (i.e., the stink bugs) and their damage in relation to aflatoxin accumulation is economically important. Both theoretic and applied ramifications of this study were discussed by proposing a hypothesis on the underlying mechanisms of the aggregated distribution patterns and strong edge effect of insect damage and aflatoxin contamination, and by discussing possible management tactics for aflatoxin reduction by proper management of kernel-feeding insects. Future directions on basic and applied research related to aflatoxin contamination are also discussed

Solar-thermal conversion and steam generation: a review

Recently, steam generation systems based on solar-thermal conversion have received much interest, and this may be due to the widespread use of solar energy and water sources such as oceans and lakes. The photo-thermal desalination system becomes attractive as it can convert absorbed solar light energy into thermal energy and realise the desalination and water purification of saline water through the evaporation process. In this paper, the research status of solar-thermal conversion materials such as metal-based materials, semiconductor materials, carbon-base materials, organic polymer materials, composite photo-thermal materials and their solar-thermal conversion mechanism in recent years are reviewed. The physical process and evaluation principle of solar-thermal conversion are both carefully introduced. The methods of optimising thermal management and increasing the evaporation rate of a hybrid system are also introduced in detail. Four main applications of solar-thermal conversion technologies (seawater desalination, wastewater purification, sterilisation and power generation) are discussed. Finally, based on the above analysis, the prospects and challenges for future research in the field of desalination are discussed from an engineering and scientific viewpoint to promote the direction of research, in order to stimulate future development and accelerate commercial application