Inquiry-based Teaching in Second and Foreign Language Pedagogy

It is the consensus among language educators that the objectives of teaching a second/foreign language (L2) put stress on the enhancement of students’ communication skills and advocate the importance of interaction in the classroom. In addition to theories and methods exclusively dedicated to language instruction, the domain-independent inquiry-based teaching, a cognitive approach, can be easily and effectively integrated into the L2 classroom which echoes the concerns and needs in L2 education. Inquiry teaching is characterized by its question-answer interactive information exchanges. Instead of learning passively, it stimulates students to actively engage in cognitive and discovery learning activities. It is assumed that this active, discovery, or Socratic teaching approach promotes the dynamics in class, draws and maintains students’ attention, reinforces meaningful communication, deepens and expands intellectual capacity, and facilitates learning transfer. Most importantly, it supports the development of learner’s cognitive and metacognitive strategies. This technique best fits within the theme-based text and can be conducted in an expanding spiral pattern. A questionnaire was administered in a Chinese as a second language class to assess students’ feedback on the effectiveness and preference of this approach and favorable findings were revealed. Students expressed enthusiasm on inquiry-based teaching and indicated that this approach reinforced their learning and understanding of the course material. Qualitative data also shows that inquiry-based teaching enhanced students’ classroom engagement and fostered an effective and meaningful learning experience

Linguistic Politeness in the Chinese Language and Culture

This paper aims to explore the cultural foundations of polite speech and analyze its usage and practice in modern Chinese. A language mirrors the culture it is associated with. Grounded in the Chinese tradition and the teachings of Confucianism, the emphasis on rites, propriety and humility led to the development of polite language from the early imperial time. Because of the absence of related syntactic features, Chinese linguistic politeness is predominantly manifested on the lexical level. A rich array of decorous terms and expressions has been evolved accordingly to express courtesy or respect either verbally or in formal writing. In general, the lexicon of politeness can be classified into four major categories, namely, honorifics, humble language, courteous speech, and euphemisms

KinasePhos: a web tool for identifying protein kinase-specific phosphorylation sites

KinasePhos is a novel web server for computationally identifying catalytic kinase-specific phosphorylation sites. The known phosphorylation sites from public domain data sources are categorized by their annotated protein kinases. Based on the profile hidden Markov model, computational models are learned from the kinase-specific groups of the phosphorylation sites. After evaluating the learned models, the model with highest accuracy was selected from each kinase-specific group, for use in a web-based prediction tool for identifying protein phosphorylation sites. Therefore, this work developed a kinase-specific phosphorylation site prediction tool with both high sensitivity and specificity. The prediction tool is freely available at

Rapid Detection of Heterogeneous Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus Based on Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight: Using a Machine Learning Approach and Unbiased Validation

Heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (hVISA) is an emerging superbug with implicit drug resistance to vancomycin. Detecting hVISA can guide the correct administration of antibiotics. However, hVISA cannot be detected in most clinical microbiology laboratories because the required diagnostic tools are either expensive, time consuming, or labor intensive. By contrast, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) is a cost-effective and rapid tool that has potential for providing antibiotics resistance information. To analyze complex MALDI-TOF mass spectra, machine learning (ML) algorithms can be used to generate robust hVISA detection models. In this study, MALDI-TOF mass spectra were obtained from 35 hVISA/vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) and 90 vancomycin-susceptible S. aureus isolates. The vancomycin susceptibility of the isolates was determined using an Etest and modified population analysis profile–area under the curve. ML algorithms, namely a decision tree, k-nearest neighbors, random forest, and a support vector machine (SVM), were trained and validated using nested cross-validation to provide unbiased validation results. The area under the curve of the models ranged from 0.67 to 0.79, and the SVM-derived model outperformed those of the other algorithms. The peaks at m/z 1132, 2895, 3176, and 6591 were noted as informative peaks for detecting hVISA/VISA. We demonstrated that hVISA/VISA could be detected by analyzing MALDI-TOF mass spectra using ML. Moreover, the results are particularly robust due to a strict validation method. The ML models in this study can provide rapid and accurate reports regarding hVISA/VISA and thus guide the correct administration of antibiotics in treatment of S. aureus infection

Clinical Features and Outcomes of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Predictive Factors for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious disease, and indeed, the SARS epidemic in Taiwan from March to July 2003 had a great impact. This study depicts the clinical characteristics and short-term outcomes of patients with SARS treated at Taipei Veterans General Hospital; potential predictive factors for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are also analyzed.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed data for 67 SARS patients, who were grouped according to whether or not ARDS developed during the clinical course of SARS.ResultsThere were 32 males (mean age, 50.3 years; range, 20–75 years) and 35 females (mean age, 51.1 years; range, 23–86 years). Twenty-five patients (37.3%) were health care workers. At admission, 50 patients (74.6%) had abnormal chest radiographs, and all patients developed pulmonary infiltrates during the following week. During hospitalization, lymphopenia was found in 57 patients (85.1%); and elevated levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; n = 55; 83.3%), C-reactive protein (n = 55; 83.3%), aminotransferases (n = 44; 65.7%), and creatine kinase (n = 14; 20.9%) were also noted. ARDS developed in 33 patients (49.3%), who were generally older than the patients in whom ARDS did not develop, male, non-health care workers, and who generally had dyspnea at the time of diagnosis, and a history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension or cerebrovascular accident. Patients with, versus those without, ARDS also tended to present with more severe lymphopenia and leukocytosis, and with higher levels of LDH and aspartate aminotransferase. The overall mortality rate was 31.3% (21/67), whereas the rate for patients who developed ARDS was 63.6% (21/33). Multivariate analyses showed that age greater than 65 years (odds ratio, OR, 10.6; 95% confidence interval, CI, 2.1–54.1), pre-existing diabetes mellitus (OR, 13.7; 95% CI, 1.3–146.9), and elevated levels of LDH (OR, 8.4; 95% CI, 1.9–36.9) at admission, were independent predictors of ARDS.ConclusionThe clinical manifestations of SARS showed high variability, and were related to the underlying health status of individual patients. Importantly, the development of ARDS was associated with significant mortality, despite aggressive therapy

Effects of Angelica dahurica

The main objective of wound treatments is to restore the functional skin properties and prevent infection. Traditional Chinese medicine provides alternative anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and wound healing therapies. Both Angelica dahurica extract (AE) and Rheum officinale extract (RE) possess antimicrobial activity. In this study, AE and RE were applied in wound treatment to investigate their healing effects. Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats with dorsal full-thickness skin excision were divided into normal saline (NS), AE, RE, AE plus RE (ARE), and Biomycin (BM) groups. The treatment and area measurement of wounds were applied daily for 21 days. Wound biopsies and blood samples were obtained for histology examinations and cytokine analysis. Results showed that wound contraction in ARE group was significantly higher than that in NS and BM groups (P 0.05), and plasma TGF-β1 levels were significantly lower than those in the NS group on days 3-4 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, ARE accelerates wound healing during inflammation and proliferation phases

Extracts of Artocarpus communis

Artocarpus communis is an agricultural plant that is also used in folk medicine to prevent skin diseases, including acne and dermatitis. Extracts of A. communis have been used to effectively inhibit melanogenesis; however, the antimelanogenesis mechanism of these extracts has not yet been investigated. The present study utilized a cell-free tyrosinase assay as well as α-melanocyte stimulating hormone- (-MSH-) induced tyrosinase assay conducted in B16F10 cells, performed a cytotoxicity assay, and determined cellular melanin content to examine the effects of a methanolic extract of A. communis (ACM) and various organic partition fractions of A. communis on melanogenesis. In addition, we performed western blot analysis to elucidate the mechanism of their antimelanogenesis effect. Our results indicated that, except for the n-hexane extract, ACM and the various partition extracts at noncytotoxic concentrations effectively decreased melanin content and tyrosinase activity by downregulating microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein (p-CREB). Moreover, ACM and the partition fractions activated phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) to inhibit the synthesis of MITF and finally to decrease melanin production. In conclusion, we suggest that noncytotoxic concentrations of ACM and the various partition fractions may be useful as references for developing skin-lighting agents for use in medicines or cosmetics

Modified empirical fitting of the discharge behavior of LiFePO4_4 batteries under various conditions

A mathematical model is developed by fitting the discharge curve of a new LiFePO$_4$ battery and then used to investigate the relationship between the discharge time and the closed-circuit voltage. This model consists of exponential and polynomial terms where the exponential term dominates the discharge time of a battery and the polynomial term dominates the change in the closed-circuit voltage. Time shift and time scale processes modify the exponential and polynomial terms, respectively, so that the model is suitable for batteries under various conditions. References W. Su, H. Eichi, W. Zeng and M.-Y. Chow, A survey on the electrification of transportation in a smart grid environment, IEEE Intl. Conf. Ind. I. 8:1&ndash;10, 2012. doi:10.1109/TII.2011.2172454 J. Wang, Z. Sun and X. Wei, Performance and characteristic research in LiFePO$_4$ battery for electric vehicle applications, IEEE Vehicle Power 1657&ndash;1661, 2009. doi:10.1109/VPPC.2009.5289664 A. Shafiei, A. Momeni and S. S. Williamson, Battery modeling approaches and management techniques for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, IEEE Vehicle Power 1&ndash;5, 2011. doi:10.1109/VPPC.2011.6043191 P. Bai, D. A. Cogswell and M. Z. Bazant, Suppression of phase separation in LiFePO$_4$ nanoparticles during battery discharge, Nano Lett. 11:4890&ndash;4896, 2011. doi:10.1021/nl202764f H. L. Chan and D. Sutanto, A new battery model for use with battery energy storage systems and electric vehicle power systems, IEEE Power Eng. Soc. 1:470&ndash;475, 2000. doi:10.1109/PESW.2000.850009 T. Kim and W. Qiao, A hybrid battery model capable of capturing dynamic circuit characteristics and nonlinear capacity effects, IEEE T. Energy Conver. 26:1172&ndash;1180, 2011. doi:10.1109/TEC.2011.2167014 D. N. Rakhmatov and S. B. K. Vrudhula, An analytical high-level battery model for use in energy management of portable electronic systems, IEEE ICCAD 488&ndash;493, 2001. doi:10.1109/ICCAD.2001.968687 V. Srinivasan and J. Newman, Discharge model for the lithium iron-phosphate electrode, J. Electrochem. Soc. 151:A1517&ndash;A1529, 2004. doi:10.1149/1.1785012 V. Rao, G. Singhal, A. Kumar and N. Navet, Battery model for embedded systems, VLSI Des. 105&ndash;110, 2005. doi:10.1109/ICVD.2005.61 S. Dargavillez and T. W. Farrell, Predicting active material utilization in LiFePO$_4$ electrodes using a multiscale mathematical model, J. Electrochem. Soc. 157:A830&ndash;A840, 2010. doi:10.1149/1.3425620 R. Rao, S. Vrudhula and D. N. Rakhmatov, Battery modeling for energy-aware system design, Computer 36:77&ndash;87, 2003. doi:10.1109/MC.2003.1250886 M. Chen and G. A. Rincon-Mora, Accurate electrical battery model capable of predicting runtime and i-v performance, IEEE T. Energy Conver. 21:504&ndash;511, 2006. doi:10.1109/TEC.2006.874229 L. Gao, S. Liu and R. A. Dougal, Dynamic lithium-ion battery model for system simulation, IEEE T. Compon. Pack. T. 25:495&ndash;505, 2002. doi:10.1109/TCAPT.2002.803653 V. Agarwal, K. Uthaichana, R. A. DeCarlo and L. H. Tsoukalas, Development and validation of a battery model useful for discharging and charging power control and lifetime estimation, IEEE T. Energy Conver. 25:821&ndash;835, 2010. doi:10.1109/TEC.2010.2043106 B. Schweighofer, K. M. Raab and G. Brasseur, Modeling of high power automotive batteries by the use of an automated test system, IEEE T. Instrum. Meas. 52:1087&ndash;1091, 2003. doi:10.1109/TIM.2003.81482