101 research outputs found
Chinese as A Foreign Language: A Narrative Inquiry into Canadian Teachers Reciprocal Learning in China
This narrative study investigated the Canadian teacher candidates’ Chinese language learning and their cross-cultural experiences in China related to participating in a three-month study-abroad program between a university in Canada and a university in China. This study focuses on four participants’ Chinese as a foreign language learning, and the findings show that the teacher candidates have not only developed a higher language tolerance for the learners who are non-native speakers of English, but also developed a better pedagogical understanding with regard to how to teach English as a foreign language to non-native learners by learning Chinese and teaching in China. In addition, by studying and using Chinese in China, the teacher candidates have developed an appreciation for the different cultures, which can help them appreciate multi-cultural education while teaching in Canada
Mira Variable Stars From LAMOST DR4 Data: Emission Features, Temperature Types, and Candidate Selection
Based on an extensive spectral study of a photometrically confirmed sample of
Mira variables, we find a relationship between relative Balmer emission-line
strength and spectral temperature of O-rich Mira stars. The flux ratio increases from less than unity to five as
stars cool down from M0 to M10, which is likely driven by increasing TiO
absorption above the deepest shock-emitting regions. We also discuss the
relationship between the equivalent widths of the Balmer emission lines and the
photometric luminosity phase of our Mira sample stars. Using our 291 Mira
spectra as templates for reference, 191 Mira candidates are newly identified
from the LAMOST DR4 catalog. We summarize the criteria adopted to select Mira
candidates based on emission-line indices and molecular absorption bands. This
enlarged spectral sample of Mira variables has the potential to contribute
significantly to our knowledge of the optical properties of Mira stars and will
facilitate further studies of these late-type, long-period variables.Comment: 21 pages; ApJS, in pres
Flow Simulation of Suspension Bridge Cable Based on Lattice-Boltzmann Method
Suspension bridge is a kind of bridge which uses cables as the main bearing structure. Suspension bridge has the characteristics of saving materials and weak stiffness. With the increase of the span of suspension bridge, wind induced vibration has resulted in injury of several suspension bridges, which leads to a significant loss. Thus, it is imperative to study the wind vibration mechanism of cables. As for this problem, this paper based on motion theory of mesoscopic particles performs flow simulation of cables by LBM which is different from traditional computing method of fluid mechanics. By calculating the distribution function of the distribution on the grid of uniform flow field, the macroscopic motion law of the flow field around cables can be obtained, which can provide reference for wind resistant design of suspension
Large Language Models Meet Harry Potter: A Bilingual Dataset for Aligning Dialogue Agents with Characters
In recent years, Dialogue-style Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT
and GPT4 have demonstrated immense potential in constructing open-domain
dialogue agents. However, aligning these agents with specific characters or
individuals remains a considerable challenge due to the complexities of
character representation and the lack of comprehensive annotations. In this
paper, we introduce the Harry Potter Dialogue (HPD) dataset, designed to
advance the study of dialogue agents and character alignment. The dataset
encompasses all dialogue sessions (in both English and Chinese) from the Harry
Potter series and is annotated with vital background information, including
dialogue scenes, speakers, character relationships, and attributes. These
extensive annotations may empower LLMs to unlock character-driven dialogue
capabilities. Furthermore, it can serve as a universal benchmark for evaluating
how well can a LLM aligning with a specific character. We benchmark LLMs on HPD
using both fine-tuning and in-context learning settings. Evaluation results
reveal that although there is substantial room for improvement in generating
high-quality, character-aligned responses, the proposed dataset is valuable in
guiding models toward responses that better align with the character of Harry
Potter.Comment: 14 page
Free sulfurous acid (FSA) inhibition of biological thiosulfate reduction (BTR) in the sulfur cycle-driven wastewater treatment process
A sulfur cycle-based bioprocess for co-treatment of wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) wastes with freshwater sewage has been developed. In this process the removal of organic carbon is mainly associated with biological sulfate or sulfite reduction. Thiosulfate is a major intermediate during biological sulfate/sulfite reduction, and its reduction to sulfide is the rate-limiting step. In this study, the impacts of saline sulfite (the ionized form: HSO + SO ) and free sulfurous acid (FSA, the unionized form: HSO) sourced from WGFD wastes on the biological thiosulfate reduction (BTR) activities were thoroughly investigated. The BTR activity and sulfate/sulfite-reducing bacteria (SRB) populations in the thiosulfate-reducing up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor decreased when the FSA was added to the UASB influent. Batch experiment results confirmed that FSA, instead of saline sulfite, was the true inhibitor of BTR. And BTR activities dropped by 50% as the FSA concentrations were increased from 8.0 Ă— 10to 2.0 Ă— 10mg HSO-S/L. From an engineering perspective, the findings of this study provide some hints on how to ensure effective thiosulfate accumulation in biological sulfate/sulfite reduction for the subsequent denitrification/denitritation. Such manipulation would result in higher nitrogen removal rates in this co-treatment process of WFGD wastes with municipal sewage
Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data
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