Practical and Ethical Challenges of Large Language Models in Education: A Systematic Scoping Review

Educational technology innovations leveraging large language models (LLMs) have shown the potential to automate the laborious process of generating and analysing textual content. While various innovations have been developed to automate a range of educational tasks (e.g., question generation, feedback provision, and essay grading), there are concerns regarding the practicality and ethicality of these innovations. Such concerns may hinder future research and the adoption of LLMs-based innovations in authentic educational contexts. To address this, we conducted a systematic scoping review of 118 peer-reviewed papers published since 2017 to pinpoint the current state of research on using LLMs to automate and support educational tasks. The findings revealed 53 use cases for LLMs in automating education tasks, categorised into nine main categories: profiling/labelling, detection, grading, teaching support, prediction, knowledge representation, feedback, content generation, and recommendation. Additionally, we also identified several practical and ethical challenges, including low technological readiness, lack of replicability and transparency, and insufficient privacy and beneficence considerations. The findings were summarised into three recommendations for future studies, including updating existing innovations with state-of-the-art models (e.g., GPT-3/4), embracing the initiative of open-sourcing models/systems, and adopting a human-centred approach throughout the developmental process. As the intersection of AI and education is continuously evolving, the findings of this study can serve as an essential reference point for researchers, allowing them to leverage the strengths, learn from the limitations, and uncover potential research opportunities enabled by ChatGPT and other generative AI models

Separating and characterizing functional alkane degraders from crude-oil-contaminated sites via magnetic nanoparticle-mediated isolation

Uncultivable microorganisms account for over 99% of all species on the planet, but their functions are yet not well characterized. Though many cultivable degraders for n-alkanes have been intensively investigated, the roles of functional n-alkane degraders remain hidden in the natural environment. This study introduces the novel magnetic nanoparticle-mediated isolation (MMI) technology in Nigerian soils and successfully separates functional microbes belonging to the families Oxalobacteraceae and Moraxellaceae, which were dominant and responsible for alkane metabolism in situ. The alkR-type n-alkane monooxygenase genes, instead of alkA- or alkP-type, were the key functional genes involved in the n-alkane degradation process. Further physiological investigation via a BIOLOG PM plate revealed some carbon (Tween 20, Tween 40 and Tween 80) and nitrogen (tyramine, L-glutamine and D-aspartic acid) sources promoting microbial respiration and n-alkane degradation. With further addition of promoter carbon or nitrogen sources, the separated functional alkane degraders significantly improved n-alkane biodegradation rates. This suggests that MMI is a promising technology for separating functional microbes from complex microbiota, with deeper insight into their ecological functions and influencing factors. The technique also broadens the application of the BIOLOG PM plate for physiological research on functional yet uncultivable microorganisms

Modification of PEDOT: PSS to enhance device efficiency and stability of the Quasi-2D perovskite light-emitting diodes

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) is a hole transport layer (HTL) that is often employed in a diverse array of optoelectronic devices, such as perovskite solar cells and perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). By simply doping lithium fluoride (LiF) into PEDOT: PSS, we demonstrate that the electrical characteristics of the HTL can be modified. Especially in quasi-2D perovskite LEDs, the crystallization process is regulated by LiF modification, leading to reduced phase impurity defects and improved carrier transport in the perovskite emission layer. Therefore, the luminance and efficiency of the quasi-2D PeLEDs are notably enhanced. The optimized PeLED with LiF modification exhibits a peak luminance of 21517 cd m−2 with 317% higher than the standard PeLED; and a high current efficiency of 39.8 cd A−1 with 237% higher than the standard PeLED. Moreover, the device stability is also improved with a nearly doubled half lifetime due to the reduced phase impurities. The work demonstrates a facile yet effective method for altering PEDOT: PSS hole transport layer, emphasizing the critical role of the underneath layer in the crystallization of quasi-2D perovskites

Precast production scheduling in off-site construction: Mainstream contents and optimization perspective

Precast production scheduling (PPS) is a key factor that enables efficient off-site construction (OSC) and has received considerable attention from researchers. However, there is still a lack of systematic analysis and summary of existing PPS-related studies in the OSC domain to identify current research gaps and predict future research directions. Thus, 75 relevant academic publications were selected for this systematic review. The current research status of PPS was analyzed from four aspects (flow shop scheduling, production rescheduling, internal resource constraints, and external supply chain constraints) to explore the mainstream contents and optimization perspectives of PPS research. The research findings showed that (1) research on flow shop scheduling of precast components (PCs) was dominant in the PPS domain, and the genetic algorithm (GA) was the most applied optimization algorithm; (2) worker allocation strategy, mold grouping, and layout planning of production space were the main starting points for optimizing PPS from a resource perspective; and (3) establishing a collaborative scheduling mechanism by integrating various departments of the OSC supply chain to achieve the just-in-time (JIT) delivery strategy was the main idea for optimizing PPS from the supply chain perspective. This study revealed potential future research focuses in the field of PPS, including PC flow shop scheduling based on carbon emission targets, distributed permutation flow shop scheduling of PCs, layout optimization for intelligent production shops, and production scheduling mechanisms based on digital technology. This study provides theoretical guidance to promote the future development of PPS research in the field of OSC and can help precast production practitioners manage production scientifically and efficiently

Degradation of Carbendazim by Molecular Hydrogen on Leaf Models

Although molecular hydrogen can alleviate herbicide paraquat and Fusarium mycotoxins toxicity in plants and animals, whether or how molecular hydrogen influences pesticide residues in plants is not clear. Here, pot experiments in greenhouse revealed that degradation of carbendazim (a benzimidazole pesticide) in leaves could be positively stimulated by molecular hydrogen, either exogenously applied or with genetic manipulation. Pharmacological and genetic increased hydrogen gas could increase glutathione metabolism and thereafter carbendazim degradation, both of which were abolished by the removal of endogenous glutathione with its synthetic inhibitor, in both tomato and in transgenic Arabidopsis when overexpressing the hydrogenase 1 gene from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Importantly, the antifungal effect of carbendazim in tomato plants was not obviously altered regardless of molecular hydrogen addition. The contribution of glutathione-related detoxification mechanism achieved by molecular hydrogen was confirmed. Our results might not only illustrate a previously undescribed function of molecular hydrogen in plants, but also provide an environmental-friendly approach for the effective elimination or reduction of pesticides residues in crops when grown in pesticides-overused environmental conditions

pH-Dependent Adsorption of Peptides on Montmorillonite for Resisting UV Irradiation

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is considered an energy source for the prebiotic chemical synthesis of life’s building blocks. However, it also results in photodegradation of biology-related organic compounds on early Earth. Thus, it is important to find a process to protect these compounds from decomposition by UV irradiation. Herein, pH effects on both the adsorption of peptides on montmorillonite (MMT) and the abilities of peptides to resist UV irradiation due to this adsorption were systematically studied. We found that montmorillonite (MMT) can adsorb peptides effectively under acidic conditions, while MMT-adsorbed peptides can be released under basic conditions. Peptide adsorption is positively correlated with the length of the peptide chains. MMT’s adsorption of peptides and MMT-adsorbed peptide desorption are both rapid-equilibrium, and it takes less than 30 min to reach the equilibrium in both cases. Furthermore, compared to free peptides, MMT-adsorbed peptides under acidic conditions are well protected from UV degradation even after prolonged irradiation. These results indicate amino acid/peptides are able to concentrate from aqueous solution by MMT adsorption under low-pH conditions (concentration step). The MMT-adsorbed peptides survive under UV irradiation among other unprotected species (storage step). Then, the MMT-adsorbed peptides can be released to the aqueous solution if the environment becomes more basic (releasing step), and these free peptides are ready for polymerization to polypeptides. Hence, a plausible prebiotic concentration–storage–release cycle of amino acids/peptides for further polypeptide synthesis is established

Significance of three reservoir profiles for the risk exploration in Ordos Basin

The Ordos Basin went through six main stages of geological evolution, developed three sets of soure rocks, two unconformities, several sets of reservoirs and caprocks, and had three typical petroleum systems, i.e. Lower Paleozoic Ordovician gas reservoirs, Upper Paleozoic Carboniferous-Permian gas reservoirs, and Mesozoic Triassic-Jurassic oil reservoirs. Three well-tie profiles of oil and gas reservoirs in the basin are analyzed, which are the Wuzhong-Mizhi profile, Guyuan-Yichuan profile, and Baotou-Chengcheng profile. The size and distribution of the oil and gas reservoirs are controlled by the spatial distribution of soure rocks. Mesozoic oil reservoirs are located inside or near hydrocarbon depressions, where oil and gas had a short secondary migration distance. Paleozoic gas in the basin, after having a large-scale short migration in the range of source rocks, eventually gathered in the effective traps of the Ordovician weathering crust, and in the low permeability effective sand traps inside or near Carboniferous-Permian source rocks. The future risk exploration targets are: (1) for Mesozoic oil exploration, it will extend northward and explore unconventional reservoirs in source rocks; (2) for Upper Paleozoic gas exploration, it will extend southward and explore marine clastic gas reserviors; (3) for Lower Paleozoic gas exploration, it will search for lithologic-structural traps of carbonate weathering crust in the north-central and southeastern Yishan slope and those of carbonate reef flat. Key words: Ordos Basin, reservoir profile, petroleum system, risk exploratio

TurboID screening of ApxI toxin interactants identifies host proteins involved in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae-induced apoptosis of immortalized porcine alveolar macrophages

Abstract Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) is a gram-negative pathogenic bacterium responsible for porcine contagious pleuropneumonia (PCP), which can cause porcine necrotizing and hemorrhagic pleuropneumonia. Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae-RTX-toxin (Apx) is an APP virulence factor. APP secretes a total of four Apx toxins, among which, ApxI demonstrates strong hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity, causing lysis of porcine erythrocytes and apoptosis of porcine alveolar macrophages. However, the protein interaction network between this toxin and host cells is still poorly understood. TurboID mediates the biotinylation of endogenous proteins, thereby targeting specific proteins and local proteomes through gene fusion. We applied the TurboID enzyme-catalyzed proximity tagging method to identify and study host proteins in immortalized porcine alveolar macrophage (iPAM) cells that interact with the exotoxin ApxI of APP. His-tagged TurboID-ApxIA and TurboID recombinant proteins were expressed and purified. By mass spectrometry, 318 unique interacting proteins were identified in the TurboID ApxIA-treated group. Among them, only one membrane protein, caveolin-1 (CAV1), was identified. A co-immunoprecipitation assay confirmed that CAV1 can interact with ApxIA. In addition, overexpression and RNA interference experiments revealed that CAV1 was involved in ApxI toxin-induced apoptosis of iPAM cells. This study provided first-hand information about the proteome of iPAM cells interacting with the ApxI toxin of APP through the TurboID proximity labeling system, and identified a new host membrane protein involved in this interaction. These results lay a theoretical foundation for the clinical treatment of PCP

Natural gas accumulation and models in Ordovician carbonates, Ordos Basin, NW China

According to sedimentary environment, sources, hydrocarbon accumulation characteristics and gas reservoir types of the Ordovician in the Ordos Basin, the Ordovician carbonate rocks in the basin have good gas accumulation conditions. A large number of geological and geochemical evidence shows a triple source supply. In addition to the Upper Carboniferous – Permian coal measures hydrocarbon source rocks as the main hydrocarbon source rocks, the Middle-Upper Ordovician marine hydrocarbon source rocks and Carboniferous Benxi marlstones have certain ability for hydrocarbon. Analysis of the known gas reservoir reveals that the gas in the gas fields of the central basin belongs to thermal cracking gas which is a mixed gas of coal-derived gas and crude oil cracking gas. Coal-derived gas comes from the coal measures hydrocarbon source rocks of the Carboniferous-Permian undoubtedly. Crude oil cracking gas mainly comes from the high temperature cracking gas in the Jurassic reservoir. Asphalts and hydrocarbon inclusions in the Ordovician reservoirs evidence that the oil of the Jurassic paleo-oil reservoir is mainly from the Middle-Upper Ordovician marine hydrocarbon source rocks. Gas accumulation has evolved from oil reservoir to gas reservoir: oil pool formed in the Jurassic and the oil cracked into gas in the Cretaceous. Controlled by tectonic sedimentary setting, four accumulation models of carbonate gas reservoir have been structured. Among them, weathering crust lithostratigraphic gas reservoir in the central part of the basin and composite lithology gas reservoir of structure – bedding karst type in the northwest platform marginal zone are the focus of the carbonate gas exploration. Key words: Ordos Basin, Ordovician, carbonate, hydrocarbon source rock, accumulation characteristics, accumulation evolution, gas reservoir mode