Web-based student response systems and peer instruction: a review and case study

Cooperative learning and peer instruction are well documented pedagogies that engage students in their learning process. The means to implement cooperative learning in the classroom have evolved from raised hands, colored flashcards, student response systems or “clickers”, to web-based audience response systems that work on any electronic device. This paper briefly reviews available audience response systems and presents a case study on Learning Catalytics, a system designed to enable peer instruction and implement just-in-time teaching pedagogy

On the Inter-subjectivity in Translation: Viewed From “Distance” in Triangulation Model

Davidson constructs the triangulation model to express the person-person-world interaction in the language communication. This paper discusses the inter-subjectivity among translation subjects based on Davidson’s triangulation model. No translation can be appropriately generated without inter-subjectivity activities. The triangulation model provides a three-dimensional perspective for discussing the interactions among a writer, a source text, a translator, a target text and a target reader. Davidson introduces “distance” and “width” to solve the ambiguity of the cause concept, and this paper focuses on “distance” and creates translation subjects’ triangulation. The paper explores how to achieve the best translation through adjusting the distance to approach the optimized triangle by analyzing the translation practice of Jane Austen’s Emma and aims at guiding the practices using triangulation model

Management Equity Incentive and Performance: Evidence from Listed Companies of Manufacturing Industry

As an important long-term incentive mode, the equity incentive promotes the managers to contribute to the interest uniformity of managers and shareholders. By using Paired-Samples T test methods and regression analysis method and choosing companies that issued the equity incentive plan in 2007 as the sample, this paper comparatively analyzes the differences in the performance of companies before and after the implementation of equity incentive, companies implementing equity incentive and ones not. Furthermore, factors which influence equity incentive effect are examined. The results show that equity incentives can promote the company\u27s performance and the incentive effect should be better in the companies of state-control holding or low ownership concentration companies

An Automatic Statistical Segmentation Algorithm for Extraction of Fire and Smoke Regions

Estimation of the extent and spread of wildland fires is an important application of high spatial resolution multispectral images. This work addresses a fuzzy segmentation algorithm to map fire extent, active fire front, hot burn scar, and smoke regions based on a statistical model. The fuzzy results are useful data sources for integrated fire behavior and propagation models built using Dynamic Data Driven Applications Systems (DDDAS) concepts that use data assimilation techniques which require error estimates or probabilities for the data parameters. The Hidden Markov Random Field (HMRF) model has been used widely in image segmentation, but it is assumed that each pixel has a particular class label belonging to a prescribed finite set. The mixed pixel problem can be addressed by modeling the fuzzy membership process as a continuous Multivariate Gaussian Markov Random Field. Techniques for estimating the class membership and model parameters are discussed. Experimental results obtained by applying this technique to two Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) images show that the proposed methodology is robust with regard to noise and variation in fire characteristics as well as background. The segmentation results of our algorithm are compared with the results of a K-means algorithm, an Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm (which is very similar to the Fuzzy C-Means Clustering algorithm with entropy regularization), and an MRF-MAP algorithm. Our fuzzy algorithm achieves more consistent segmentation results than the comparison algorithms for these test images with the added advantage of simultaneously providing a proportion or error map needed for the data assimilation problem

An Investigation of Social Support Exchange and Communication Patterns among Chinese on Online Discussion Forum

Online Health Communities (OHCs), frequently adopted as online discussion forums for online users to communicate on health issues, have been used worldwide. By analyzing a representative breast-cancer-related OHC from mainland China—Baidu Discussion Forum, this study attempts to investigate social support exchange and communication patterns through user-generated content by data mining approaches. According to the outcomes, emotional support seeking and providing presents itself to be a more critical theme among Chinese users than other types of social support. In addition, almost half of the users on Baidu Discussion Forum have simple patterns of involvement, and a fairly small proportion of highly active Chinese users are quite influential in shaping the connections of the social support network. Meanwhile, the off-topic discussions which are not directly on health concerns are not frequently touched by Chinese people. This may impact the longevity of both users and threads, and undermine the foundation of OHCs in the long term. The findings have practical implications for researchers and health practitioners targeting on the Chinese population

Transcriptome profiling reveals the crucial biological pathways involved in cold response in Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis).

Most bamboo species including Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) are tropical or subtropical plants that greatly contribute to human well-being. Low temperature is one of the main environmental factors restricting bamboo growth and geographic distribution. Our knowledge of the molecular changes during bamboo adaption to cold stress remains limited. Here, we provided a general overview of the cold-responsive transcriptional profiles in Moso bamboo by systematically analyzing its transcriptomic response under cold stress. Our results showed that low temperature induced strong morphological and biochemical alternations in Moso bamboo. To examine the global gene expression changes in response to cold, 12 libraries (non-treated, cold-treated 0.5, 1 and 24 h at -2 °C) were sequenced using an Illumina sequencing platform. Only a few differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified at early stage, while a large number of DEGs were identified at late stage in this study, suggesting that the majority of cold response genes in bamboo are late-responsive genes. A total of 222 transcription factors from 24 different families were differentially expressed during 24-h cold treatment, and the expressions of several well-known C-repeat/dehydration responsive element-binding factor negative regulators were significantly upregulated in response to cold, indicating the existence of special cold response networks. Our data also revealed that the expression of genes related to cell wall and the biosynthesis of fatty acids were altered in response to cold stress, indicating their potential roles in the acquisition of bamboo cold tolerance. In summary, our studies showed that both plant kingdom-conserved and species-specific cold response pathways exist in Moso bamboo, which lays the foundation for studying the regulatory mechanisms underlying bamboo cold stress response and provides useful gene resources for the construction of cold-tolerant bamboo through genetic engineering in the future

Mitochondria organize the cellular proteostatic response and promote cellular senescence

Mitochondria have relatively independent protein quality control systems, including their own chaperones for protein folding and AAA proteases for protein degradation. Accumulating evidence has shown that cytosolic proteins and disease-causing misfolded proteins can be translocated into mitochondria and then impinge upon their function. It is important to understand the interplay between cellular proteostasis and mitochondria, as impaired proteostasis and mitochondrial dysfunction are causally linked with aging and age-related disorders. This review highlights our recent finding showing that the outer mitochondrial membrane protein FUNDC1, a previously reported mitophagy receptor, interacts with the chaperone protein HSC70 to mediate the mitochondrial translocation of cytosolic proteasomal substrates via the TOM/TIM complex into the mitochondrial matrix where they can be degraded by LONP1 protease. Excessive accumulation of unfolded proteins within mitochondria triggers the formation of Mitochondrion-Associated Protein Aggregates (MAPAs), which are subsequently autophagically degraded in a FUNDC1-dependent manner. We suggest that mitochondria actively organize the cellular proteostatic response and that the interaction between FUNDC1 and HSC70 may represent a new link between impaired proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction and cellular aging

Sam50 Regulates PINK1-Parkin-Mediated Mitophagy by Controlling PINK1 Stability and Mitochondrial Morphology

PINK1 and Parkin mediate mitophagy, the cellular process that clears dysfunctional mitochondria. Mitophagy is regulated by mitochondrial dynamics, but the molecules linking these two processes remain poorly understood. Here, we show that Sam50, the core component of the sorting and assembly machinery (SAM), is a critical regulator of mitochondrial dynamics and PINK1-Parkin-mediated mitophagy. In response to Sam50 depletion, normal tubular mitochondria are first fragmented and subsequently merged into large spheres. Sam50 interacts with PINK1 to facilitate its processing and degradation. Depletion of Sam50 results in PINK1 accumulation, Parkin recruitment, and mitophagy. Interestingly, Sam50 deficiency induces a piecemeal mode of mitophagy that eliminates mitochondria “bit by bit” but spares mtDNA. In C. elegans, the Sam50 homolog gop-3 is required for the maintenance of mitochondrial morphology and mass. Our findings reveal that Sam50 directly links mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy and that Sam50 depletion induces elimination of mitochondria without affecting mtDNA content