Determinants of Behavioral Intention to Use Hybrid Education Among Painting Students in Public Universities in Chengdu, China

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examining determinants of behavioral intention to use hybrid education among undergraduate students, majoring in painting at three public universities in Chengdu, China. Key variables are perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived satisfaction (PS), social influence (SI), performance expectancy (PE), facilitating conditions (FC), and behavioral intention (BI). Research design, data, and methods: The researchers used quantitative method by distributing questionnaire to 500 participants via offline and online channels. The sampling techniques involve judgmental, quota and convenience samplings. The content validity was approved by three experts, applying Item Objective Congruence (IOC) Index. All constructs were reserved by Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient values by pilot testing of 30 participants. Afterwards, Confirmatory Factor analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Model (SEM) were executed in the data analysis, including goodness-of-fit, validities, and reliabilities. Results: All latent variables had a significant influence on behavioral intention. In addition, perceived ease of use had the strongest significant influence on perceived usefulness. Conclusion: Future researchers are recommended to extend the research model in considering to more variables in technology adoption theories in different region. Universities could improve hybrid education system to uplift students' engagement and learning performance

Amplitude and Phase Statistics of Multi-look SAR Complex Interferogram

Amplitude and phase statistics of SAR complex interferogram are significant in the study of interferometry and polarimetry. To reduce statistical variations, multi-look processing is adopted by averaging spatially the complex interferogram. In this study, we derive and validate three kinds of probability density functions (PDFs) of multi-look interferogram for different surface feature scenes. For simple homogeneous areas with the gamma distribution intensity, a concise product-form interferometry phase PDF is derived, which is equivalent to a conventional Gauss hypergeometric PDF. For complicated areas with the K and G0 distributions intensity, two new interferometry amplitude PDFs named as Gamma-K and Gamma-G are proposed, and their phase PDFs are approximately preserved. Finally three typical areas including grass, mountain, and city are picked out from a pair of RADARSAT-2 SAR images and studied. Experimental results indicate good agreement between the computed histograms and the theoretical distributions. The results obtained can be applied to the feature classification of polarisation SAR data and the estimation of decorrelation effect of interferometric SAR.Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 6, November 2014, pp.564-570, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.474

Influence of casting temperature on microstructures and mechanical properties of Cu50Zr45.5Ti2.5Y2 metallic glass prepared using copper mold casting [+ Erratum]

We investigated the influence of casting temperatures on microstructures and mechanical properties of rapidly solidified Cu50Zr45.5Ti2.5Y2 alloy. With casting temperatures increasing, the content of the crystalline phase decreases. At high casting temperature, i.e., 1723 K, glass forming ability (GFA) of the present alloy enhanced. It is implied that adjusting casting temperatures could be used for designing the microstructures of bulk metallic glass matrix composite (BMGC). Nano-indentation tests indicated that CuZr phases is a little softer and can accommodate more plastic deformation than the amorphous matrix. Compression tests confirmed that this kind of the second phase (CuZr) precipitated under lower casting temperatures helps to initiate multiple shear bands, resulting in great improvement of mechanical properties of the samples. Our work indicate that casting temperatures lead a great influence on GFA, microstructures and mechanical properties of rapidly solidified alloy and controlling casting temperatures is crucial to the application of BMGs

Start Learning Chinese Words Fast: An Introduction

In order to cater to the needs of Chinese language lovers, 28 basic strokes of Chinese words are firstly introduced. It is pointed out that the difficulty for foreigners to learn Chinese words is their grotesque shapes written by brush (soft) pen and printed in books. The special writing method with a hard pen and 8 directions moving steps are invented and firstly shown, which is easy for foreigners to try. The size (length) of strokes will guide them to control the proportion of a word. It could be changed according to paper size and how large they want to write. Secondly, 48 common fragments derived from 28 basic strokes are listed and the writing method described. It could help foreigners to separate and re-write unknown Chinese words and even guess out the meanings. Lastly, many characteristics or regularities of Chinese words will have great attraction for foreign language learners. Some Chinese cultures or amusing stories are also exposed in fragments and example words