Systematically planning and integrating intercultural communicative competence learning/teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom to promote students’ learning motivation and confidence in ICC: A practitioner research at a tertiary institution in China

Although ICC teaching/learning in foreign language classrooms has been explored over the past few decades, few studies have experimented with systematically planning and integrating ICC teaching/learning in the EFL classroom by applying ICC theories. Very few studies on ICC teaching have included data on classroom teaching practices collected by a multi-method approach. In the context of China, where the development of ICC is emphasized in the College English syllabus, there is dearth of empirical studies on ICC teaching and no studies have trialled systematically planning and integrating ICC teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom for non-English majors in universities to investigate how it might motivate students to learn English and how it might develop students‘ ICC and ICC confidence. This practitioner research sought to occupy the research space above. Based on an extensive review of the ICC teaching literature, this intervention study was carried out to trial applying ICC teaching and L2 learning motivation theories to the EFL curriculum/classroom, specifically an intervention class of non-English majors in a university in China through one semester. To investigate the associations of the intervention with students’ learning motivation, ICC and ICC confidence, a mixture of research methods was applied, including practitioner inquiry, action research, case study, mixed methods with explanatory design and triangulation design, and a quasi-experimental design. A multi-method approach to data collection was adopted including surveys, pre-test and post-test, students’ reflective journals, teacher‘s reflective journal and interviews. These data sets were analysed in ways appropriate to the data type, including thematic analysis and statistical analysis. The results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis were used to compare, triangulate and mutually illuminate both sets of results. The findings indicate that students’ positive attitudes toward ICC learning were related to their identification with the importance of learning/teaching ICC in English classroom and the fact that the systematic ICC learning/teaching in their English classroom had stimulated their interest and increased their learning motivation. Associations were found between systematic ICC learning/teaching and students’ improvement in learning motivation, LS, ICC and ICC confidence. A number of effective ways of systematically planning and integrating ICC learning/teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom were found, such as a division into three learning phases, a process of six stages in ICC curriculum planning, deciding certain ICC learning/teaching objectives, and other basic dimensions and components of the curriculum, including resource selection for the ICC learning/teaching and aspects of teaching method. It is concluded that systematically planning and integrating ICC teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom, based on the theories of ICC teaching and L2 learning motivation, has a great potential to develop students‘ ICC and ICC confidence, and promote their learning motivation as well, with a flow-on benefit to their language skills. This study is significant for its practical implications for the practice of ICC learning/teaching in the EFL curriculum/classroom; its contribution to the practical and theoretical development/support of ICC learning/teaching and L2 learning motivation theories; its applying a mixture of research methods and of data collection and analysis procedures to investigate ICC teaching. In one word, it is significant in its offering practical implications for curriculum implementation, practical implications for teacher education and language policy-making, methodological implications for research, and theoretical implications for the development of ICC teaching/learning in the EFL classroom

Systematically planning and integrating intercultural communicative competence learning/teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom to promote students’ learning motivation and confidence in ICC: A practitioner research at a tertiary institution in China

Although ICC teaching/learning in foreign language classrooms has been explored over the past few decades, few studies have experimented with systematically planning and integrating ICC teaching/learning in the EFL classroom by applying ICC theories. Very few studies on ICC teaching have included data on classroom teaching practices collected by a multi-method approach. In the context of China, where the development of ICC is emphasized in the College English syllabus, there is dearth of empirical studies on ICC teaching and no studies have trialled systematically planning and integrating ICC teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom for non-English majors in universities to investigate how it might motivate students to learn English and how it might develop students‘ ICC and ICC confidence. This practitioner research sought to occupy the research space above. Based on an extensive review of the ICC teaching literature, this intervention study was carried out to trial applying ICC teaching and L2 learning motivation theories to the EFL curriculum/classroom, specifically an intervention class of non-English majors in a university in China through one semester. To investigate the associations of the intervention with students’ learning motivation, ICC and ICC confidence, a mixture of research methods was applied, including practitioner inquiry, action research, case study, mixed methods with explanatory design and triangulation design, and a quasi-experimental design. A multi-method approach to data collection was adopted including surveys, pre-test and post-test, students’ reflective journals, teacher‘s reflective journal and interviews. These data sets were analysed in ways appropriate to the data type, including thematic analysis and statistical analysis. The results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis were used to compare, triangulate and mutually illuminate both sets of results. The findings indicate that students’ positive attitudes toward ICC learning were related to their identification with the importance of learning/teaching ICC in English classroom and the fact that the systematic ICC learning/teaching in their English classroom had stimulated their interest and increased their learning motivation. Associations were found between systematic ICC learning/teaching and students’ improvement in learning motivation, LS, ICC and ICC confidence. A number of effective ways of systematically planning and integrating ICC learning/teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom were found, such as a division into three learning phases, a process of six stages in ICC curriculum planning, deciding certain ICC learning/teaching objectives, and other basic dimensions and components of the curriculum, including resource selection for the ICC learning/teaching and aspects of teaching method. It is concluded that systematically planning and integrating ICC teaching into the EFL curriculum/classroom, based on the theories of ICC teaching and L2 learning motivation, has a great potential to develop students‘ ICC and ICC confidence, and promote their learning motivation as well, with a flow-on benefit to their language skills. This study is significant for its practical implications for the practice of ICC learning/teaching in the EFL curriculum/classroom; its contribution to the practical and theoretical development/support of ICC learning/teaching and L2 learning motivation theories; its applying a mixture of research methods and of data collection and analysis procedures to investigate ICC teaching. In one word, it is significant in its offering practical implications for curriculum implementation, practical implications for teacher education and language policy-making, methodological implications for research, and theoretical implications for the development of ICC teaching/learning in the EFL classroom

MFM studies of interlayer exchange coupling in Co/Ru/Co films: Effect of Ru layer thickness

Antiferromagnetically coupled magnetic thin films are promising candidates for the design of new magnetic storage and logic devices. The ability to control the interlayer thickness, therefore the magnetic reversal response, of exchange-coupled magnetic layers is of paramount importance in nanotechnology, especially in magnetic sensing element design and applications. In this work, magnetic force microscopy (MFM) with improved sensitivity and high spatial resolution probes was used to obtain a more detailed view of magnetization reversal behavior and domain evolution in the indirect exchange-coupled trilayer system: Co/Ru/Co. The effect of the variable Ru interlayer thickness on the exchange coupling and thus the magnetic domain structure during the ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AF) coupling transition in Co/Ru/Co films is well demonstrated. The MFM images display a distinct signature of AF coupling for the films with Ru thickness of 0.4 nm. MFM has proven to be an effective tool for detecting FM/AF interlayer coupling and exploring magnetic domain structures in exchange-coupled layered thin films

HpGAN: Sequence Search with Generative Adversarial Networks

Sequences play an important role in many engineering applications and systems. Searching sequences with desired properties has long been an interesting but also challenging research topic. This article proposes a novel method, called HpGAN, to search desired sequences algorithmically using generative adversarial networks (GAN). HpGAN is based on the idea of zero-sum game to train a generative model, which can generate sequences with characteristics similar to the training sequences. In HpGAN, we design the Hopfield network as an encoder to avoid the limitations of GAN in generating discrete data. Compared with traditional sequence construction by algebraic tools, HpGAN is particularly suitable for intractable problems with complex objectives which prevent mathematical analysis. We demonstrate the search capabilities of HpGAN in two applications: 1) HpGAN successfully found many different mutually orthogonal complementary code sets (MOCCS) and optimal odd-length Z-complementary pairs (OB-ZCPs) which are not part of the training set. In the literature, both MOCSSs and OB-ZCPs have found wide applications in wireless communications. 2) HpGAN found new sequences which achieve four-times increase of signal-to-interference ratio--benchmarked against the well-known Legendre sequence--of a mismatched filter (MMF) estimator in pulse compression radar systems. These sequences outperform those found by AlphaSeq.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure

Topological phase transitions and Berry-phase hysteresis in exchange-coupled nanomagnets

Topological phase in magnetic materials yields a quantized contribution to the Hall effect known as the topological Hall effect, which is often caused by skyrmions, with each skyrmion creating a magnetic flux quantum ±h/e. The control and understanding of topological properties in nanostructured materials is the subject of immense interest for both fundamental science and technological applications, especially in spintronics. In this work, the electron-transport properties and spin structure of exchange-coupled cobalt nanoparticles with an average particle size of 13.7 nm are studied experimentally and theoretically. Magnetic and Hall-effect measurements identify topological phase transitions in the exchange-coupled cobalt nanoparticles and were used to discover a qualitatively new type of hysteresis in the topological Hall effect—namely, Berry-phase hysteresis. Micromagnetic simulations reveal the origin of the topological Hall effect—namely, the chiral domains, with domain-wall chirality quantified by an integer skyrmion number. These spin structures are different from the skyrmions formed due to Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interactions in B20 crystals and multilayered thin films, and caused by cooperative magnetization reversal in the exchange-coupled cobalt nanoparticles. An analytical model is developed to explain the underlying physics of Berry-phase hysteresis, which is strikingly different from the iconic magnetic hysteresis and constitutes one aspect of 21st-century reshaping of our view on nature at the borderline of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and materials science

High energy product of MnBi by field annealing and Sn alloying

Permanent-magnet materials are one cornerstone of today’s technology, abundant in disk drives, motors, medical equipment, wind generators, and cars. A continuing challenge has been to reconcile high permanent-magnet performance with low raw-material costs. This work reports a Mn-Bi-Sn alloy exclusively made from inexpensive elements, exhibiting high values of Curie-temperature, magnetization, anisotropy, coercivity, and energy product. The samples are produced by field annealing of rapidly quenched Sn-containing MnBi alloys, where the improvement of the magnetic properties is caused by the substitutional occupancy of the 2c sites in the hexagonal NiAs structure by Sn. The substitution modifies the electronic structure of the compound and enhances the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, thereby improv- ing the coercivity of the compound. The energy product reaches 114 kJ/m3 (14.3 MGOe) at room temperature and 86 kJ/m3 (10.8 MGOe) at 200○C; this value is similar to that of the Dy-free Nd2Fe14B and exceeds that of other rare-earth-free permanent-magnet bulk alloys, as encountered in automotive applications

Texture development and coercivity enhancement in cast alnico 9 magnets

The effect of Y addition and magnetic field on texture and magnetic properties of arc-melted alnico 9 magnets has been investigated. Small additions of Y (1.5 wt.%) develop a (200) texture for the arc-melted alnico 9 magnet. Such a texture is hard to form in cast samples. To achieve this goal, we set up a high-field annealing system with a maximum operation temperature of 12500 C. This system enabled annealing in a field of 45 kOe with subsequent draw annealing for the solutionized buttons; we have been able to substantially increase remanence ratio and coercivity, from 0.70 and 1200 Oe for the Y-free alnico 0 to 0.90 and 1400 Oe for the Y-doped alnico 9, respectively. A high energy product of 7.3 MGOe has been achieved for the fully heat-treated Y-doped alnico 9. The enhancement of coercvity is believed to arise from the introduction of magnetocrystalline anisotropy from 80 nm Y2Co17- type grains, which are exchange-coupled to the main-phase alnico rods

Understanding factors influencing the length of hospital stay among non-severe COVID-19 patients: A retrospective cohort study in a Fangcang shelter hospital.

As a novel concept of responding to disease epidemics, Fangcang shelter hospitals were deployed to expand the health system's capacity and provide medical services for non-severe COVID-19 patients during the outbreak in Wuhan. To give insights on patient management within Fangcang hospitals, we conducted a retrospective analysis to: 1) describe the characteristics of the patients admitted to Fangcang hospitals and 2) explore risk factors for longer length of stay (LOS). We enrolled 136 confirmed COVID-19 patients, including asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms, who were hospitalized in the Wuti Fangcang Hospital. 58 patients completed the treatment and discharged before 1 March 2020. After describing patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, exposure history, treatment received and time course of the disease, we conducted linear regression analysis to identify factors influencing LOS. We found that patients having fever before admission were hospitalized 3.5 days (95%CI 1.39 to 5.63, p = 0.002) longer than those without fever and that patients having bilateral pneumonia were hospitalized 3.4 days (95%CI 0.49 to 6.25, p = 0.023) longer than those with normal CT scan results. We also found weak evidence suggesting that patients with diabetes were hospitalized 3.2 days longer than those without diabetes (95%CI -0.2 to 6.56, p = 0.065). However, we observed no significant differences in LOS between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and between patients who received treatment and those without treatment. Longer duration of hospitalization among non-severe COVID-19 patients is associated with having fever, bilateral pneumonia on CT scan and diabetes. However, being asymptomatic and using supportive medications at the early stage of infection do not have significant influences on LOS. Our study is a single-centered study with relatively small sample size. The findings provide evidence for predicting hospital bed demand in a novel response scenario and may help decision-makers in preparing for ramping up the health system capacity

FPGA ARCHITECTURE FOR 2D DISCRETE FOURIER TRANSFORM BASED ON 2D DECOMPOSITION FOR LARGE-SIZED DATA

ABSTRACT Applications based on Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFT) are extensively used in various areas of signal and digital image processing. Of particular interest is the two-dimensional (2D) DFT which is more computation-and bandwidth-intensive than the one-dimensional (ID) DFT. Traditionally, a 2D DFT is computed using Row-Column (RC) decomposition, where ID DFTs are computed along the rows followed by ID DFTs along the columns. Both application specific and reconfigurable hardware have been used for high-performance implementations of 2D DFT. However, architectures based on RC decomposition are not efficient for large input size data due to memory bandwidth constraints. In this paper, we propose an efficient architecture to implement the 2D DFT for largesized input data based on a novel 2D decomposition algorithm. This architecture achieves very high throughput by exploiting the inherent parallelism due to the algorithm decomposition and by utilizing the row-wise burst access pattern of the external memory. A high throughput memory interface has been designed to enable maximum utilization of the memory bandwidth. In addition, an automatic system generator is provided for mapping this architecture onto a reconfigurable platform of Xilinx Virtex5 devices. For a 2K x 2K input size, the proposed architecture is 1.96x times faster than RC decomposition based implementation under the same memory constraints, and also outperforms other existing implementations

Identification of genes regulated by Wnt/β-catenin pathway and involved in apoptosis via microarray analysis

BACKGROUND: Wnt/β-catenin pathway has critical roles in development and oncogenesis. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the downstream signaling cascade of this pathway, little is known regarding Wnt/β-catenin pathway modification of the cellular apoptosis. METHODS: To identify potential genes regulated by Wnt/β-catenin pathway and involved in apoptosis, we used a stably integrated, inducible RNA interference (RNAi) vector to specific inhibit the expression and the transcriptional activity of β-catenin in HeLa cells. Meanwhile, we designed an oligonucleotide microarray covering 1384 apoptosis-related genes. Using oligonucleotide microarrays, a series of differential expression of genes was identified and further confirmed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: Stably integrated inducible RNAi vector could effectively suppress β-catenin expression and the transcriptional activity of β-catenin/TCF. Meanwhile, depletion of β-catenin in this manner made the cells more sensitive to apoptosis. 130 genes involved in some important cell-apoptotic pathways, such as PTEN-PI3K-AKT pathway, NF-κB pathway and p53 pathway, showed significant alteration in their expression level after the knockdown of β-catenin. CONCLUSION: Coupling RNAi knockdown with microarray and RT-PCR analyses proves to be a versatile strategy for identifying genes regulated by Wnt/β-catenin pathway and for a better understanding the role of this pathway in apoptosis. Some of the identified β-catenin/TCF directed or indirected target genes may represent excellent targets to limit tumor growth