Although an increasing number of studies have focused on the use of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' listening skill development, there is a ...lack of comprehensive meta-analysis regarding the effect sizes of these studies. To fill the gap, 20 selected experimental studies involving 1218 participants were included for a meta-analysis based on the proposed inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results showed that the overall effect size was moderate-to-large, g = 0.792, 95% CI 0.536, 1.047, suggesting that MALL for EFL learners' listening skill development is more effective than traditional methods. Regarding moderators for the overall effect, different moderator effects of educational levels, software types, control conditions, intervention settings, measured outcome types and intervention durations were reported. Specifically, educational levels were found to be a significant moderator, while software types, control conditions, intervention settings, measured outcome types and intervention durations were not the significant moderators. The implications for practice were discussed as well.
While an increasing number of studies have cast light on the effectiveness of MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) on English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL) reading comprehension, there ...is still a lack of comprehensive meta-analysis regarding the effect sizes of these studies. To fill the gap, this study reported results based on a meta-analysis of 20 effect sizes from 17 experimental and quasi-experimental studies published during 2000-2020. The results showed that the overall effect size was significantly large, suggesting the use of MALL applications for EFL/ESL reading comprehension is more effective than traditional methods. The moderating effects of eight moderators were analyzed. The intervention settings and intervention durations were found to be significant moderators, while others did not find a significant moderating effect. Implications of the findings were discussed.
Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that can cause permanent blindness and is difficult to diagnose early. Optic disc (OD) and optic cup (OC) play a pivotal role in the screening of glaucoma. ...Therefore, accurate segmentation of OD and OC from fundus images is a key task in the automatic screening of glaucoma. In this paper, we designed a U-shaped convolutional neural network with multi-scale input and multi-kernel modules (MSMKU) for OD and OC segmentation. Such a design gives MSMKU a rich receptive field and is able to effectively represent multi-scale features. In addition, we designed a mixed maximum loss minimization learning strategy (MMLM) for training the proposed MSMKU. This training strategy can adaptively sort the samples by the loss function and re-weight the samples through data enhancement, thereby synchronously improving the prediction performance of all samples. Experiments show that the proposed method has obtained a state-of-the-art breakthrough result for OD and OC segmentation on the RIM-ONE-V3 and DRISHTI-GS datasets. At the same time, the proposed method achieved satisfactory glaucoma screening performance on the RIM-ONE-V3 and DRISHTI-GS datasets. On datasets with an imbalanced distribution between typical and rare sample images, the proposed method obtained a higher accuracy than existing deep learning methods.
To address the serious threat of bacterial infection to public health, great efforts have been devoted to the development of antimicrobial agents for inhibiting bacterial growth, preventing biofilm ...formation, and sterilization. Very recently, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising materials for various antimicrobial applications owing to their different functions including the controlled/stimulated decomposition of components with bactericidal activity, strong interactions with bacterial membranes, and formation of photogenerated reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as high loading and sustained releasing capacities for other antimicrobial materials. This review focuses on recent advances in the design, synthesis, and antimicrobial applications of MOF-based materials, which are classified by their roles as component-releasing (metal ions, ligands, or both), photocatalytic, and chelation antimicrobial agents as well as carriers or/and synergistic antimicrobial agents of other functional materials (antibiotics, enzymes, metals/metal oxides, carbon materials, etc.). The constituents, fundamental antimicrobial mechanisms, and evaluation of antimicrobial activities of these materials are highlighted to present the design principles of efficient MOF-based antimicrobial materials. The prospects and challenges in this research field are proposed.
Photoreduction of CO2 into reusable carbon forms is considered as a promising approach to address the crisis of energy from fossil fuels and reduce excessive CO2 emission. Recently, metal–organic ...frameworks (MOFs) have attracted much attention as CO2 photoreduction‐related catalysts, owing to their unique electronic band structures, excellent CO2 adsorption capacities, and tailorable light‐absorption abilities. Recent advances on the design, synthesis, and CO2 reduction applications of MOF‐based photocatalysts are discussed here, beginning with the introduction of the characteristics of high‐efficiency photocatalysts and structural advantages of MOFs. The roles of MOFs in CO2 photoreduction systems as photocatalysts, photocatalytic hosts, and cocatalysts are analyzed. Detailed discussions focus on two constituents of pure MOFs (metal clusters such as Ti–O, Zr–O, and Fe–O clusters and functional organic linkers such as amino‐modified, photosensitizer‐functionalized, and electron‐rich conjugated linkers) and three types of MOF‐based composites (metal–MOF, semiconductor–MOF, and photosensitizer–MOF composites). The constituents, CO2 adsorption capacities, absorption edges, and photocatalytic activities of these photocatalysts are highlighted to provide fundamental guidance to rational design of efficient MOF‐based photocatalyst materials for CO2 reduction. A perspective of future research directions, critical challenges to be met, and potential solutions in this research field concludes the discussion.
Photocatalyst materials based on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have great potential for carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction due to their tailorable light‐absorption ability, unique pore texture, and excellent CO2 adsorption capacity. A comprehensive review of recent advances in the design, synthesis, and CO2 photoreduction applications of MOF‐based photocatalysts is presented to offer valuable insights toward the exploitation of new‐generation photocatalyst materials.
Game-based vocabulary learning that is well documented to improve students’ vocabulary learning outcomes is gaining increasing attention. However, no consensus has been reached regarding the impact ...of game-based vocabulary learning application (APP) on the vocabulary learning achievement, motivation, and self-confidence among Chinese EFL (English as a foreign language) students, so large a population that should never be neglected. To address the issues, a total of 70 college students in two groups participated in a quasi-experiment. One is the experimental group in which students received the game-based vocabulary learning; the other is the control group in which students received the conventional paper-based wordlist learning. Each group consisted of 35 students. The experiment was carried out to evaluate how the implementation of game-based vocabulary learning influences students’ vocabulary learning achievement, motivation, and self-confidence. In addition, a regression analysis was exploited to examine the influence of motivation and self-confidence on vocabulary achievement. Results demonstrated that the game-based vocabulary learning APP benefited students in vocabulary achievement, motivation, and self-confidence. Furthermore, learning self-confidence and motivation did not predict learning achievement. Implications of the study were also given.
The distribution and deposition of fat tissue in different parts of the body are the key factors affecting the carcass quality and meat flavour of chickens. Intramuscular fat (IMF) content is an ...important factor associated with meat quality, while abdominal fat (AbF) is regarded as one of the main factors affecting poultry slaughter efficiency. To investigate the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and molecular regulatory mechanisms related to adipogenic differentiation between IMF- and AbF-derived preadipocytes, we analysed the mRNA expression profiles in preadipocytes (0d, Pre-) and adipocytes (10d, Ad-) from IMF and AbF of Gushi chickens.
AbF-derived preadipocytes exhibited a higher adipogenic differentiation ability (96.4% + 0.6) than IMF-derived preadipocytes (86.0% + 0.4) (p < 0.01). By Ribo-Zero RNA sequencing, we obtained 4403 (2055 upregulated and 2348 downregulated) and 4693 (2797 upregulated and 1896 downregulated) DEGs between preadipocytes and adipocytes in the IMF and Ad groups, respectively. For IMF-derived preadipocyte differentiation, pathways related to the PPAR signalling pathway, ECM-receptor interaction and focal adhesion pathway were significantly enriched. For AbF-derived preadipocyte differentiation, the steroid biosynthesis pathways, calcium signaling pathway and ECM-receptor interaction pathway were significantly enriched. A large number of DEGs related to lipid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and preadipocyte differentiation, such as PPARG, ACSBG2, FABP4, FASN, APOA1 and INSIG1, were identified in our study.
This study revealed large transcriptomic differences between IMF- and AbF-derived preadipocyte differentiation. A large number of DEGs and transcription factors that were closely related to fatty acid metabolism, lipid metabolism and preadipocyte differentiation were identified in the present study. Additionally, the microenvironment of IMF- and AbF-derived preadipocyte may play a significant role in adipogenic differentiation. This study provides valuable evidence to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying adipogenesis and fat deposition in chickens.
We designed a borane/gold(I) co‐catalytic system and used it for C−H functionalization reactions and cycloaddition reactions between tertiary amines and α‐alkynylenones. Both reactions effectively ...incorporated a furan ring into the amine.
Gold‐furyl 1,3‐dipoles generated in situ from α‐alkynylenones and gold catalysts were successfully used for borane‐catalyzed amine C−H functionalization reactions, giving amine derivatives bearing a furan ring. The reactions took place either via an α‐furylation pathway or via a 3+2 cycloaddition pathway, depending on the alkyl groups attached to the amine.
Carbon dots (CDs), as a new type of carbon-based nanomaterial, have attracted broad research interest for years, because of their diverse physicochemical properties and favorable attributes like good ...biocompatibility, unique optical properties, low cost, ecofriendliness, abundant functional groups (e.g., amino, hydroxyl, carboxyl), high stability, and electron mobility. In this Outlook, we comprehensively summarize the classification of CDs based on the analysis of their formation mechanism, micro-/nanostructure and property features, and describe their synthetic methods and optical properties including strong absorption, photoluminescence, and phosphorescence. Furthermore, the recent significant advances in diverse applications, including optical (sensor, anticounterfeiting), energy (light-emitting diodes, catalysis, photovoltaics, supercapacitors), and promising biomedicine, are systematically highlighted. Finally, we envisage the key issues to be challenged, future research directions, and perspectives to show a full picture of CDs-based materials.
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