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Targeted at analyzing the research status and trends of the educational technology field, this study conducted a bibliometric analysis on research topics, author profiles, and collaboration networks using a top-ranked journal Computers & Education (ISSN: 0360-1315). Using the Web of Sciences database, we retrieved 3963 articles published by the journal during the period 1978–2018. The annual distribution of articles demonstrates a significant increase in the journal publications, especially from 2005 to 2011. The scientific collaboration between authors, institutions, and countries/regions has become increasingly close. The scientific collaboration rate between authors from the same institution, and from the same country/region, is relatively higher compared with those from different institutions and countries/regions. Keyword evolution analysis highlights some prevalent topics such as “interactive learning environment,” “teaching/learning strategies,” “pedagogical issue,” and “improving classroom teaching.” Findings of this study provide a comprehensive overview of the articles on educational technology over the past 40 years.

Ovarian cancer (OC), as one of the three major gynecological tumors, has been known as the “silent killer”. It is characterized by high mortality, high recurrence rate, and frequent drug resistance. Chronic stress has been increasingly recognized as a potential contributor to ovarian cancer progression through dysregulation of neuroendocrine pathways, particularly via the prolonged activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Key mediators, including glucocorticoids (GCs), catecholamines (epinephrine (E), norepinephrine (NE), and dopamine (DA)), and other neuroendocrine factors, contribute to tumor progression by modulating cell proliferation, metastasis, angiogenesis, chemoresistance, and tumor immune microenvironment. This review summarizes current evidence on the role of neuroendocrine mediators in ovarian cancer progression, highlighting molecular mechanisms, clinical and preclinical findings, and potential therapeutic strategies. Understanding neuroendocrine-ovarian cancer crosstalk may provide novel insights into ovarian cancer progression and inform combinatorial therapies targeting stress-mediated tumorigenesis.

The cognitive demands of summary writing are dependent upon the type of summary to be produced. This paper reports part of a larger study in which 157 Chinese undergraduates were asked to write summaries of extended English texts in both English and Chinese. It examines the differential effects of the use of the two languages on summarization as a measure of reading comprehension, drawing upon data from students' actual test performances as well as their perceptions of such differential effects, as evidenced in the post-summarization questionnaire and interviews. It was found that the use of the different languages had significant effects on both summarization processes and products. Students wrote significantly longer Chinese summaries but these were rated consistently of poorer quality than English summaries. However, Chinese summarization was found to be a better measure of students' English reading abilities. The implications of these findings are discussed with specific reference to summarization task design, in particular, how the use of the first and target languages may affect test takers' performance as well as rater behaviours and the potential of using first language in large-scale international language testing programmes incorporating integrated reading/writing tasks as a measure of reading comprehension.

The consensus control method based on a multi-agent system has been widely applied in the distributed control and optimization of microgrids. However, the following drawbacks are still common in current research: (1) ignoring the influence of consensus control commands on the synchronization stability of the physical grid under primary control; (2) only focusing on improving one property ofcontrol performance, lacking comprehensive considerations of multiple properties. With the aim of solving these problems, in this paper we propose a weight-adaptive robust control strategy for implementing distributed frequency regulation of islanded microgrids. Firstly, the frequency synchronization stability of the physical layer is analyzed by means of a coupled oscillator theory and the design objectives of the controllable parameters for the information layer are formed. Subsequently, the relationship between the weight coefficients and the two important control performances of convergence speed and delay robustness is strictly analyzed. Based on this, an adaptive coefficient that can be autonomously adjusted according to the frequency deviation is designed to achieve a trade-off between convergence speed and delay robustness. Finally, three simulation studies are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Two kinds of scoring templates were empirically derived from summaries written by experts and students to evaluate the quality of summaries written by the students. This paper reports students' attitudes towards the use of the two templates and its differential statistical effects on the judgment of students' summarization performance. It was found that a summary consistently received higher scores when judged by the popular template, regardless of the language and the language order (English then Chinese or Chinese then English) in which a summary was produced. However, the scores from the expert template were slightly better predictors of students' reading abilities as measured by FCE and TOEFL. The majority of the students strongly preferred the expert template. Their arguments centered mainly on the differences between students and experts in their language abilities and experience, their stereotypical status in educational assessment, and the dialectical interpretations of `quantity' and `quality'. Implications of these findings are discussed with specific reference to the value of involving test-takers in assessment criteria development.

Background A large number of in vitro experiments have confirmed that DNA molecules can form i-motif advanced structure when multiple cytosines exist in the sequence. However, whether these structures are present in vivo environment still lacks sufficient experimental evidence. Results In this paper, we report the in vivo visualization of i-motif structures in the nuclei and chromosomes of the testis of the invertebrate Bombyx mori using immunofluorescence staining with an antibody specifically recognizing the endogenous transcription factor BmILF, which binds i-motif structure with high specificity. The number of i-motif structures observed in the genome increased when the pH was changed from basic to acidic and decreased under treatment with an i-motif inhibitor, the porphyrin compound TMPyP4. The pH change affected the transcription of genes that contain i-motif sequences. Moreover, there were more i-motif structures observed in the testis cells in interphase than in any other cell cycle stage. Conclusions In this study, the i-motif structures in invertebrates were detected for the first time at the cell and organ levels. The formation of the structures depended on cell cycle and pH and affected gene expression.

The beneficial impacts of peer assessment to improve students’ writing have been frequently reported. While students’ engagement in the peer assessment process has been highlighted as a critical factor to enhance learning, few studies reported how to engage students. Although students’ interaction has been advocated to let students participate in learning, it was found that previous studies of peer assessment only provided very limited opportunities for students to directly interact with each other. In this case study, 153 pre-service teachers were engaged in a group-based online reciprocal peer assessment learning activity to improve their academic writing skills. A core component of dialogic interaction was purposively implemented to foster engagement in the peer assessment process. Results suggest that while the students considered the process quite complicated and they needed more peer assessment training, they were seriously engaged in the process. The quality of students’ writing was also found to have improved. The students appreciated the dialogic interactive feature of peer assessment to enhance their learning and they were satisfied with the instructional methods. This study highlights the importance of using dialogic interaction to improve students’ engagement.

The expression of self-antigens in medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) is essential for the establishment of immune tolerance, but the regulatory network that controls the generation and maintenance of the multitude of cell populations expressing self-antigens is poorly understood. Here, we show that Insm1, a zinc finger protein with known functions in neuroendocrine and neuronal cells, is broadly coexpressed with an autoimmune regulator (Aire) in mTECs. Insm1 expression is undetectable in most mimetic cell populations derived from mTECs but persists in neuroendocrine mimetic cells. Mutation of Insm1 in mice downregulated Aire expression, dysregulated the gene expression program of mTECs, and altered mTEC subpopulations and the expression of tissue-restricted antigens. Consistent with these findings, loss of Insm1 resulted in autoimmune responses in multiple peripheral tissues. We found that Insm1 regulates gene expression in mTECs by binding to chromatin. Interestingly, the majority of the Insm1 binding sites are co-occupied by Aire and enriched in superenhancer regions. Together, our data demonstrate the important role of Insm1 in the regulation of the repertoire of self-antigens needed to establish immune tolerance.

This study investigates the relationship between three discourse synthesis skills (i.e., quotation, summarization, and connection) and students’ overall integrated writing performance in Chinese, students’ first language, and English, their second language. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that 63.6% of the variance in students’ overall Chinese integrated writing performance was accounted for by the three discourse synthesis skills, with connection and summarization contributed almost equally to the overall scores. In the English test, the three skills explained 47.9% of the variance. Cross-linguistic facilitation of the L1 discourse synthesis skills to the overall L2 integrated writing performance was observed, although the predictive strength of the three skills was comparatively low. Eye-tracking data together with subsequent stimulated-recall interviews illuminated the differences in students’ approaches to discourse synthesis. Findings of the study support the decisive role of discourse synthesis abilities in both L1 and L2 integrated writing assessments. Implications for writing instruction are discussed.

This article aims to help teacher-researchers engage in empirical research on classroom-based assessment for formative purposes. We will first introduce the key features of classroom-based formative assessment (CBFA), and analyze the research questions asked in round-one projects funded by the Fund for Assessment Research (FAR) in Foreign Language Education in China. Next, we will illustrate how some research questions can be answered by analyzing a video-taped lesson from a round-one FAR project. We conclude by calling for more teacher-led research and argue that research on CBFA by teachers will not only produce valid interpretations and applicable findings, but also constitute a viable model for teacher professional development.