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In the English as a foreign language (EFL) writing context, most of the research studies on the feedback process are conducted in a face-to-face context and few research studies have been conducted to investigate what actually happens in online feedback conditions. Thus, this study aimed to compare 44 EFL university students' experience of employing asynchronous peer feedback (APF) and synchronous corrective feedback (SCF) and whether the utilization of these two modes affected EFL students' writing on the aspect of syntactic complexity. The major findings suggested that most participants accepted this e-learning revision approach and received satisfactory results via using APF and SCF modes. The feedback that occurred in APF was potentially more usable than that in SCF in writing more sentences. It is assumed that as students added more words, they increased their writing scores after using APF. Although learners generally accepted both online feedback modes, the interview results revealed some of the reasons for learners' preference for the APF over the SCF mode. Finally, the implications of these findings for future research are discussed and presented.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious respiratory disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Treating TB is challenging; successful treatment requires a long course of multiple antibiotics. Rifampicin (RIF) is a first-line drug for treating TB, and the development of RIF-resistant M. tuberculosis makes treatment even more difficult. To determine the mechanism of RIF resistance in these strains, we searched for novel mutations by sequencing. Four isolates, CDC-1, CDC-2, CDC-3, and CDC-4, had high-level RIF resistance and unique mutations encoding RpoB G158R, RpoB V168A, RpoB S188P, and RpoB Q432insQ, respectively. To evaluate their correlation with RIF resistance, plasmids carrying rpoB genes encoding these mutant proteins were transfected into the H37Rv reference strain. The plasmid complementation of RpoB indicated that G158R, V168A, and S188P did not affect the MIC of RIF. However, the MIC of RIF was increased in H37Rv carrying RpoB Q432insQ. To confirm the correlation between RIF resistance and Q432insQ, we cloned an rpoB fragment carrying the insertion (encoding RpoB Q432insQ) into H37Rv by homologous recombination using a suicide vector. All replacement mutants expressing RpoB Q432insQ were resistant to RIF (MIC > 1 mg/L). These results indicate that RpoB Q432insQ causes RIF resistance in M. tuberculosis.

This study retrospectively analyzed the spatio-temporal distribution and spatial clustering of scarlet fever in mainland China from 2004 to 2017. In recent years, the incidence of scarlet fever is increasing. Previous studies on the spatial distribution of scarlet fever in China are mainly focused at the provincial and municipal levels, and there is few systematic report on the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of scarlet fever on the national level. Based on the incidence information of scarlet fever in mainland China between 2004 and 2017 collected from the China Center for Disease Control, this paper systematically explored the Spatio-temporal distribution of scarlet fever by three methods, contains spatial autocorrelation analysis, Spatio-temporal scanning analysis, and trend surface analysis. The results demonstrate that the incidence of scarlet fever varies by seasons, which is in line with double-peak distribution.The first peak generally occurs from May to June and the second one from November to December, while February and August is the lowest period of incidence. Trend surface analysis indicates that the incidence of scarlet fever in northern China is higher than the south, slightly higher in western compared to the east, and lower in the central part. Additionally, the results show that the clustering regions of scarlet fever centrally distributed in the northeast, northwest, north china and some provinces in the east, such as Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, and Jiangsu.

The effective use of reading strategies has been recognized as an important way to increase reading comprehension in hypermedia environments. The purpose of the study was to explore whether metacognitive strategy use and access to hypermedia annotations facilitated reading comprehension based on English as a foreign language students' proficiency levels. The primary investigation finding revealed that the strategies used the most were problem-solving strategies, followed by global strategies, whereas support strategies were used the least. The specific strategy of guessing content was used much more frequently which was reliably predicted by their comprehension scores; on the contrary, reading slowly might hinder hypermedia reading comprehension. Regarding the frequency of access to annotations, background information was viewed the most frequently, while word glossary was identified as least frequently; no significant relationship, however, was observed among proficiency levels, frequency of annotation use, and reading strategies. Based on further think-aloud investigation results, limitations and future research are discussed and presented.

Organohydrogels composed of immiscible hydrophilic and hydrophobic components have outstanding advantages in environmental adaptability, thus exhibiting potential applications in the fields of soft actuators, artificial sensors, energy storage devices, and so on. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in organohydrogels, from construction to performance and application. After a brief introduction, typical cases of organohydrogels and their construction methods are analyzed and summarized, including organohydrogels with heterogeneous networks, organohydrogels with binary solvent, emulsion‐based organohydrogels, and macroscopic hybrid gels. Then, their promising applications of soft actuators, flexible electronics, and anti‐counterfeiting platforms are outlined. Finally, the current challenges and future prospects of this emerging area are discussed. This review can be a significant reference for the development of environmentally adaptable materials and the expansion of new applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of online metacognitive strategies, hypermedia annotations, and motivation on reading comprehension in a Taiwanese hypertext environment. A path analysis model was proposed based on the assumption that if English as a foreign language learners frequently use online metacognitive strategies and hypermedia annotations, then they would increase their learning motivation, which, in turn, would enhance their hypertext comprehension performance. Participants consisted of 37 English majors enrolled at a private university in southern Taiwan. The results revealed that online metacognitive strategies most significantly predicted learning motivation and motivation directly affected hypertext comprehension. However, metacognitive strategies and hypermedia annotations did not directly affect hypertext comprehension. Consistent with expectations, motivation was found to mediate the relation between online metacognitive strategies and hypertext comprehension. On the other hand, the relation between hypermedia annotations and hypertext comprehension mediated by motivation was not obvious. Finally, the implications of these findings for future research are discussed and presented.