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This paper reports an action research that aimed to examine how the author's weekly use of reflection and questioning instructional methods affected learners' learning in an online graduate class at a midwestern public university in the USA. The author employed the asynchronous online discussion on the discussion board in Blackboard for learners to complete course assignments. Specifically, the online instructional approach started with learners' initial written reflection posts based on the assigned readings and personal experience, then followed by the instructor's challenging questions based on the Socratic method and learners' written responses to those questions. This method included discipline-specific questioning, creating a community where learners replied to the instructor's and learners' questions through modelling and facilitation, and promoting the instructor's thinking-encouraging approach. The results of both quantitative and qualitative data indicated that the use of the reflection and questioning methods was effective in engaging and challenging online graduate learners. International implications across the discipline will result from the study.

At the end of 2019, a pulmonary epidemic caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) broke out in Hubei Province, China. In the epidemic area, a large number of patients with suspected novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia (NCIP) or only mild symptoms are hospitalized in the makeshift hospitals, isolation point after first diagnosis and mobile cabin hospitals. However, because our medical staffs are unfamiliar with the disease and the workflow of makeshift and cabin hospitals, and these may reduce the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment. In addition, the condition of NCIP changes rapidly, and the hospitalized patients may develop in a rapid deterioration, from mild, ordinary to severe or even critical. Therefore, with an aim of reducing the rates of critical illness and mortality in the epidemic area, it is of great significance to sort out the diagnosis, treatment and rescue processes, early identify the patients at high-risk for severe or critical deterioration, actively carry out targeted treatment, and timely transfer critical or suspected critical patients to hospitals with treatment conditions. In this article, we sort out our practical experience in optimization of diagnosis and treatment procedure under the cabin hospital-like condition, summarize the clinical features of the patients at high-risk for severe or critical deterioration, so as to help medical staffs getting familiar with their work quickly, promote the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment, and improve the ability of identifying the high-risk patients as early as possible.

This quasi-experimental study was designed to explore the potential impact of online instruction in a graduate course affects K-12 teachers' attitudes towards technology integration in schools and learning performance in the United States. This study used a nonequivalent control group design. Nineteen participants in both the experimental group (online section) and control group (traditional section) were pretested and posttested with the Stages of Concerns (SoC) Questionnaire in the fall semester of 2003. Due to the unbalanced participants in the experimental and control groups, the nonparametric statistic procedure was used to examine the differences between two groups. The Mann-Whitney U test indicated a significant difference only existed in stage 2-personal stage in both raw score and percentile score between the online and traditional sections. That is, online instruction significantly promoted online learner's concern only in stage 2-personal stage. No significant differences were found in other six stages of SoC questionnaire between the two groups. In addition, no significant differences were found in students' final course grades between two groups. Implications for K-12 teacher education were proposed.

New particle formation (NPF) plays a crucial role in the atmospheric aerosol population and has significant implications on climate dynamics, particularly in climate-sensitive zones such as the Tibetan Plateau (TP). However, our understanding of NPF on the TP is still limited due to a lack of comprehensive measurements and verified model simulations. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted an integrated study combining comprehensive field measurements and chemical transport modeling to investigate NPF events on the southeastern TP during the pre-monsoon season. NPF was observed to occur frequently on clear-sky days on the southeastern TP, contributing significantly to the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) budget in this region. The observational evidence suggests that highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) from monoterpene oxidation participate in the nucleation on the southeastern TP. After updating the monoterpene oxidation chemistry and nucleation schemes in the meteorology–chemistry model, the model well reproduces observed NPF and reveals an extensive occurrence of NPF across the southeastern TP. The dominant nucleation mechanism is the synergistic nucleation of sulfuric acid, ammonia, and HOMs, driven by the transport of anthropogenic precursors from South Asia and the presence of abundant biogenic gases. By investigating the vertical distribution of NPF, we find a significant influence of vertical transport on the southeastern TP. More specifically, strong nucleation near the surface leads to an intense formation of small particles, which are subsequently transported upward. These particles experience enhanced growth to larger sizes in the upper planetary boundary layer (PBL) due to favorable conditions such as lower temperatures and a reduced condensation sink. As the PBL evolves, the particles in larger sizes are brought back to the ground, resulting in a pronounced increase in near-surface particle concentrations. This study highlights the important roles of anthropogenic–biogenic interactions and meteorological dynamics in NPF on the southeastern TP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New particle formation contributes significantly to the number concentration of ultrafine particles (UFPs, d ≤ 100 nm) and has a great impact on human health and global climate. Iodine oxoacids (HIO x , including iodic acid, HIO 3 , and iodous acid, HIO 2) have been observed in pristine regions and proved to dominate new particle formation (NPF) at some sites. However, the knowledge of HIO x in polluted urban areas is rather limited. Here, we conducted a long-term measurements of gaseous iodine oxoacids and sulfuric acid in Beijing from January 2019 to October 2021 and also in Nanjing from March 2019 to February 2020 and investigated the contribution of HIO x to UFP number concentration in both urban environments. HIO 3 is highest in summer, up to 2.85 × 10 6 and 2.78 × 10 6 cm -3 in Beijing and Nanjing, respectively, and is lowest in winter by 96 % and 75 %, respectively. HIO 3 exhibits more prominent variation than H 2 SO 4 in both urban sites. HIO 3 concentration shows a clear diurnal pattern at both sites with a daily maximum at around noontime, similar to the atmospheric temperature, solar radiation, and ozone (O 3) levels. HIO 2 concentration has the same diurnal and seasonal trend as HIO 3 but is overall about an order of magnitude lower than HIO 3 concentration. Back trajectory analysis suggests that the sources for inland iodine species could be a mix of marine and terrestrial origins, with both having peak iodine emission in warm seasons. While the contribution of HIO 2 to particle growth is marginal in Beijing and Nanjing, our results demonstrate that HIO 3 enhances the particle survival probability of sub-3 nm particles by about 40 % (median) and occasionally by more than 100 % in NPF events, suggesting HIO x are significant contributor to UFPs in polluted urban areas. As the growth contribution from HIO 3 and H 2 SO 4 is similar on a per-molecule basis, we propose that the sum of HIO 3 and H 2 SO 4 could be used to estimate sub-3 nm particle growth of inorganic acid origin in polluted atmospheres with a significant amount of HIO x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a consensus–coordinated control strategy to improve the stability and reliability of interconnected direct current (DC) microgrid cluster systems based on isolated bidirectional DC–DC converters. Compared with the traditional communication-based control strategy, the proposed method does not require an additional communication system. The proposed method is only based on local measurement information, making the whole cluster form an organic unit. No matter where the power disturbance occurs in the continuous-flow microgrid, all the balance units in the system can be linked to provide emergency power support for the disturbed microgrid, improve the dynamic characteristics of the DC voltage of the disturbed microgrid, and reduce the steady-state deviation of the DC voltage of the disturbed grid. The disturbance power is reasonably borne by the balance unit of the whole system according to its equivalent power distribution coefficient ratio. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified through the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]