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Eleutheroside B (syringin) is a medicinal active ingredient extracted from Eleutherococcus senticosus (Ruper. et Maxim.) Maxim with high clinical application value. However, its synthesis pathway remains unknown. Here, we analyzed the eleutheroside B biosynthesis pathway in E. senticosus. Consequently, metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses identified 461 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 425 metabolites. Further, we identified 7 DEGs and 67 metabolites involved in the eleutheroside B biosynthetic pathway in the eleutheroside B high and low plants. The correlation between the gene and metabolites was explored using the pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) analysis. Caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase, caffeic acid-O-methyltransferase, β-amyrin synthase (β-AS) genes, NAC5, and HB5 transcription factors were identified as candidate genes and transcription factors related to the eleutheroside B synthesis. Eleutheroside B content was the highest at the young stage of the leaves both in the high and low eleutheroside B plants. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that phenylalanine ammonia-lyase1, cinnamate 4-hydroxylase, β-AS, and leucoanthocyanidin reductase gene had higher expression levels at the young stage of the leaves in the low eleutheroside B plants but lower expression levels in the high eleutheroside B plants. In the present study, we complemented the eleutheroside B biosynthetic pathway by analyzing the expression levels of relevant genes and metabolite accumulation patterns.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of solution methods and question prompts on generalization and justification of non-routine problem solving for Grade 9 students. The learning activities are based on the context of the frog jumping game. In addition, related computer tools were used to support generalization and justification of non-routine problem solving. Non-equivalent pretest/posttest quasi experimental design was adopted in this study. The experimental results are summarized as follows: (1) generalization and justification performance of non-routine problem solving for students in the specific prompt group is significantly better than that for students in the general prompt group, and (2) generalization and justification performance of non-routine problem solving for students in the multiple-solution group is significantly better than that for students in the single-solution group. Finally, suggestions were proposed based on the results found in this study, which may serve as useful directions for teachers and future studies.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of leadership style, whether transactional or transformational, and conflict management mode on the online learning performance of students in a business-planning course. Conflict management was performed using the following five approaches: (1) avoidance, (2) accommodation, (3) competition, (4) collaboration and (5) compromise. The sample used in this study included information from 318 undergraduate students enrolled in a course on business planning. The data were collected using a structured online questionnaire. The participants were asked to answer nine questions adapted from the Multifacet Leadership Questionnaire and 19 questions adapted from the Multifacet Conflict Management Questionnaire. Our results show that both leadership style and conflict management mode have a strong influence on learning performance. They also elucidate the interaction between leadership style and conflict management mode. Finally, transformational leadership is shown to be more effective than transactional leadership when dealing with conflict. This work expands our knowledge of conflict management associated with virtual teams participating in an online course, in which close relationships must be maintained over a relatively long period of time. On a more practical level, experience promotes the acceptance of conflict management as a part of the leaders' responsibility, thereby improving the learning performance of all participants.

Several studies have found that participants are willing to share personal information on Facebook, due mainly to trust in fellow group members; however, this trust is often influenced by the discussion environment, methods and participants. A learning facilitator is often employed in entrepreneurial courses but few previous studies have examined how they actually influence the effectiveness of teaching. This paper discusses how the trust in such facilitators in the Facebook community influences the development of students in the writing of business plans in order to model learning behavior. We employed pre- and post-test data from a sample of 188 undergraduate students in a mid-sized Taiwanese university and observed the influence of learning facilitators on learning performance. This study also explored the interaction between partner trust and discussion mode with regard to business plan writing. Our results show that having an entrepreneurial consultant participate in the discussion results provide significantly stronger improvements in business plan writing than that afforded by other modes of discussion. A significant interaction between the mode of discussion and partner trust with regard to business plan writing was identified. Our findings make a concrete contribution by increasing our understanding of partner trust and cooperative learning, in a business plan writing course in the Facebook community. The study also provides an alternative course design based on various approaches to the instruction of business plan preparation. (Contains 6 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of incorporating Magic Board in the instruction of concepts related to area. We adopted a non-equivalent quasi-experimental design and recruited participants from two classes of third-grade students in an elementary school in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. Magic Board was used as a teaching aid in the experimental group, and physical manipulatives were employed as teaching aids in the control group. Both groups took the Basic Area Concept Test as a pretest, followed by the Area Concept Test to evaluate retention two weeks later. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of Magic Board over that of physical manipulatives on three subscales of immediate learning performance and all four subscales of retention performance. We also discuss the implications of these results and provide recommendations for future research.