Narrative Self-Healing:Analysis of the Benefits of an Integrated Listening,Reading,and Writing Course for Chinese Colleges

This study is based on postmodern narrative therapy.The action research approach was adopted to explore the self-healing experience and the reflections of teaching and learning in an integrated listening,reading,and writing course for Chinese colleges.The objectives of this study were as follows:(1)to assist university students in narrative self-healing through this course;(2)to explore the reflections and insights of this teaching action research.This study was conducted at National Dong Hwa University(Taiwan,China)with its faculty members,research assistants,and 330 college students.The teaching plan was implemented in six classes over four semesters.This study found that human beings have the ability to heal themselves and that an integrated course covering reading narratives,listening to narratives,and writing trauma narratives can help college students heal themselves.

An Al-12Si/ZnS powder inoculant for eutectic silicon in Al-12Si alloy

To obtain high-performance Al-Si-based cast alloys,refinement and modification of Si phases are required.An Al-12Si/ZnS powder inoculant was designed and fabricated using a chemical bath deposition method.The efficiency of the inoculant for modifying the eutectic Si phase in as-cast Al-12Si alloy was studied.Results show that Al-12Si/ZnS powder can significantly refine the eutectic Si in Al-Si cast alloys.The best refinement effect for eutectic Si is achieved with 17.5wt.%Al-12Si/ZnS powder.Coarse long needle-shaped eutectic Si with a length of 18μm was modified into approximately spherical shape with a diameter of 6.53μm,which is evenly distributed throughout the alloy.The E2EM model calculation indicates that the inter-plane misfit(F_(p))and inter-atomic spacing misfit(F_(r))between ZnS and Si are all less than 0.5%,which confirms that ZnS is a potential nucleation site for Si phase.The hardness,tensile strength,and elongation of Al-12Si alloys modified with 17.5%Al-12Si/ZnS powder increase 6.30%,16.18%and 55.45%,respectively,compared to the unmodified Al-12Si alloy.The fracture behavior of the alloy with 17.5wt.%Al-12Si/ZnS powder is dominated by transgranular fracture supplemented by intergranular fracture.

SYNTHESIS OF LADDERLIKE POLYHYDROXYPROPYLSILSESQUIOXANE

Ladderlike polyhydroxypropylsilsesquioxane (HO-T) was synthesized by alcoholysis of ladderlike poly(3-propionyloxy-propyl)silsesquioxane. The HO-T was characterized by GPC, IR, NMR, DSC, TGA and X-ray diffraction methods. Through hydrogen-bonding interaction, ladderlike polymer (HO-T) can form a supramolecular complex with somewhat regular structure.

Projections from Infralimbic Cortex to Paraventricular Thalamus Mediate Fear Extinction Retrieval

The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus(PVT),which serves as a hub,receives dense projections from the medial prefrontal cortex(mPFC)and projects to the lateral division of central amygdala(CeL).The infralimbic(IL)cortex plays a crucial role in encoding and recalling fear extinction memory.Here,we found that neurons in the PVT and IL were strongly activated during fear extinction retrieval.Silencing PVT neurons inhibited extinction retrieval at recent time point(24 h after extinction),while activating them promoted extinction retrieval at remote time point(7 d after extinction),suggesting a critical role of the PVT in extinction retrieval.In the mPFC-PVT circuit,projections from IL rather than prelimbic cortex to the PVT were dominant,and disrupting the IL-PVT projection suppressed extinction retrieval.Moreover,the axons of PVT neurons preferentially projected to the CeL.Silencing the PVT-CeL circuit also suppressed extinction retrieval.Together,our findings reveal a new neural circuit for fear extinction retrieval outside the classical IL-amygdala circuit.