Jin Hao

The biology major has developed rapidly in recent years. Biology is a science that penetrates every aspect of human life and is one of the core majors in most agricultural colleges and universities. However, many teachers lack practical experience in the subject. To overcome this problem, in recent years, we have been trying to introduce new reforms into our teaching. This article provides some insight into the way that biology majors have been reformed, which will help educators in agricultural colleges and universities. At present, teachers implement the “Industrial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Cultivation” model, but it is not clear whether this helps biology majors to master the course and improve their practical skills. In this study, the IIETC model is outlined, and the academic achievement and satisfaction of students taught under the IIETC model are assessed. A T-test is used to examine potential differences between IIETC and traditional teaching models. In-depth interviews and questionnaires were given to two groups of students who followed different teaching models as part of an exploratory study. The aim was to explore how effective IIETC is at helping biology majors master the course and improve students’ wellbeing. Our results show that compared with traditional teaching methods, the IIETC model has a significant positive impact on the academic performance and happiness of biology students. Students trained under the IIETC model were more active and scored more highly in their final exams. They were more likely to feel that they had achieved success and happiness through the course. The outcomes of this research reveal a novel teaching reform that improved students’ enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The effects are very encouraging and deserve further exploration and expansion in future work.

Megaprojects are implemented by different organisations, such as owners, consultants, and contractors. Gradually, these organisations and their connections can form business networks that influence both the market position of individual organisations and project performance. Previous research on large-scale projects mainly focused on static and homogeneous networks that were constructed by one individual project and/or carried out over one-off collaboration. However, this neglected the consideration of project network diversity, as well as repetitive, dynamic, cross-project coopetition relationship and long-term business networks formed by key actors. Here, we chose Chinese skyscrapers over 300 meters that were built from 1996 to 2015 as typical megaproject cases and analysed the formation and evolution of megaproject business networks from the perspective of interorganisational coopetition. We identified the key actors involved and empirically studied their dynamic network positions over time. The main contributions of this study are threefold. First, we found that past collaboration experience has direct and dynamic impacts on the formation of megaproject business networks. Second, we identified key actors in the interorganisational business network and unveiled their dynamic positions with clear patterns. Third, we highlighted the temporal-spatial effect on the formation and development of business networks, alongside developments in the megaproject market. The findings of this study also provide practical applications for owners to choose collaboration partners and to build high-performance teams and for suppliers to enter and sustain the business in the megaprojects networks.

© 2015 American Chemical Society.The biguanide metformin is widely used as first-line therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Predominately a cation at physiological pH's, metformin is transported by membrane transporters, which play major roles in its absorption and disposition. Recently, our laboratory demonstrated that organic cation transporter 1, OCT1, the major hepatic uptake transporter for metformin, was also the primary hepatic uptake transporter for thiamine, vitamin B1. In this study, we tested the reverse, i.e., that metformin is a substrate of thiamine transporters. Our study demonstrated that human THTR-2, SLC19A3, which is highly expressed in the small intestine, but not hTHTR-1, transports metformin and other cationic compounds. The uptake mechanism for hTHTR-2 was pH and electrochemical gradient sensitive. Furthermore, metformin as well as other drugs including phenformin, chloroquine, verapamil, famotidine, and amprolium inhibited hTHTR-2 mediated uptake of both thiamine and metformin. Species differences in the substrate specificity of THTR-2 between human and mouse orthologues were observed. Taken together, our data suggest that hTHTR-2 may play a role in the intestinal absorption and tissue distribution of metformin and other organic cations and that the transporter may be a target for drug-drug and drug-nutrient interactions.