Second in a two-part series. Part one here.

Dr Chun Zhao, XJTLU's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

After stepping off into the unknown of emergency, all-online teaching a month ago, educators at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University report that module objectives are being achieved and future onsite classes may never be the same.

What was the key to this success? Instructors interviewed noted they carefully considered content delivery and adjusted learning plans accordingly.

When planning his module, Dr Chun Zhao of XJTLU’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering took a leaf from the students’ book.

“I researched the technology, entertainment and communication methods popular with young people. I have incorporated elements of these in my online delivery of a technology course to make the module lively and engaging,” he said.

Students’ familiarity with livestreaming helped Dr Cheng-Hung Lo, of the University’s School of Film and TV Arts, make his decision to deliver classes live rather than record in advance.

“I chose to go with live sessions rather than recorded video - most of our students were born in the digital era and are accustomed to watching live broadcast on social networks and video sharing platforms. I find it closer to the physical classroom teaching experience. You can improvise a bit, go with the flow, and talk more naturally. There’s also still a real-time connection with the students, even though it is virtual,” he said.

There’s a different rhythm to account for with online instruction compared to onsite, instructors noted.

“We have to consider the order of contact and the order of response,” said Dr Anna Y. Tian of XJTLU’s International Business School Suzhou.

“I can no longer see students’ faces in person or walk up to them to ask what they think, and in the virtual environment they need to take turns responding to a question I might pose. However, by redesigning the course to take advantage of the online techniques we have been provided, the learning outcomes are achieved,” she said.

Both Dr Eduardo Medina of XJTLU’s Department of Health and Environmental Sciences and Professor Roberto Donà of International Business School Suzhou have found benefits in combining ways for students to learn on their own and at the same time.

“The online mode of teaching relies more on students’ independent learning,” said Dr Medina.

“Therefore, I restructured what were previously face-to-face lectures into both synchronous and asynchronous activities to guide this independent learning,” he said.

"At the beginning of the week, students read materials in advance of a lecture and then discuss and exchange views in online study group forums. In the middle of the week, they watch a pre-recorded lecture. At the end of the week, we have synchronous discussions and exchanges, arriving at common conclusions or summaries of the offline activities."

Professor Donà also asks students to study material for his masters level module offline – both text and video clips – and then answer questions or take quizzes on the learning platform in preparation for later synchronous discussion.

”I don’t use the virtual classroom to deliver content, I use it to discuss content,” he said.

“The students are obliged to study to prepare themselves and we have the entire virtual class period to discuss. By combining synchronous and asynchronous classes, I am not just replacing the physical class, I can enhance the course.”

Professor Roberto Donà, XJTLU's International Business School Suzhou,and his master's level Business Leadership course

Students in an elective, two-week online course taught just before all modules moved online were highly active, producing hundreds of discussion forum messages, noted Dr Qian Wang of XJTLU’s Institute of Leadership and Education Advanced Development (ILEAD).

“Seeing how actively students communicated and bounced ideas off each other in offline discussion groups was exciting and rewarding,” said Dr Wang.

Several of the educators interviewed have found benefits from online technology to incorporate in face-to-face classes in the future.

Live online sessions can be a good way to teach use of software, Dr Lo of SOFTA noted.

“I can use screensharing functions to demonstrate in a lively and engaging manner, and I can connect a digital drawing pad to my computer to literally turn my desktop into a whiteboard,” he said.

Dr Medina discovered a method to ensure students read material before lectures.

“Asking students to discuss pre-readings for lectures in online forums has turned out to be a good way to ensure accountability,” he said.

Dr Zhao has found that having students respond to his questions in a chat window during a live class has helped him narrow in on where to focus.

“I can immediately understand what knowledge points the students have questions about. I can learn more directly what topics they need more information on and which they need me to explain from a different angle,” he said.

Professor Donà said he appreciates how technology can even the level of knowledge among students in a module.

“Instead of my taking 20-30 minutes to explain a theory in a class of 50 where some students already know it, technology can allow those who don’t to drill into that information via a computer application. I then have more time to spend doing individual coaching,” he said.

“Now that we have had this experience with online teaching, I don’t think we will ever go back entirely to the way we taught before.”

Dr Anna Y. Tian, XJTLU’s International Business School Suzhou

Dr Cheng-Hung Lo, XJTLU's School of Film and TV Arts

By Tamara Kaup and Luyun Shi

The same week that the United Kingdom banned meetings of more than two people due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of newly reported cases in China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, was at nearly zero.

As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold across the world, China’s current successes in limiting the spread of COVID-19 should be considered as governments around the world deliberate and initiate unprecedented policies and practices in a bid to keep their populations safe.

This is what Dr Ying Chen of the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences at Xi’an-Jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU) says, outlining how China’s multi-faceted response to the outbreak makes it a leading light for other countries to follow suit, with many now adopting similar measures to China.

These measures include epidemiological tracking and infection testing to determine the spread of the virus, the introduction of policies that prompt or enforce social distancing and self-isolation to limit the spread of the virus, as well as the use and rapid deployment of medical equipment and medics to save lives in crisis hotspots.

China has also focused intensely on medical research aimed at to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and treat those with the condition, while examples of ways to entertain and maintain the psychological health of the general public and patients have been shared across the world.

“Across the world we are witnessing the closure of schools and universities, flight bans in Australia, the lockdown of cities and closed borders across Europe,” Dr Chen says.

In the UK on 23 February, following criticism over its slow response to enforcing social distancing, the government has issued a ban for all gatherings of more than two people in public.

“The suspension of mass gatherings, such as sporting and musical events, and impetus for social distancing practices including, for example in England, the closure of pubs and restaurants, needs to occur at speed.

“These are recent responses and need to be enforced as too often people will fail to consider the severity of this crisis, many going about their day in their usual way, unaware that they may be transmitting the virus while feeling in good health.

“Social distancing and self-isolation are among the most important factors in controlling the spread of this virus. In China, specifically in Hubei where isolation measures may have been considered strict, that effort has been worthwhile.”

In the city of Hubei, there are currently only a few sporadic new confirmed cases of the disease.

Dr Chen adds that the value of epidemiological tracking and widespread virus testing at the earliest possible time is another vital factor in combatting its spread.

“A large proportion of people who are infected do not exhibit severe symptoms for a considerable period of time before showing more serious illness, or even for the entire disease duration. These are the milder stages or cases, and these people may not even know it themselves, but they are still infectious. However, they are like the body of an iceberg whose tip demonstrates the most extreme cases of people who are ill with the virus.

“This is why epidemiological tracking and widespread testing is so important, to identify who has coronavirus, as quickly as possible.

“If just one person shows symptoms such as having a cough, high temperature or shortness of breath, the requirement for a whole household to self-isolate for 14 days is a strong precaution.”

The common use of facial masks in China is another practice that is becoming more widespread internationally.

“People may say the point is that there’s no solid published evidence showing that mask use is an effective measure to prevent the transmission of virus, but actually we cannot afford to wait until evidence is published in this emergency setting. It is an easy and cheap measure anyway.

“Scientific evidence takes time to be proved but we need to take every opportunity to engage in preventative measures that may be helpful, and this of course includes hand washing.”

Dr Chen says that the efforts every country is making into research to help create a vaccine for COVID-19 are essential, following China’s phase one clinical trials in this area, adding that international cooperation and the sharing of data and information around this research is vital.

“The quicker an effective vaccine is found, the better all round, but the sharing of information, internationally, is part of the process which can enable that to happen.”

Dr Chen also says that the ability of countries to find light relief and entertainment during this difficult period is also of major importance in keeping positive attitudes and spirits up.

“Social media video clips of doctors dancing in China in a bid to improve the morale of their patients are repeated in other countries as well, including the example in Italy where those in social isolation opened their windows and sang songs with their neighbours.

“These demonstrations of positive approaches are valuable in a time when morale needs to be boosted.”

By Will Venn

To accommodate the need for social distancing, an app, along with other adaptions, will enable people in China to participate in this week’s Qingming Festival, says Dr Keping Wu, of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University's Department of China Studies.

The annual tomb-sweeping festival traditionally includes rituals at the grave site, with descendants cleaning up around the grave, burning incense, candles and paper money, and offering flowers, fruits and other foods to their ancestors. Last year in Shanghai and Nanjing, the two biggest cities of southeast China, over 2 million and 5.7 million people respectively performed tomb-sweeping activities.

This year, however, many public cemeteries in these areas are closed to protect against the possibility of coronavirus spread. Instead, people are being encouraged to use an app called “Cloud Worship and Sweep” to pay respect to the deceased online, says Dr Wu.

“One can express their commemoration in words and/or offer virtual candles and flowers,” she says.

“Some big cemeteries in Shanghai even have their own independent app and online services for other funerary affairs. At the same time, all temples are advised to suspend any services that involve the gathering of people in order to avoid person-to-person contact.”

The festival is one of the most important days for Chinese people around the world to commemorate deceased ancestors and loved ones. The fact that people can participate in it with an app this year is part of the “tremendous resilience” attached to festivals such as Qingming, Dr Wu says.

“No matter how modern, fast-paced or virus-ridden lives have become, Qingming has remained central to Chinese people’s worlds,” she says.

“Chinese rituals have a great deal of flexibility that leaves room for innovations and negotiations.”

Besides the app, other adaptations seen this year include some performing the ritual before 5 April and a belief by some that tomb-sweeping will be handled by the government.

“Technically, it is considered legitimate to do tomb-sweeping within one month ahead of the day of Qingming. So, some local cemeteries in Jiangsu had tomb-sweeping visitors starting from around March 5th,” Dr Wu says.

“The fact that some people consider it appropriate to conduct Qingming rituals one month ahead of the actual date is a good example in itself of how much ‘bending room’ there is.

“Rumours also circulated that ‘the government is going to sweep tombs for us this year,’ and at one public cemetery in southern Jiangsu, it was observed that a chrysanthemum, the mourning flower, had been placed before each of more than 10,000 tomb stones.

“That the ritual is moving online or that ‘the government is sweeping the tombs for us’ are just more innovative ways that people have chosen to celebrate this important festival.”

By Will Venn

New treatments designed to prevent cancer from developing, based on changing the microenvironment in which cancer cells evolve, could be both feasible and effective.

This is the outcome of research published by Open Biology today, exploring the theoretical aspects of cancer evolution, potentially paving the way to better targeted anti-cancer prevention and treatment strategies.

The research, by Dr Xiaowei Jiang, a lecturer in bioinformatics at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University's Department of Biological Sciences, and Professor Ian Tomlinson, Director, Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, relates to diverse changing tumour microenvironments and their impact on cancer cell population growth in the body.

Dr Jiang says that cancers could be managed by killing cancer cells through imposing a changing microenvironment.

“Cancer development has long been viewed as a Darwinian evolutionary process, in which a changing tumour microenvironment (TME) is likely to play a critical role. Very few cancer modelling studies have considered how broadly the TME changing dynamics affect cancer evolution,” Dr Jiang says.

“In our research we establish a mathematic model of cancer evolution with changing microenvironments in 3D, which generates far more complex patterns of cancer adaptation and predicts tumour morphologies resembling those observed clinically.”

Dr Jiang says that the challenge that changing TMEs present to cancer evolution are also indicative of why cancer is neither inevitable nor as common as expected.

“It’s an unsolved puzzle – trying to understand why so few cancers occur compared with the theoretical number that could occur,” says Dr Jiang.

“Although cancer is viewed as a common disease, our current knowledge of how cancers grow suggests that cancer is actually far less frequent than we expect; the mutation rates and number of normal cells suggest that many cancers could occur in each human.

“There are several potential reasons for the “cancer deficiency”, including anti-cancer immune responses and inherent mechanisms of tissue homoeostasis (or “buffering”).“

“We hypothesised that a further contributory factor restraining carcinogenesis is that the TME is not fixed, and that this could impair the ability of neoplastic cells to retain a high enough Darwinian fitness to become a cancer.”

“Compared with static TMEs which generate neutral dynamics, changing TMEs lead to complex adaptations with spatio-temporal heterogeneity involving variable fitness effects of driver mutations, sub-clonal mixing, sub-clonal competition and phylogeny patterns.“

“In many cases, cancer cell populations fail to grow or undergo spontaneous regression, and even extinction.”

“Imagine a sunflower growing in a greenhouse with exposure to sunlight in the same position each day. The chances are its growth will be more regular and uniform than a similar plant growing in the back of a moving vehicle, full of other items and travelling at speed, where the likelihood of its blossoming is far less certain,” Dr Jiang says.

Reference:
Jiang X, Tomlinson IPM. 2020 Why is cancer not more common? A changing microenvironment may help to explain why, and suggests strategies for anticancer therapy. Open Biol. 10: 190297.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.190297

The 2020 XJTLU AI Innovation Hackathon Preliminary, which was held in February, saw 24 teams consisting of 169 students from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and other universities (including employees from other enterprises) take part in the 48-hour contest. A total of 15 teams them won access into the final, which was held online last month.

A main challenge was identified: “Artificial Intelligence products and services to empower COVID-19 and other unknown public health and epidemic management” and included in the contest. There were two special problems to be solved with artificial intelligence and computer science.

Professor Dechang Xu, Director of the International Innovation Hub (IIH led the contest. “AI is a research hotspot at present and one of the industries developing in Suzhou Industrial Park with great support. We hope to contribute to the launching, application and market promotion of products and services in AI,” he said.

“The main problem encourages us to combine AI and the COVID-19 epidemic at present. It is hoped that AI would empower the prevention, control and management of the epidemic.”

Qiuchen Qian from IIH agreed. “Just as mentioned, the products and services designed by the teams are expected to empower the management of other public health issues and epidemics,” Qian said.

In the final, “Team 666” won special prize for their design of an epidemic crowd location app. The team comprised Zi-Xun Lan, second year Financial Mathematics postgraduate from XJTLU, Jiwei Wang, second year Computer Science postgraduate from Hangzhou Dianzi University and Tianhao Chen, second year Software Engineering postgraduate from Yangzhou University. They developed a model with a trace-predicting method based on deep learning in topological graph to monitor Type B people during an epidemic.

ZiXun Lan further explained further: “During the epidemic prevention and control period, the diagnosed patients are group A, the people who have been in contact with them before the diagnosis are group B, and the people who have been in contact with group B are group 2B.

“Group B and 2B people themselves do not know that they may have contacted the confirmed person, and whether these two groups of people are infected also needs further testing. Our model can predict the movement path of group A people, and then find the Group B and 2B people whose movement path intersect with group A people.”

According to Zixun, when someone is confirmed to be Type A, as long as key information such as their address and workplace are available, and fed into the model, their trace can be predicted. Then monitoring the traces crossing Type A’s will lead to Type B, and then Type 2B.

“We hope to develop such a product and then cooperate with the government. Once we know Type B’s traces we can inform them to quarantine themselves at home or go to hospital through text messages or home visits.

“In this way we can better control the infection source and avoid more infections.”

Team “Villagers into Town” from Shangdong University of Technology won first prize for their elevator sterilisation robot.

Yan Wang, Electronic & Information Engineering student from Shangdong University of Technology, is the team leader. She said small and closed spaces like elevators can be dangerous because of the large number of users. Frequent manual sterilisation for such spaces is enormous work.

“That’s why my team wants to develop an intelligent robot for elevator sterilisation. With track planning and model training, the robot can identify the environment automatically, find out the problem and deal with it. Operators can check on the robot and control it remotely,” Yan said.

Huashan Chen, Tencent expert product manager and operation team manager of Tencent Cloud, said the success of the robot lies in its practical and commercial values.

“First it has a specific working scenario and solves a tough problem we face right now. If it’s affordable in cost, I believe many communities and property management companies will be willing to purchase this sterilisation robot,” Chen said.

Professor Eng Gee Lim, head of XJTLU School of Advanced Technology and Artificial Intelligence Industry Research Institute, spoke of the value of the contest.

“XJTLU has always been encouraging its students to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship. It has also been offering opportunities and platforms where students can apply the knowledge they have learned and display and improve their capabilities. This contest proves a very good opportunity.”

Qiuchen Qian expressed her opinion that the value of universities lies not just in education but also in the development of students’ ability to innovate.

“The Hackathon is one of the embodiments of our philosophy: we combine the epidemic and artificial intelligence in our contest problem so that students can apply innovation to real scenarios,” Qian said.

“The contest also builds resource sharing platforms on innovation and entrepreneurship. Such platforms can promote the rapid development of startup projects, which agrees with the development mission of IIH.”

The contest was hosted by XJTLU and organised by IIH and Artificial Intelligence Industry Research Institute.

By Yunji Tao, translated by Boqiang Xiao, edited by Will Venn

As university research laboratories around the world shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the impact on scientific research could be considerable.

News the last few weeks included reports of experiments shelved, tossed or placed in a frozen stasis as many laboratories face open-ended closure.

China, being ahead of the global curve in tackling the coronavirus, provides a good indicator of what happens next when it’s time to reopen, however. Taking stock, hitting the reset switch and being collaborative are among the first priorities for supervisors of research conducted in wet laboratories at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, whose physical campus is reopening after being closed since late January.

Pictured above: Dr Boris Tefsen, Dr Minyan Wang, Dr Ferdinand Kappes, all of the Department of Biological Sciences, and Dr Graham Dawson, Department of Chemistry

A key task for Dr Minyan Wang of XJTLU’s Department of Biological Sciences will be to navigate the logistics of the collaborative relationship between XJTLU and a neighboring university responsible for breeding the live tissue used in her team’s studies of the molecular mechanisms of migraine pain.

“Both of my PhD students’ research relies on a continuous supply of live tissues. Getting live tissue again depends on access to our collaborating university,” she said.

As both universities take baby steps to safely reopen, she’s not sure when re-access will occur, but she’s confident it will. In fact, even when the city was silent and both campuses closed, the neighboring university cooperated in an emergency plan to rescue the tissue.

“I knew that if we did not find a way to access the tissue, it would be a serious loss,” Dr Wang said. “Otherwise we would have had to throw it away, which would be very expensive.”

They managed to arrange a handoff of the tissue one or two times a week, she explained. Collaborators brought tissues from their laboratory outside to waiting XJTLU staff. With special permission, the XJTLU staff then transferred it into the minus 80 Celsius freezer in Dr Wang’s lab.

“To a certain extent, this enabled us to mitigate the impact of the closed campus. On one hand, most of the tissue was saved. On the other hand, since we had to freeze it, we cannot use it for its initial planned use," she said.

"Nonetheless, I am still happy with the outcome.”

According to Dr Graham Dawson of XJTLU’s Department of Chemistry, whose laboratory synthesises nanomaterials in studying novel ways to produce hydrogen and degrade water pollutants, one machine will need to be re-set.

“When we left campus, we thought we would be back in a week after the Spring Festival holiday. During the extended time away, our gas chromatography device’s argon cylinder has run out and the machine’s column will have been exposed to air,” Dr Dawson said.

“It will take us about a week before we can use it for research, which is not that bad, really.

“We were able to get clearance to fill other machines that need liquid nitrogen every week, so those are ready to go.”

Dr Boris Tefsen of XJTLU’s Department of Biological Sciences said that his laboratory’s research, the core of which studies the biogenesis of the Mycobacterial cell envelope, can also be restarted relatively quickly, pending receipt of laboratory consumables.

“For some of our experiments, we need reagents, but the outbreak caused the supply chain to be disrupted. Some of our materials are sourced in China and some from overseas. Some shipments might take awhile,” he said.

The impact of a wet laboratory shutdown depends on the type of research being conducted, said Dr Ferdinand Kappes, also of the Department of Biological Sciences, whose laboratory conducts epigenetics research related to tumour biology.

“We use only human cells, which need to be frozen, thawed and treated in a particular way,” he said.

“The experiments themselves take 1-2 weeks and require preparation, so getting back to normal will take our lab at least a few weeks, maybe up to a month."

While the disruption stopped lab experiments during the physical closure, the laboratory supervisors did find silver linings.

“My two PhD students did not stop working,” said Dr Wang. “We were very efficient - we produced a scientific research paper and an additional two manuscripts.

“Without the distractions of normal activity, they were able to thoroughly consider their research proposals.

“Instead of allowing them to rely on me for guidance, I tried to encourage them to engage more, followed by a round of discussions to polish the ideas. This allowed them to become more independent.

“I think all PhD students should have this type of training during a certain stage of their studies.”

Dr Dawson said that his PhD students took time to review previously collected data, which was a valuable exercise.

“We've identified a lot of holes in our data, which is something we are always trying to do – write things down and break it up and check where the gaps are. But this has given us a prolonged period to do that," he said.

“Now the students are raring to go on a list of the things they want to do based on that analysis.”

Some team members had more time to read, think and analyse, lab supervisors said.

“I tried to stimulate my beginning PhD student to read more," said Dr Tefsen.

“I would say he now has a very solid foundation to start his project, probably better than he would have had this not happened."

“During a campus closedown is a good time for a researcher to dig out those journal articles you’ve wanted to read for a long time,” added Dr Kappes.

For their counterparts in other universities whose laboratories remain closed, the XJTLU laboratory supervisors emphasised how important it was to stay connected with students during the time physically apart and to find ways to support each one.

“I really think about each student, because they have different needs,” said Dr Tefsen.

“When we’ve had Zoom meetings over this period with the students and other collaborators, we usually take time at the beginning of the call to find out how each person is doing.”

“I think this is very important – the human element, caring for each other," agreed Dr Kappes.

It’s helpful to keep the impact of the outbreak on the wet laboratories in perspective, he also noted.

“I could work myself up about the time lost, but it doesn’t change anything. We need to accept the facts, it is what it is. In the end, we are scientists, we like facts," Dr Kappes said.

“And it’s important to remember it’s not just a local impact on research, it’s global. Researchers are all in this together.

“That doesn’t make it better, but maybe a little bit easier to accept.”

By Tamara Kaup
Photo courtesy of Dr Kappes

Recommender Systems (RS) are widely-applied in everyday life. For example, on online shopping and video platforms, RSs predict users’ preferences and make personalised recommendations by analysing their behaviours such as shopping records and watching history.

But how is it possible to make recommendations to new users without any record or history? A research team from XJTLU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences proposed a solution to the challenge in their paper.

The paper titled: “Knowledge Discovery and Recommendation With Linear Mixed Model” was recently published on IEEE ACCESS, a first-class journal presenting research results on a combination of computer and technology. The lead author, Zhiyi Chen, graduated from the Department of Mathematical Sciences in 2019, and is studying for his master degree in statistics at Columbia University.

Chen introduced that traditional RSs analyse what users have bought or viewed so that they can make recommendations based on the features of products. But the solution they offered was based on the features of users—by analysing users who have bought the same product and summarising their features, recommendations are made to those with similar characteristics.

“With the linear mixed-effects model (LMM), I analysed around a million users’ rating data and found out some patterns of their features. That enabled recommendations to new users in line with these patterns,” Chen says.

MovieLens is a movie recommendation website for scientific purposes, run by GroupLens, a research lab at the University of Minnesota. The website categorises users according to gender, age, occupation, etc., in order to recommend the most suitable movies as well as make it convenient for researchers collecting data.

Chen started from “age”. He analysed ratings of the movie Life Is Beautiful using LMM, and obtained the average ratings of different age groups. To gain a more general pattern, he went to analyse the whole comedy genre, which has the largest quantity of rating data, and also other genres.

“From the data analysis, I found out that even for those movies with extremely high or low overall ratings, reviews from different age groups can vary a lot. Take comedies as an example, it turns out that generally speaking, users aged 50-55 give the highest ratings, while those aged 18-24, lower. Therefore movie websites should recommend more comedies to elder viewers rather than younger.”

He also found out that young people give lower ratings than the elder despite the difference of genres, which mean that when it comes to movies, the former is “pickier” than the latter. However, this finding requires a more rigorous process of hypothesis and deduction, as well as more evidence.

According to Chen, though traditional linear models are more commonly used, LMM is more accurate: “A linear model involves only one influential factor, but LMM enabled me to take occupation, age and other factors into consideration while age remained the most important one.”

“The solution still has some shortcomings, because the recommendations are not targeted enough. For example, the system can only recommend comedies for the elder, or certain type of movies for a group of people with similar jobs.

“Machine learning and deep learning algorithms in the field of artificial intelligence are necessary to generate more precise recommendations.”

The paper was based on Zhiyi Chen’s undergraduate final project titled “Censorious Young: Knowledge Discovery from High-throughput Movie Rating Data with LME4”, which was accepted by the 2019 International Conference on Big Data Analytics (ICBDA).

The final version published on IEEE Access was improved with assistance from Chen’s supervisor--Dr Shengxin Zhu from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Dr Qiang Niu and Tianyu Zuo.

By Xinyuan Yuan and Qiuchen Hu, translated by Xiangyin Han, edited by Will Venn

In the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, international education will transform, said Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s Professor Stuart Perrin at a virtual conference this month organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation.

“International education faces fundamental change, but it’s not going to disappear,” said Professor Perrin, associate principal of XJTLU’s Entrepreneur College (Taicang), in concert with other panelists.

Chaired by CCG president Dr Henry Huiyao Wang, and drawing a live audience of nearly 1 million, the webinar touched upon the interests and concerns of millions of students, parents, school administrators, education experts and practitioners at home and abroad. Invited panelists were 10 international educational leaders from Australia, the USA, China and the UK, including Jeffrey Lehman, Vice Chancellor, NYU Shanghai; Dr Lan Xue, Dean, Schwartzman College, Tsinghua University; Professor Nick Miles, Provost and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Nottingham Ningbo; and Professor Wei Shen, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor, Deakin University, Australia.

Degree programs based the latest knowledge and the development of industry-focussed education development – promoted by XJTLU’s Syntegrative Education model and Entrepreneur College – are examples of changes that can help society after the crisis, said Professor Perrin.

“Degrees need to be up-to-date, because the people who are studying now are the people who will be taking the countries and economies forward from where we are at the moment.

“We at XJTLU believe that there will be a focus on entrepreneurial education, flexible skills and a global mindset. And that will lead how the world deals with the current crisis.”
Professor Perrin stated that joint venture universities such as XJTLU can play a special role for international education in times of uncertainty.

“Joint venture universities provide almost, but not quite, what you might get if you travelled to another country, but within the safety of the known.

“At the moment, people want to have the known, the comfort, as well as the international experience. Joint venture universities can provide that safe haven in many respects.”

Professor Perrin noted that universities’ current dive into online education will also impact the future of education. He suggested that international education would increasingly use hybrid education models that include the strengths of both online and onsite education.

“Clearly education and international education is going to have to think and re-think, ‘How does virtual education fit into the framework? What will be the role of artificial intelligence?‘” he said.

Professor Perrin challenged the audience of the virtual conference, titled “How will COVID-19 Change the Landscape of International Education,” to enable international education to continue its positive impact.

“One of the most common sayings I hear is that the coronavirus knows no borders. l I think international education knows no border either,” he said.

“We shouldn’t let COVID-19 be the barrier to growth, development, and continued progress of international education in these current times.”

By Tamara Kaup

A research discovery into why elderly people have worse symptoms and suffer more when infected with a virus such as the flu has found that blocking the action of a particular hormone could provide relief.

The Sacitharan Lab in XJTLU's Department of Biological Sciences, alongside seven other labs across China and the UK. discovered that a hormone called adiponectin, which is released from fat cells, seems to be increased in the lungs of elderly patients with the flu.

By using scientific models, the research group showed that adiponectin caused an increase in lung inflammation during an infection of those who are elderly. The research group used an antibody drug to block the action of adiponectin, resulting in better outcomes (less suffering) after infection.

XJTLU lead researcher Dr Pradeep Kumar Sacitharan explained more about this research.

“To date, much is known about how influenza infection and host immunity interact during pathogenesis, which has led to a number of vaccines,” Dr Sacitharan said.

“The impact of influenza vaccines in older people is modest. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for the worsening of influenza infection in old age are still elusive. Influenza affects people of all ages, though elderly people are particularly susceptible to infections and predisposed to complications.

“It would appear a strange result at first to see a hormone from fat cells being increased in older flu patients. But once we started doing this research it all made sense. We think the detailed way the hormone works in elderly people is only unique when the virus is present.”

The elevation of adiponectin levels in elderly individuals showed negative correlations with several age- and obesity-related metabolic disturbances.

“The important eureka moment was when we blocked the hormone with the antibody and the flu infection got better,” Dr Sacitharan said.

Adiponectin may prove to be a new therapeutic target for intervention and reducing the severity of influenza infections in elderly people, Dr Sacitharan added, saying that the team of scientists were optimistic that they can build upon this work to find new vaccine and therapeutic treatments.

“This outcome opens up new avenues to help develop treatments to only target the flu and other viruses in the elderly when the disease is worse.”

The research "Adiponectin exacerbates influenza infection in elderly individuals via IL-18" is published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.

By Will Venn

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University research designed to limit harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Lake Taihu is expected to have impact on the conservation of the lake, which is one of the largest freshwater lakes in China.

The research, which indicates that HABs can be contained through a focus on copper as well as nitrogen and phosphorus, is being published in Water Research, a top international journal of environmental sciences and water-related ecological studies.

The conservation of Lake Taihu is a signature project of the environmental and ecological protection scheme of Jiangsu Province, and cyanobacteria bloom in the lake is the focus of research for many scholars of environmental sciences.

The majority of them have been studying the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus, and the core of HABs containment measures for Lake Taihu has always been the reduction of nitrogen and phosphorous discharge, while the influences of other heavy metals or micronutrients are less considered.

Xiaokai Zhang, a PhD student at XJTLU, studied the effects of a number of heavy metals as micronutrients on algal growth in Lake Taihu, and discovered that copper, as a common chemical in many algicides, can stimulate the growth of algae at a certain concentration.

Cooperating with Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS), Zhang conducted sampling at three sites: Station 3, Station 13, and Station 28, in descending order of HABs severity.

He added boron, iron, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, nitrogen and phosphorous to the water samples and investigated their effects on algal growth after incubation.

“At first, we used common chemical and biological analysis methods, checking the effects of the micronutrients on algal growth by measuring the concentration of chlorophyll a," Zhang said.

“But later we discovered that the algae in all the samples might be in different stages of growth. There could be mature and immature algae at the same time. The immature is low in chlorophyll a concentration, but that doesn’t mean its growth is inhibited. So chlorophyll a shouldn't be the only factor taken into account.”

Therefore, Zhang, pictured above, innovatively applied flow cytometry, a biological technique used to study cells, to observe the cluster variations and distribution of algae at different stages of growth. Combined with the concentration of chlorophyll a, comprehensive analysis was made.

According to the results, boron, cobalt, molybdenum, copper and iron have a stimulatory effect on algal growth. Copper combined with nitrogen and phosphorous was set as a treatment used the sample collected at Station 28. After four days of incubation, the concentration of chlorophyll a in this treatment was four times as much as that on which only nitrogen and phosphorous were used.

“This demonstrated that the stimulatory effect of copper and suggests that dosage and location need to be considered when using algicides containing copper on controlling algal bloom in Lake Taihu,” said Zhang.

"But we are still not sure how the interaction of copper and iron will affect the growth of algae, so further research is needed."

The study is part of Zhang’s doctoral dissertation titled “Bioavailability-Based Environmental Risk Assessment of The Impacts from Metal Toxicants and Nutrients in Lake Tai”.

By Qiuchen Hu, translated by Xiangyin Han, edited by Will Venn

Students in a state-of-the art classroom in China wear virtual reality (VR) headsets, gesturing in the air as they work on a design. Students at home in Abu Dhabi, in London, and in Ireland do the same, all led by one instructor in real time as they collaborate on a project, from around the world.

This is just one vision for the XJTLU Learning Mall, which Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University will launch at a ceremony 22 May from 2-4 p.m.

The XJTLU Learning Mall (XJTLU-LM) is a unique type of innovation centre, set to be the first online-onsite learning ecosystem to provide English-language educational experiences in China through a diverse range of content providers, including other universities and industry partners from within China and overseas. The learning hub will also include Chinese and bilingual Chinese-English content.

“With this alliance of innovation, there will be stronger ideas, a stronger product and a stronger offering,” says Professor Youmin Xi, executive president of XJTLU.

“It will challenge the conventional norms for learning engagement.”

“The XJTLU Learning Mall will provide premier resources for lifelong learners, including skills for the industry leaders of tomorrow as they prepare to meet the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with its emphasis on artificial intelligence and robotics,” explains Dr. Bill Boland, Director of the XJTLU Learning Mall.

“Someone might initially visit the XJTLU Learning Mall platform for a business course, but then decide to sign up for English and career-specific industry skills courses as well. Providers will benefit from a collaborative platform since they can gain customers who previously might not have been aware of their offerings.”

Those who have an online, onsite, or combination “store front” in this unique learning hub are not limited to those with educational offerings. Innovators, inventors and researchers will also have spaces, enabling the cross-seeding of ideas to generate unique educational products. This will create opportunities for students to connect with mentors in startup companies and find internship, job and career opportunities and information.

“Participants will be able to pool their resources, leverage their strengths, and mitigate their weaknesses in a collaborative effort,” Dr. Boland explains.

“For example, an entrepreneurial boot camp held in an onsite space in the XJTLU Learning Mall might tap into the first-hand experiences of an entrepreneur in China with a hybrid space and an inventor in Germany with an online space.”

“The XJTLU Learning Mall taps into the University’s mission to transform the education landscape through its research- and student-led philosophy,” says Professor Xi.

Termed “Syntegrative Education,” this philosophy develops industry leaders for the high-tech world of our future through the integration and synergy of academic theory and real-world learnings from research and industry experience.

“To amplify the value of education in the digital age, the XJTLU Learning Mall will build on our future-oriented Syntegrative Education philosophy, world-class campus facilities and excellent internal and external education resources,” says Professor Xi.

“Their integration will create interest-oriented, individualized and active life-long learning opportunities endorsed by a community of educators, innovators and entrepreneurs that can be accessed from anywhere, at any time.

“Universities deserve their continued existence only if they maximize their value, not just for university students, but also for graduates and the wider community. Combining the best aspects of onsite education and technology – as we are in the XJTLU Learning Mall – is how we maximize that value.”

The XJTLU Learning Mall platform is expected to be operational in about three months. Its main physical facility, to be located on the XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang) campus, will be completed in approximately 24 months. Initial users will be XJTLU students, faculty, parents, and alumni, and then users will expand to Jiangsu Province, greater China and the wider world.

Offerings at the XJTLU Learning Mall will constantly evolve based on users’ needs and its providers will be able to choose how much support they want from the learning hub’s staff, Professor Xi says.

“This differentiates us from other organisations. We are directly involving all stakeholders in informing our evolving platform. We not only have an internal task force but also we are involving outside stakeholders.

“Furthermore, we communicate constantly with prospective users. This combined input helps us form our strategy, which will continue to evolve,” he says.

The XJTLU Learning Mall launch ceremony, to be held at the Central Building in G23W and by livestream, will include a signing of Memorandums of Understanding with partners and a roundtable discussion on online, hybrid, and lifelong learning.

Today, end-of-semester examination days begin for Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University after an unprecedented move to all-online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As evidenced by the words of XJTLU instructors, careful thought and planning have ensured that this semester’s assessments measure learning outcomes as effectively as usual, despite the fact that the change in teaching delivery method required some modifications.

Greater emphasis on constant assessment rather than periodic tests was a choice some educators implemented in their modules after the move to online teaching

“Two tests were replaced with a continuous assessment component that grades students according to completion of a series of online tasks,” said Dr Paul Craig of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, who is teaching Professional Skills and Emerging Technologies in Computer Science.

“We feel the continuous assessment component allows us to maintain a higher level of academic integrity for online assessment while doing more to encourage student engagement throughout the course of the module.”

“I think the move from class tests to online continuous assessment has worked well and probably better represents the experience our students are likely to have in the workplace, where they have goals to achieve every week or every day, rather than just at the end of the year.

“If I teach this module next semester, we will most likely keep using a continuous assessment component.”

Dr Juan Carlos Dall’Asta of the Department of Architecture + Design has also moved away from an exam for the lecture-based module he is teaching this semester, Urban Studies, replacing it with three different assessments: coursework; video productions; and a digital notebook with notes from lectures.

While teaching and assessment modes have changed, quality has not, said Dr Dall’Asta.

“Even though assessments are being done in a different way, we have to ensure that learning outcomes and the requirements are perfectly covered.”

Dr Graham Dawson of the Department of Chemistry decided to increase weight of the laboratory component in the final score for his Physical Chemistry module since he feels it is a good way to test students’ grasp of what they learned. While that might seem a surprising decision given that students cannot access the labs, he has found a way to make it work.

“We made video recordings in the laboratory and will provide data to the students that they will use to write extended lab reports for their final assessment,” Dr Dawson said.

“The level of detail in their discussion of data and any references they link to the lab reports will demonstrate how much they understand.”

Above: Dr Graham Dawson of the Department of Chemistry video records a laboratory process.

In Part Two of this series, we will hear what Dr Thomas Selig of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering considered in planning an open-book exam for the final assessment, and how Dylan Ford of the School of Film and TV Arts managed teaching and assessment for a sound design course when students don't have standardised computer equipment.

By Huatian Jin, Tamara Kaup, Wenzhen Li and Yi Qian

This has been a semester of "firsts" for many students and instructors as they navigated the rapid move to the online environment. These "firsts" include some new ways to assess how well students have met learning outcomes.

Therefore, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University instructors worked diligently to ensure students have been prepared for new types of assessments, have the tools they need, and are being assessed as appropriately as always.

The biggest change in the assessments for the Java Programming for Financial Mathematics module taught by Dr Thomas Selig was switching the final exam to open book, he said.

“Because students will have access to all their learning materials, the exam questions have been changed to more open-ended or essay-type questions,” said Dr Selig, of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.

“While it may seem easier to be able to do an exam at home, these types of test can actually present more of a challenge as they tend to test higher level analytical abilities such as critical thinking and reflection.”

Consequently, he spent time ensuring students are ready for this type of exam.

“I imagine most of our students are not used to open book exams, and preparations are quite different,” he said.

“They need to make sure they have all their materials well-organised, and know where to access specific items.”

“In addition, taking an exam from home is not the same as taking it on-site,” he added. “At home, there may be added distractions, especially for students not living on their own, for instance.”

“As such, I held a mock-exam in conditions that mimic the planned final exam, to get students used to the new type of exam question and to prepare them for the specific circumstances of taking an exam from home.”

Dylan Ford of the School of Film and TV Arts needed to solve technology challenges that applied to both teaching and assessment for his Sonic Arts and Sound Design for Digital Media module.

In the module, students learn how to create sound and process sound design for digital media, such as that for radio advertisements, games, television shows, films, podcasts, etc.

“On campus, we ensure that all the computers the students use for the module have the same specifications, and the software installed is standardised across all machines. Students also have access to professional grade hardware for audio playback,” explained Ford.

“With students learning at home, they have different computers and consumer grade audio hardware, which creates a significant degree of complexity when selecting the appropriate technologies to be used by students enrolled within the module.”

Ford researched and participated in online forums to learn about possible software tools that students could use at home. He found a free version of a software tool favoured in the industry that has most of the main features required for the work in the course.

“While I had originally planned that the students would design sound for an animation, the free version did not allow for working with video,” Ford said.

“Therefore, they are creating a radio advert instead, which actually allowed the students to be more creative in some ways, as the sound design would not have the constraints of synchronising with the moving images within an animation,” Ford said.

Adapting to ever changing technology is something film students need to be able to do anyway, Ford said. In this case the change was to use simpler, and, in most cases, consumer-grade technologies. However, that same adaptability will be needed both as technology advances and as graduates are contracted for different productions with varying budget restrictions, he noted.

A key element of teaching filmmaking is helping students develop cognitive and critical thinking skills, which are independent of the technologies being used, he said. This semester’s assessments are testing those abilities, along with lessons on how to be resourceful – invaluable skills for students and industry professionals alike.

“We are assessing the students’ ability to plan for this production, use the skills they have learned, use the tools they have access to, and then reflect back on the production as a whole, perhaps on what they could have done better, and perhaps on what worked surprisingly well under the circumstances,” Ford said.

In Part One of this series, we heard about the assessment methods used this semester by Dr Paul Craig of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Dr Juan Carlos Dall'Asta of the Department of Architecture + Design and Dr Graham Dawson of the Department of Chemistry.

By Huatian Jin, Tamara Kaup, Wenzhen Li and Yi Qian

According to the incoming Dean of the School of Languages at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, any language is vital for life like the air we breathe, and we cannot live without it. This includes sign language and body language.

Professor Chris Harris, who will begin his new post this September, says learning language can help students – and anyone in society – gain extra cognitive, social and emotional skills, paving the way for more harmonious social relations.

“One of the reasons we teach languages is to drive students to better understand the culture and the way of thinking behind each language.

“Also, learning language can give students greater self-confidence and prepare them to be better workers and better citizens with a greater sense of civic responsibility,” he says.

In September, XJTLU’s Language Centre will change its name to School of Languages. Professor Harris says a transformation will accompany the name change, in particular in the form of additional language options.

“Several years ago, the Language Centre only had one language course, English for Academic Purposes. Today we have a series of new language courses, including Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. In the future, we plan to offer even more language courses for students.

The global mobility of today’s students makes learning more languages important, he notes.

“Multilingualism is more important than bilingualism.

“Students at XJTLU have a distinct advantage in that all can learn different languages and live with different cultures, whether Chinese or English is their first language or the language they have learned.

“If they plan to move even further through Asia or to countries in the West for work, knowing the language there can help them adapt to local life quickly,” he says.

The School of Languages will continue to meet the highest possible standards of language teaching and learning, Professor Harris emphasises.

Before joining XJTLU, Professor Harris was the Head of Department for Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Liverpool from 2012 to 2016 and was appointed Honorary Professor in Hispanic Studies at the University of Warwick in 2018.

By Yunji Tao, edited by Tamara Kaup

Photo by Yao Chu

A scholar's own trilingual background was the inspiration for a master’s thesis on how Chinese students of Mongolian ethnicity feel about the ability to speak three languages: Putonghua (Mandarin), Mongolian and English.

He Jiang, who earned his masters degree in XJTLU’s Department of English, is from Inner Mongolia and co-authored a paper about Chinese minority university students’ attitudes towards trilingualism. The paper was published in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, a Social Sciences Citation Index journal.

“Students of Mongolian ethnicity speak Mongolian at home, so Putonghua (Mandarin) is our second language. English, as the second language for most people in China, is actually our third language,” Jiang said.

“I have read a lot of papers and found that the studies in China focus a lot on bilingualism of Chinese and English. Trilingualism is relatively less studied. That’s why I want to do some research about it.”

The essay, titled ‘Attitudes toward trilingualism: a survey study of Chinese Mongolian university students,’ was authored by Dr Rining Wei from the Department of English along with Jiang and Mengxia Kong, both MA TESOL graduates.

The study was based on approximately 300 Chinese university students of Mongolian ethnicity who were asked about their attitudes toward Putonghua (Mandarin), Mongolian and English in terms of “beauty,” “endearment,” “usefulness,” and “social influences.”

The results indicated that the students’ attitudes towards the three languages are positive.

“Beauty and endearment are about the integrative values of languages, while usefulness and social influences are about the instrumental values,” Kong said.

The study indicated that students of Mongolian ethnicity have more affinity with Putonghua (Mandarin) and Mongolian, while Putonghua (Mandarin) and English are of greater utility.

“It also partly shows that while the targeted students recognise the practical utility of English, they maintain strong affection to Putonghua (Mandarin) and their ethnic language,” added Kong.

Dr Wei said he hoped to provide reference for language policy makers in China through the research, and also to assist international academic groups in learning more about policies related to minority ethnic languages and their development in China.

Bilingualism, multilingualism and language policy are Dr Wei’s main areas of study. He offered guidance and support to the students through the process of research, thesis writing and publication of the paper.

“Dr Wei guided us and answered our questions with great patience, whether in data analysis or wording for the thesis,” said Jiang.

“The journals he chose for us are highly relevant to our study, so our article was only modified twice before it was accepted.”

Pictured above from left to right: Mengxia Kong, Dr Rining Wei and He Jiang

Kong’s second article written under Dr Wei’s guidance, ‘EFL learners' attitudes towards English-medium instruction in China: The influence of sociobiographical variables,’ was published in Linguistics and Education.

According to Kong, academics have been more and more concerned about the EFL learners’ attitudes as English-medium instruction develops.

“Our research aims to explore Chinese university students' attitudes toward English as a medium of instruction as well as provide more reference for future English education, teaching methods and language-related policy-making,” Kong said.

The study found that although some students said that instruction in English may affect the understanding and absorption of professional and complex knowledge, Chinese university students generally hold a positive attitude towards teaching in English.

By Simin Yang, translated by Boqiang Xiao, edited by Guojuan Wang and Will Venn

John Latto, teaching fellow in the Department of Architecture and Design at XJTLU, has been elected as a member of the chapter committee of the Royal Institute of British Architects China Chapter. RIBA is a global professional body that has accredited XJTLU’s undergraduate and postgraduate architecture programmes. The RIBA China Chapter is new, announced 7 May.

As part of the committee, Latto will help to shape the RIBA China Chapter, originally kick-started by the Department of Architecture and Design. The chapter is an initiative of Professor Gisela Loehlein, head of department, and Dr Teresa Hoskyns, also of the department.

(Pictured above from left to right: Professor Gisela Loehlein and John Latto)

“Academic institutions can provide an excellent base for professional institutions,” said Professor Loehlein. “It was a logical step to form the RIBA China Chapter.”

By its founding, the chapter aims to serve the members and the emerging architecture community in China through clusters in Shanghai and Beijing.

“I believe the RIBA China Chapter can be the voice for the members practicing in China, promoting their excellent work and positive contribution to the society,” Latto said.

“It can also offer support in meeting continuing professional development requirements through structured seminars, workshops and exhibitions.”

As an elected member of the RIBA China Chapter committee, he will seek to contribute to the growth, development and reputation of the Institute in China, strengthening its international profile. Likewise, his participation will raise the profile of XJTLU’s Design School.

“Having a presence on the committee will help to promote the excellent reputation of the Design School at XJTLU nationally and internationally,” Latto said.

“It will also open exciting opportunities to create positive links with the Institute in the UK.”

Latto also advocates strong links between practice and academia, encouraging deeper relationships for the benefit of both students and the profession.

“I believe collaboration between professionals, as well as connection between practice and academia here in China, can support positive change through best practice, innovative thinking and design excellence,” he said.

According to Latto, XJTLU, as an academic body with extensive research capabilities, can work with professions to test practices that can be applied to industry.

“Our academic staff and students can offer practice a wealth of talent, to their mutual benefit,” he said.

By Yi Qian, edited by Tamara Kaup

Photo by Yi Qian

According to the associate principal of XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed universities to use existing technology at a new level.

Ahead of the virtual event Media & Learning 2020: Images and Sound in Higher Education to be held online 17-18 June, Professor Stuart Perrin outlined the discoveries that accompanied the rapid move to online learning.

“We found that the technology for massive implementation of online education was already robust. We just had not exploited the technology properly,” Professor Perrin said.

Universities worldwide should learn from their experience during the pandemic to further enhance how online teaching is conducted, he said.

“We need to re-think what we mean by online learning. It shouldn’t be a replication of onsite learning,” he said.

“Online teaching is a whole different pedagogy.

“We need to think how online and onsite education can blend together to create a ‘new normal’ that is better than before,” he said. “For example, a lecture can easily be done online, saving face-to-face time for more interaction with students.”

At XJTLU, the largest Sino-foreign joint-venture university, the 2020 spring semester has been fully online. XJTLU technical staff worked rapidly over a few weeks prior to the semester’s start to ensure provision of more than 450 courses online, and have continued to provide valuable support. They fully implemented an online education platform that could handle 6,000-8,000 students simultaneously; upgraded BigBlueButton, a web conference system for online learning; upscaled Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite, a software product for recording live lectures; and provided training and trouble-shooting to lecturers.

Professor Perrin said that in the 2020 autumn semester, the XJTLU learning environment will move to a new stage – hybrid learning.

“This teaching methodology blends the best traits of online and onsite education and sets the stage for the use and introduction of new tools like augmented technologies,” he explained.

The University is also planning to expand its provision of online-onsite learning experiences beyond its degree-seeking students to the greater public, he said.

The XJTLU Learning Mall, a unique innovation centre and learning hub, will launch its online learning platform in a few months and its primary physical facility, to be located on the XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang) campus, in approximately 24 months. The XJTLU-LM will provide non-degree courses, programmes and training from leading educational content providers around the globe in English, Chinese, or both languages, as well as other educational offerings and services.

“We are pleased not only to provide our students access to these enriching opportunities, but also to promote life-long learning for faculty, parents, alumni and the greater public,” Professor Perrin said.

“Whether one wants to gain additional business skills to accelerate career advancement, study English, or participate in an entrepreneurial boot camp that taps into the experiences of actual entrepreneurs, the XJTLU Learning Mall will have something for everyone.”

China has rapidly embraced online technology for education this year, he noted.

“Online education now has a different status in China than it had before COVID-19,” he said.

“Over a period of a few months, China has become a leader in online education.”

Professor Perrin will be part of a panel presentation from key university staff explaining how universities moved online during the pandemic, with a focus of audiovisual services and resources. He will also lead a breakout room discussion after the presentation.

Those interested in registering for the conference, organised by the Media & Learning Association, can click here.

By Tamara Kaup

Recommender Systems (RS) are widely-applied in everyday life. For example, on online shopping and video platforms, RSs predict users’ preferences and make personalised recommendations by analysing their behaviours such as shopping records and watching history.

But how is it possible to make recommendations to new users without any record or history? A research team from XJTLU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences proposed a solution to the challenge in their paper.

The paper titled: “Knowledge Discovery and Recommendation With Linear Mixed Model” was recently published on IEEE ACCESS, a first-class journal presenting research results on a combination of computer and technology. The lead author, Zhiyi Chen, graduated from the Department of Mathematical Sciences in 2019, and is studying for his master degree in statistics at Columbia University.

Chen introduced that traditional RSs analyse what users have bought or viewed so that they can make recommendations based on the features of products. But the solution they offered was based on the features of users—by analysing users who have bought the same product and summarising their features, recommendations are made to those with similar characteristics.

“With the linear mixed-effects model (LMM), I analysed around a million users’ rating data and found out some patterns of their features. That enabled recommendations to new users in line with these patterns,” Chen says.

MovieLens is a movie recommendation website for scientific purposes, run by GroupLens, a research lab at the University of Minnesota. The website categorises users according to gender, age, occupation, etc., in order to recommend the most suitable movies as well as make it convenient for researchers collecting data.

Chen started from “age”. He analysed ratings of the movie Life Is Beautiful using LMM, and obtained the average ratings of different age groups. To gain a more general pattern, he went to analyse the whole comedy genre, which has the largest quantity of rating data, and also other genres.

“From the data analysis, I found out that even for those movies with extremely high or low overall ratings, reviews from different age groups can vary a lot. Take comedies as an example, it turns out that generally speaking, users aged 50-55 give the highest ratings, while those aged 18-24, lower. Therefore movie websites should recommend more comedies to elder viewers rather than younger.”

He also found out that young people give lower ratings than the elder despite the difference of genres, which mean that when it comes to movies, the former is “pickier” than the latter. However, this finding requires a more rigorous process of hypothesis and deduction, as well as more evidence.

According to Chen, though traditional linear models are more commonly used, LMM is more accurate: “A linear model involves only one influential factor, but LMM enabled me to take occupation, age and other factors into consideration while age remained the most important one.”

“The solution still has some shortcomings, because the recommendations are not targeted enough. For example, the system can only recommend comedies for the elder, or certain type of movies for a group of people with similar jobs.

“Machine learning and deep learning algorithms in the field of artificial intelligence are necessary to generate more precise recommendations.”

The paper was based on Zhiyi Chen’s undergraduate final project titled “Censorious Young: Knowledge Discovery from High-throughput Movie Rating Data with LME4”, which was accepted by the 2019 International Conference on Big Data Analytics (ICBDA).

The final version published on IEEE Access was improved with assistance from Chen’s supervisor--Dr Shengxin Zhu from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Dr Qiang Niu and Tianyu Zuo.

By Xinyuan Yuan and Qiuchen Hu, translated by Xiangyin Han, edited by Will Venn

A new holistic view of global human mobility to better coordinate international movement restriction would benefit governments and policy makers and is the key to understanding the virus spread pattern in the global network of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It could also tackle the limitations inherent in restricting travel only to hotspot areas - a practice akin to “shutting the front door while leaving the back door open”.

This is the outcome of research undertaken at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Fudan University which analysed international travel movement involving more than half a million flights, across six continents between January and April this year, during the critical period of the pandemic spreading across the world.

XJTLU researcher, Dr Lixian Qian, of the University's International Business School Suzhou, said that a global network-based analysis of the spread of the virus between countries would enable policy-makers to better understand the holistic pattern of the virus’ spread across the globe with the introduction of international travel restrictions targeting different countries at different time points, which could lead to the development of more effective worldwide-coordinated measures to combat COVID-19.

“Although countries worldwide have gradually restricted non-essential international travel across countries, particularly those from high-transmission areas, it does not seem to have had the desired effect of stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19),” Dr Qian says.

“Taking the United States as an example, before its restriction for international travelers to enter, the number of new cases in the US was found to be more correlated with the epidemics in three countries. However, after the US gradually banned the entry of foreigners, its daily increment of COVID-19 infections is strongly correlated with seven other countries, mainly from Europe.

“A similar pattern is also found in South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Brazil, where the gradual restriction of international human mobility did not reduce the correlation between their domestic growths of COVID-19 infections and the international pandemic.

“Overall results of our data analysis indicate that the spread of COVID-19 worldwide has revealed clear associations between international human mobility and focal countries’ epidemic situations over a three-month period, where countries might be influencing and influenced by different countries through various pathways in the network.”

This research includes an association figure of the COVID-19 pandemic among 22 countries in six continents where the association between international movement and countries’ new infections are illustrated:

Fellow researcher Professor Jian-Qiang Hu from the School of Management at Fudan University said that while restricting non-essential international travel between countries is a critical strategy to fight against epidemic outbreaks, given the unprecedented nature of the current pandemic, a lot could be learnt regarding more effective measures to implement this strategy.

“Policymakers might focus only on the hotspot areas with a high transmission rate (which is not wrong) but overlook the pathway effect beyond the epidemic areas in the global network,” Hu says.

“Unfortunately, over the past three months, we have observed such a narrow perspective repeatedly occurring in many countries, focusing only on cutting off hotspot outbreak areas.”

The narrow perspective can relate to the analogy of shutting the “front door” to the pandemic arriving from one country whilst leaving the “back door” open for it to arrive from others.

The research references New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s comments concerning the US imposing a China travel ban (the front door) but at time when the virus had already left China and could reach the US through human movement and arrivals from other countries.

Dr Qian says that a holistic approach requires governments to adopt a global perspective of understanding and paying greater regard to the dynamic spread of the pandemic, instead of the more piecemeal country-by-country approach to international travel bans that have been introduced at different times.

“Policymakers in every country should keep abreast of population movements between countries and, through scientifically rigorous analysis, foresee the pattern of epidemic transmission in the network,” Dr Qian says

“Accordingly, they should dynamically adjust the corresponding international restriction strategy promptly. It cannot be simply assumed that the international travel ban from high-risk areas will be sufficient to control the epidemic once and for all - while ignoring the dynamic spread of the epidemic in the global network.”

Professor Hu adds that is also important to coordinate the international travel restriction and the internal movement control within each country.

“A number of countries have implemented the lock-down policies in COVID-19 pandemic, but it seems that China and South Korea demonstrated the most effective in controlling the internal transmission, which might be related with how strict the internal movement policy was executed.

“Our research has also analyzed the effectiveness of internal movement policies in different countries.”

The research team also includes Professor Cheng Zhang from the School of Management at Fudan University. The researchers are now developing a simulation model based on this work to help to predict possible outcomes of different restriction policies and aid policymakers to make more effective decisions.

The research paper can be accessed at medRxiv.

By Will Venn

The research of a team at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University could further the possibilities of robots performing sorting tasks, such an assembly line or a postal service work scenario.

Professor Kaizhu Huang from theDepartment of Electric and Electronic Engineering at XJTLU was recently awarded funding for research to improve the ability of robots to intelligently detect objects. This intelligence is challenging for researchers to develop, yet fundamental in programming robots to accurately grab objects.

Segmentation and identification technologies are needed to enable a robot to separate an object from its background to enable intelligent object detection, Professor Huang said. These technologies often involve the robot “learning” about objects from the input of a vast number of images.

Most segmentation and identification technologies are based on 2D images, he said, which cause problems for robots’ intelligent object detection because they have complex backgrounds, changeable sunlight and overlapping images.

Instead, the XJTLU researchers will use 3D images to improve these technologies.

“Our team will use cameras that can capture the 3D data of an object. Compared to 2D images, 3D images have more information,” Professor Huang said.

“3D data directly reflects the shape and depth features of the object. Therefore, it is real-time, accurate and less influenced by weather and sunlight.

“The aim of our research is to develop a more efficient and accurate deep-learning algorithm. With the 3D data input, the algorithm will identify the target object, separate it from the background and produce an output of the category and location of the target object. The output will be transferred to the robot arm, which finally grabs the right object.”

Use of 3D images in this way is leading technology, Professor Huang said.

“Research based on 3D images are few at present, so there is much worth exploring in this emerging industry,” he said.

Professor Huang’s project, “Intelligent Object Detection and Segmentation with High-Density 3D Point Cloud Data,” recently received funding from the Jiangsu Province Basic Research Programme (Natural Science Fund) in the category Industry Prospect and Crucial Core Technologies.

The Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Province released key research plans for 2020, which included the projects of five XJTLU scholars besides Professor Huang:

• Dr Chen Xuan, Department of Mathematical Sciences: “Liquid crystal elastomers with nonhomogeneous microstructures: photo-electric multiscale response and design of smart devices”
• Dr Yichen Liu, Department of Mathematical Sciences: “Application of Rearrangement Techniques in Partial Differential Equations and Related Optimisation Problems”
• Dr Jie Zhang, Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering: Authenticated Key Agreement for Intelligence Edge”
• Dr Pengfei Song, Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering: “Microfluidic Multiparameter and High-purity Caenorhabditis Elegans Sorting”
• Dr Cheng Zhang, Department of Civil Engineering: “Improving the Precision and Intelligence of 3D Reconstruction Information Modelling”

By Huatian Jin, translated by Boqiang Xiao, edited by Tamara Kaup