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Concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) is a pedagogy guided by sociocultural theory, which has been shown to be effective in facilitating second language learning. Typical activities include materialization by using a schema for a complete orienting basis of an action (SCOBA) and languaging, through which learners' internalization of scientific knowledge can be observed. However, previous studies have mainly used languaging as an assessment tool to examine the outcome of the internalization of concepts. Few studies have integrated SCOBAs (visual) and languaging (oral or written) in their investigation of the internalization process. This 5-week study involved 53 Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language learners in a university who were all taught with the C-BLI approach to learn English modal verbs. Among them, there were 26 lower proficiency students and 27 higher proficiency students. Visual, oral, and written data were collected to examine the participants' internalization of the modal verb concepts. All 53 learners participated in SCOBA drawing and written-languaging tasks. Twelve students (6 per group) volunteered to participate in oral languaging. The results showed that in the SCOBA drawing activity, higher level learners produced more abstract, systematic, and imitated visualizations of the concepts, while lower level learners produced more concrete, disconnected, and emulated visualizations. With regard to oral languaging, both groups largely abandoned their previously learned "rule of thumb" after the C-BLI intervention, and there were no obvious differences in oral-languaging performance between the two groups, except that the higher group produced more languaging units. Finally, we also found that the changes between pre- and post-written-languaging tasks for lower level students were more obvious, especially in the appropriation of SCOBAs in written languaging.

L2 pragmatics have explored the effects of different factors on different aspects of learners' pragmatic performance, but often not simultaneously. In addition, syntactic complexity is rarely examined in L2 pragmatics. This cross-sectional study aimed to conduct a multidimensional analysis to explore the effects of proficiency and study-abroad (SA) on Chinese EFL learners' refusals. Data were collected from 90 Chinese university students via a computer-animated elicitation task. The participants were divided into three groups: low-proficiency learners without SA experience and advanced learners with/without SA. The scenarios were kept consistent in imposition and social distance but varied in social status. Each participant interacted with a computer-animated native-speaker interlocutor in the scenarios. 20 American native speakers also participated in the study; their responses were used as the comparison data. Participants' performance was evaluated in five aspects: appropriateness, syntactic complexity, refusal strategies, adjuncts and internal modifiers. Results revealed that there were significant effects of L2 proficiency on appropriateness and of SA on syntactic complexity. The interactions of the two factors and social status were also analysed in learners' employment of refusal strategies and internal modification. Implications for pragmatic instruction and feasible suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study investigates the use of a popular online expression 'skr' by Chinese micro-blogging users on Weibo. Used originally as a hip-hop term for the sound of cars drifting tires, 'skr' was exploited by Chinese micro-blogging users for other meanings and functions. Data were collected from Weibo users' postings over a month. Using the Search function, we examined micro-blogs with 'skr' embedded in the text of the Weibo postings. A total of 1,861 instances of 'skr' were collected. Based on linguistic and communicative functions, the analysis identified eight types of literacy practices of 'skr'. In the decreasing order of frequency, these eight types include phonetic substitution of Chinese, affective exclamation, adjective as appreciation, hip-hop element, intensification device, searchable hashtag, metonymy, and onomatopoeia. The results of the present study suggest that the relocalisation of 'skr' demonstrates Chinese online users' creative and discursive literacy practices, and how the meaning and functions of an American hip-hop oriented term may shift when the expression enters a different lingua-culture.

This paper reports on a longitudinal study that investigated how international students' personal network mediated their pragmatic choices during studying abroad in China. Data were collected over a year through different ways, including Study Abroad Network Questionnaire, role-plays, retrospective verbal reports, ethnographic interviews and observation field notes. Findings showed that with respect to pragmatic performance, the students exercised their subjectivity to converge to or diverge from the native-speaker norms. The ethnographic accounts revealed that the changes in learners' pragmatic choices were closely related to the composition and structure of their social network. Using two case learners, we highlighted that social network may work in synergy with pragmatic subjectivity to contribute to the trajectory changes over learners' socialisation processes. We discussed how social network may serve as both a theoretical lens and an analytical tool for investigating pragmatic development in study-abroad contexts.

This study uses a Q methodology to track the changing motivational profiles of 15 Chinese university students simultaneously engaged in second-language (L2) English and third-language (L3) Spanish learning over 1.5 years. Guided by complex dynamic systems theory (CDST), the study aims to investigate the initial trigger that propelled the Chinese learners to engage in intensive L3 learning and to chart the different routes of multilingual self-development. Over the 1.5 years, Q sort tasks were administered at 3 time points, and retrospective interviews elicited data to complement the Q sort analysis. A nonspecific multilingual posture was found to be the initial trigger for voluntary investment in intensive L3 learning. A motivational profile with a dominating translingual and transcultural orientation develops into either more constitutive ideal multilingual selves or more language-specific integrative ideal selves, continuously exerting motivational forces. Another profile, which has a dominating instrumental orientation, generates diminishing motivational forces. We argue that different aspects of multilingual learning motivation may be operating in parallel through correlative associations in the holistic, dynamic, and relational system of multilingual self. The article concludes by discussing pedagogical implications for learning and teaching multiple foreign languages for university students.

Three‐dimensional (3D) echocardiography is an emerging technique for assessing right ventricular (RV) volume and function, but 3D‐RV normal values from a large Chinese population are still lacking. The aim of the present study was to establish normal values of 3D‐RV volume and function in healthy Chinese volunteers. A total of 1117 Han Chinese volunteers from 28 laboratories in 20 provinces of China were enrolled, and 3D‐RV images of 747 volunteers with optimal image quality were ultimately analyzed by a core laboratory. Both vendor‐dependent and vendor‐independent software platforms were used to analyze the 3D‐RV images. We found that men had larger RV volumes than women did in the whole population, even after indexing to body surface area, and older individuals had smaller RV volumes. The normal RV volume was significantly smaller than that recommended by the American Society of Echocardiography/European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging guidelines in both sexes. There were significant differences in 3D‐RV measurements between the two vendor ultrasound systems and the different software platforms. The echocardiographic measurements in normal Chinese adults II study revealed normal 3D‐RV volume and function in a large Chinese population, and there were significant differences between the sexes, ages, races, and vendor groups. Thus, normal 3D‐RV values should be stratified by sex, age, race, and vendor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been a steady rise of empirical studies investigating pragmatic strategies in oral communication using English as a lingua franca (ELF), there have been relatively few published studies about pragmatic strategies in written ELF communication. Email, despite its current popularity, has scarcely been examined in ELF communication. To extend the existing research on ELF into email discourse, this study investigates Chinese-English bilingual professionals' real-life emails in ELF communication. Email data were collected from 15 Chinese-English bilingual professionals in Mainland China. The paper analyzes and discusses the pragmatic strategies employed by these Chinese bilingual professionals both to solve and to avoid problems of understanding when writing their emails in ELF communication. The results reveal no evidence of non-understanding and only a few misunderstandings. The Chinese bilingual professionals employed various pragmatic strategies to prevent and resolve problems of understanding in ELF communication and to facilitate understanding and ensure communicative effectiveness.

Pragmatic competence has become an increasingly crucial component of language pedagogy. This article reports on a quantitative and qualitative study of ten English language textbooks used in Chinese universities with a particular focus on their coverage of pragmatic knowledge. Detailed analysis focused specifically on the mention of pragmatic information, the treatment of speech acts, and the representation of intralingual pragmatic variation. The findings show that pragmatic knowledge is still under-represented in most textbooks. The range of speech acts included is rather limited, and the ways that speech acts are presented seem to be based on writers' intuition. There is a paucity of explicit metapragmatic information on speech acts. In addition, little attention is devoted to enhancing learners' awareness of intralingual pragmatic variation. The implications of these results for teachers and textbook writers are discussed.

Soil phosphorus (P) limitation in karst areas has severely constrained soil quality and land productivity. To enhance silage maize yield and quality and alleviate and/or balance the low phosphorus availability in the karst areas of China, the experiment investigated the effects of different tillage and residue retention practices on silage maize yield and quality and soil phosphorus in this region. The treatment set included: conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage and root stubble retention (CTH), conventional tillage and mulch (CTM), conventional tillage and crushing and incorporation of hairy vetch by tillage (CTR), no tillage (NT), no tillage and root stubble retention (NTH), no tillage and mulch (NTM), and no tillage and living mulch (NTLM). The results showed that CTM, NTM, CTR, and NTLM significantly increased the height and LAI of silage maize compared with the CT, NT, and NTH treatments. CTM, CTR, and NTM significantly enhanced maize yield. Compared with conventional tillage, not tilling had a more pronounced improvement in silage quality, whereas residue retention hardly affected corn quality. In addition, although not tilling does not significantly increase acid phosphatase activity, it appeared to be advantageous in increasing soil microbial phosphorus and available phosphorus content when combined with cover crop measures. Ultimately, we concluded that NTM and NTLM are beneficial for silage maize yield and quality and soil phosphorus content in karst areas and verified the advantages of combining no tillage and residue retention practices for silage maize production and soil phosphorus improvement in the karst areas of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to unpack perceptions of self-mockery in present-day Chinese using an online self-mockery viral event. The metapragmatic analysis of comments indicates that its interpretation is closely intertwined with other cultural factors and open to construal in a folk manner. Despite folk concepts being largely consistent with etic understandings of self-mockery, they are at the same time emotional and socially salient. The interpretation of self-mockery within a social practice is determined by how it is enacted by what person and in comparison with others, i.e., the situationally (un)approved and culturally salient meaning. • The interpretation of self-mockery is intertwined with social factors, supported by metapragmatic analysis of comments. • The perception of self-mockery can be in a very folk manner. • It is more productive to scrutinize the perception of self-mockery within a particular social event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: To assess the correlation between serum uric acid (UA) level and diabetic kidney disease among adult-onset Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients in China. Methods: A total of 184 patients with adult-onset T1DM between January 2014 and December 2016 were recruited, with demographics and medical data collected. Comparisons were performed between according to different serum UA gender-specific quartiles. Relationship between serum UA level with urinary ACR and eGFR was also assessed. Results: Median urinary ACR and eGFR were 21.55 [10.79, 45.02] mg/g and 113.86 [88.43, 143.61] ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively. The median UA was 257.4 (208.2–334.8) μmol/L. Participants with higher serum UA levels had higher urinary ACR and lower eGFR than those with lower UA (P < 0.05). Higher serum UA level was significantly associated with higher urinary ACR in Spearman's correlational analysis (P = 0.006) and multiple stepwise regression analysis (P = 0.013). The association between serum UA and urinary ACR was not linear, but showed a curve correlation, which also showed in the sensitivity analysis. Serum UA in the upper gender-specific quartile, was associated with lower eGFR (P < 0.001) and showed an independent negative correlation with eGFR in multiple stepwise regression analysis (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The serum UA level was negatively correlated with eGFR and had a curve correlation with urinary ACR in adult-onset T1DM patients of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater heat pumps (GWHP) are an efficient utilisation of shallow geothermal energy technology and of great significance in terms of promoting energy conservation and reducing emissions. However, recharge clogging has been a key problem restricting the continuous operation of GWHP. In this study, a simulation test device for sand column was designed with the aim of addressing chemical clogging induced by heat pump reinjection in a porous saline aquifer in the Huaibei Plain, China. The trend in the variation of the permeability coefficient was studied based on the detection of the sand sample composition, recharge water quality, and sand layer temperature, and the cause of formation was analysed using the saturation index (SI) and ion ratio method. The results indicated that the permeability coefficient in the sand column decreased exponentially, with a maximum and minimum decrease of 8.14% and 71.65% of the original coefficient, respectively, found in sections P2–P3 and P8–P9. Therefore, the clogging effect of the aquifer at approximately 200–400 mm from the recharge well was significant. Water–rock interactions predominantly involved the dissolution of halite, albite, chlorite, anhydrite, and dolomite and the precipitation of calcite, as well as the exchange adsorption of Ca2+ and Mg2+ to Na+, which were the key sources of ions during the water chemical evolution process. Finally, quartz was formed by the weathering and dissolution of aluminosilicate minerals such as albite, and particle migration and precipitation during the hydrodynamic disturbance were the primary causes of the front-end blockage of the column. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The family Bacillaceae bacteria, particularly Bacillus communities, are useful and attractive probiotics with desirable features to fulfill the vast demand for aquaculture. In Hainan Island, the coastal aquaculture ponds hold about 1% of the total area in China, whereas the knowledge of Bacillaceae bacterial communities was limited. Herein, the Bacillaceae bacterial communities in the coastal aquaculture ponds of the artificial ponds (lined with high-density polyethylene plastic sheets) and earthen ponds were investigated by the culturable method. The characteristics of culturable Bacillaceae communities in these two types of coastal aquaculture ponds showed a massive difference. All the culturable Bacillaceae bacteria were identified as Bacillus in the artificial ponds, whereas the earthen ponds were dominated by Bacillus followed by Halobacillus. It is worth noting that the artificial ponds with a low Bacillaceae diversity displayed a high Bacillaceae concentration with a better water quality, whereas the earthen ponds with a higher Bacillaceae diversity and concentration displayed a higher risk of Vibrio infection, indicating that the Bacillaceae concentration than its diversity made a greater contribution to water purification and Vibrio control. This work besides providing a promising strategy for healthy coastal aquaculture by balancing the relationship between Bacillaceae concentration and its diversity also will lay a foundation for the development of probiotic Bacillaceae agents for wastewater purification and disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet use can be distinguished into different uses (e.g., leisure-related, learning-related), yet comprehensive studies on how different uses are associated with everyday parenting situations are still lacking. This study attempts to locate parental mediation within broader family contexts and simultaneously considers the relationships among general parenting style, media-specific parenting practices, and adolescents' amount and types of Internet use. Building on survey data collected from 1284 middle school students in China (mean age = 13, SD = 0.79, 48.60% girls), the Latent Profile Analysis identified three child-perceived profiles of general parenting style: slight-engaged, supportive, and rejecting-controller. The subsequent regressions suggested that adolescents with supportive parents reported lower levels of time spent online as well as leisure-related use; more restrictive parental mediation was associated with reduced leisure-related use while more active mediation was associated with more learning-related use. Notably, associations between parental use of active mediation and youth's amount of Internet use and leisure-related use varied based on parenting style profiles. Only for the supportive parenting profile, more use of active mediation was associated with decreased amount of Internet use as well as leisure-related use. These findings have implications on how parents can be more effective in guiding youth's Internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explored how traditional and social media use produced various cognitive responses toward COVID-19, including perceived severity, susceptibility, and efficacy, and direct and indirect facilitation of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. We tested the hypotheses on data collected from 433 university students in Wuhan, China, using structural equation modeling. We found that traditional media enhanced engagement for preventive behaviors both directly and indirectly by enhancing perceived severity and efficacy, whereas social media showed no impact on preventive behaviors, either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, the direct effect of traditional media on preventive behaviors was markedly stronger than the indirect effect through perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-span cable-supported bridge is one of crucial transportation infrastructures. Structural health monitoring (SHM) system that is used to assess structural service conditions and detect early damage has drawn a growing attention in engineering structural society. It provides a real-time monitoring of various structural changes under operational and extreme conditions. Yangluo Bridge over Yangtze River in Wuhan city of China is a 1280 m central span suspension bridge with an orthotropic steel box girder. Taking the SHM system of Yangluo Yangtze River Bridge as an example, this paper presents an implementation of SHM system on the bridge in terms of sensor layout, data acquisition strategy, data transmission, data processing, and abnormal alarm framework. With such an SHM system, the typical monitoring results are demonstrated such as operational environments, loadings, structural deformation, strains, dynamic properties, and structural responses. The SHM system of Yangluo Yangtze River Bridge is continuously gathering data and monitoring structural behavior. It is anticipated that it will provide either scientific or technological supports to the service comfort and safety of the bridge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital in the form of social resources or social networks is one of the most important livelihood capital of farmers, which can increase the labor productivity of poor households and increase income. It is important to explore the reasons underlying the livelihood strategy choices of farmers from the perspective of social capital under China's rural revitalization strategy. In this study, the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, a poverty-stricken mountainous area in southwestern China, was selected as the case study area, and multivariable linear regression models were constructed to analyze the influence of social capital on livelihood strategies. The results are as follows: (1) Individual social capital had a positive effect on non-agricultural livelihood strategies. On average, with a one-unit increase in individual social capital, the ratio of farmers' non-agricultural income to total productive income (Income_Rto) increased by 0.002% and 0.062%, respectively. Collective social capital, with the Peasant Economic Cooperation Organization (PECO) as the carrier, had a negative effect on the non-agricultural livelihood strategies of farmers; on average, with a one-unit increase in PECO, Income_Rto decreased by approximately 0.053%. However, this effect was only significant in the river valley area. (2) The income differences among the different livelihood strategy types were explained by the livelihood strategy choices of farmers. As non-agricultural work can bring more benefits, the labor force exhibited one-way migration from villages to cities, resulting in a lack of the subject of rural revitalization. It is necessary to implement effective measures to highlight the role of PECO in increasing agricultural income for farmers. Finally, based on the above conclusions, policy recommendations with respect to livelihood transformation of farmers and rural sustainable development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a debilitating and fatal condition with continuously rising incidence globally, without effective treatment available. Zhilong Huoxue Tongyu (ZLHXTY) capsule is a traditional Chinese medicine that is used for ICH treatment in China. However, the evidence based mechanism is not clear. Purpose: To study the protective effects of ZLHXTY capsules against ICH pathogenesis via targetting nuclear factor kappa β (NFкβ) canonical signalling pathway. Methods: C57BL/6 J mice ICH models using autologous blood injection were used to study the effect of ZLHXTY (1.4 g/kg P.O.) after 24 and 72 hrs of ICH induction. The neurological scoring, corner turn test and balance beam with scoring was performed to assess neurological damage. Hematoxylin/eosin and nissl staining was used for histopathological evaluation. Levels of TNFα, NFкB, iNOS, COX2, IL1, IL6 were measured using real time qPCR and western blotting. Protein levels of IKKβ and IкBα were analyzed through western blotting. Immunofluorescence for co-expression of NeuN/TNFα, NeuN/NFкB, Iba1/TNFα, and Iba1/NFкB was also performed. Results: Treatment with ZLHXTY capsules after ICH ameliorated inflammatory brain injury after 24 and 72 h; revealed by neurological scoring, hematoxylin/eosin and nissl staining. The qPCR and western blot analyses demonstrated significant downregulation of TNFα, NFкB, iNOS, COX2, IL1β and IL6. Further, the IKKβ and IкBα revealed significant downregulation and upregulation respectively in western blot. Immunofluorescence also revealed attenuated expression of TNFα and NFкB in neurons and also low expression of Iba1. Conclusion: ZLHXTY capsules elicit its neuroprotective effect by targetting the NFкβ canonical signalling pathway, thereby ameliorating the ICH induced brain injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root pile is a new type of pile that improves the load carrying capacity by roots penetrating into soils. To carry out the nonlinear settlement analysis of such a root pile in multilayered soils, the hyperbolicity-based load transfer model is in this paper reformulated to account for the discontinuities between the segments with and without roots. The procedure to determine the model parameters for root piles is presented accordingly. The feasibility and reliability of such a proposed modified hyperbolic model for nonlinear settlement analysis of root piles in multilayered soils are verified by a numerical case and two real experimental cases. The numerical case study shows that the root pile does increase the pile load carrying capacity to some extent. In a parametric study based on this numerical case, it can be found that the bearing capacity of root piles increases along with the increase in the root number, size, depth and the elastic modulus of the surrounding soil. The loading test results on two real root piles sited in Chizhou Yangtze River Bridge, China, are used to further verify the proposed method. Comparing with other analytical methods, it is demonstrated that the proposed method incorporated with the proposed modified hyperbolic model can achieve a better agreement with the measured ones especially in a large loading stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly developed into a global pandemic and affected patients' mental health. However, little is known about psychological experience of patients with COVID-19. The aim was to elucidate the psychological experience of patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Wuhan, at the initial stage of the pandemic.Methods: This study was conducted using a phenomenological approach in a qualitative study. Thirteen patients with confirmed COVID-19 from a COVID-19-designated hospital in Wuhan, were recruited between March 15th and April 20th, 2020 via purposive sampling. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted face-to-face. The interview data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.Results: The psychological experience of patients was summarized into three themes: mental distress related to COVID-19, expectations of life scenarios after discharge, and making sense of the experience. These themes were classified into 10 sub-themes. Patients experienced confusion, uncertainty, worry, guilt and concern. Both positive and negative expectations of life scenarios after discharge were reported, manifested as expectations about making up for lost time with family, anxiety about social discrimination and feelings of helplessness about poor financial security. Moreover, patients perceived strength of abundant social support and awareness of social responsibility from their unique experience to cope with their condition.Conclusions: This study demonstrated that patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Wuhan underwent complex psychological experience, both positive and negative at the initial stage of the pandemic. These findings will contribute to the delivery of effective mental health care to safeguard patients' wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-third of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancers fail to respond to hormone therapy, and some patients even progress within two years of adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) toward primary endocrine resistance. However, there is no effective way to predict endocrine resistance. To build a model that incorporates the radiomic signature of pretreatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with clinical information to predict endocrine resistance. Clinical data of non-metastatic breast cancer patients diagnosed between May 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018 and preoperative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) were retrospectively collected from three hospitals in China. The significant clinicopathological characteristics and radiomic signatures were included in multivariable logistic regression to establish a combined model to predict endocrine resistance in the training set, and validate the internal and external validation set. A total of 744 female non-metastatic breast cancer patients from three hospitals in China were included. In the training cohort, the AUC of the Radiomic-Clinical combined model to predict endocrine resistance was 0.975, which was higher than clinical model (0.849), IHC4 model (0.682) and similar as radiomic model (0.941). Also, the AUC of the combined model in the internal (0.921) and external validation cohort (0.955) were higher than clinical model and IHC4 model. The sensitivity of combined model was higher than radiomic alone, and got the best thresholding of the AUC. This study developed and validated a pretreatment multiparametric MRI-based radiomic-clinical combined model and showed good performance in predicting endocrine resistance. • This study first established a model to predict endocrine resistance in non-metastatic breast cancer based on radiomic. • This model was a combined model that contain multiparametric MRI radiomics features and clinical features. • The AUC of the combined model to predict endocrine resistance was 0.975 , with great potential in clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the incidence and potential risk factors for development of fenofibrate-associated nephrotoxicity in gout patients. Methods A total of 983 gout patients on fenofibrate treatment who visited the dedicated Gout Clinic at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University between September 2016 and June 2020 were retrospectively enrolled from the electronic records system. Fenofibrate-associated nephrotoxicity was defined as an increase in serum creatinine (SCr) ≥0.3 mg/dl within 6 months of fenofibrate initiation. The change trend of SCr and uric acid levels during the treatment period were assessed by a generalised additive mixed model (GAMM). Multivariate analysis was performed for risk factors affecting elevated SCr. Results A total of 100 (10.2%) patients experienced an increase in SCr ≥0.3 mg/dl within 6 months after fenofibrate initiation. The median change of SCr in the whole cohort was 0.11 mg/dl [interquartile range (IQR) 0.03–0.20], whereas it was 0.36 (0.33–0.45) in the fenofibrate-associated nephrotoxicity group. In a multivariable regression model, chronic kidney disease (CKD) [odds ratio (OR) 2.39 (95% CI 1.48, 3.86)] and tophus [OR 2.29 (95% CI 1.39, 3.78)] were identified to be risk predictors, independent of measured covariates, of fenofibrate-associated nephrotoxicity. During the treatment period, although SCr temporarily increased, serum urate and triglyceride concentrations decreased using the interaction analysis of GAMM. Of those with fenofibrate withdrawal records, the SCr increase in 65% of patients was reversed after an average of 49 days off the drug. Conclusions This observational study implied that fenofibrate-associated nephrotoxicity occurs frequently in gout patients, especially in patients with tophi or CKD. The potential renal risks of fenofibrate usage in gout needs additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional honeycomb crystals have inspired intense research interest for their novel properties and great potential in electronics and optoelectronics. Here, through molecular beam epitaxy on SrTiO3(001), we report successful epitaxial growth of metal-rich chalcogenide Fe2Te, a honeycomb-structured film that has no direct bulk analogue, under Te-limited growth conditions. The structural morphology and electronic properties of Fe2Te are explored with scanning tunneling microscopy and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which reveal electronic bands cross the Fermi level and nearly flat bands. Moreover, we find a weak interfacial interaction between Fe2Te and the underlying substrates, paving a newly developed alternative avenue for honeycomb-based electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the story continuation writing task (SCWT) has attracted much research attention, few studies have investigated the construct of the task, particularly with respect to which language competence it focuses on. In addition, although some studies have demonstrated that China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE) provides comprehensive insights into the development of Chinese learners' English language proficiency, little research has investigated the relationship between CSE and SCWT. This study drew upon the CSE to develop an SCWT language use inventory to address the above research gaps. A total of 358 high school students were asked to complete the questionnaire, of which 277 valid responses were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the CSE-based questionnaire revealed the presence of six factors, namely language correctness, language variety, task planning, connecting-and-generating, selecting-and-mining, and organizing. The strategy of connecting-and-generating was the only significant predictor of the learners' SCWT scores. The paper also discusses the findings relating to the SCWT rating and other integrated writing tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To compare the efficacy and safety of citrate mixture and sodium bicarbonate on urine alkalization in gout patients under benzbromarone treatment. Methods A prospective, randomized, parallel controlled trial was conducted among 200 gout patients in the dedicated gout clinic of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University. The participants were randomly divided into two groups (1:1), sodium bicarbonate group (3 g/day) and citrate mixture group (7 g/day). All patients were prescribed with 25 mg/day benzbromarone at initiation and maintained at a dose of 50 mg/day. Clinical and biochemical data were collected at each follow-up time point (baseline, weeks 2, 4, 8 and 12). Results A total of 182 patients completed the 12-week urine alkalization study. The urine pH value of both groups increased significantly from the baseline to the final follow-up time point (sodium bicarbonate group, 5.50–6.00, P  < 0.05; citrate mixture group, 5.53–5.93, P  < 0.05). While the comparisons regarding urine pH between treatment groups showed no significant differences for each time point. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) dropped significantly after 12 weeks' trial in the sodium bicarbonate group (P  < 0.01), while it was comparable between baseline and the last follow-up (P  > 0.05) in the citrate mixture group. Results of urine analysis showed that the incident rate of occult blood in the sodium bicarbonate group was higher than that in the citrate mixture group (38 vs 24%, P  < 0.05), accompanied by a similar occurrence of kidney stones. After 12-week follow-up, the frequency of twice gout flare in the citrate mixture group was significantly lower than that in sodium bicarbonate group (4 vs 12%, P  = 0.037). No treatment-emergent adverse events occurred. Conclusion The efficacy of citrate mixture on urine alkalization is comparable to sodium bicarbonate under benzbromarone treatment without significant adverse events. Citrate mixture is superior to sodium bicarbonate in lowering the incidence of urine occult blood and the frequency of gout attacks. Trial registration Registered with ChiCTR (http://www.chictr.org.cn), No. ChiCTR1800018518. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transportable fountain clock with high reliability is important for high-precision time-frequency measurements. Because of its relatively small cold atoms' collision frequency shift and ease of attaining high quantum state preparation efficiency, the rubidium atomic fountain clock has an indicated higher stability and reliability. This paper reports the design and operation of a transportable rubidium atomic fountain clock developed by the Shanghai Institute of Optical and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science. After being transported more than 1000 km from Shanghai to the Changping Campus of the National Institute of Metrology, China, the optical platform and other hardware of the fountain clock did not need to be adjusted. The rubidium fountain clock maintained a stability of 4.0 × 10−13τ1/2, reaching 5.0 × 10−16 at 300 000 s. After transportation, the rubidium fountain clock and a cesium fountain clock (NIM5) were operated together against the reference frequency of a hydrogen maser. In three separate operating periods, over a total of nearly three months, the average frequency repeatability of the rubidium fountain was less than 3.8 × 10−15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Minqin is suffering from a serious desertification, whereas the knowledge about its bacterial community is limited. Herein, based on Nitraria tangutorum and Haloxylon ammodendron from Minqin, the bacterial community diversities in fixed sandy land, semi-fixed sandy land and shifting sandy land were investigated by combining with culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Results: Minqin stressed with high salinity and poor nutrition is an oligotrophic environment. Bacterial community in Minqin was shaped primarily by the presence of host plants, whereas the type of plant and sandy land had no marked effect on those, which displayed a better survival in the rhizospheres of N. tangutorum and H. ammodendron. The dominant groups at phyla level were Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Candidate_division_TM7. The abundance of Firmicutes with ability of desiccation-tolerance was significantly higher in harsh environment, whereas Bacteroidetes were mainly distributed in areas with high nutrient content. The abundances of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were relatively high in the rhizospheres of N. tangutorum and H. ammodendron, which had more plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria. A large number of Actinobacteria were detected, of which the most abundant genus was Streptomyces. The physicochemical factors related to the diversity and distribution of the bacterial community were comprehensively analyzed, such as pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic matter, C/N and sand, and the results indicated that Minqin was more suitable for the growth of N. tangutorum, which should be one of most important sand-fixing plants in Minqin. Conclusions: The bacterial community diversities in different types of sandy lands of Minqin were comprehensively and systematically investigated by culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches, which has a great significance in maintaining/restoring biological diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loess-like sediments are widely distributed in the northern subtropics of China, stretching beyond the traditional boundary of typical loess. Compared with well-researched typical loess, loess-like sediments are much less studied and their origin (eolian or fluvial) and movement pathways under evolving environments remain unclear. Micromorphology offers novel insights into explaining sediment-forming mechanisms through reconstructing the sedimentary history. To examine the debates comprehensively, multiple micromorphological metrics were systematically analyzed, and three main results were derived from the analysis: (a) Hanjiang loess-like sediment can be directly diagnosed as eolian loess based on its differences from fluvial sediment with regard to particle composition and quartz roundness; (b) combined analyses of quartz configurations with the distribution patterns of modern winter winds/dust storms indicated that a portion of the small particles were transported by upper flow in the East Asian winter monsoon from the northwestern Gobi Desert, whereas coarse grains were mainly derived from the adjacent floodplain by creep and saltation; and (c) vertical heterogeneity of configurations and compositions among layers was mainly caused by different degrees of chemical/biological/physical weathering since the latest glaciation. All measurements showed the weathering intensity of sediments decreased in the order of S0/Ts, Lt, L0, L1, meaning that the East Asian summer monsoon weakened in this order during different formation periods. In summary, these metrics reconstructed the formation process and evolutionary history of monsoons in subtropical China excellently and would rival traditional indexes, but are easier to observe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) play key roles in dryland ecosystems. Examining the effects of different intensities of disturbance on biocrusts and exploring appropriate disturbance levels can provide important information about ecosystem processes and services in drylands. Methods: Five disturbance intensities ranging from 10% to 50% based on the percentage of broken biocrusts were implemented to examine the effects of simulated goat trampling on microbial communities; microbial community structure was measured with the phospholipid fatty acid method. Results: The effects of disturbance on the biocrusts were closely related to disturbance intensity. Surprisingly, moderate disturbance had a weak effect on total biocrust coverage but increased cyanobacterial coverage by 2 ~ 3%. Consequently, there was an increase in total N, a reduction in the C/N ratio and improvements in soil moisture, and these effects led to 13 ~ 21% and 5 ~ 6% increases in microbial biomass and diversity, respectively, compared with those in undisturbed biocrusts. However, high-intensity disturbance substantially reduced biocrust coverage and microbial abundance. Conclusions: The study supports the intermediate disturbance hypothesis and suggests that moderate disturbance has positive effects on the microbial communities of biocrusts. These findings provide vital information for the ecological management of drylands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of hyperuricemia is increasing in adults, while the prevalence among adolescents is seldom reported. Methods: A cross-sectional survey by multistage, stratified sampling method was carried out in Shandong Province during 2017–2018. A total of 9371 adolescents aged from 13 to 19 years were randomly sampled and analyzed in this survey. Results: The overall mean serum uric acid (sUA) concentration was 6.08 ± 1.57 mg/dL and overall hyperuricemia prevalence was 25.4% and 60.5% (when hyperuricemia was defined as sUA ≥ 7 mg/dL or ≥ 5.5 mg/dL). Prevalence were 42.3% (male) and 8.0% (female) when limit was 7 mg/dL and prevalence were 82.1% (male) and 38.4% (female) when limit was 5.5 mg/dL. Male gender, increased body mass index, increased waist circumstance, increased triglycerides, increased fasting blood glucose, increased systolic blood pressure, decreased estimated glomerular filtration rate, and positive family gout history were associated with the enhanced risk of hyperuricemia according to univariate and/or multivariate logistic regression analysis. Food intake frequency of carbonate beverage, mutton, and other kinds varied between hyperuricemia adolescents and normal sUA ones. Conclusions: The studied adolescent population showed sUA level and hyperuricemia prevalence which are even higher than those of adults in China. The epidemic of youth hyperuricemia may pose a future threat of gout attacks and other hyperuricemia-related diseases, which alarms the public, health professionals and health policy makers to prepare the future health challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of rapid urbanization and climate change, many large- and medium-sized cities in China frequently undergo urban disasters with severe impacts that result in many casualties, induce significant economic losses, and restrict sustainable social and economic development. Providing timely and accurate early warnings is the most effective measure for disaster prevention and mitigation before such disasters can impose severe impacts. In this study, we propose a dynamic impact assessment method for rainstorm waterlogging using land-use data. First, based on a detailed collection of disaster prevention and mitigation data, we construct an impact assessment index based on the assessment objects of this study. Then, a waterlogging simulation is performed, and the simulation results are found to meet the assessment requirements. Finally, we conduct an impact assessment every half hour during a heavy rainfall event and evaluate the performance of the proposed method by assessing the socioeconomic impact, object impact, industry impact, regional impact, and comprehensive impact of the event. These assessments produce valuable information for providing diverse and timely services in the event of urban waterlogging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horse meat and milk are an important source of nutrition for many Chinese. Previous studies have shown a fairly high prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in horses. However, there is no data concerning the molecular characterization of T. gondii in horses in China. The present study tested 231 cervical lymph node samples of horses from northern China (97 from Jilin, 54 from Liaoning, and 80 from Xinjiang) for the presence of the T. gondii B1 gene by seminested PCR. The B1-positive samples were genotyped at nine nuclear loci, that is, SAG1, alternative SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, c22-8, GRA6, c29-2, PK1, and an apicoplast locus, using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. A total of 14 (6.06%) out of 231 samples were T. gondii positive. The overall prevalence of T. gondii in the horses was 5.15% (5/97) for Jilin Province, 5.55% (3/54) for Liaoning Province, and 7.50% (6/80) for Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Of the 14 positive samples, only 2 were successfully genotyped at all loci, 5 were successfully genotyped at 5–8 loci, and all typed samples belong to ToxoDB genotype no. 9. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular characterization of the T. gondii isolates from horses in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends our understanding of Chinese university students' motivation to learn languages other than English (LOTEs) by adding a contextual dimension to the L2 Motivational Self System. The study drew on Higgins' ([1987]. "Self-discrepancy: A Theory Relating Self and Affect." Psychological Review 94: 319–340.) original Own-Other standpoints and Lanvers' ([2016]. "Lots of Selves, Some Rebellious: Developing the Self Discrepancy Model for Language Learners." System 60: 79–92.; [2017]. "Contradictory Others and the Habitus of Languages: Surveying the L2 Motivation Landscape in the United Kingdom." The Modern Language Journal 101 (3): 517–532.) Self-Discrepancy Theory for Language Learners to enrich the framework, and recruited two different learner groups with Chinese as their first language and English as their second language – voluntary learners of Spanish as a third language and non-voluntary learners of Spanish. The Q-methodology was applied to profile these two groups' multilingual selves, with four motivational profiles emerging from the analysis: self-motivated with multilingual posture, self-motivated with instrumentality, other-motivated with promotion-focused instrumentality, and other-motivated with prevention-focused instrumentality. The findings revealed that multilingual posture was prominent in the self-motivated learners' investment in learning Spanish, and the other-motivated learners were subjugated to the macro-level sociological influences of global English and the national foreign language policy. Our findings also suggested a potential gate-keeping role of global English in conceptualising non-Anglophone learners' LOTE learning motivation. This paper concludes with some methodological and theoretical implications for future LOTE learning motivation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this opening commentary we highlight the tension surrounding the emergence and development of bilingual education programs in mainland China, which has attracted much attention in research. Scholars have contradictory views about efforts aimed at promoting and sustaining bilingualism/multilingualism through education in different parts of China. To contribute to this ongoing discussion, this special issue contains the collective efforts of scholars holding different views and examining three types of bilingual education initiatives in mainland China: bilingual education programs for ethnic minority students, the rise of Chinese-English bilingual education, and the vitality of regional Chinese varieties or dialects in major coastal cities. We contend that all the efforts to promote and sustain bilingualism in the aforementioned aspects are to some extent double-edged and require critical examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, is carried by a range of intermediate hosts, including pigeons. Eating raw or undercooked pigeon meat, as is common in regions of China, can easily pass on a potentially fatal T. gondii infection. However, there are little data about the seroprevalence and genotypes of T. gondii infection in pigeons. In this study, a total of 963 pigeon blood samples were collected from Jilin Province, Liaoning Province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China between August 2015 and December 2016. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii was 10.80% (104/963), with 8.80% (41/466) in males and 12.68% (63/497) in females. The seroprevalence of T. gondii in different regions varied from 9.04% (17/188) in Jilin City to 13.16% (20/152) in Shenyang City, a relatively high prevalence. The seroprevalence of T. gondii in juvenile pigeons (6.38%, 18/282) was significantly lower than in adults (86/681, p < 0.05). These findings could provide useful data for the execution of effective control measures against T. gondii infection in pigeons and/or other hosts. More importantly, the findings also suggest that pigeons should not be eaten raw. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Net surface longwave radiation (NSLR) is one of key meteorological factors and is strongly influenced by cloud cover, surface temperature, humidity, and local micrometeorological conditions as well as terrain conditions. Realistically estimating NSLR is vitally important for understanding surface radiation balance and investigating micrometeorological factors of air pollution dispersion, especially in regions with complicated terrain. In this study, we proposed a distributed model for estimating NSLR by considering effects of complex local terrain conditions in China. Meteorological data (including mean temperature, relative humidity, and sunshine percentage) and observed NSLR data from 1993 to 2001 together with the digital elevation model data were used to parametrize the model and account for the effects of atmospheric factors and surface terrain factors according to the isotropic principle. The monthly NSLR during 1961-2000 was estimated at a spatial resolution of 1 km. Topographic analysis suggests that the distribution characteristics of NSLR with elevation or slope are consistent with those of field observations. In particular, the estimated NSLR is favorably comparable with site-level observations on the Tibetan Plateau (average relative error < 11%). Our results indicate that this model can describe microscale distribution features in mountainous areas in detail and that this improved approach can be used for NSLR spatial estimation in other regions with complicated terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background/Aim: Recent studies have shown that low haemoglobin (Hb) levels promote the progression of chronic kidney disease. This study assessed the relationship between Hb level and type 1 diabetic nephropathy (DN) in Han patients in Anhui, China. Methods: There was a total of 236 patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) seen between January 2014 and December 2016 in our centre. Haemoglobin levels in patients with DN were compared with those without DN. The relationship between Hb level and the urinary albumin–creatinine ratio (ACR) was examined by Spearman's correlational analysis and multiple stepwise regression analysis. The binary logistic multivariate regression analysis was performed to analyse the correlated factors for type 1 DN, calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The predicting value of Hb level for DN was evaluated by area under receiver operation characteristic curve (AUROC) for discrimination and Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness‐of‐fit test for calibration. Results: The average Hb levels in the DN group (116.1 ± 20.8 g/L) were significantly lower than the non‐DN group (131.9 ± 14.4 g/L), P < 0.001. Hb levels were independently correlated with the urinary ACR in multiple stepwise regression analysis. The logistic multivariate regression analysis showed that the Hb level (OR: 0.936, 95% CI: 0.910–0.963, P < 0.001) was inversely correlated with DN in patients with T1DM. In sub‐analysis, low Hb level (Hb < 120 g/L in female, Hb < 130 g/L in male) was still negatively associated with DN in patients with T1DM. The AUROC was 0.721 (95% CI: 0.655–0.787) in assessing the discrimination of the Hb level for DN. The value of P was 0.593 in Hosmer‐Lemeshow goodness‐of‐fit test. Conclusions: In patients with T1DM, the Hb level is inversely correlated with urinary ACR and DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial and temporal variability in stable isotopic compositions (δ 18 O and δD) in river water of the Yarlungzangbo was investigated to identify major hydrological processes along the river channel and evaluate the isotopic response to discharge variation. The results show geographic, distinct isotopic evolutions in the Yarlungzangbo system. Along the main stem, river δ 18 O exhibits a decreasing trend from the headwaters to the middle reach but an increasing one from the middle to the lower reaches, and main flows demonstrate much greater δ 18 O-δD slope and intercept compared to the global meteoric water line (GMWL) and reported local meteoric water lines (LMWLs) for sites within the basin. These results are found to be consistent with the isotopic characteristics of stream and river waters collected across the entire drainage basin. Water mixing appears to be the dominant hydrological process along the Yarlungzangbo, and the pattern of isotopic change in individual river reaches closely reflects that of precipitation in corresponding part of the river basin. The isotopic variability along the main stem observed during the synoptic survey is evidenced to hold through time by a time-series investigation at three key hydrological stations. River water at such three stations shows a strong isotopic response to discharge variability. In general, river δ 18 O tends to be negatively correlated with discharge, highlighting a typical monsoon precipitation-driven isotope-discharge pattern. Specifically, we found their individual discharge-weighted average δ 18 O values likely vary in a similar rate with the ratio of mean discharge in monsoon season (JAS) to that in pre-monsoon season (MJ) on a yearly basis, indicating a specific relationship between average river isotopic composition and discharge seasonality throughout their drainage areas (i.e. the middle-lower Yarlungzangbo basin). This study thus demonstrates the usefulness of isotopic data for assessing hydrodynamics over a less explored, complex and high-altitude large river catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT High-resolution precipitation distributions in mountainous areas are important for hydrological and ecological assessments, especially in regions with few weather stations. In this study, we proposed an improved model for precipitation downscaling by adding two new parameters, i.e. the maximum precipitation increment direction and the prevailing precipitation direction, which represent the impacts of elevation and the sources of precipitation, respectively. The model parameterization is based on observations made at meteorological stations, terrain factors (e.g. elevation, aspect, and slope), and the new parameters. To evaluate the model, we used six sub-models, each of which considers different influencing factors, to estimate the precipitation distribution and compare their estimation errors. Based on the mean absolute error ( MAE) and the root-mean-square error ( RMSE) at the validation stations, we found that the sixth sub-model, which includes all the influencing factors, clearly ranks above the others in terms of precipitation downscaling. The monthly MAE and the RMSE of our downscaled precipitation range from 2.2 to 16.1 mm and from 3.4 to 22.7 mm, respectively, indicating more accurate estimation than the raw tropical precipitation measuring mission ( TRMM) products (monthly MAE: 3.6-22.0 mm; monthly RMSE: 5.1-28.6%). Our results also show that the sixth sub-model performs better than the Auto-Searched Orographic and Atmospheric Effects Detrended Kriging model ( ASOADeK model or Guan's model) due to the inclusion of the elevation and the sources of precipitation. Based on the sixth sub-model and the TRMM 3B43 products, we developed the monthly precipitation products in China from 2000 to 2007 at a spatial resolution of 1 km. Our improved approach to precipitation downscaling could be used for regions where the precipitation distribution is greatly affected by the terrain and few observations are available for estimating the precipitation distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the profound impact of marketization in academic world has been extensively studied, analytical attention is substantially concentrated on the organizational operation of universities. Less attention has been paid to the impact of marketization on the structure of academic disciplines and the communication of academicians, which is particular true in non-English-speaking countries. Drawing on the theory of genre analysis, this study sets out to investigate how the uptake of market discourse reshapes the structure of one Chinese academic discipline – the Chinese English Language Teaching (ELT) discipline, and how it redefines the pattern of Chinese ELT practitioners’ disciplinary interaction. Textual data examined include textbooks, policy documents, curricula, syllabus, and insiders’ accounts. Analytical results demonstrate that marketization is both a force driving the commercialization of Chinese ELT academic activities and a force facilitating the fragmentation of the formerly monolithic Chinese ELT discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been seen as a preventive and participatory environmental management tool designed to integrate environmental protection into the decision-making process. However, the debate about SEA performance and effectiveness has increased in recent decades. Two main challenges exist in relation to this issue. The first is identifying the key influencing factors that affect SEA effectiveness, and the second is analyzing the relationship between SEA and these influencing factors. In this study, influencing factors were investigated through questionnaire surveys in the Chinese context, and then a Structural Equation Model (SEM) was developed and tested to identify potential links and causal relationships among factors. The associations between the independent factors were divided into direct and indirect causal associations. The results indicate that the decision-making process and policy context directly affect SEA implementation, while information and data sharing, public participation, expertise and SEA institutions are indirectly related with SEA. The results also suggest that a lack of cooperation between different sectors is an obstacle to the implementation of SEA. These findings could potentially contribute to the future management and implementation of SEA or enhance existing knowledge of SEA. The results show that the proposed model has a degree of feasibility and applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (CLAL) at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies is recognized as a ‘National Key Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It is the only center recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education to have a national key research institute devoted to linguistics and applied linguistics. CLAL has cultivated a core team of scholars whose work in linguistics and applied linguistics is both prolific and broad in scope, spanning three fields of research: second language (L2) learning, societal and public discourse analysis, and theoretical linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It has long been concerned how crop water use efficiency (WUE) responds to climate change. Most of existing researches have emphasized the impact of single climate factor but have paid less attention to the effect of developed agronomic measures on crop WUE. Based on the long-term field observations/experiments data, we investigated the changing responses of crop WUE to climate variables (temperature and precipitation) and agronomic practices (fertilization and cropping patterns) in the semi-arid area of northern China (SAC) during two periods, 1983–1999 and 2000–2010 (drier and warmer). Our results suggest that crop WUE was an intrinsical system sensitive to climate change and agronomic measures. Crops tend to reach the maximum WUE (WUEmax) in warm-dry environment while reach the stable minimum WUE (WUEmin) in warm-wet environment, with a difference between WUEmax and WUEmin ranging from 29.0%-55.5%. Changes in temperature and precipitation in the past three decades jointly enhanced crop WUE by 8.1%-30.6%. Elevated fertilizer and rotation cropping would increase crop WUE by 5.6–11.0% and 19.5–92.9%, respectively. These results indicate crop has the resilience by adjusting WUE, which is not only able to respond to subsequent periods of favorable water balance but also to tolerate the drought stress, and reasonable agronomic practices could enhance this resilience. However, this capacity would break down under impact of climate changes and unconscionable agronomic practices (e.g. excessive N/P/K fertilizer or traditional continuous cropping). Based on the findings in this study, a conceptual crop WUE model is constructed to indicate the threshold of crop resilience, which could help the farmer develop appropriate strategies in adapting the adverse impacts of climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Loess Plateau of China has the highest soil erosion rate in the world where billion tons of soil is annually washed into Yellow River. In recent decades this region has experienced significant climate change and policy-driven land conversion. However, it has not yet been well investigated how these changes in climate and land use have affected soil organic carbon (SOC) storage on the Loess Plateau. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM), we quantified the effects of climate and land use on SOC storage on the Loess Plateau in the context of multiple environmental factors during the period of 1961–2005. Our results show that SOC storage increased by 0.27 Pg C on the Loess Plateau as a result of multiple environmental factors during the study period. About 55% (0.14 Pg C) of the SOC increase was caused by land conversion from cropland to grassland/forest owing to the government efforts to reduce soil erosion and improve the ecological conditions in the region. Historical climate change reduced SOC by 0.05 Pg C (approximately 19% of the total change) primarily due to a significant climate warming and a slight reduction in precipitation. Our results imply that the implementation of “Grain for Green” policy may effectively enhance regional soil carbon storage and hence starve off further soil erosion on the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the experience of an emergency medical rescue team to rescue people from an earthquake that struck the Lushan area of Sichuan province in China on April 20, 2013. It states that the team provided emergency treatments to victims including percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and cardiopulmonary-cerebral resuscitation (CPCR). It mentions that earthquake aftershocks resulted in landslide and road collapse.

Increased demand for food due to the rapidly growing human population has led to extensive conversion of native steppes at the margins of oases in arid lands of northwest China into intensively managed farmlands. However, the consequences of this land-use change for soil microarthropod biodiversity and ecosystem functioning remain unknown. Here we assessed how conversion of a native steppe to irrigated farmlands of different ages affects the abundance and composition of soil microarthropods and how changes in soil microarthropod biodiversity could scale up to influence soil carbon and nitrogen stocks. We sampled microarthropod communities over two growing seasons from native steppes and cultivated soils of a 27-year-old irrigated farmland and a 90-year-old irrigated farmland, both of which were converted from the native steppe. Topsoil properties and bulk and labile pools of carbon and nitrogen, including soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), total nitrogen (TN), inorganic nitrogen (IN), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), were also measured. The conversion of native steppe to either of the two farmlands significantly increased the abundance and taxa richness of three taxonomic groups (mites, collembolans, and others) and four trophic groups (herbivores, predators, detritivores, and fungivores); this effect was greater in the 90-year-old farmland for the abundance of all taxonomic and trophic groups except for herbivores and was similar between the two farmlands for the richness of all taxonomic and trophic groups. Taxonomic and trophic composition of the microarthropod community showed strong shifts in response to conversion of native steppe to either of the two farmlands. Compositional changes were largely mediated by changes in soil environments. Changes in soil carbon and nitrogen stocks due to conversion of native steppe to farmlands followed similar patterns to soil microarthropod biodiversity, but the greater storage of DOC, MBC, TN, IN, and MBN occurred in the 90-year-old farmland. Our results suggest that soil microarthropod communities are affected positively by native steppe conversion to farmland and farmland age, and that increased microarthropod biodiversity significantly improved the ability of soils to retain carbon and nitrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) arch bridge has become widespread all over the world and especially in China since 1990. This paper studies the nonlinear seismic response of a CFST arch bridge on a canyon site subjected to multi-component spatially varying ground motions. The three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model of the CFST arch bridge is developed with consideration of the material and geometric nonlinearities of the arch ribs. The spatially varying ground motions with consideration of wave passage effect, coherency loss effect and local site effect are stochastically simulated based on the combined one-dimensional (1D) wave propagation theory and spectral representation method. The effects of multi-component earthquake excitations, spatial variations of ground motions and varying site conditions on the seismic response of the CFST arch bridge are analysed. Numerical results show that for a reliable seismic analysis of a CFST arch bridge, multi-component earthquake excitations with consideration of ground motion spatial variations and local soil conditions should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's framework of cultural capital, the study explored whether family cultural capital contributed to adolescents' digital inequality regarding both digital skills and usages of digital media and could further explain the relationship between social origins and youth's digital diversity. Cultural capital was operationalized as family cultural resources, cultural practices and media-related parenting activities (i.e., active and restrictive mediation). We tested the proposed hypotheses using data collected from 1119 middle school students in China. The results showed that cultural resources, cultural practices and active parental mediation were significant predictors of adolescents' general digital skill, creative skill and educational use of Internet, whereas leisure use of Internet was not explained by family cultural capital. The results also suggested a relatively complex pattern of relationships between restrictive parental mediation and different dimensions of digital inequality. The path analysis further revealed that cultural resources, cultural practices and active mediation were mechanisms underlying the effects of family SES on adolescents' digital practices. The role of family cultural capital in teenagers' digital practices was discussed in the context of media education. • We explored digital inequality among teenagers, regarding digital skills and usage preferences. • We used cultural capital theory as a lens to understand digital inequality. • Both family SES and home cultural lifestyle were involved as predictors. • Cultural resources, practices and active mediation predicted creative skill and educational use of Internet. • Family cultural capital could explain the SES-based digital inequality among youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the logarithmic curves of the per capita GDP and the urbanization, with the traditional environmental Kuznets equation, this paper presented a coupling equation showing the relationship between urbanization and the atmospheric environment. Based on the 'double exponential' coupling curve, the principles of flattening, advancing and fast-falling that new coupling curve should be followed were discussed. According to the two indicators of environmental assessment, namely the treatment cost and the deterioration degree of the environment, a new dual four times matrix model with the corresponding countermeasures and environment policy were introduced. Taking Shandong Province as an example, the coupling relationship between urbanization and atmospheric environment was investigated. The coupling curve showed that it was in running-in stage, and atmospheric quality tended to be improved. SO curve fluctuated more significantly compared with soot and industrial dust curves. The matrix model shows that the combination of flattening principle and advancing principle is preferable for SO emissions, but the fast-falling principle is recommended for soot and industrial dust emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much concern has been raised about how multifactor global change has affected food security and carbon sequestration capacity in China. By using a process-based ecosystem model, the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model ( DLEM), in conjunction with the newly developed driving information on multiple environmental factors (climate, atmospheric CO2, tropospheric ozone, nitrogen deposition, and land cover/land use change), we quantified spatial and temporal patterns of net primary production ( NPP) and soil organic carbon storage ( SOC) across China's croplands during 1980-2005 and investigated the underlying mechanisms. Simulated results showed that both crop NPP and SOC increased from 1980 to 2005, and the highest annual NPP occurred in the Southeast ( SE) region (0.32 Pg C yr−1, 35.4% of the total NPP) whereas the largest annual SOC (2.29 Pg C yr−1, 35.4% of the total SOC) was found in the Northeast ( NE) region. Land management practices, particularly nitrogen fertilizer application, appear to be the most important factor in stimulating increase in NPP and SOC. However, tropospheric ozone pollution and climate change led to NPP reduction and SOC loss. Our results suggest that China's crop productivity and soil carbon storage could be enhanced through minimizing tropospheric ozone pollution and improving nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]