Search

IntroductionIncreasing the hardiness of students is a crucial objective in higher education. Universities and colleges have created a variety of interventions to improve students' overall hardiness.MethodsIn terms of the effects of such interventions, empirical research has shown inconclusive results. This meta-analysis applies 12 effect sizes from 12 independent empirical studies, with a total of 640 participants, to assess the overall impact of interventions on students' hardiness and to test for moderators, in light of the contradictory findings in prior work. The current meta-analysis calculates the standardized mean differences (SMD) of pre-post interventions. The level of study heterogeneity, represented by I2, was interpreted as small (I2 ≤ 25%), moderate (25% < I2 ≤ 50%), substantial (50% < I2 ≤ 75%), or considerable (I2 > 75%). Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis.ResultsThe results show that the interventions had a significant positive overall effect on students' hardiness (g = 0.998, k = 12) and show significant heterogeneity among effect sizes. Among the interventions, cognitive-based intervention yielded the largest mean effect size (g = 2.015, k = 5). Furthermore, moderator analyses suggest that the effects of the interventions on students' hardiness are moderated by respondent type, culture, intervention type, research design, years, and duration of intervention.DiscussionWe conclude that interventions that promote students' hardiness are officious. Despite the low homogeneity of the results and limitations of this meta-analysis (e.g., a small number of included studies) which might have influenced the findings, the large fail-safe N suggests that these findings are robust. The study examined potential causes of heterogeneity and emphasized the importance of further research in this area.

The study of environmental and ecological aesthetics in China only began in the 21st century. But environmental aesthetics has a long history including the design of Chinese gardens and the practice and the evaluation of ancient Chinese landscape paintings. Comparing the aesthetic discourses on nature in China and in Europe, this essay lists Western discourses on the beauty of creation, of the sublime, and of the picturesque. Chinese discourses of the beauty of the nature have undergone a discursive development, which has formed a transformation of the discipline of aesthetics. From the appreciation of the beauty of nature in ancient times to contemporary ecological and environmental aesthetics, discourses in both cultures demonstrate similarities and differences. Understanding contemporary schools of Chinese aesthetics, from subjectivism to the materialists, shows that an historical analysis has positive implications for our understanding of the aesthetics of nature in both eastern and western cultures.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) geological storage (CGS) is considered as one of the feasible choices for large-scale CO2 emission reduction worldwide, and the primary issue in CGS is how to select areas favorable for storing CO2. The research conducted by Chinese scholars on CO2 geological storage in the Ordos Basin has mainly focused on numerical simulations of CO2 storage, the estimation of the CO2 storage capacity, and the CO2 storage mechanism. Few studies have been conducted on the selection of CO2 geological storage area, or even on a methodology for ranking CO2 geological storage sites in carbonate reservoirs. This study provides a reference for the ranking of CGS areas in carbonate reservoirs. First, from the geological view of CO2 storage reservoir, logging data and core petrographic analyses with cast thin sections, scanning electron microscopy and formation water salinity tests were used to systematically investigate the reservoir type, lithology, porosity, permeability, burial depth, thickness, temperature, and pressure conditions, and water salinity of the Majiagou formation. Second, from the perspective of CO2 storage safety, literature research, and seismic interpretation data were used to investigate the sealing performance of the strata overlying the Majiagou Formation and its related fault system in detail. Third, from the economic perspective of CO2 storage, considering the distance from the source of the CO2 emissions, the extent of the regional exploration, and the degree of the influence of CO2 storage on the exploitation of other mineral resources, the CO2 storage areas in the Majiagou Formation in the Ordos Basin were prioritized. The results show that (1) the Wushenqi-Jingbian-Yan'an karst slope area (I1) is the best CO2 geological storage area, (2) the Yulin-Mizhi karst basin area (I2) is a favorable area for CGS in the Ordos Basin. (3) A site ranking methodology for CGS is also proposed, providing a reference for the selection of CO2 geological storage areas in carbonate reservoirs based on the technical, safety, and economic feasibility of the CGS.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Echinops latifolius Tausch (ELT) is traditional Mongolian medicine in China, and often used to against osteoporosis, strengthen tendons and bones, clear bones heat. Aim of the study To study efficacy of ELT on ovariectomized (OVX) rats and underly metabolic pathways related to trabecular micro-architecture changing of OVX. Materials and methods Three-month-old female Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 6) including normal group (without surgery), sham group (bilateral laparotomy), OVX group (bilateral ovariectomy), and ELT-treated groups (ELT-treated after bilateral ovariectomy). The effects of ELT on trabecular micro-architecture and biochemical markers of OVX rat were investigated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry machine and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. Untargeted metabolomics strategy was applied to discover the potential biomarkers and related metabolic pathways involving the progression of OVX-induced osteoporosis. Results The trabecular micro-architecture and biochemical markers of OVX rats were improved by ELT. We found 36 potential biomarkers and 21 related metabolic pathways were involved in progression of OVX-induced osteoporosis. Amino acids metabolism and glycerophospholipids metabolism were mainly intervened in ELT treatment on ovariectomized rats. The disordered amino acids and glycerophospholipids metabolism closely related to the imbalance between bone resorption and formation were reversed by administration of ELT, indicating that the influences of ELT on OVX rats’ trabecular micro-architecture may possible be associated with intervening amino acids and glycerophospholipids metabolism. Conclusions This approach may provide the metabolomic perspective to link metabolic alterations and anti-osteoporosis action of ELT, to further explain how ELT works in postmenopausal patients with bone loss.

For intelligent and connected vehicles, analyzing driving scenarios to estimate security situation is the primary premise to ensure vehicles safety，especially in car-following scenario. In this paper, an approach for car-following security situation estimation is proposed based on multi-source information fusion, which uses fuzzy inference system as the estimation framework. By analyzing the driver's diversified driving behaviors in longitudinal direction and dynamic inter-vehicle motion characteristics, the desired acceleration, HWT and TTC-1 are selected to evaluate the security situationunder the current running state. In order to make the security situation evaluation results more accurate and rational, a car-following scenario database is built by PreScan software, and a data-driven analysis method and MOS are employed to determine the membership function of each variable. Finally, through simulation experiment, the RMSE of the approach, proposed in this paper, is 0.0813, compared with MOS, and the security situation evaluation approach is verified.

In order to study the damage in coal rock under high pressure water jet, which is closely related to the efficiency of coalbed gas drainage, a three-dimensional damage numerical model is est ablished. Based on the simulation results and PSO-BNPP (particle swarm optimization, PSO and back-propagation neural network, BPNN) method, a damage prediction model of high pressure water jet impacting coal rock was established. The results show that the mean absolute error, the mean absolute percentage error of the model are 1.23 and 7.45% respectively, and the actual and the predicted values show significant positive correlation. In this sense, the model can describe the relationship between the coal roc k damage and the water jet parameters well.

Along with the hybrid power system mathematical model, three different kinds of power allocation strategies for PHEV with hybrid power system based on four-factor method are put forward, and they are based on super capacitor energy efficiency, PHEV operating environment and electric mechanism. The results of semi-physical simulation verify that the control strategy is effective. Compared with the allocation strategy based on the average motor power, the economy of all in the CD model strategy has the best performance, which can rise by 3.15%. The trend curves about the influences of each factor on economy drawn with the optimization results of SA, have reference value for establishing the power allocation strategy for hybrid power system.

A number of multiresistant pathogens including Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) place a heavy burden on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) patients in intensive care units (ICU). It is critically important to differentiate between bacterial infection and colonization to avoid prescribing unnecessary antibiotics. Quantitative culture of lower respiratory tract (LRT) specimens, however, requires invasive procedures. Nowadays, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been studied in vitro and in vivo to identify pathogen-derived biomarkers. Therefore, an exploratory pilot study was conceived for a proof of concept that the appearance and level of A. baumannii-derived metabolites might be correlated with the presence of the pathogen and its ecological niche (i.e. the infection and colonization states) in ICU ventilated patients. Twenty patients with A. baumannii VAP (infection group), 20 ventilated patients with LRT A. baumannii colonization (colonization group) and 20 ventilated patients with neurological disorders, but without pneumonia or A. baumannii colonization (control group) were enrolled in the in vivo pilot study. A clinical isolate of A. baumannii strains was used for the in vitro culture experiment. The adsorptive preconcentration (solid-phase microextraction fiber and Tenax(®) TA) and analysis technique of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were applied in the studies. Breath profiles could be visually differentiated between A. baumannii cultivation in vitro and culture medium, and among in vivo groups. In the in vitro experiment, nine compounds of interest (2,5-dimethyl-pyrazine, 1-undecene, isopentyl 3-methylbutanoate, decanal, 1,3-naphthalenediol, longifolene, tetradecane, iminodibenzyl and 3-methyl-indene) in the headspace were found to be possible A. baumannii derivations. While there were eight target VOCs (1-undecene, nonanal, decanal, 2,6,10-trimethyl-dodecane, 5-methyl-5-propyl-nonane, longifolene, tetradecane and 2-butyl-1-octanol) exhibiting characteristics of A. baumannii VAP derivations. The selected VOC profile in vivo could be adopted to efficiently differentiate the presence of LRT A. baumannii from its absence, and LRT A. baumannii infection from its colonization (AUC = 0.89 and 0.88, respectively). It is not feasible to simply transfer the metabolic biomarkers from the in vitro condition to in vivo. The direct detection of exhaled A. baumannii-derived VOCs may be adopted for an early alert of the LRT bacterial presence in ventilated ICU patients, and even in different parasitic states of A. baumannii (i.e. infection and colonization). However, further refinement and validation are required before its clinical use.