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Lexical bundles are worthy of attention in both teaching and testing writing as they function as basic building blocks of discourse. This corpus-based study focuses on the rated writing responses to the email tasks in the Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program® General test (CELPIP-General) and explores the extent to which lexical bundles could help characterize the written responses of the test-takers of different English proficiency levels. Three subcorpora of email writing responses were created based on test-takers' proficiency levels. AntConc 3.4.4 was used to identify 2- to 6-word lexical bundles, which were then manually coded for their discourse functions. The results showed that test-takers of higher proficiency levels used more lexical bundles in terms of both bundle types and tokens compared with test-takers of lower proficiency level. The writing samples of different proficiency levels shared some lexical bundles, and overall they had similar proportional distributions of lexical bundle functions. Nevertheless, noticeable differences among the proficiency levels were observed in the proportional distributions of the subfunctions of stance bundles, discourse organizing bundles, and bundles of other functions. The identification of differential use of lexical bundles can contribute to a better understanding of English learners' email writing performance.

Background: Left atrial (LA) strain is associated with structural remodeling of the LA. Whether there is an association between LA strain obtained by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and new‐onset atrial fibrillation (AF) after ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is unclear. Purpose: To investigate the relationship between LA strain and new‐onset AF after STEMI. Study Type: Retrospective. Population: Three hundred and seventy‐nine STEMI patients were enrolled, of which 26 had new‐onset AF. Field Strength/Sequence: 3.0 T, balanced turbo field echo sequence. Assessment: Patients were divided into w/o AF group and new‐onset AF group. Cardiac MRI images were analyzed using cardiovascular imaging software CVI 42 (Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, Canada). An automatic tracing algorithm was applied to obtain strain values. The reservoir strain, conduit strain, and booster strain were included in model 1, model 2, and model 3, respectively. Statistical Tests: Student's t‐test, Mann–Whiney U test, and chi‐square test were performed. Variables with a P ≤ 0.05 were incorporated into the logistic regression analysis. Area under curve of receiver operating characteristic was used to assess the ability of LA strain to identify new‐onset AF. Bayesian information criterion, Akaike information criterion, and C‐index were used to make comparisons between three models. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Three models were used to assess LA strain identification ability for new‐onset AF. After including multiple factors, right coronary artery (RCA), LVEF, and reservoir strain were still risk factors for new‐onset AF in model 1. In model 2, age, RCA, LVEF, and conduit strain were still risk factors for new‐onset AF. In model 3, RCA, LVEF, LVEDVi, and booster strain were still risk factors for new‐onset AF. Model 2 has a stronger identification ability than others. Data Conclusion: LA strain associated with new‐onset AF after STEMI. The model including conduit strain was the best‐fit one. Level of Evidence: 4 Technical Efficacy: Stage 3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the romantic involvements of Canadian and Chinese adolescents as well as linkages with friend and parental relationships. Participants were 496 Chinese adolescents and 395 Canadian adolescents, aged 16-17 years. Chinese adolescents were less likely to have any form of romantic involvement, including a romantic relationship, displayed lower levels of romantic experience, and had fewer close romantic relationships. Gender moderated cultural differences, with Chinese girls least involved in romantic experiences. Although friendships were more intimate in Canada and parent relationships were closer in China, the linkages of parental and friend relationships with romantic experience were quite consistent across the two cultures, with friends being positively linked to romantic experiences and parents indirectly linked through their connection to friends. Among Chinese adolescents, parents also directly connected with romantic experiences in a negative direction. Implications of the findings for understanding the interface between individual growth and cultural context are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Purpose: Social adversity experiences have increased during the pandemic and are potential risk factors for both depression and support for violent radicalization (VR). However, the cumulative and independent effects of various social adversity experiences on support for VR have yet to be explored. This paper examines the cumulative and independent effects of COVID- and non-COVID-related discrimination, exposure to violence, traditional and cyberbullying victimization on support for VR. In addition, we investigate whether depression mediates the relationship between these forms of social adversity and support for VR. Methods: A total of 6003 young adults (Mage = 27, SDage = 4.40, range 18–35) living in metropolitan areas in Canada responded to an online survey. We used multivariable regression models, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, to infer covariate adjusted associations between social adversity measures and support for VR. Additionally, we conducted a formal mediation analysis to estimate the proportion mediated by depression. Results: There was a cumulative relationship between experiences of social adversity and support for VR (β = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.32, 1.72). COVID-related discrimination and cyberbullying victimization were independently associated with stronger support for VR. Depression partially mediated the effect of cumulative social adversity, COVID-related discrimination and cyberbullying on support for VR. Conclusion: Prevention programs during the present pandemic should prioritize decreasing discrimination and providing psychosocial support to depressed young adults who experience social adversity. Practitioners should prioritize developing programs that foster digital literacy skills and critical thinking among young adults to address the concerning impact of cyberbullying on support for VR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-related discrimination is a concerning reality during the present pandemic. • Visible minorities, health-care workers and young people are at increased risk. • Interventions should target associations among COVID, ethnicity, age and occupation. • Multi-sectoral, community-based anti-discrimination programs are warranted. Minorities and marginalized groups have increasingly become the target of discriminatory actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Detailed information about the manifestation of COVID-related discrimination is required to develop preventive actions that are not stigmatizing for such groups. The present study investigates experiences of perceived discrimination related to COVID-19 and its socio-cultural correlates in a culturally diverse sample of adults in Quebec (Canada). An online survey was completed by 3273 Quebec residents (49 % 18−39 years old; 57 % female; 49 % White). We used multivariate binomial logistic regression models to assess prevalence of COVID-related discrimination and to investigate socio-cultural correlates of reasons and contexts of discrimination. COVID-related discrimination was reported by 16.58 % of participants. Non-white participants, health-care workers and younger participants were more likely to experience discrimination than White, unemployed and older participants, respectively. Discrimination was reported primarily in association with participants' ethno-cultural group, age, occupation and physical health and in the context of public spaces. Participants of East-Asian descent and essential workers were more likely to report discrimination because of their ethnicity and occupation, respectively. Although young people experienced discrimination across more contexts, older participants were primarily discriminated in the context of grocery stores and because of their age. Our findings indicate that health communication actions informed by a social pedagogy approach should target public beliefs related to the association of COVID-19 with ethnicity, age and occupation, to minimize pandemic-related discrimination. Visible minorities, health-care workers and seniors should be protected and supported, especially in public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a new statistical method for postprocessing ensemble weather forecasts using a stochastic weather generator. Key parameters of the weather generator were linked to the ensemble forecast means for both precipitation and temperature, allowing the generation of an infinite number of daily times series that are fully coherent with the ensemble weather forecast. This method was verified through postprocessing reforecast datasets derived from the Global Forecast System (GFS) for forecast leads ranging between 1 and 7 days over two Canadian watersheds in the Province of Quebec. The calibration of the ensemble weather forecasts was based on a cross-validation approach that leaves one year out for validation and uses the remaining years for training the model. The proposed method was compared with a simple bias correction method for ensemble precipitation and temperature forecasts using a set of deterministic and probabilistic metrics. The results show underdispersion and biases for the raw GFS ensemble weather forecasts, which indicated that they were poorly calibrated. The proposed method significantly increased the predictive power of ensemble weather forecasts for forecast leads ranging between 1 and 7 days, and was consistently better than the bias correction method. The ability to generate discrete, autocorrelated daily time series leads to ensemble weather forecasts' straightforward use in forecasting models commonly used in the fields of hydrology or agriculture. This study further indicates that the calibration of ensemble forecasts for a period up to one week is reasonable for precipitation, and for temperature it could be reasonable for another week. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development and deepening of the process of global integration, global health is gaining increasing attention. An increasing number of studies have examined global health from diverse perspectives to promote the realization of global public health. The purpose of this research is to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the knowledge structure, knowledge domain, and evolution trend in the field of global health research. Based on the 14,692 document data retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection from 1996 to 2019, this article carried out a visual analysis of global health research from the perspective of scientific output characteristics, scientific research cooperation networks, keywords, and highly cited literature. The results show that scholars' interest in global health research is increasing, especially after the outbreak of SARS. USA, England, Canada, Australia, and China have the most prominent contributions to global health research. Significant authors, high impact journals and core institutions also identified. The study found that "global health governance", "global health diplomacy", "medical education", "global health education" and "antimicrobial resistance" are the research frontiers and hot spots. This study provides an overview and valuable guidance for researchers and related personnel to find the research direction and practice of global health.