Search

With an increasing number of international students coming to Canada for higher education, Canadian universities are offering diverse English language improvement programs (ELIPs) to improve international students’ English proficiency. However, some Chinese international students struggle to pass such programs and eventually withdraw. This study examines the living and learning experiences of Chinese international students who dropped out of ELIPs and identifies the factors associated with their decisions to drop out. The findings indicate that Chinese international students dropped out due to academic failure that was related to low learning motivation, lack of time management and self-regulation, and insufficient academic and social integration. Implications for educators in higher education, study support services, and students are presented., Avec un nombre croissant d’étudiants internationaux venant au Canada pour des études supérieures, les universités canadiennes proposent divers programmes d’amélioration de la langue anglaise (ELIP) pour améliorer la maîtrise de l’anglais des étudiants internationaux. Cependant, certains étudiants internationaux chinois ont du mal à réussir de tels programmes et finissent par se retirer. Cette étude examine les expériences de vie et d’apprentissage des étudiants internationaux chinois qui ont abandonné l’ELIP et identifie les facteurs associés à leurs décisions d’abandonner le programme. Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants internationaux chinois ont décroché en raison d’un échec scolaire lié à une faible motivation d’apprentissage, un manque de gestion du temps et d’autorégulation, et une intégration scolaire et sociale insuffisante. Les implications pour les éducateurs de l’enseignement supérieur, les services de soutien aux études et les étudiants sont présentées ci-dessous.

Skin aging has attracted much attention among the current aging population of society. The seeds of Cucurbita moschata possess a variety of potential biological activities as a healthy diet. However, limited information is available on the skin-antiaging properties of C. moschata seed protein and its hydrolysate. Herein, we developed a novel strategy for protecting human skin cells against oxidative stress-induced aging by C. moschata seed polypeptides. C. moschata seed polypeptides (CSPs) with different molecular weight distributions were successfully prepared by controlling the protease hydrolysis time. The proportions of < 1,000 Da polypeptides of P-1, P-2, and P-3 were 0.11, 20.26, and 92.72%, respectively. P-3 contained the highest proportion of polypeptides of size < 1,000 Da, which was observed to promote human skin fibroblast (HSF) growth by MTT assay, cell cycle, and morphology. P-3 has an efficient repair effect on the H2O2-induced aging of HSF cells. To explain this phenomenon, cell lifespan, intracellular ROS level, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and glutathione (GSH) content were investigated to reveal the interactions between P-3 and antiaging. With the increase in P-3 concentration, the ROS level significantly decreased, and the SOD activity and GSH content significantly increased in H2O2-induced HSF cells. These findings indicated that CSPs have the potential to inhibit skin aging, which could be advantageous in the health industry for providing personal care.

For solving the linear system state estimation problem, a zonotopic particle filtering based state estimation algorithm is proposed. By wrapping each particle with a recursive zonotope, the predicted particle is obtained according to the importance density function. Then, the particle prediction is updated by using the parameter feasible set constraint band, before analyzing the positions of each particle and the zonotopic. For the particles outside the region, a point randomly generated from the zonotope is used to update the particles close to the true value, increasing the particle diversity of the filter resampling process. The given case of temperature recognition for Lithium battery shows the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

BackgroundBorder malaria remain as one of the greatest challenges facing elimination in China. Malaria control interventions among migrant population across border relies on personal protection from mosquito bites. Understanding the knowledge of the link between mosquitoes and malaria will inform malaria control and elimination programmes on those targeted risk population.MethodsFrom March 2018 to September 2019, 108 migrant workers from Vietnam were enrolled conducted in Ning Ming County in Guangxi. Each people were interviewed using the structured questionnaires. Blood samples were collected and sent to the PCR detection and sequenced.ResultsMalaria knowledge was poor with 19.4% on transmission, 23.2% on clinical symptoms, 7.4% on awareness of the risk of death, and 14.8% on awareness of prevention methods. No significant difference was found among occupations except for migrant workers, whose knowledge rate were higher than other occupations. Most of the participants (80.6%) had mosquito nets and 73.2% of them had 2 persons who were under the bed net at night. The usage rate of bed-nets accounted for over 49.1%. For parasitological study, 5.6% (n = 6) of all participants infected tested positive for malaria, and no statistically significant differences in the positive rate among different age, sex, family size, nationality, occupation and different behaviors.ConclusionThe health education focus on the high risk population such as migrant workers and forest goers should be strengthened. Therefore, health education based on verbal communication such as web, radio, and mobile phone may be required under the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Further risk assessment of importation and proactive case detection should also be carried out, not only in Ningming County, but also in other border counties in Guangxi, which aimed to timely detect the patients, as well as the asymptomatic infections that could cause the re-establishment of malaria.

International students, the critical stakeholders of Canadian higher education, deserve attention and efforts to maximize their academic acculturation and post-secondary success. In the educational context, many international students reported experiencing major linguistic challenges which significantly hinder them to understand and digest teaching content (Zhou & Zhang, 2014). When the learning environment changes from face-to-face to online, communication becomes difficult, in general, and international students’ linguistic barriers become intensified. The symposium draws upon sociocultural learning theory to discuss the potential linguistic challenges international students are facing in an online higher educational learning context, and what teachers can do to support students’ language development across the discipline.

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by β and αcell dysfunction. We used phasor-FLIM (Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy) to monitor oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis in living islet cells before and after glucose stimulation. In healthy cells, glucose enhanced oxidative phosphorylation in βcells and suppressed oxidative phosphorylation in αcells. In Type 2 diabetes, glucose increased glycolysis in βcells, and only partially suppressed oxidative phosphorylation in αcells. FLIM uncovers key perturbations in glucose induced metabolism in living islet cells and provides a sensitive tool for drug discovery in diabetes.

Eliminating malaria along the China-Vietnam border remains one of the greatest challenges in China, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has disrupted the continuity of malaria control and elimination programs. Understanding the factors associated with asymptomatic malaria infection will inform control interventions aimed at elimination of the disease among migrants from Vietnam working in China, who constitute an at-risk population.From March 2018 to September 2019, 108 migrants from Vietnam working in Ningming County, Guangxi, were enrolled in this study. Each person was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Blood samples were collected and sent for PCR detection and sequencing. The obtained sequences were analyzed using the BLAST program and DNAMAN software.The proportion of participants with malaria knowledge was low, with 19.4% (21/108) reporting knowledge about transmission, 23.2% (25/108) reporting knowledge about clinical symptoms, 7.4% (8/108) reporting awareness of the risk of death and 14.8% (16/108) reporting awareness of prevention methods. No significant difference in the malaria knowledge rate was found among occupational groups, except in the migrant worker group, whose knowledge rate was higher than those in the other occupational groups (χHealth education focused on high-risk populations, such as migrant workers and forest goers, should be strengthened. Verbal communication and information transmission via the internet, radio, and mobile phone platforms may be required during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further risk assessments and proactive case detection should also be performed in Ningming County and other border counties in Guangxi to detect active and asymptomatic infections in a timely manner and prevent re-establishment of the disease in these communities.

Currently, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are primarily prepared with acid-catalyzed hydrolysis process using strong mineral acid. However, it suffers from low yield and high dosage of acid. For high yield and low dosage of acid, we prepare CNCs by two steps method. Firstly, the cellulose was ultrasonically pretreated in ionic liquid (IL) at mild conditions. Secondly, the samples were hydrolyzed by H2SO4 with concentration of 20–23%. The results showed that during ultrasonic pretreatment at mild conditions, accessibility and susceptibility of the amorphous region in cellulose was substantially enhanced upon cooperative action of ultrasonication and ILs. Meanwhile, the crystalline region of cellulose was retaining untouched, and further results in the fact that enhanced reactivity of the amorphous region enabled acid-catalyzed hydrolysis to proceed smoothly. Experimental results show that the extracted CNCs exhibited rod-like shape with dimension of 220–300 nm in length and 15–22 nm in width. It’s also shown that thermostability of CNCs was greatly enhanced compared to that prepared by the traditional process. Ultrasonic pretreatment of cellulose in ILs offered a promising and efficient system for CNCs preparation with high yield, crystallinity and low dosage of acid.

This study compared different levels of certain hormones and growth factors between bovine and human colostrums. Colostrums were collected from seven Holstein cows and seven healthy humans. Prolactin, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) had higher levels in human colostrums over the 3 days. A higher level of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) was found in bovine colostrums on day three; estradiol had higher levels on day three in both human and bovine colostrums. To minimise the differences of active components’ concentrations between these two types of colostrums, prolactin, EGF and NGF should be considered for addition into bovine colostrum products.