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The journey of acquiring proficiency in a second and/or foreign language is lifelong for many learners. In the search for the best educational pedagogies, a study was conducted in which learners' motivations were categorised to analyse each driving effect over learning performance. A retrospective case study of 20 Chinese PhD students learning English in China (i.e. English as a Foreign Language--EFL) and in overseas (i.e. English as a Second Language--ESL) contexts was employed. This study identified 12 different motivational categories which were classified as controlled and autonomous motivations for learning English. Moreover, this study shows both continuity and change in students' motivations: there was a continuity of autonomous motivation over time and across the two contexts, whereas change (d = 0.54) was seen in the frequency of controlled motivation between the two contexts. Specifically, the motivation of these 20 students was dominated by passing exams or proficiency tests in the EFL context and by communication in the ESL context, which possibly accounts for 'silent English' phenomenon in China. Analysis of trends of changes in motivation across different study stages indicated that external regulation belonging to controlled motivation experienced the most fluctuation. This fluctuation was attributed to enrolment pressure in China as well as the immediate demand of communication and the high-stakes PhD study while studying abroad. The results suggest that the development of language learners' motivation is a dynamic process and contingent upon levels of schooling or learning contexts.

Hefei's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate ranks first among all cities in China, and it was the fastest-growing city in China from 2000 to 2020. The high-speed economic development inevitably led to rapid changes in land cover types, e.g., an increment in artificial features (built-up) and decrement in natural features (vegetation). However, (1) many previous studies focus on the land cover change in metropolis or at the global scale, yet few focus on underdeveloped but fast-growing cities; (2) land cover studies mainly focus on global variations, yet seldom on local characteristics. Thus, it is of great significance to monitor the land cover change for the city with the fastest economic growth in China based on the long time-series satellite images from both global and local perspectives. In this study, with support from huge amounts of data (including 719 Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI satellite images, land surface temperature, nighttime satellite images, DEM, multiple land cover products, and various auxiliary data), processing and parallel computing abilities of the GEE platform, classification maps of land cover in Hefei from 2000 to 2020 are produced based on a random forest machine learning method, and the spatio-temporal variations and driving factors are analyzed from both global and local viewpoints. The results show that: (1) the classification accuracy is excellent; the average overall accuracy is 93% and the Kappa coefficient is 0.88; (2) the general spatio-temporal variations in land cover in Hefei from 2000 to 2020 are obvious; the built-up area expanded from 419.72 km2 to 1530.20 km2, with a total growth rate of 264.58%. With the expansion of the built-up area, the vegetation coverage decreased by 16.61% (1652.56 km2); (3) the land surface temperature shows an increment trend in the new town yet a decrement trend in the old town due to the change in vegetation coverage and the decentration of administration centers; further analysis shows that the population and the social economy are two driving factors for land cover changes. It is worth noting that both the area and coverage of vegetation in the old town and water body area in Hefei increased significantly, although the fast urbanization inevitably caused a decrement in vegetation and water area in the whole city, indicating both the high-speed economic development and improvement in green surfaces simultaneously experienced in Hefei from 2000 to 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparison and validation of canopy reflectance (CR) models are two important steps to ensure their reliability. Pure forest plantations are an ideal type of forest for validating CR models because of their simple background and the low variance in the crown structures which are usually assumed to be identical in most CR models. A Geometric Optical Model for Forest Plantations (GOFP) was compared using dataset in two radiation transfer model intercomparison exercise (RAMI) stands and validated using in situ dataset of detailed optical and structural data of two forest plantations in the Saihanba Forestry Center, China. The results show that (1) the tree distributions in stands described by the hypergeometric model in GOFP show good consistencies with the dataset in the two RAMI stands and measurements from the two Saihanba forest stands; and (2) the CRs simulated with GOFP are also compared well in the two RAMI stands and validated with measurements collected with unmanned aerial vehicles in the two Saihanba stands. GOFP shows a better consistency with the CR measurements than those from CR models for natual forestsbecause the tree distribution in forest plantations is described more reasonably in GOFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The journey of acquiring proficiency in a second and/or foreign language is lifelong for many learners. In the search for the best educational pedagogies, a study was conducted in which learners' motivations were categorised to analyse each driving effect over learning performance. A retrospective case study of 20 Chinese PhD students learning English in China (i.e. English as a Foreign Language—EFL) and in overseas (i.e. English as a Second Language—ESL) contexts was employed. This study identified 12 different motivational categories which were classified as controlled and autonomous motivations for learning English. Moreover, this study shows both continuity and change in students' motivations: there was a continuity of autonomous motivation over time and across the two contexts, whereas change (d =.54) was seen in the frequency of controlled motivation between the two contexts. Specifically, the motivation of these 20 students was dominated by passing exams or proficiency tests in the EFL context and by communication in the ESL context, which possibly accounts for 'silent English' phenomenon in China. Analysis of trends of changes in motivation across different study stages indicated that external regulation belonging to controlled motivation experienced the most fluctuation. This fluctuation was attributed to enrolment pressure in China as well as the immediate demand of communication and the high-stakes PhD study while studying abroad. The results suggest that the development of language learners' motivation is a dynamic process and contingent upon levels of schooling or learning contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of forest tree species provides crucial data for regional forest management and ecological research. Although medium-high spatial resolution remote sensing images are widely used for dynamic monitoring of forest vegetation phenology and species identification, the use of multiresolution images for similar applications remains highly uncertain. Moreover, it is necessary to explore to what extent spectral variation is responsible for the discrepancies in the estimation of forest phenology and classification of various tree species when using up-scaled images. To clarify this situation, we studied the forest area in Harqin Banner in northeast China by using year-round multiple-resolution time-series images (at four spatial resolutions: 4, 10, 16, and 30 m) and eight phenological metrics of four deciduous forest tree species in 2018, to explore potential impacts of relevant results caused by various resolutions. We also investigated the effect of using up-scaled time-series images by comparing the corresponding results that use pixel-aggregation algorithms with the four spatial resolutions. The results indicate that both phenology and classification accuracy of the dominant forest tree species are markedly affected by the spatial resolution of time-series remote sensing data (p < 0.05): the spring phenology of four deciduous forest tree species first rises and then falls as the image resolution varies from 4 to 30 m; similarly, the accuracy of tree species classification increases as the image resolution varies from 4 to 10 m, and then decreases as the image resolution gradually falls to 30 m (p < 0.05). Therefore, there remains a profound discrepancy between the results obtained by up-scaled and actual remote sensing data at the given spatial resolutions (p < 0.05). The results also suggest that combining phenological metrics and time-series NDVI data can be applied to identify the regional dominant tree species across different spatial resolutions, which would help advance the use of multiscale time-series satellite data for forest resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The mortality of older adult patients was higher than the younger adult patients. • All scores had good predictive value in both older and younger adult patients. • END-IT**** is the most suitable scoring tool for patients under 65. • EMSE-EAL*** is the most suitable scoring tool for patients over 65. The goal of this study was to evaluate the predictive capacity of four scoring tools: the Status Epilepticus Severity Score (STESS), the Encephalitis-NCSE-Diazepam resistance-Image abnormalities-Tracheal intubation (END-IT) score, and two variable combinations of the Epidemiology-based Mortality Score in Status Epilepticus (EMSE) in younger and older adult patients with status epilepticus (SE). We present a retrospective hospital-based analysis with a focus on adult patients with SE at three tertiary care hospitals in the Zhejiang province of China. Data were collected from January 2013 to December 2018. The patients were divided into two groups: younger adult patients (18–64 years old) and older adult patients (≥65 years old). Clinical outcomes (dead or alive) were assessed at hospital discharge. The four scoring tools were used to predict in-hospital mortality in both younger and older adult patients. The mortality rate in older adult patients (25.4%) was higher than in younger adult patients (12.9%). Compared with the elderly, the younger adult patients had a higher proportion of encephalitis, while acute cerebrovascular disease and Charlson Complications Index (CCI) were lower. For the younger adult patients, END-IT had the largest area under the curve (AUC) of 0.843 (95% CI, 0.772–0.899), which was higher than the EMSE-EAL value of 0.687 (95% CI, 0.603–0.763, p < 0.05) and EMSE-EAC of 0.646 (95% CI, 0.561–0.725, p < 0.05). For the older adult patients, EMSE-EAL had the largest AUC of 0.843 (95% CI, 0.738–0.919), which was significantly higher than STESS with an AUC of 0.676 (95% CI, 0.554–0.782, p < 0.05). Moreover, the AUC of EMSE-EAL in the elderly was larger than in younger adult patients. The cutoffs in younger adult patients were STESS ≥ 4 (sensitivity 0.444, specificity 0.951), END-IT ≥ 3 (sensitivity 0.833, specificity 0.672), EMSE-EAL ≥ 31 (sensitivity 0.778, specificity 0.566), and EMSE-EAC ≥ 33 (sensitivity 0.833, specificity 0.492). However, the cutoffs in older adult patients were STESS ≥ 5 (sensitivity 0.500, specificity 0.925), END-IT ≥ 2 (sensitivity 0.944, specificity 0.547), EMSE-EAL ≥ 30 (sensitivity 0.944, specificity 0.623), and EMSE-EAC ≥ 31 (sensitivity 0.944, specificity 0.415). Our results indicated that the STESS, END-IT, EMSE-EAC, and EMSE-EAL scores have excellent capacity to predict in-hospital mortality in both younger and older adult patients with SE. Our study supports the use of END-IT in patients under 65 years of age and suggests that EMSE-EAL is the most suitable scoring tool for patients over 65. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uptake pathway and accumulation variation of soil and airborne phthalates (PAEs) in plastic greenhouses by vegetables remains unclear. Here, pot experiments of Chinese flowering cabbage were designed to distinguish root or leaf uptake pathways of PAEs, and investigate the mitigation of spraying PAE-degrading strain in PAE accumulation by vegetables. The results showed that leaves of Chinese flowering cabbage grown in plastic greenhouses absorbed more PAEs from air than those of outside greenhouses. Airborne PAEs were mainly stored in leaf surfaces of vegetables grown inside greenhouse, while PAEs absorbed by roots from soil were translocated and mainly stored in mesophyll, especially in cell walls and organelles. PAE concentrations in mesophyll elevated with increasing soil PAE levels, whereas those in leaf surfaces were not influenced by soil PAE levels. The values of bioconcentration factors for leaves inside greenhouses were significantly (1.39-3.47 fold) higher than those outside. PAE-degrading strain (Rhodococcus pyridinivorans XB) sprayed on leaf surfaces could grow well and Rhodococcus was the dominant genus as confirmed by Illumina high-throughput sequencing. PAE-degrading strain effectively reduced PAEs by 12.9%-34.9% in leaf surface, but not those in vegetables grown in high-PAE soil. This study demonstrated mitigation of spraying PAE-degrading strain in PAE accumulation by vegetable leaves from air of plastic greenhouse., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To understand surface soil heavy metal pollution characteristics, and the spatial distribution and sources of pollution in the main sedimentary features of the Qaidam Basin, a total of 129 topsoil samples(0-10 cm) were collected within a 25 km radius. The concentrations of As, Ba, Cr, Mn, Nb, Ni, Pb, Ti, Zn, Zr, and ten kinds of heavy metals were determined, the degree of contamination and potential sources quantitatively analyzed based on enrichment factors(EFs), the ground accumulation index( I geo ), and the absolute principal component-multiple linear regression(APCS-MLR) receptor model. The results showed that the surface soils of the Qaidam Basin have experienced pollution from ten kinds of heavy metals since the 1960s, with varying degrees of enrichment. As and Pb represent probable point source pollutants, and the basin as a whole shows negligible to low levels of pollution. The APCS-MLR analysis showed that heavy metal pollution derives from two sources, natural factors and anthropogenic(transportation) sources. Specifically, As, Cr, Mn, Nb, Ni, Ti, Zn, and Zr are associated with natural sources, while Ba and Pb are associated with both natural and anthropogenic sources.

Previous studies revealed that the rs671 polymorphism in the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 ( ALDH2 ) genes is correlated with alcohol consumption in Japanese population. The ALDH2 gene variants and drinking are associated with hypertension and dyslipidemia. However, it remains unclear whether there might be potent relationships among ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism, alcohol consumption, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in Shandong population. A total of 467 male volunteers from Shandong area were enrolled in this study. The ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in serum were measured using commercial kits. SPSS 23.0 was used for statistical analysis. The significance of differences between subgroups was determined using chi-square test, and multiple comparisons were performed with the least-significant difference method. The ALDH2 variant frequencies were 80.5% with GG, 17.1% with GA, and 2.4% with AA. The ALDH2 genotypes had significant correlations with alcohol consumption ( p  = 0.001), whereas the GA genotype was associated with a decreased risk of alcohol consumption (odds ratio = 0.27; 95% confidence interval = 0.130-0.539; p  = 0.001). The ALDH2 genotypes frequencies and drinking habits were significantly different between hypertension and healthy individuals ( p  = 0.034; p  = 0.044). The ALDH2 GG genotype individuals have high average lipids levels, and the proportion of TC disorder among GG individuals was higher than that of GA individuals ( p  = 0.006). Individuals who had drinking habits have a high average lipids levels; especially average TC levels ( p  = 0.048), and had high proportions of dyslipidemia (TC and HDL; p  = 0.016 and p  = 0.033, respectively). The frequencies of ALDH2 variants were evaluated according to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium among enrolled population. Our study suggested that the individuals with ALDH2 rs671 GA genotype were less prone to developing a drinking habit in Shandong population. The ALDH2 genotypes and drinking habit were associated with hypertension and lipid profiles especially TC profile in Shandong province. The ALDH2 rs671 genotypes indicated that the gene-related drinking habit and gene variant altogether may affect hypertension and dyslipidemia.