The effect of parenting styles on Chinese undergraduate nursing students’ academic procrastination: the mediating role of causal attribution and self-efficacy

BackgroundAcademic procrastination is common among college students, but there is a lack of research on the influencing mechanism of academic procrastination among nursing students. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of parental rearing patterns on academic procrastination of nursing students, and the mediating role of causal attribution and self-efficacy.MethodsUsing Parental Bonding Instrument, Aitken Procrastination Inventory, Multidimensional Multi-Attribution Causality Scale and General Self-Efficiency Scale, the data of 683 nursing undergraduates from two universities in China were collected. Moreover, path analysis for structural equation modeling via AMOS 26.0 to evaluate mediation path model.ResultsPositive parenting style was negatively associated with academic procrastination (r = –0.350) and negative parenting style was positively associated with academic procrastination (r = 0.402). Positive parenting style directly or indirectly predicted academic procrastination through the mediating effect of internal attributional style (β = –0.10, 95% CI: –0.18 to –0.04) and self-efficacy (β = –0.07, 95% CI: –0.11 to –0.03), and this mediating effect accounted for 41.46% of the total effect. Positive parenting style directly or indirectly predicted academic delay through the mediating effect of external attributional style (β = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.17) and self-efficacy (β = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.08), and this mediating effect accounted for 42.5% of the total effect. In addition, causal attribution and self-efficacy of nursing students play a chain intermediary role between parenting style and academic procrastination.ConclusionParents should give students more care and autonomy and reduce control. In addition, educators should give students attribution training, which is helpful to improve students’ self-efficacy and reduce academic procrastination

An Explanation of the Underlying Mechanisms for the In Vitro and In Vivo Antiurolithic Activity of Glechoma longituba

Purpose. To use in vitro and in vivo models to evaluate Glechoma longituba extract to provide scientific evidence for this extract’s antiurolithic activity. Materials and Methods. Potassium citrate was used as a positive control group. Oxidative stress (OS) markers and the expression of osteopontin (OPN) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) were measured to assess the protective effects of Glechoma longituba. Multiple urolithiasis-related biochemical parameters were evaluated in urine and serum. Kidneys were harvested for histological examination and the assessment of crystal deposits. Results. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that treatment with Glechoma longituba extract significantly decreased calcium oxalate- (CaOx-) induced OPN expression, KIM-1 expression, and OS compared with the positive control group (P<0.05). Additionally, in vivo rats that received Glechoma longituba extract exhibited significantly decreased CaOx deposits and pathological alterations (P<0.05) compared with urolithic rats. Significantly lower levels of oxalate, creatinine, and urea and increased citrate levels were observed among rats that received Glechoma longituba (P<0.05) compared with urolithic rats. Conclusion. Glechoma longituba has antiurolithic effects due to its possible combined effects of increasing antioxidant levels, decreasing urinary stone-forming constituents and urolithiasis-related protein expression, and elevating urinary citrate levels

Essays on empirical finance

This thesis contains three essays on empirical finance. The first essay examines racial differentials in the most popular online home valuation algorithm and studies how the algorithmic valuation information affects racial price differentials in the U.S. housing market. I find that valuations from the algorithm display some racial differentials, but such differentials are much smaller in magnitude compared to the racial differentials in transaction prices. In addition, the availability of the algorithmic information significantly reduces racial differentials in transaction prices in terms of the overpayment of Black buyers relative to White buyers. The findings suggest that an algorithm exhibiting some racial differentials may still help reduce racial disparity in a market if its differentials are much smaller than those in transaction prices, cautioning against regulations targeting algorithms solely based on the existence of racial differentials from the algorithms. The second essay studies how housing prices react to an information shock due to the update in the home valuation algorithm studied in the first essay. I find that housing prices react gradually to the information shock. While the reaction in the first month is small, a 1% increase in the online valuations leads to a 0.65% increase in sale prices 12 months after the shock. The findings provide direct evidence that housing prices react gradually to information. I also examine the factors that affect the reactions. I find stronger reactions in ZIP Codes with higher average trading volumes, more homogenous homes, and lower education levels. The third essay, coauthored with Dale Griffin, Omrane Guedhami, and Kai Li, examines why corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices vary across countries and firms, and the value implications of such variation. We find that the cultural dimension of individualism is positively associated with firm-level CSR practices, with three country-level channels—freedom of the press, income inequality, and protection of equal rights—and three firm-level channels—managerial discretion, board diversity, and corporate transparency—linking individualism to CSR. We find a positive association between firm-level CSR practices and value, with three firm-level channels—cash flows, cash flow variability, and cost of equity—linking CSR practices to firm value.Business, Sauder School ofGraduat

The effects of metformin on autophagy

Metformin is the first-line option for treating newly diagnosed diabetic patients and also involved in other pharmacological actions, including antitumor effect, anti-aging effect, polycystic ovarian syndrome prevention, cardiovascular action, and neuroprotective effect, etc. However, the mechanisms of metformin actions were not fully illuminated. Recently, increasing researches showed that autophagy is a vital medium of metformin playing pharmacological actions. Nevertheless, results on the effects of metformin on autophagy were inconsistent. Apart from few clinical evidences, more data focused on kinds of no-clinical models. First, many studies showed that metformin could induce autophagy via a number of signaling pathways, including AMPK-related signaling pathways (e.g. AMPK/mTOR, AMPK/CEBPD, MiTF/TFE, AMPK/ULK1, and AMPK/miR-221), Redd1/mTOR, STAT, SIRT, Na+/H+ exchangers, MAPK/ERK, PK2/PKR/AKT/ GSK3β, and TRIB3. Secondly, some signaling pathways were involved in the process of metformin inhibiting autophagy, such as AMPK-related signaling pathways (AMPK/NF-κB and other undetermined AMPK-related signaling pathways), Hedgehog, miR-570-3p, miR-142-3p, and MiR-3127-5p. Thirdly, two types of signaling pathways including PI3K/AKT/mTOR and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress could bidirectionally impact the effectiveness of metformin on autophagy. Finally, multiple signal pathways were reviewed collectively in terms of affecting the effectiveness of metformin on autophagy. The pharmacological effects of metformin combining its actions on autophagy were also discussed. It would help better apply metformin to treat diseases in term of mediating autophagy

Ultrasound application in alkaline pretreatment process of spodumene to improve particle floatability

Selective surface dissolution was found to be important in spodumene flotation. In this study, we proposed to introduce ultrasound into the pretreatment process to accelerate particle vibration and cavitation, as well as the migration of mineral surface components to solution. Micro-flotation results showed that the flotation recovery of spodumene can be 86.08% by ultrasound pretreatment, but only 39.30% by traditional mechanical agitation pretreatment. Compared with traditional mechanical agitation, ultrasonic pretreatment can shorten the pretreatment process, reduce the dosage of agents, reduce the mechanical agitation speed, and improve the efficiency of the pretreating process. Inductively coupled plasma analysis showed that, in the ultrasonic system, the amount of Li, Al, and Si species in the solution was twice as much as those in the traditional preprocessing system. Moreover, the scanning electron microscope results demonstrated a larger surface dissolution area in the ultrasonic system. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that the atomic concentration of Si species on the spodumene surface decreased, whereas the relative atomic concentrations of Li and Al species increased, indicating that the ultrasound effect strengthened the selective dissolution of elements on the mineral surface. The high-resolution spectra of O 1s showed that more collectors are adsorbed on the mineral surface treated by ultrasonic pretreatment

The relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction in adolescents : A meta-analysis

Objective: Many studies have explored the relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction from different theoretical perspectives; however, the results have been inconsistent. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction. Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP electronic da- tabases were searched to identify studies examining the correlation between childhood trauma and adolescent internet addiction. The databases were searched from inception to December 31, 2022. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies. Then, Stata 17.0 software was used to perform meta-analysis. Results: This study was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023388699). A total of 19 studies involving 21,398 adolescents were included in this meta-analysis. The random effects model was used for pooled analysis, and the results revealed a strong positive association between childhood trauma and internet addiction (r 5 0.395, 95% CI [0.345, 0.442]). The relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction was moderated by sample size, survey area, and internet addiction measurement tools. There were signif- icant differences between the associations based on the various child trauma measurement tools and study quality scores. However, interstudy heterogeneity was not significantly affected by study year, sample source, or participant age. Conclusion: Internet addiction is positively correlated with childhood trauma. Therefore, it is extremely important for parents to provide a good growth environment during childhood to enhance the physical and mental development of adolescents. A warm family atmosphere helps individuals develop a healthy personality, thereby reducing or preventing the occurrence of internet addiction. Due to the limited number and low quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be verified by additional high-quality studies

Improving spodumene flotation using a mixed cationic and anionic collector

Lithium, a rare-earth element, has been in increasing demand. Spodumene flotation is an important and challenging step for lithium extraction and production from lithium ore. In the present work, flotation tests for three pure minerals (i.e., spodumene, quartz and feldspar) and a real spodumene ore were carried out at laboratory scale. The results showed that YOA, a mixture of oleic acid and dodecylamine with the molar ration of 10:1, could be used as collector to produce a spodumene concentrate with grade of 5.59% Li2O from the feed ore with grade of 1.48% Li2O where 85.24% of Li2O was recovered to the concentrate. The measured zeta potential, contact angle and adsorption capacity indicated that YOA was preferentially adsorbed on spodumene instead of on quartz or feldspar, with the spodumene surface being more hydrophobic than that of feldspar or quartz. The adsorption energies of YOA on spodumene were calculated and the results provided insights into the superior flotation performance obtained in the present work

Evolution of Shear Surface Morphology of Jointed Rock Masses Based on Gaussian Filtering Method under Freeze-Thaw Cycles

This study aims to quantify the shear surface morphology of jointed rock and its evolution under shearing, cyclic freezing, and thawing using the Gaussian filtering method. Gaussian filtering method enables the construction of the (large-scale) waviness surface and the (small-scale) unevenness surface of a digitized surface (created by laser scanning). Both waviness and unevenness surfaces are then quantified by roughness coefficient ratio (S) and degradation degrees of the waviness surface (Dw) and unevenness surface (Dr). These (microscopic) morphological parameters (S, Dw and Dr) are subsequently used to explain the development of the (macroscopic) shear strength of the jointed rocks on direct shear tests. The results indicate that compared with fresh jointed rocks, the freezing and thawing causes the potential shear surface asperities to be easier to damage and fail under shear load. Such damage is well represented by the significant decrease in Dw and Dr. On the other hand, with the increase of the freeze-thaw cycle (N), Dw increases while Dr reaches the maximum at an early stage of the cycle, where Dr > Dw. This difference reveals the underlying shear mechanism microscopically; that is, in the initial stage, the shear surface morphology is mainly dominated by the unevenness surface Dr, and then it is controlled by the waviness surface Dw during the freeze-thaw cycle