Vocational-technical teachers' mindfulness: Does it matter for teachers’ well-being and motivation?

Teaching in vocational-technical schools can pose many challenges, which can lead to stressful situations as all aspects of instruction and teaching in this domain involve a high level of anxiety and exhaustion. So, the significant issue in this territory is teachers' motivation which plays a crucial role in enhancing the various types of performance, including organizational performance and it is positively related to job performance and accordingly their well-being. Therefore, teachers' motivation and well-being should be taken into consideration in the vocational-technical academic environment and an increasing number of programs have been in quest of fostering these constructs. To this end, there is growing interest in the function of mindfulness which is very efficient in decreasing teachers' stress while increasing their motivation and well-being. Indeed, as a mental characteristic of vocational-technical educators, mindfulness functions as a technique one can employ. This paper tries to examine the possible contribution of vocational-technical teachers' mindfulness to their efficiency with a focus on well-being and motivation. Accordingly, teachers' well-being and motivation have been the subject of studies that seek to shed light on the potential contributors to teachers’ careers; yet, few, if any, studies have been carried out on the contribution of mindfulness to motivation and well-being among the teachers working in the vocational-technical setting. As a result, these insights can have implications for the stakeholders involved in the vocational-technical context, including teachers and teacher trainers

A Study on the Spatial Pattern of the Ecological Product Value of China’s County-Level Regions Based on GEP Evaluation

Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) is a concept that reflects ecological product value by using geospatial technology. It can demonstrate the spatial distribution of ecological products and provide new perspectives and refined support for spatial planning. China’s county-level regions are important units for the promotion of ecological product value. Based on the concept of GEP, this study evaluated the ecological product value of China’s county-level regions in 2020, used Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) to visualise spatial patterns and conducted a correlation analysis between the GEP indices and economic and land use factors. The study found that the results of evaluation and analysis varied by spatial distribution: (1) county-level regions with high provisioning service indices are concentrated in northeastern China and southeastern China; (2) county-level regions with high regulating service indices are concentrated south of the Yangtze River and in the southern region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; (3) county-level regions with high cultural service indices are concentrated in southeastern China; (4) county-level regions with high composite GEP indices are concentrated in northeastern China. The results have different correlations with different factors, reflecting the complex mechanisms behind ecological value transformation. For example, the composite GEP index for an area has a strong positive correlation with the area’s proportions of woodland area, water area and GDP

How Does Land Tenure Security Affect Farm Succession? Evidence from Apple Growers in China

The security of farmland property rights is an important factor that affects farmland investment and succession, and farm succession is highly significant for achieving sustainable agricultural development. In this study, based on survey data obtained from 1012 apple growers in Shandong and Shaanxi Provinces, we analyzed the impact of land tenure security on the farm succession willingness of farmers and related paths by constructing binary logistic regression and mediating effect models. The results showed that: (1) land tenure security plays a significant role in promoting the farm succession willingness of farmers; and that (2) land tenure security promotes farm succession willingness by improving the farmland investment intentions of farmers. In the future, reforms of the farmland property rights system need to ensure the security of farmland property rights. In addition, with the influence of climate change, it is necessary to encourage farmers with advantageous agricultural resource endowments to invest in farmland and intergenerational transfers, as well as inducing farmers who lack advantageous agricultural resource endowments to conduct non-agricultural transfers, thereby providing more opportunities and a greater development area for agricultural land transfers and agricultural-scale operations

Matrine Inhibits Pacing Induced Atrial Fibrillation by Modulating IKM3 and ICa-L

Aim: To elucidate the protective effects of Matrine on atrial fibrillation (AF) induced by electric pacing in mice and underlying molecular and ion channel mechanisms.Methods: AF was introduced by electric pacing in mice and the incidence and duration of AF were evaluated. Functional expression of M3 receptor (M3-R) and Cav1.2 were explored by western and Real-time PCR, action potential (AP) and the density of (IKM3) L-type calcium channel (ICa-L) were both recorded using whole-cell patch in isolated atrial cardiomyocytes.Results: In control group, incidence and duration of AF induced by electric pacing were 50 ± 17% and 3.68 ± 1.84 s, respectively; after application of carbachol 50 µg/kg both incidence and duration of AF were significantly increased to 86 ± 24% and 65.2 ± 29.0 s. Compared with control group, pretreatment of Matrine for 15 days significantly reduced AF incidence and duration in dose-dependent manner. Atrial membrane-protein expression of M3-R was decreased and membrane Cav1.2 expression was up-regulated. In single Matrine-treated atrial cardiomyocyte the density of IKM3 was significantly decreased by 39% as well compared with control group, P Ca-L density of atrium was increased by 40%.Conclusion: These data demonstrated at the first time that the anti-AF effects of Matrine may due, at least in part, to down-regulation of IKM3 density and M3-R expression and up-regulation of ICa-L density and α1C/Cav1.2 expression.</p

Simultaneous Electrochemical Detection of Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ Based on an MOF-Derived Carbon Composite Linked with Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Heavy metal ion (HMI) pollution is a serious threat to human health and the ecosystem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a fast and sensitive platform for heavy metal ion detection. In this work, a novel sensing platform based on ZIF-67-derived cobalt/nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) composite polyhedrons linked with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), termed Co@NC/MWCNT, for the simultaneous monitoring of Cd2+ and Pb2+ was established. In detail, nanoporous ZIF-67 was first in situ grown on the MWCNTs, followed by carbonization, endowing the composite with good electrical conductivity and a large specific surface area, providing more active sites for subsequent metal ion attachment. Under optimal parameters, the proposed sensing platform exhibited a relatively wider linear range of 0.12–2.5 μM, with lower limits of detection (LODs) of 4.5 nM (Cd2+) and 4.9 nM (Pb2+). Notably, it was worth mentioning that the linearity of the as-prepared sensing platform in the actual water sample was highly consistent with the linearity in the buffer solution, showing outstanding anti-interference performance. Finally, the designed sensing platform performed well in several kinds of natural water environment when compared with the standard method, demonstrating huge potential in trace HMI monitoring