The Interaction of Expectancy-Value Beliefs and Anxiety in Learning Academic Oral English in Bilingual Chinese Postgraduate Students

Despite the plethora of research on speaking anxiety, most studies focus on speaking for general purposes in various bilingual contexts, particularly ESL/EFL (English as second/foreign language) contexts. Little research has been done on anxiety when speaking English for academic purposes in bilingual students. Even fewer studies are available on the interaction between academic oral communication (AOC) anxiety and expectancy-value beliefs —important concepts of language learning motivation. Hence, the present longitudinal study examined the interaction of expectancy-value beliefs and AOC anxiety in bilingual Chinese postgraduate students when learning academic oral English. In addition to interviews, a set of matching questionnaires on AOC anxiety and expectancy-value beliefs were collected from 74 Chinese postgraduate learners of English in week 2 (phase 1) and week 14 (phase 2) of a 16-week semester. Analyses of the data revealed the following major findings: (1) One-third to half of the participants experienced AOC anxiety and had low expectancy of themselves about AOC, and more than half of them held high attainment, intrinsic value, utility value and cost value of AOC in English, (2) significant increase occurred in expectancy but not in AOC anxiety or any value over the semester, and (3) expectancy was a great negative predictor for AOC anxiety in phase 1, while expectancy, intrinsic value and cost value were powerful predictors for the latter in phase 2. Based on these findings, some implications for teaching and learning AOC to bilingual students are discussed

The role of the peripheral system dysfunction in the pathogenesis of sepsis-associated encephalopathy

Sepsis is a condition that greatly impacts the brain, leading to neurological dysfunction and heightened mortality rates, making it one of the primary organs affected. Injury to the central nervous system can be attributed to dysfunction of various organs throughout the entire body and imbalances within the peripheral immune system. Furthermore, central nervous system injury can create a vicious circle with infection-induced peripheral immune disorders. We collate the pathogenesis of septic encephalopathy, which involves microglial activation, programmed cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, neurotransmitter imbalance, and blood–brain barrier disruption. We also spotlight the effects of intestinal flora and its metabolites, enterocyte-derived exosomes, cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, peripheral T cells and their cytokines on septic encephalopathy

Relationship of menopausal status and climacteric symptoms to sleep in women undergoing chemotherapy

Goals of workThe goal of this study was to examine the relationship between menopausal symptoms, sleep quality, and mood as measured by actigraphy and self-report prior to treatment and at the end of four cycles of chemotherapy in women with breast cancer.Patients and methodsData on sleep quality (measured using actigraphy and self-report) and mood were collected prior to treatment and 12 weeks later at the end of four cycles of chemotherapy in 69 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. In addition, each filled out the Greene Climacteric Scale. Based on reported occurrence of menses, participants were categorized post hoc into three menopausal status groups: pre-menopausal before and after chemotherapy (Pre-Pre), pre-menopausal or peri-menopausal before and peri-menopausal after chemotherapy (Pre/Peri-Peri), and post-menopausal before and after chemotherapy (Post-Post).Main resultsResults suggested that women within the Pre-Pre group evidenced more fragmented sleep with less total sleep time (TST) after chemotherapy compared to baseline. Compared to the other groups, the Pre-Pre group also experienced less TST and more awakenings before and after chemotherapy. Although the Pre/Peri-Peri group evidenced a greater increase in vasomotor symptoms after chemotherapy, there was no relationship with sleep. All groups evidenced more depressive symptoms after chemotherapy, but depression was not related to measures of sleep.ConclusionsContrary to the study hypothesis, these results suggest that women who are pre-menopausal or having regular menses before and after four cycles of chemotherapy have worse sleep following chemotherapy. Those women who maintain or become peri-menopausal (irregular menses) experience an increase in climacteric symptoms but do not experience an associated worsening of sleep. These results are preliminary and more research is necessary to further explain these findings

preparationandpropertiesofantioxidationinorganicnanocoatingforlowcarbonsteelatanelevatedtemperature

A new kind of anti-oxidation inorganic nano-coating for the common low carbon steel was prepared. It included magnesite mineral, metallurgic dust and silicate adhesive as the main raw materials. The nano-coating could be sprayed directly onto the low carbon steel slab even though with hot surface as far as under 1000 degrees c. And at the same time, a compact thin nano-film was formed, and the film would inhibit the oxygen into the interface of the steel body and decrease the loss of weight because of oxidation. The loss was decreased by about 60% or more. The properties and mechanism of oxidation resistance of the coating were discussed through XRD, TC-DTA and SEM. The experimental results show that many reactions would happen among the components of the coating and then many microspheres with the size of 80-100 nm generated in the system. By using the heat of the steel body, the silicate adhesive would interact with the microspheres, and the other components of the coating would be soft and sintered so that when the coating was sprayed onto the suface of the steel slab, the intact and compact film could beformed and adhesive with the steel body. Besides the special properties of anti-oxidation, the coating could prevent the volatilization of microelement in the steel such as silicate and carbon at a high temperature. So it can improve the quality and output of steel with this new kind of nano-coating

Mater. Lett.

Needle-like zinc oxide with high electrical conductivity has been successfully prepared in large-scale from calcining the need-like precursor synthesized by a simple co-precipitation approach with ZnCl2 as Zinc source, GaCl3 as Gallium source and NH4HCO3 as precipitant under an optimized conditions (45 degrees C and pH=7.4-7.5). The as-fabricated products were characterized by means of TEM, SEM, XRD, EDS and XPS. Their electrical conductivities were also studied, showing that the volume resistivity of the needle-like zinc oxide with 2.2 mol% Ga3+ dopant was lower than 20 Omega(.)cm. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Needle-like zinc oxide with high electrical conductivity has been successfully prepared in large-scale from calcining the need-like precursor synthesized by a simple co-precipitation approach with ZnCl2 as Zinc source, GaCl3 as Gallium source and NH4HCO3 as precipitant under an optimized conditions (45 degrees C and pH=7.4-7.5). The as-fabricated products were characterized by means of TEM, SEM, XRD, EDS and XPS. Their electrical conductivities were also studied, showing that the volume resistivity of the needle-like zinc oxide with 2.2 mol% Ga3+ dopant was lower than 20 Omega(.)cm. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

J. Wuhan Univ. Technol.-Mat. Sci. Edit.

A new kind of anti-oxidation inorganic nano-coating for the common low carbon steel was prepared. It included magnesite mineral, metallurgic dust and silicate adhesive as the main raw materials. The nano-coating could be sprayed directly onto the low carbon steel slab even though with hot surface as far as under 1000 degrees c. And at the same time, a compact thin nano-film was formed, and the film would inhibit the oxygen into the interface of the steel body and decrease the loss of weight because of oxidation. The loss was decreased by about 60% or more. The properties and mechanism of oxidation resistance of the coating were discussed through XRD, TC-DTA and SEM. The experimental results show that many reactions would happen among the components of the coating and then many microspheres with the size of 80-100 nm generated in the system. By using the heat of the steel body, the silicate adhesive would interact with the microspheres, and the other components of the coating would be soft and sintered so that when the coating was sprayed onto the suface of the steel slab, the intact and compact film could beformed and adhesive with the steel body. Besides the special properties of anti-oxidation, the coating could prevent the volatilization of microelement in the steel such as silicate and carbon at a high temperature. So it can improve the quality and output of steel with this new kind of nano-coating.A new kind of anti-oxidation inorganic nano-coating for the common low carbon steel was prepared. It included magnesite mineral, metallurgic dust and silicate adhesive as the main raw materials. The nano-coating could be sprayed directly onto the low carbon steel slab even though with hot surface as far as under 1000 degrees c. And at the same time, a compact thin nano-film was formed, and the film would inhibit the oxygen into the interface of the steel body and decrease the loss of weight because of oxidation. The loss was decreased by about 60% or more. The properties and mechanism of oxidation resistance of the coating were discussed through XRD, TC-DTA and SEM. The experimental results show that many reactions would happen among the components of the coating and then many microspheres with the size of 80-100 nm generated in the system. By using the heat of the steel body, the silicate adhesive would interact with the microspheres, and the other components of the coating would be soft and sintered so that when the coating was sprayed onto the suface of the steel slab, the intact and compact film could beformed and adhesive with the steel body. Besides the special properties of anti-oxidation, the coating could prevent the volatilization of microelement in the steel such as silicate and carbon at a high temperature. So it can improve the quality and output of steel with this new kind of nano-coating

CrOx-CeO2 binary oxide as a superior catalyst for NO reduction with NH3 at low temperature in presence of CO

CrOx/CeO2 catalysts supported on porous silica sphere have been prepared and characterized by N-2-BET, XRD, XPS, H-2-TPR and NH3-TPD methods. The effects of the molar ratio between CrOx and CeO2 in the catalysts for NOx selective catalytic reduction with ammonia were studied. It was indicated by the results that high NOx conversion (98%) could be obtained by the catalyst with proper Cr/Ce molar ratio (25/75) at 150 degrees C (W/F = 0.25 g s/cm(3)). The result might be contributed to the redox property and NH3-chelate ability of the CrOx-CeO2 binary oxide in the catalysts. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved