Teaching Translation: Challenges and Strategies

Translation requires a profound understanding of languages, cultural nuances, and context. An all-encompassing strategy that incorporates academic understanding, practical expertise, and critical thinking skills is necessary for effective translation instruction. In order to give teachers useful insights to improve their teaching approaches, this study discusses numerous difficulties and strategies in teaching translation

Constraints and strategies of long-distance migratory shorebirds along the east Asian-Australasian flyway

This thesis uses relatively large intra-specific (Ruddy Turnstone [Arenaria interpres]) and inter-specific (seven shorebird species along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway) datasets to analyse thus far largely unexplored aspects of the migratory behaviour of these shorebirds. It identfied that body size and season played a key role in shaping migratory behaviours

The adequacy of aging techniques in vertebrates for rapid estimation of population mortality rates from age distributions

As a key parameter in population dynamics, mortality rates are frequently estimated using mark–recapture data, which requires extensive, long‐term data sets. As a potential rapid alternative, we can measure variables correlated to age, allowing the compilation of population age distributions, from which mortality rates can be derived. However, most studies employing such techniques have ignored their inherent inaccuracy and have thereby failed to provide reliable mortality estimates. In this study, we present a general statistical model linking birth rate, mortality rate, and population age distributions. We next assessed the reliability and data needs (i.e., sample size) for estimating mortality rate of eight different aging techniques. The results revealed that for half of the aging techniques, correlations with age varied considerably, translating into highly variable accuracies when used to estimate mortality rate from age distributions. Telomere length is generally not sufficiently correlated to age to provide reliable mortality rate estimates. DNA methylation, signal‐joint T‐cell recombination excision circle (sjTREC), and racemization are generally more promising techniques to ultimately estimate mortality rate, if a sufficiently high sample size is available. Otolith ring counts, otolithometry, and age‐length keys in fish, and skeletochronology in reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, outperformed all other aging techniques and generated relatively accurate mortality rate estimation with a sample size that can be feasibly obtained. Provided the method chosen is minimizing and estimating the error in age estimation, it is possible to accurately estimate mortality rates from age distributions. The method therewith has the potential to estimate a critical, population dynamic parameter to inform conservation efforts within a limited time frame as opposed to mark–recapture analyses

Dynamic Analysis of Timoshenko Beam with Arbitrary Constraints and a Further Optimization Based on Least Energy Principle

Based on Timoshenko’s beam theory, this paper adopts segmented strategy in establishing the governing equations of a multibeam system subjected to various boundary conditions, in which free, clamped, hinged, and elastic constraints are considered. Meanwhile, Galerkin method is incorporated as a competitive alternative, in which a new set of unified, efficient, and reliable trial functions are proposed. A further optimization in regard to boundary distributions under forces is implemented and established on the least absorbed energy principle. High agreement is observed between the analytical results and the FEM results, verifying the correctness of the derivations. Complete comparisons between the analytical and the numerical results indicate the Galerkin method is beneficial when slender ratio is larger than 30, in which the continuity of the deformation is proved to be a crucial influencing factor. A modified numerical strategy about optimal boundary is employed and the remarks imply the algorithm can be availably used to reduce the energy absorption of the whole system

Body size shapes inter-specific migratory behaviour: evidence from individual tracks of long-distance migratory shorebirds

Migration is a common phenomenon across many animal taxa. Understanding how migration scales with body size across species is fundamental in the development of migration theory and in making size‐related predictions. Although aerodynamic theory and ecophysiological scaling laws have assisted greatly in generating such predictions, their verifications have been limited by a lack of empirical data across a range of body sizes. The recent development of ultra‐light tracking devices and its rapid application to migration now allows us to put theory to the test. We used tracking data of seven closely related migratory sandpiper species (family Scolopacidae) along the East Asian‐Australasian Flyway to compare their migratory behaviour when migrating towards the breeding grounds as a function of size (50–750 g). We found a marked decline in migration speed (migration distance divided by total migration duration, including time at stopover sites and in flight) with size. Departure date from the non‐breeding (i.e. wintering) ground and arrival date at the breeding ground also scaled negatively with size. Total migration duration, migration distance, total staging duration (the number of days staying at stopover sites plus days preparing, i.e. fuelling, prior to initial migration) and step length (distance covered within one migratory leg) were not significantly related with size. Correction for phylogeny showed consistent results for all variables. Besides improving our fundamental understanding of inter‐specific variation in migration behaviours, the finding of a clear scaling with size in migration speed and migration timing highlight differential size related capabilities and constraints of migrants. Migratory birds, including sandpipers, are declining on a global scale and particularly along the East Asian‐Australasian Flyway. This notion of size‐dependency in migratory traits may have a bearing on their vulnerability to specific environmental disturbances along their flyways

Hybridization of the cultural identity in disney’s Mulan

Hybridization has become a fluid notion due to its association with ideas and themes that were once mutual contradicting but have now become mutual celebrated. However, such changes are inevitable as the trend of globalization continuously generates new transnational cultural elements. This study will examine the hybrid cultural identity in Disney’s animated film Mulan (1998) which was adapted from The Ballad of Mulan, a folktale that originated from China. Specifically, it focuses on the cultural identity of Disney’s Mulan and explores how it is reconstructed as a transnational culture which flowed from China to America. This phenomenon, to some extent, implies the West’s increasing acceptance of cultural productions from Asian countries. The paper employs Daphne A. Jameson’s analytic model of cultural identity consisting of vocation, class, geography, philosophy, language, and biological components which seek to examine the emergence of mixed and relational and hybrid cultural identities. Through this study, the paper aims to discuss how the process of hybridization brings the character’s cultural identity in the original folklore to an international audience and how this facilitates cultural exchange and growth. The findings show that hybridization in cultural identity presents a tension between cultural Americanization and orientalization as well as modernity and tradition, which ultimately leads to a transferable cultural identity. The study is significant in elevating the status of Chinese folktales and highlighting cultural hybridity as a mediating factor in the growing trend of cultural globalization

CCA-Secure Deterministic Identity-Based Encryption Scheme

Deterministic public-key encryption, encrypting a plaintext into a unique ciphertext without involving any randomness, was introduced by Bellare, Boldyreva, and O'Neill (CRYPTO 2007) as a realistic alternative to some inherent drawbacks in randomized public-key encryption. Bellare, Kiltz, Peikert and Waters (EUROCRYPT 2012) bring deterministic public-key encryption to the identity-based setting, and propose deterministic identity-based encryption scheme (DIBE). Although the construc- tions of chosen plaintext attack (CPA) secure DIBE scheme have been studied intensively, the construction of chosen ciphertext attack (CCA) secure DIBE scheme is still challenging problems. In this paper, we introduce the notion of identity-based all-but-one trapdoor functions (IB-ABO-TDF), which is an extension version of all-but-one lossy trapdoor function in the public-key setting. We give a instantiation of IB-ABO-TDF under decisional linear assumption. Based on an identity-based lossy trapdoor function and our IB-ABO-TDF, we present a generic construction of CCA-secure DIBE scheme

Gene therapy for C-26 colon cancer using heparin-polyethyleneimine nanoparticle-mediated survivin T34A

Ling Zhang1,*, Xiang Gao1,2,*, Ke Men1, BiLan Wang1, Shuang Zhang1, Jinfeng Qiu1, Meijuan Huang1, MaLing Gou1, Ning Huang2, ZhiYong Qian1, Xia Zhao1, YuQuan Wei11State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, 2Department of Pathophysiology, College of Preclinical and Forensic Medical Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workBackground: Gene therapy provides a novel method for the prevention and treatment of cancer, but the clinical application of gene therapy is restricted, mainly because of the absence of an efficient and safe gene delivery system. Recently, we developed a novel nonviral gene carrier, ie, heparin-polyethyleneimine (HPEI) nanoparticles for this purpose.Methods and results: HPEI nanoparticles were used to deliver plasmid-expressing mouse survivin-T34A (ms-T34A) to treat C-26 carcinoma in vitro and in vivo. According to the in vitro studies, HPEI nanoparticles could efficiently transfect the pGFP report gene into C-26 cells, with a transfection efficiency of 30.5% ± 2%. Moreover, HPEI nanoparticle-mediated ms-T34A could efficiently inhibit the proliferation of C-26 cells by induction of apoptosis in vitro. Based on the in vivo studies, HPEI nanoparticles could transfect the Lac-Z report gene into C-26 cells in vivo. Intratumoral injection of HPEI nanoparticle-mediated ms-T34A significantly inhibited growth of subcutaneous C-26 carcinoma in vivo by induction of apoptosis and inhibition of angiogenesis.Conclusion: This research suggests that HPEI nanoparticle-mediated ms-T34A may have a promising role in C-26 colon carcinoma therapy.Keywords: gene therapy, mouse survivin-T34A, colon cancer, polyethyleneimine, nanoparticles, cancer therap