Involvement, leadership and social practice to the development of postgraduate attributes: evidence from extracurricular education with Chinese characteristics

Limited by students’ time and energy, participation in extracurricular activities is not necessarily beneficial to the development of postgraduate attributes. Thus, it is necessary to explore the impact path of extracurricular activities and education outcomes on the development of postgraduate attributes. From a configuration perspective, this study identifies the asymmetric causal effects of engagement and extracurricular education on postgraduate attributes. First, this study proposes a theoretical framework for postgraduate attribute development in extracurricular education with Chinese characteristics based on the input-environment-output (IEO) theory. Second, 166 academic scholarship applications submitted by the whole third-grade postgraduates who are from a science and engineering school at a double first-class university in China are taken as the sample. Finally, utilizing data envelopment analysis (DEA) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study conducts the effect of the combination of causal conditions on the development of postgraduate attributes. Results are as follows: (1) the development efficiency of postgraduate attribute in extracurricular education with Chinese characteristics is practical but still insufficient; (2) four configurations consistently linked to high development efficiency of postgraduate attributes. Specifically, in context with outstanding academic research achievement and excellent moral character, participating in extracurricular education or not consistently linked to high development efficiency. In contrast, in a context characterized by academic achievement or moral award not outstanding enough, involvement in extracurricular activities or social practice is consistently linked to high development efficiency. In addition, no configuration links student leadership to high development efficiency, and non-scientific research ability is consistently linked to low development efficiency; (3) there is an asymmetric causal relationship between the high and low development efficiency paths, indicating that the conditions affecting the development of postgraduate attributes have multiple concurrencies. These findings provide a new practical path and perspective for promoting the development of postgraduate attributes through extracurricular education with Chinese characteristics

On the Socialist Core and Its Modern and Contemporary Values in How the Steel was Tempered from the Perspective of Education

In-depth study of literary appreciation and its educational value for the book "How the Steel was Tempered", interpreted from a pedagogical perspective and in the context of socialist core values. Firstly, starting from the socialist core, the deep relationship between characterization, plot setting and theme is analyzed. Secondly, through the analysis of the growth experience of the hero, Paul Kochagin, the educational significance of his socialist spirit such as adhering to ideals and faiths, unremitting self-improvement and optimism is revealed. Finally, the paper discusses the value of the work in the contemporary content, emphasizing its positive effects on cultivating contemporary youth to take social responsibility, promoting the socialist core values, and upgrading the national moral quality. The research shows that "How the Steel was Tempered", with its profound socialist core and extensive educational value, is of great practical significance for us to deepen the education of socialist core values and guide the youth to establish a correct worldview and values

LTBI-negative close contacts of tuberculosis are more likely to develop the disease: enlightenment and lessons from a cluster outbreak

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) prevention and control among groups living together, such as students, workers, older adults in nursing homes, and prisoners, present many challenges due to their particular age and environmental factors, which can make them more susceptible to TB clusters with significant societal impact. This study aimed to evaluate a TB cluster outbreak epidemic in a university and provide suggestions for improving TB control strategies for groups living together.MethodsPulmonary TB screening and close-contact investigation were conducted using acid-fast staining, sputum culture, GeneXpert testing, tuberculin skin testing (TST), interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA), and chest computed tomography (CT). GraphPad Prism 9.5.1 was utilized for data analysis. Collected epidemic data were comprehensively analyzed by rate comparison.ResultsThe TB cluster outbreak epidemic was identified with an index case confirmed positive. The initial screening was conducted on potential close contacts of the index case, and the TST’s positive rate (diameter ≥ 5 mm) and strong positive rate (diameter ≥ 15 mm) among these close contacts were 65.60% (21/32) and 34.40% (11/32), respectively. Moreover, the latent TB infection (LTBI) rate (diameter ≥ 10 mm) was 43.75% (14/32), and the IGRA’s positive rate was 9.30% (3/32). Chest CT scans did not reveal any abnormalities. Surprisingly, 5 of the close contacts developed active TB in the second screening, accompanied by changes from negative to positive TST and/or IGRA results, after 3 months of follow-up. Accordingly, we expanded the screening scope to include another 28 general contacts. We found that the positive rate (78.00%, 25/32), strong positive rate (50.00%, 16/32), and LTBI rate (62.50%, 20/32) of the 32 close contacts were significantly higher than those of the additional general contacts (28.00%, 8/28; 14.3%, 4/28; 25.00%, 7/28), as indicated by p < 0.05.ConclusionIn the event of an epidemic TB outbreak, it is essential to rapidly identify the source of infection and initiate timely screening of close contacts. The initial screening should be focused on individuals without LTBI, who are at higher risk of developing TB. In purified protein derivative-negative individuals living in groups, additional vaccination or revaccination with Bacille Calmette-Guérin may help prevent cluster outbreaks of TB

Genome sequencing and population genomic analyses provide insights into the adaptive landscape of silver birch

Silver birch (Betula pendula) is a pioneer boreal tree that can be induced to flower within 1 year. Its rapid life cycle, small (440-Mb) genome, and advanced germplasm resources make birch an attractive model for forest biotechnology. We assembled and chromosomally anchored the nuclear genome of an inbred B. pendula individual. Gene duplicates from the paleohexaploid event were enriched for transcriptional regulation, whereas tandem duplicates were overrepresented by environmental responses. Population resequencing of 80 individuals showed effective population size crashes at major points of climatic upheaval. Selective sweeps were enriched among polyploid duplicates encoding key developmental and physiological triggering functions, suggesting that local adaptation has tuned the timing of and cross-talk between fundamental plant processes. Variation around the tightly-linked light response genes PHYC and FRS10 correlated with latitude and longitude and temperature, and with precipitation for PHYC. Similar associations characterized the growth-promoting cytokinin response regulator ARR1, and the wood development genes KAK and MED5A.Peer reviewe

Comprehensive Peripheral Blood Immunoprofiling Reveals Five Immunotypes With Immunotherapy Response Characteristics in Patients With Cancer

The lack of comprehensive diagnostics and consensus analytical models for evaluating the status of a patient\u27s immune system has hindered a wider adoption of immunoprofiling for treatment monitoring and response prediction in cancer patients. To address this unmet need, we developed an immunoprofiling platform that uses multiparameter flow cytometry to characterize immune cell heterogeneity in the peripheral blood of healthy donors and patients with advanced cancers. Using unsupervised clustering, we identified five immunotypes with unique distributions of different cell types and gene expression profiles. An independent analysis of 17,800 open-source transcriptomes with the same approach corroborated these findings. Continuous immunotype-based signature scores were developed to correlate systemic immunity with patient responses to different cancer treatments, including immunotherapy, prognostically and predictively. Our approach and findings illustrate the potential utility of a simple blood test as a flexible tool for stratifying cancer patients into therapy response groups based on systemic immunoprofiling

Synthesis, crystal structure, and characterization of two three-fold interpenetrating Co(II) coordination polymers based on 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid and length modulated bisimidazole ligands

<div><p>Two Co(II) coordination polymers, {[Co(bdc)(bib)(H₂O)]·H₂O}_n (<b>1</b>) and {[Co(bdc)(bibp)]}_n (<b>2</b>), where H₂bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, bib = 1,4-bis(1-imidazolyl)benzene, and bibp = 4,4′-bis(imidazolyl)biphenyl, have been synthesized by solvothermal methods and characterized by IR spectra, element analyses, thermal analysis, powder X-ray diffraction, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Complex <b>1</b> exhibits a 3-D pillared-layer framework, the ligands of bib and bdc link Co ions to generate a 2-D layer structure, which is further pillared by the bib, giving the final 3-D pillared-layer networks. The void in <b>1</b> induces the three-fold interpenetrating structure. Complex <b>2</b> features three-fold interpenetrating 3-D architecture, bdc and bibp both adopt a bidentate bridging coordination to link Co ions to afford right- and left-handed helical chains; these helices fuse together and form the 3-D framework.</p></div

A Bibliometric Analysis of Brand Orientation Strategy in Digital Marketing: Determinants, Research Perspectives and Evolutions

With the advent of the digital economy era, the relationship between consumers and brands is changing. The mode of marketing, especially the paradigm of brand management, also needs to be adapted to change. Brand orientation has triggered a heated discussion on the dominant paradigm of market orientation and a new revolution in brand management. In view of the primary position of brand orientation in the management domain, it is necessary to sort out a systematic scientific knowledge mapping, clarify the research context and progress, and discover research focuses and limitations for strengthening the construction of brand-oriented theories. This study conducts a scientific quantitative analysis of 169 literatures and 7187 references from the Web of Science in the field of brand orientation by comprehensively using methods of scientific knowledge mapping and traditional literature review. The findings show that: (1) Concentrating on the core issue that “whether and how brand orientation becomes an effective strategic orientation of an organization”, brand orientation research includes six major hot spots and has been extended to fields including non-profit organizations, retail, service, manufacturing, e-commerce, and tourism. (2) As a multi-dimensional construct, brand orientation affects organizational performance directly through internal branding and external customer perception, and it is influenced by organizational culture, leadership, competition environment, funding sources, and brand cooperation. The relationship between brand orientation and market orientation has evolved from mutual substitution to synergy

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Vegetation Productivity and Its Response to Meteorological Factors in China

Climate is one of the key factors driving changes in vegetation, and the response of the vegetation to climate often occurs with a time delay. However, research on the cumulative lagged response of the vegetation to meteorological factors in large-scale regions is limited. Therefore, this study first evaluated the performance of the Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) products provided by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Penman–Monteith–Leuning (PML) over the past 20 years in China and then determined the lagged relationships between the GPP and major meteorological factors in different regions and land-use types in China based on a partial correlation analysis. The results indicate that (1) GPP_PML outperforms GPP_MODIS products in the regional context of China; (2) China’s regional GPP has shown a fluctuating upward trend over the past 20 years, with a stepwise increase in the multi-year average from the northwest inland to the southeast coastal regions, and a higher contribution from the southern regions than the northern ones; (3) unlike the recent upward trend in regional temperatures, both precipitation and radiation have decreased, with these two factors showing completely opposite multi-year trends in most regions; and (4) the proportion of regions with lagged effects of the GPP on meteorological factors is higher than those with cumulative effects in China. Among these, GPP exhibits a higher proportion of a 3-month lagged response to precipitation, which is particularly pronounced at altitudes between 500 and 2500 m and above 5500 m. the proportion of the areas with no lag cumulative response to temperature and radiation with GPP in China is the highest due to the influence of more barren land and grassland in the northwest interior. Simultaneously, grassland and barren land have a higher proportion of the non-lagged cumulative responses to temperature and precipitation. This study contributes to our understanding of vegetation dynamics in the context of global climate change and provides a theoretical foundation for regional ecological conservation and high-quality coordinated development