The Effect of Different Presentations on English Words Retention of Chinese Learners of English

The authors of the present paper carried out some experiments of different presentations of English words (context, image and semantic field) so as to observe the effects of different presentations upon the memory retention of Chinese learners of English. The subjects of the experiments were 36 non-English majors from North China Electric Power University. The words used in the experiments were 45 English words selected from the glossary in the Band Eight Syllabus for English Majors, published by the Ministry of Education. The data from the experiments were mainly obtained through one immediate test and two delayed tests. After the experiments, the researchers interviewed several subjects to gain more feedback and further information. The results of the study show that image presentation is the most effective on short-term memory, and that context presentation is the most effective on long-term memory. Keywords: English words; presentation; image; context; semantic field; effect; Chinese learners of Englis

Games and Play of Dream of the Red Chamber

My dissertation examines the games derived from Cao Xueqin’s novel Dream of The Red Chamber during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1880s-1920s) through its various literary and textual representations. In brief, the games create a sense of otherworldliness for players to imagine their mode of being in a space that is set apart from the daily grinds of the historical transition. Dramatic and literary sources have been a constant motif or theme for traditional games in China. However, it was after the publication of Dream of Red Chamber that the characters, the themes and motifs of the novel became a prominent element for various kinds of games in their visual design and game rules. The games became both an object for play and the medium through which the elite readers’ remarks and taste were effected. In this way, the games became an alternative medium for the reproduction of literati culture itself. My analysis concentrates on the rules and play of the games. Some of the game texts stand on the boundary between games (for play) and texts (for reading): on the one hand, it provided an interactive and communicative space for leisurely entertainment in social gatherings; on the other hand, some of the game rules were not practical to serve as instruction for social play and was emblematic display of elite readers’ own readerly pleasure in inserting fiction comments in the absurd context of game rules. I argue that the preference of the elite readers brought to the composition of games an increasingly literary emphasis intended more for the reader than for the player. The main body of this dissertation is divided into four chapters. Chapter two looks at a verbal game and traces the game rules to the banter and daily conversation in novel and the game texts in the encyclopedia books that were widely circulating in the market of the time. Chapter three looks at the connoisseurship object of seal carving and seal albums not only as a writing medium that carries and reproduces the content of the verbal game, but also as an “small item ” for play or amusement (yawn xiaopin 雅玩小品) for its own sake. Chapter four analyzes the rules of drinking game and the internal structures of divinatory practices in a larger social and cultural dimension. I explore the interrelationship between games and divination, and use of games as a writing technique of prophecies in the novel and in an imitation work of the novel. The last chapter traces the card games back to the interplay between personhood evaluation and appreciation (pinzao renwu 品藻人物) and the printed ephemerals of playing cards since the Ming

Meta-analysis of effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine or its combination with Western medicine in the treatment of triple negative breast cancer

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and side effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the management of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods: Full text data on randomized controlled trial (RCT) of TNBC treated with TCM or its combination with Western Medicine (WM) were retrieved from the Chinese biomedical literature database, Chinese periodicals, Chinese Science-Technology periodicals and VP and PubMed. The qualities of the RCTs were evaluated. Revman 5.3 was used to conduct the meta-analysis. Results: A total of 16 RCTs involving 1186 patients were included. Analysis of these RCTs showed significant differences in total effectiveness between WM and TCM or combination of TCM with WM {(OR = 2.63, 95 % CI = 1.37, 5.03), test of the combined effect (Z = 2.91, p ˂ 0.005)}. Conclusion: The results show that TCM is effective in the treatment TNB

Dissecting the genome-wide evolution and function of R2R3-MYB transcription factor family in Rosa chinensis

Rosa chinensis, an important ancestor species of Rosa hybrida, the most popular ornamental plant species worldwide, produces flowers with diverse colors and fragrances. The R2R3-MYB transcription factor family controls a wide variety of plant-specific metabolic processes, especially phenylpropanoid metabolism. Despite their importance for the ornamental value of flowers, the evolution of R2R3-MYB genes in plants has not been comprehensively characterized. In this study, 121 predicted R2R3-MYB gene sequences were identified in the rose genome. Additionally, a phylogenomic synteny network (synnet) was applied for the R2R3-MYB gene families in 35 complete plant genomes. We also analyzed the R2R3-MYB genes regarding their genomic locations, Ka/Ks ratio, encoded conserved motifs, and spatiotemporal expression. Our results indicated that R2R3-MYBs have multiple synteny clusters. The RcMYB114a gene was included in the Rosaceae-specific Cluster 54, with independent evolutionary patterns. On the basis of these results and an analysis of RcMYB114a-overexpressing tobacco leaf samples, we predicted that RcMYB114a functions in the phenylpropanoid pathway. We clarified the relationship between R2R3-MYB gene evolution and function from a new perspective. Our study data may be relevant for elucidating the regulation of floral metabolism in roses at the transcript level

Helical structures with switchable and hierarchical chirality

Chirality is present as a trend of research in biological and chemical communities for it has a significant effect on physiological properties and pharmacological effects. Further, manipulating specific morphological chirality recently has emerged as a promising approach to design metamaterials with tailored mechanical, optical, or electromagnetic properties. However, the realization of many properties found in nature, such as switchable and hierarchical chirality, which allows electromagnetic control of the polarization of light and enhancement of mechanical properties, in man-made structures has remained a challenge. Here, we present helical structures with switchable and hierarchical chirality inspired by origami techniques. We propose eggbox-based chiral units for constructing homogeneous and heterogeneous chiral structures and demonstrate a theoretical approach for tuning the chirality of these structures by modulating their geometrical parameters and for achieving chirality switching through mechanism bifurcation. Finally, by introducing a helical tessellation between the chiral units, we design hierarchical structures with chirality transferring from construction elements to the morphological level and discover a helix with two zero-height configurations during the unwinding process. We anticipate that our design and analysis approach could facilitate the development of man-made metamaterials with chiral features, which may serve in engineering applications, including switchable electromagnetic metamaterials, morphing structures, and bionic robots

Polarization splitter rotator on thin film lithium niobate based on multimode interference

Polarization splitter-rotators (PSRs) are the key elements to realize on-chip polarization manipulation. Current PSRs on thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) rely on sub-micron gaps to realize modes separation, which increase the difficulties of lithography and etching. In this paper, a polarization splitter-rotator on TFLN based on multimode interference (MMI) is demonstrated. Mode division is achieved by an MMI-based mode demultiplexer. The feature size of the PSR is 1.5 {\mu}m, which can be fabricated with low priced i-line contact aligners. Experimental results show a polarization extinction ratio (PER) > 20 dB and insertion loss (IL) <1.5 dB are achieved in a wavelength range of 1542-1600 nm for TE-polarized light. And a PER > 9.5 dB and an IL <3.0 dB are achieved in a wavelength range of 1561-1600 nm for TM-polarized light. This PSR could find application in the low-cost fabrication of dual-polarization TFLN integrated photonic devices

Karst collapse risk zonation and evaluation in Wuhan, China based on analytic hierarchy process, logistic regression, and insar angular distortion approaches

The current study presents a detailed assessment of risk zones related to karst collapse in Wuhan by analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and logistic regression (LR) models. The results showed that the LR model was more accurate with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 compared to 0.812 derived from the AHP model. Both models performed well in identifying high-risk zones with only a 3% discrepancy in area. However, for the medium-and low-risk classes, although the spatial distribution of risk zoning results were similar between two approaches, the spatial extent of the risk areas varied between final models. The reliability of both methods were reduced significantly by excluding the InSAR-based ground subsidence map from the analysis, with the karst collapse presence falling into the high-risk zone being reduced by approximately 14%, and karst collapse absence falling into the karst area being increased by approximately 6.5% on the training samples. To evaluate the practicality of using only results from ground subsidence maps for the risk zonation, the results of AHP and LR are compared with a weighted angular distortion (WAD) method for karst risk zoning in Wuhan. We find that the areas with relatively large subsidence horizontal gradient values within the karst belts are generally spatially consistent with high-risk class areas identified by the AHP-and LR-based approaches. However, the WAD-based approach cannot be used alone as an ideal karst collapse risk assessment model as it does not include geological and natural factors into the risk zonation. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland