A Conceptual Review of Age Effect on L2 Acquisition

The importance of age effect on an additional language (L2) acquisition has long been recognized in the field of L2 education. Research was conducted to reveal the influence of age to the rate and ultimate attainment of L2 teaching and learning, yet controversial results were discovered. Consequently, stereotypes and misunderstanding exist among educators, practitioners, parents and/or guardians, which may affect students’ L2 learning. This article reviewed the significant studies in the past and discussed the current agreements and debates around the age effect on L2 acquisition. It provides a comprehensive overview of the topic that is beneficial for L2 education. The author proposed that more contributions are needed to provide additional evidence to explore this issue. Keywords: age, second language acquisition, L2 acquisition, Critical Period Hypothesi

Expanded Territories of “Literacy”: New Literacies and Multiliteracies

Facing the radical change in society in the 21st century, the conventional view of literacy and literacy education may no longer satisfy students’ needs in working and social lives, especially beyond classroom settings. Therefore, expanded territories of literacy have been proposed to better support teachers’ and students’ literacy education and practices. This paper conceptualized two expanded perspectives of literacy that are important and useful to understand literacy and literacy education in the modern society, which provide theories and frameworks for scholars, educators, and practitioners in the field of education. Keywords: literacy, New Literacies, Multiliteracie

Reframing the L2 learning experience as narrative reconstructions of classroom learning

In this study we investigate the situated and dynamic nature of the L2 learning experience through a newly-purposed instrument called the Language Learning Story Interview, adapted from McAdams’ life story interview (2007). Using critical case sampling, data were collected from an equal number of learners of various L2s (e.g., Arabic, English, Mandarin, Spanish) and analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis (Rihoux & Ragin, 2009). Through our data analysis, we demonstrate how language learners construct overarching narratives of the L2 learning experience and what the characteristic features and components that make up these narratives are. Our results provide evidence for prototypical nuclear scenes (McAdams et al., 2004) as well as core specifications and parameters of learners’ narrative accounts of the L2 learning experience. We discuss how these shape motivation and language learning behavior

A Non-linearity Correction Method for Fast Digital Multi-Channel Analyzers

AbstractFast digital multi-channel analyzers (FDMCA) which based on flash ADCs have been intensively used recently. The FDMCA is different from traditional MCAs which based on Wilkinson ADCs. The non-linearity, including the integral non-linearity (INL) and differential non-linearity (DNL), mainly arising from flash ADCs, degrade the accuracy of fast digital MCAs. To improve the non-linearity of FDMCA, a practical off-line correction method has been proposed in this paper. The non-linearity features of the FDMCA system is obtained by a special measurement previously. In light of that the non-linearity of a system is inherent; the non-linearity can be eliminated by comparing the data between the general measurement and the special one

Deep Learning Detection Algorithm for Surface Defects of Automobile Door Seals

The surface defects of automobile door seals are mainly detected manually at present, which is costly and has low efficiency. Therefore, a deep learning automatic detection algorithm of automobile door seals is studied in this paper. At first, the defects are classified and the data set is made according to the geometric characteristics of the defects. While enhancing the data set, the K-means clustering algorithm is used to cluster the target annotation frame in the data set, and the anchor that matches with the surface defect size of the seal is obtained. Finally, in view of the characteristics of large variation range of defect size, the target detection algorithm YOLOV3 is selected as the basic framework. Meanwhile, considering the high proportion of small and medium-sized targets in defects, the output scale is introduced at 4 times of the sampling position of YOLOV3 backbone network. In order to further enhance the correlation between the extracted features and the channel, spatial position and coordinate position, the feature fusion and attention mechanism module is constructed. The test results show that the mean of the average precision is improved by 4.81% compared with YOLOV3

Testing mechanisms of compensatory fitness of dioecy in a cosexual world

Questions: All else being equal, populations of dioecious species with a 50:50 sex ratio have only half the effective reproductive population size of bisexual species of equal abundance. Consequently, there is a need to explain how dioecious and bisexual species coexist. Increased mean individual seed mass, fecundity, and population density have all been proposed as attributes of unisexual individuals or populations that may contribute to the persistence or resilience of dioecious species. To date, no studies have compared sympatric dioecious and cosexual species with respect to all three components of fitness. In this study, we sought evidence for these compensatory advantages (higher seed mass, greater seed production per unit basal area, and higher population density) in dioecious species. Location: Five 20–25 ha forest dynamic plots spanning a latitudinal gradient in China, including two temperate, two subtropical, and one tropical forest. Methods: We used a phylogenetically corrected generalized linear modelling approach to assess the phylogenetic dependence and joint evolution of sexual system, seed mass and production, and ecological abundances among 48–333 species and 32,568–136,237 individuals per forest. Results: Across all five forests, we detected no consistent advantage for dioecious relative to sympatric cosexual species with respect to mean individual seed mass, seed production or the density of stems in any size class. Conclusions: Our study suggests that seed traits may provide compensatory mechanisms in some forests, but most often the coexistence of sexual systems cannot be explained by advantages of dioecy related to seed quality and demographic parameters. Future investigations of the factors that promote coexistence may increase our understanding by expanding the search to include attributes such as lifespan and tolerance or resistance to herbivores

Geochemistry of Late Triassic pelitic rocks in the NE part of Songpan-Ganzi Basin, western China: Implications for source weathering, provenance and tectonic setting

AbstractMajor, trace and rare earth element (REE) concentrations of Late Triassic sediments (fine-grained sandstones and mudstones) from Hongcan Well 1 in the NE part of the Songpan-Ganzi Basin, western China, are used to reveal weathering, provenance and tectonic setting of inferred source areas. The Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) reflects a low to moderate degree of chemical weathering in a cool and somewhat dry climate, and an A-CN-K plot suggests an older upper continental crust provenance dominated by felsic to intermediate igneous rocks of average tonalite composition. Based on the various geochemical tectonic setting discrimination diagrams, the Late Triassic sediments are inferred to have been deposited in a back-arc basin situated between an active continental margin (the Kunlun-Qinling Fold Belt) and a continental island arc (the Yidun Island Arc). The Triassic sediments in the study area underwent a rapid erosion and burial in a proximal slope-basin environment by the petrographic data, while the published flow directions of Triassic turbidites in the Aba-Zoige region was not supported Yidun volcanic arc source. Therefore, we suggest that the Kunlun-Qinling terrane is most likely to have supplied source materials to the northeast part of the Songpan-Ganzi Basin during the Late Triassic

Resolution-Enhanced All-Optical Analog-to-Digital Converter Employing Cascade Optical Quantization Operation

In this paper, a cascade optical quantization scheme is proposed to realize all-optical analog-to-digital converter with efficiently enhanced quantization resolution and achievable high analog bandwidth of larger than 20 GHz. Employing the cascade structure of an unbalanced Mach-zehnder modulator and a specially designed optical directional coupler, we predict the enhancement of number-of-bits can be up to 1.59-bit. Simulation results show that a 25 GHz RF signal is efficiently digitalized with the signal-tonoise ratio of 33.58 dB and effective-number-of-bits of 5.28-bit