Motivación y ansiedad por aprender inglés con respecto a los niños abandonados en la China rural

This study addressed the affective factors in English learning of the Left-behind children (LBCs) in the seventh grade in rural China. Results indicated the difference between the non-LBCs and the LBCs in language achievement and motivation with statistical significance. Follow-up interviews revealed a lack of parental engagement, lower level of technological literacy, and test-taking and questions-answering anxiety contributed to the LBCs’ academic underperformance and lower motivation in English learning. Pedagogical implications are discussed regarding how to foster English learning motivation and enhance learner autonomy for LBCs and build communication among different stakeholders in education.Este estudio abordó los factores afectivos en el aprendizaje del inglés de los niños abandonados, Left-Behind Children (LBC’s) en el séptimo grado en la China rural. Los resultados indicaron diferencias significativas entre los LBCs y los no LBCs en el lenguaje y motivación. Las entrevistas conducidas revelaron una falta de participación de los padres y un nivel más bajo de alfabetización tecnológica. La ansiedad de tomar exámenes y responder a preguntas también contribuyeron al bajo rendimiento académico de los LBCs y a una baja motivación en el aprendizaje del inglés. En este estudio, se discuten las implicaciones pedagógicas sobre cómo fomentar la motivación del aprendizaje del inglés, como mejorar la autonomía del los LBC alumnos y fomentar la comunicación entre los interesados en mejorar la educación

Motivación y ansiedad por aprender inglés con respecto a los niños abandonados en la China rural

This study addressed the affective factors in English learning of the Left-behind children (LBCs) in the seventh grade in rural China. Results indicated the difference between the non-LBCs and the LBCs in language achievement and motivation with statistical significance. Follow-up interviews revealed a lack of parental engagement, lower level of technological literacy, and test-taking and questions-answering anxiety contributed to the LBCs’ academic underperformance and lower motivation in English learning. Pedagogical implications are discussed regarding how to foster English learning motivation and enhance learner autonomy for LBCs and build communication among different stakeholders in education.Este estudio abordó los factores afectivos en el aprendizaje del inglés de los niños abandonados, Left-Behind Children (LBC’s) en el séptimo grado en la China rural. Los resultados indicaron diferencias significativas entre los LBCs y los no LBCs en el lenguaje y motivación. Las entrevistas conducidas revelaron una falta de participación de los padres y un nivel más bajo de alfabetización tecnológica. La ansiedad de tomar exámenes y responder a preguntas también contribuyeron al bajo rendimiento académico de los LBCs y a una baja motivación en el aprendizaje del inglés. En este estudio, se discuten las implicaciones pedagógicas sobre cómo fomentar la motivación del aprendizaje del inglés, como mejorar la autonomía del los LBC alumnos y fomentar la comunicación entre los interesados en mejorar la educación

Effectiveness of textually-enhanced captions on Chinese high-school EFL learners’ incidental vocabulary learning

This study employed mixed-methods approach to investigate the impact of textually-enhanced captions on EFL learners’ incidental vocabulary gains and learners’ perceptions of the captioning usefulness in a multi-modal learning environment. 133 Chinese EFL high school learners of the low-intermediate level were randomly assigned to English captions with highlighted target words and L1 gloss (ECL1), Chinese and English captions (CEC), Chinese and English captions with highlighted target words (CECGW), and no captions (NC). Our quasi-experimental findings did not detect any significant differences among the caption types on vocabulary form recognition while ECL1 was found the most effective in meaning recall and recognition. Captioning types and learners’ language proficiency exerted medium-to-large effects on meaning recall and meaning recognition. Our qualitative data suggested the participants generally viewed captioned videos positively, with variability in perceptions of concurrent presentation of information. The saliency of L1 gloss could direct the viewers’ attention to the semantic features of a word and reinforce sound-form-meaning connections. Videos lacking L1 glosses of target words had relatively little effect on learners’ vocabulary learning while more textual inputs might not necessarily result in vocabulary gains. Pedagogical implications are proposed for teachers’ adoption of L1 in captioned videos to enhance learners’ learning effectiveness.Este estudio investigó el impacto y las percepciones de los estudiantes de los subtítulos mejorados textualmente en las ganancias incidentales de vocabulario de los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera en un entorno de aprendizaje multimodal. 133 estudiantes chinos de inglés como lengua extranjera de nivel intermedio bajo fueron asignados aleatoriamente a subtítulos en inglés con palabras objetivo resaltadas y brillo L1 (ECL1), subtítulos en chino e inglés (CEC), subtítulos en chino e inglés con palabras objetivo resaltadas (CECGW), y sin subtítulos (NC). Nuestros hallazgos cuasi-experimentales no detectaron diferencias significativas entre los tipos de subtítulos en el reconocimiento de formas de vocabulario, mientras que ECL1 resultó ser el más efectivo para recordar y reconocer significados. Nuestros datos cualitativos sugirieron que los participantes generalmente veían los videos subtitulados de manera positiva, con variabilidad en las percepciones de la presentación simultánea de información. La prominencia del brillo L1 podría dirigir la atención de los espectadores a las palabras objetivo y reforzar las conexiones de la forma del sonido y el significado

HOXC10 promotes nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell proliferation and migration by regulating PI3K/AKT pathway

Purpose: To evaluate the role of homeobox C10 (HOXC10) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays were conducted to determine NPC cell proliferation. Cell migration and invasion were assessed using a Transwell assay, while western blot was used to investigate the mechanism of action involved in HOXC10- mediated NPC. Results: HOXC10 levels were significantly elevated in NPC cells (p < 0.001). Over-expression of HOXC10 significantly increased NPC cell viability (p < 0.05) and proliferation. However, silencing HOXC10 reduced NPC cell proliferation. HOXC10 knockdown suppressed NPC cell migration and invasion. NPC expression of phosphorylated phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (AKT) proteins were up-regulated after HOXC10 over-expression but were down-regulated upon silencing HOXC10 (p < 0.05). Conclusion: HOXC10 knockdown reduces NPC cell proliferation and metastasis by inactivating PI3K/AKT pathway, and therefore, can potentially be developed for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Performance Comparison of Wavefront-Sensorless Adaptive Optics Systems by Using of the Focal Plane

The correction capability and the convergence speed of the wavefront-sensorless adaptive optics (AO) system are compared based on two different system control algorithms, which both use the information of focal plane. The first algorithm is designed through the linear relationship between the second moment of the aberration gradients and the masked far-field intensity distribution and the second is stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD), which is the most commonly used algorithm in wavefront-sensorless AO systems. A wavefront-sensorless AO model is established with a 61-element deformable mirror (DM) and a CCD. Performance of the two control algorithms is investigated and compared through correcting different wavefront aberrations. Results show that the correction ability of AO system based on the proposed control algorithm is obviously better than that of AO system based on SPGD algorithm when the wavefront aberrations increase. The time needed by the proposed control algorithm is much less than that of SPGD when the AO system achieves similar correction results. Additionally, the convergence speed of the proposed control algorithm is independent of the turbulence strength while the number of intensity measurements needed by SPGD increases as the turbulence strength magnifies

Dislocation behaviors in nanotwinned diamond

Experimental results (Huang et al.) indicated that nanotwinned diamond (nt-diamond) has unprecedented hardness, whose physical mechanism has remained elusive. In this report, we categorize interaction modes between dislocations and twin planes in nt-diamond and calculate the associated reaction heat, activation energies, and barrier strength using molecular dynamics. On the basis of the Sachs model, twin thickness dependence of nt-diamond hardness is evaluated, which is in good agreement with the experimental data. We show that two factors contribute to the unusually high hardness of nt-diamond: high lattice frictional stress by the nature of carbon bonding in diamond and high athermal stress due to the Hall-Petch effect. Both factors stem from the low activation volumes and high activation energy for dislocation nucleation and propagation in diamond twin planes. This work provides new insights into hardening mechanisms in nt-diamond and will be helpful for developing new superhard materials in the future

Progress of research on PD-1/PD-L1 in leukemia

Leukemia cells prevent immune system from clearing tumor cells by inducing the immunosuppression of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. In recent years, further understanding of the BM microenvironment and immune landscape of leukemia has resulted in the introduction of several immunotherapies, including checkpoint inhibitors, T-cell engager, antibody drug conjugates, and cellular therapies in clinical trials. Among them, the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) axis is a significant checkpoint for controlling immune responses, the PD-1 receptor on tumor-infiltrating T cells is bound by PD-L1 on leukemia cells. Consequently, the activation of tumor reactive T cells is inhibited and their apoptosis is promoted, preventing the rejection of the tumor by immune system and thus resulting in the occurrence of immune tolerance. The PD-1/PD-L1 axis serves as a significant mechanism by which tumor cells evade immune surveillance, and PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of lymphomas and varieties of solid tumors. However, the development of drugs targeting PD-1/PD-L1 in leukemia remains in the clinical-trial stage. In this review, we tally up the basic research and clinical trials on PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in leukemia, as well as discuss the relevant toxicity and impacts of PD-1/PD-L1 on other immunotherapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, bi-specific T-cell engager, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy