Analysis of Negative Transfer in Junior High Students’ English Writing Errors

It has become a very significant topic that how to help students overcome the Chinese negative transfer in English writing. This research attempts to investigate the main types of errors made by junior middle school students in their English writing, then to explore the causes of the identified errors, in order to avoid these types of errors. The research subjects are 107 students from two classes in grade eight of No.10 Middle School of Nanchong. Questionnaire and composition writing are used as instruments in this research. It hopes that, this paper can help teachers and students to overcome the influence of Chinese negative transfer, improve students’ English writing

Commercialized Content on Social Media Platforms: Exploring the Drivers of the Viewership of Paid Q&A

Paying to view others’ answers is an emerging business model happening on Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. Yet, little is known about what drives people to pay to view others’ answers. Based on signaling theory and related literature, we develop a model to predict the viewership of paid-for answers. Using unique panel data of 417 question-to-answers, we find that answer providers’ Weibo level, the number of comments that the paid-for answer receives, as well as the question price positively affect the viewership of the paid-for answer. Our findings contribute to the literature and enlighten content providers and platform organization on how to facilitate individual users to commercialize content for profits

Understanding Different Cognitive Levels of Social Engagement: Evidence from Paid Q&A

Despite the widespread conversion of free content to paid content, empirical research investigating social engagement in the paid context still lags. Moreover, prior research used like and comment to measure social engagement without considering their differences. In this study, we conceptualize like and comment on two distinct behavioral manifestations differing cognitive processes involved: low- and high-cognitive social engagement. Specifically, setting in a paid Q&A site, we identify the answer provider characteristic (i.e., the number of followers and posts) and answer characteristic (i.e., viewership revenue) as salient factors influencing social engagement. We compare their direct and interaction effects on the two types of social engagement. Results show that identified factors have a greater direct effect and smaller interaction effect on low-cognitive social engagement than on highcognitive social engagement. Our work advances knowledge of social engagement and has practical implications for platform practitioners to achieve social engagement

How Does Social Media Improve Work Efficiency? Insights from the Theory of Communication Visibility

Social media tools have been increasingly used by employees for internal communication, knowledge sharing, and problem-solving. Despite many studies on knowledge sharing in online settings, little has examined what affects employees’ use of social media for work-related knowledge sharing and work efficiency. Drawing on theories of communication visibility and work motivation, this study examines the direct and indirect influence of message transparency and network translucence together with work motivations (i.e., reputation and social networking) on employees’ knowledge sharing. We further hypothesize the impacts of message transparency and network translucence on work efficiency. Based on a survey of 259 employees, we find that message transparency positively influences knowledge sharing and work efficiency. Notably, message transparency weakens the impact of reputation on knowledge sharing while network translucence strengthens the effect of social networking on knowledge sharing. The practical and theoretical implications of our findings are discussed

Non-Oxide Porous Ceramics from Polymer Precursor

Non-oxide porous ceramics exhibit many unique and superior properties, such as better high-temperature stability, improved chemical inertness/corrosive resistance, as well as wide band-gap semiconducting behavior, which lead to numerous potential applications in catalysis, high temperature electronic and photonic devices, and micro-electromechanical systems. Currently, most mesoporous non-oxide ceramics (e.g. SiC) are formed by two-step templating methods, which are hard to adjust the pore sizes, and require a harmful etching step or a high temperature treatment to remove the templates. In this dissertation, we report a novel technique for synthesizing hierarchically mesoporous non-oxide SiC ceramic from a block copolymer precursor. The copolymer precursors with vairing block length were synthesized by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The block copolymers self-assemble into nano-scaled micelles with a core-shell structure in toluene. With different operation processes, hollow SiC nanospheres and bulk mesoporous SiC ceramics were synthesized after the subsequent pyrolysis of precorsur micelles. The resultant SiC ceramics have potential applications in catalysis, solar cells, separation, and purification processes.The polymer synthesis and pyrolysis process will investigated by NMR, FTIR, GPC, TEM, and TGA/DSC. The morphology and structure of synthesised SiC hollow spheres and mesoporous ceramics were analyzed by SEM, TGA/DSC and BET/BJH analysis. Besides forming core shell micelles in selective solvent Toluene, we found that PVSZ-b-PS could also exhibit this property in the air water interface. By inducing the Langmuir-Blodgett deposition, a precursor monolayer with homogeously distributed povinylsilazane particles deposited on silicon wafer synthesized by spreading the diblock copolymer PVSZ-b-PS in the air water interface. After the pyrolysis process, orderly arranging SiC nano particles formed from the polymer precursor monolayer doped on the surface of silicon wafer, which shows great potential as an optoelectronic material. The deposition process and the relationship between compress pressure and monolayer morphology were studies, and the structure of monolayer and SiC dots were investigated by AFM, SEM

Middle miocene intensification of South Asian monsoonal rainfall

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 35(12), (2020): e2020PA003853, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020PA003853.During the middle Miocene, Earth's climate changed from a global warm period (Miocene Climatic Optimum) into a colder one with the expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet. This prominent climate transition was also a period of drastic changes in global atmospheric circulation. The development of the South Asian monsoon is not well understood and mainly derived from proxy records of wind strength. Data for middle Miocene changes in rainfall are virtually non‐existent for India and the Arabian Sea prior to 11 Ma. This study presents planktic foraminiferal trace element (Mg/Ca and Ba/Ca) and stable oxygen isotope records from NGHP‐01 Site 01A off the coast of West India in the Eastern Arabian Sea (EAS) to reconstruct the regional surface hydrography and hydroclimate in the South Asian monsoon (SAM) region during the middle Miocene. The Ba/Ca and local seawater δ18O (δ18Osw) changes reveal a notable gradual increase in SAM rainfall intensity during the middle Miocene. Additionally to this long‐term increase in precipitation, the seawater δ18O is punctuated by a prominent decrease, i.e. freshening, at ~14 Ma contemporary with Antarctic glaciation. This suggests that Southern Ocean Intermediate Waters (SOIW) transmitted Antarctic salinity changes into the Arabian Sea via an “oceanic tunnel” mechanism. The middle Miocene increase in SAM rainfall is consistent with climate model simulations of an overall strengthening Asian monsoon from the Eocene to the middle/late Miocene with a further acceleration after the middle Miocene climate transition.This study has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through a grant to S. Steinke (NSFC grant No. 41776055) and Z. Jian and S. Steinke (NSFC grant No. 919582080). We express our gratitude to H. Kuhnert (MARUM, University of Bremen) and his team for stable isotope analyses. We thank P. Qiao (Tongji University Shanghai) for technical and analytical support with the ICP‐MS analyses, A. Dolman (Alfred‐Wegener‐Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany) for statistical analyses, and B. Wang (State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University) and his team for the SEM‐EDAX Energy Dispersive X‐ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analyses. L. Giosan acknowledges funding from USSP and WHOI and thanks colleagues and crew from the NGHP‐01 expedition for intellectual interactions leading to long‐standing interests in the fluvial‐continental margin systems of Peninsular India. J. Groeneveld thanks the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (Xiamen University) for a MEL Senior Visiting Fellowship (Project No. MELRS1915).2021-05-2

Two-family outbreak of botulism associated with the consumption of smoked ribs in Sichuan Province, China

SummaryBackgroundOn September 22, 2013, two patients from Sichuan Province, China presented with symptoms of food-borne botulism, a rare but fatal illness caused by the consumption of foods containing Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins.MethodsInvestigators reviewed the medical charts and food consumption histories, and interviewed patients and family members. Food samples and clinical specimens were tested for botulinum toxin and neurotoxin-producing Clostridium species by standard methods.ResultsThe first two index cases presented with cranial neuropathies and flaccid paralysis, and required mechanical ventilation. There were 12 confirmed outbreak-associated cases. Botulinum toxin type A was identified in the smoked ribs, and all of the patients had consumed the smoked ribs from the same local restaurant. The smoked ribs contained no added salt, sugar, or preservative. Botulinum toxin production likely resulted from the cold-smoking preparation method and inappropriate refrigeration.ConclusionsSmoked ribs produced by a local restaurant, contaminated with type A botulism, was the contributor to this outbreak. The supervision of food safety should be strengthened to prevent future outbreaks in China