Audio Description for Educational Videos on COVID-19 Response:A Corpus-Based Study on Linguistic and Textual Idiosyncrasies

Audio description(AD),unlike interlingual translation and interpretation,is subject to unique constraints as a spoken text.Facilitated by AD,educational videos on COVID-19 anti-virus measures are made accessible to the visually disadvantaged.In this study,a corpus of AD of COVID-19 educational videos is developed,named“Audio Description Corpus of COVID-19 Educational Videos”(ADCCEV).Drawing on the model of Textual and Linguistic Audio Description Matrix(TLADM),this paper aims to identify the linguistic and textual idiosyncrasies of AD themed on COVID-19 response released by the New Zealand Government.This study finds that linguistically,the AD script uses a mix of complete sentences and phrases,the majority being in Present Simple tense.Present participles and the“with”structure are used for brevity.Vocabulary is diverse,with simpler words for animated explainers.Third-person pronouns are common in educational videos.Color words are a salient feature of AD,where“yellow”denotes urgency,and“red”indicates importance,negativity,and hostility.On textual idiosyncrasies,coherence is achieved through intermodal components that align with the video’s mood and style.AD style varies depending on the video’s purpose,from informative to narrative or expressive.

A Corpus-based Study on Lexical Analysis of English Tour Guide Commentary

This paper is a corpus-based study which aims at analyzing lexical features of English tour commentary and creating a keyword list as teaching material.

A Corpus-based Study on "However" in Chinese Learners' Writing

The use of "however" by Chinese learners' writing is studied through a comparison of its use in CLEC and in BROWN and found that "however" is overused in the front of a sentence,underused in the middle of a sentence and misused as a disjunctive conjunction,as is followed by the analysis of three attributable factors,i.e.the writing style,confusion with "but" and negative L1 transfer.

A Corpus-based Study on Writer/reader Visibility in English Writing by Chinese EFL Learners

Writer/reader(W/R) visibility is regarded as an important indicator of personal involvement. Previous studies concluded that EFL learners tend to contains more personal involvement than native speakers in their writing, making it resemble spoken language as a result. Therefore, this paper examines the degree of W/R visibility in English writing by university-level Chinese learners to verify the applicability of the previous findings on Chinese learners. Based on the data collected in the corpora CLEC,WECCL and LOCNESS, the results show that Chinese EFL learners have the tendency to employ more features of W/R visibility than native speakers, for example the high use of first or second person reference and words that represent mental process. Besides, the paper also reveals little distinction on W/R visibility between English and non-English majors, suggesting the inefficiency of the writing ability of today's English majors.

A Corpus-based Study on Differentiation of English Synonyms:“Conquer”“Overcome”and“Surmount”

Synonym differentiation has always been a difficulty in English learning. Traditionally, definitions and examples from dictionaries are taken to illustrate shades of differences between synonyms, which fails to provide a comprehensive description of these differences for students to differ synonyms. However, with the large volume, authentic materials, fast and convenient retrieval provided by corpus, the corpus-based synonym differentiation method can make a comprehensive description of synonyms in terms of their distinctive features in frequency distribution, collocation, colligation and semantic prosody. A corpus-based method will be employed to analyze the differences among the three English synonyms"conquer""overcome"and"surmount"based on the data collected from COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English), so as to throw new light on synonym differentiation, offering a new way to study synonyms, and to provide references for lexical teaching and second language acquisition.

A Corpus-based Study of Colloquial Features in English Learners' Written Registers:Taking Quasi-modals as an Example

This article is a corpus-based study of colloquial features, especially quasi-modals in English learners’writings. Via using Longman Learners Corpus, British English 2006 and American English 2006, quasi-modals used in English language learners’ writings are compared with the real uses of quasi-modals in native speakers’ writings. The results show that English languagelearners may have a problem with misusing colloquial-feature phrases, quasi-modals, in written registers.

A Corpus-based Study on Chinese and American Scholars' Use of Nominalizations in English Scientific Research Articles

Nominalization plays a very significant role in written English, especially in the scientific articles. However, it is distinctfor Chinese and English scholars in the use of nominalization in English scientific papers. In order to find the differences in the useof nominalization in English scientific research papers between Chinese writers and native English scholars(American scholarsherein) and help Chinese scholars understand the proper use of English nominalization and write more idiomatic English scientificresearch papers, this paper does a research based on a corpus. In this corpus, there are two sub-corpora, one by American scholarsand the other by Chinese scientists. The research results show that American scholars adopt more nominalizations than Chinesescholars in English scientific papers and there are some differences in the use of nominalization derived from verbs, adjectives tonouns, and formed by gerunds and non-predictive verbs with"-ing"forms between Chinese and American scholars.

Exploring the Path of Shantytown Renewal Based on the Theory of Environment-behavior Studies: A Case Study of the Northwest Area of Saihantala in Baotou City

The application of environment-behavior studies plays an important role in studying the renewal of shantytowns.One of the most humane ways of renewal is designing and constructing the necessary urban spatial environment from the perspective of human daily behavior.Most of the shantytown renovation projects currently carried out in China are mainly focused on demolition and reconstruction,which not only incurs high costs but also damages the original social structure and economic model.During the process of shantytown renewal,it should improve the urban landscape,living environment,and life quality of residents,and ensure the daily life of shantytown residents without increasing their economic burden,and preserve the traces of urban development.In order to achieve this goal,it should explore the renewal strategies of shantytowns from the perspective of environment-behavior studies through behavior maps,on-site research,and literature review.Updating and design from a human perspective often achieve faster and better development;the renewal of shantytowns should be a bottom-up approach and start from a grassroots perspective,completing the renovation design through the composition of the population and behavioral patterns.

Ecological Discourse Analysis Based on the Corpus-A Case Study on the Environmental Discourse of 21st Century

Language learning materials not only provide language input for learners but also subtly disseminate ideology and influence readers’behavior.This study,based on the framework of ecological discourse analysis,quantitatively analyzes and qualitatively describes the ecological significance of environmental texts in the 21st Century.The aim is to provide references for the compilation of environmental discourse in language learning materials,promote the construction of more ecologically beneficial discourse,and facilitate the widespread dissemination of the ecological philosophy of“Diversity and Harmony,Interaction and Co-existence”among young readers.The initial findings of this study are as follows:In the environmental texts of the publication,a large number of relational processes and action processes are used to objectively represent the natural environment;the discourse tends to be ambiguous and beneficial,generally aligning with the ecological philosophy of“Diversity and Harmony,Interaction and Co-existence.”This can guide readers to correctly understand and face environmental issues,which is conducive to the healthy development of natural ecosystems.

Corpus-based Translation Class Design Study

This essay accesses to the approach of corpus applied to translation teaching, in order to improve the teaching methods, lay the foundation for the translation teaching reform, cultivate students research ability, and finally to establish a new type of translation teaching design-- ＂ability-development-oriented design＂. Also, this paper takes the word ＂good＂ for example, looking for the general rules to translate it and its common collocation, in order to design a translation class. Corpus-based learning and teaching provides us a new feasible way of translation class.

Lexical Collocations of “EAT” and “WEAR” in American English from 1800 to 2000:A Corpus-Based Study of Sociolinguistics Approach

Collocations transmit cultural and societal meanings and stereotypes which have built up over time;therefore,research of collocations,especially lexical collocations,provides particular insights into history.The present study examines verb-noun lexical collocations of'eat'and'wear'between 1800 and 2000 through three corpora:Corpus of Historical American English(COHA),Corpus of Contemporary American English(COCA)and Google Books(American).Whilst exploring possible semantic changes in the use of these two verbs,the author seeks for the explanation of the alternative of old collocations and the appearance of new ones.It is found that there is not much fluctuation in the meaning of'eat'and'wear'after two centuries.Besides,it also reveals that social changes have had great impacts on language changes which can modify or create new collocations in the verbnoun lexical collocation of'eat'and 'wear'.By means of identifying the syntagmatic and paradigmatic properties of verb-noun lexical collocation of'eat'and 'wear',it is clearly shown that corpus has potential applications in translation studies,language teaching,and other scientific fields.

Recent progresses in the development of tubular segmented-in-series solid oxide fuel cells:Experimental and numerical study

Solid oxide fuel cells(SOFCs)have attracted a great deal of interest because they have the highest efficiency without using any noble metal as catalysts among all the fuel cell technologies.However,traditional SOFCs suffer from having a higher volume,current leakage,complex connections,and difficulty in gas sealing.To solve these problems,Rolls-Royce has fabricated a simple design by stacking cells in series on an insulating porous support,resulting in the tubular segmented-in-series solid oxide fuel cells(SIS-SOFCs),which achieved higher output voltage.This work systematically reviews recent advances in the structures,preparation methods,perform-ances,and stability of tubular SIS-SOFCs in experimental and numerical studies.Finally,the challenges and future development of tubular SIS-SOFCs are also discussed.The findings of this work can help guide the direction and inspire innovation of future development in this field.

The association of diet quality and physical activity with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 85,545 older Australians:A longitudinal study

Background:A quality diet and an active lifestyle are both important cornerstones of cardiovascular disease(CVD)prevention.However,despite their interlinked effects on metabolic health,the 2 behaviors are rarely considered jointly,particularly within the context of CVD prevention.We examined the independent,interactive,and joint associations of diet and physical activity with CVD hospitalization,CVD mortality,and all-cause mortality.Methods:CVD-free Australian participants aged 4574 years(n=85,545)reported physical activity,diet,sociodemographic,and lifestyle characteristics at baseline(20062009)and follow-up(20122015),and data were linked to hospitalization and death registries(03/31/2019 for CVD hospitalization and all-cause mortality and 12/08/2017 for CVD mortality).Diet quality was categorized as low,medium,and high based on meeting dietary recommendations.Physical activity was operationalized as(a)total moderate-to-vigorous physical activity(MVPA)as per guidelines,and(b)the composition of MVPA as the ratio of vigorous-intensity physical activity(VPA)to total MVPA.We used a left-truncated cause-specific Cox proportional hazards model using time-varying covariates.Results:During a median of 10.7 years of follow-up,6576 participants were admitted to the hospital for CVD and 6581 died from all causes(876 from CVD during 9.3 years).A high-quality diet was associated with a 17%lower risk of all-cause mortality than a low-quality diet,and the highest MVPA category(compared with the lowest)was associated with a 44%and 48%lower risk of CVD and all-cause mortality,respectively.Multiplicative interactions between diet and physical activity were non-significant.For all outcomes,the lowest risk combinations involved a high-quality diet and the highest MVPA categories.Accounting for total MVPA,some VPA was associated with further risk reduction of CVD hospitalization and all-cause mortality.Conclusion:For CVD prevention and longevity,one should adhere to both a healthy diet and an active lifestyle and incorporate some VPA when possible.

Epidemiological and clinical features,treatment status,and economic burden of traumatic spinal cord injury in China:a hospital-based retrospective study

Traumatic spinal cord injury is potentially catastrophic and can lead to permanent disability or even death.China has the largest population of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury.Previous studies of traumatic spinal cord injury in China have mostly been regional in scope;national-level studies have been rare.To the best of our knowledge,no national-level study of treatment status and economic burden has been performed.This retrospective study aimed to examine the epidemiological and clinical features,treatment status,and economic burden of traumatic spinal cord injury in China at the national level.We included 13,465 traumatic spinal cord injury patients who were injured between January 2013 and December 2018 and treated in 30 hospitals in 11 provinces/municipalities representing all geographical divisions of China.Patient epidemiological and clinical features,treatment status,and total and daily costs were recorded.Trends in the percentage of traumatic spinal cord injuries among all hospitalized patients and among patients hospitalized in the orthopedic department and cost of care were assessed by annual percentage change using the Joinpoint Regression Program.The percentage of traumatic spinal cord injuries among all hospitalized patients and among patients hospitalized in the orthopedic department did not significantly change overall(annual percentage change,-0.5%and 2.1%,respectively).A total of 10,053(74.7%)patients underwent surgery.Only 2.8%of patients who underwent surgery did so within 24 hours of injury.A total of 2005(14.9%)patients were treated with high-dose(≥500 mg)methylprednisolone sodium succinate/methylprednisolone(MPSS/MP);615(4.6%)received it within 8 hours.The total cost for acute traumatic spinal cord injury decreased over the study period(-4.7%),while daily cost did not significantly change(1.0%increase).Our findings indicate that public health initiatives should aim at improving hospitals’ability to complete early surgery within 24 hours,which is associated with improved sensorimotor recovery,increasing the awareness rate of clinical guidelines related to high-dose MPSS/MP to reduce the use of the treatment with insufficient evidence.

Causal associations between gastroesophageal reflux disease and essential hypertension: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND Clinical studies have reported that patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD)have a higher prevalence of hypertension.AIM To performed a bidirectional Mendelian randomization(MR)analysis to investi-gate the causal link between GERD and essential hypertension.METHODS Eligible single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)were selected,and weighted median,inverse variance weighted(IVW)as well as MR egger(MR-Egger)re-gression were used to examine the potential causal association between GERD and hypertension.The MR-Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier analysis was used to detect and attempt to reduce horizontal pleiotropy by removing outliers SNPs.The MR-Egger intercept test,Cochran’s Q test and“leave-one-out”sen-sitivity analysis were performed to evaluate the horizontal pleiotropy,heterogen-eities,and stability of single instrumental variable.RESULTS IVW analysis exhibited an increased risk of hypertension(OR=1.46,95%CI:1.33-1.59,P=2.14E-16)in GERD patients.And the same result was obtained in replication practice(OR=1.002,95%CI:1.0008-1.003,P=0.000498).Meanwhile,the IVW analysis showed an increased risk of systolic blood pressure(β=0.78,95%CI:0.11-1.44,P=0.021)and hypertensive heart disease(OR=1.68,95%CI:1.36-2.08,P=0.0000016)in GERD patients.Moreover,we found an decreased risk of Barrett's esophagus(OR=0.91,95%CI:0.83-0.99,P=0.043)in essential hypertension patients.CONCLUSION We found that GERD would increase the risk of essential hypertension,which provided a novel prevent and therapeutic perspectives of essential hypertension.

Association between triglyceride-glucose index and colorectal polyps:A retrospective cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Colorectal polyps(CPs)are frequently occurring abnormal growths in the colorectum,and are a primary precursor of colorectal cancer(CRC).The triglyceride-glucose(TyG)index is a novel marker that assesses metabolic health and insulin resistance,and has been linked to gastrointestinal cancers.AIM To investigate the potential association between the TyG index and CPs,as the relation between them has not been documented.METHODS A total of 2537 persons undergoing a routine health physical examination and colonoscopy at The First People's Hospital of Kunshan,Jiangsu Province,China,between January 2020 and December 2022 were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study.After excluding individuals who did not meet the eligibility criteria,descriptive statistics were used to compare characteristics between patients with and without CPs.Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the associations between the TyG index and the prevalence of CPs.The TyG index was calculated using the following formula:Ln[triglyceride(mg/dL)×glucose(mg/dL)/2].The presence and types of CPs was determined based on data from colonoscopy reports and pathology reports.RESULTS A nonlinear relation between the TyG index and the prevalence of CPs was identified,and exhibited a curvilinear pattern with a cut-off point of 2.31.A significant association was observed before the turning point,with an odds ratio(95% confidence interval)of 1.70(1.40,2.06),P<0.0001.However,the association between the TyG index and CPs was not significant after the cut-off point,with an odds ratio(95% confidence interval)of 0.57(0.27,1.23),P=0.1521.CONCLUSION Our study revealed a curvilinear association between the TyG index and CPs in Chinese individuals,suggesting its potential utility in developing colonoscopy screening strategies for preventing CRC.

Unveiling DNA methylation in Alzheimer’s disease:a review of array-based human brain studies

The intricacies of Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis are being increasingly illuminated by the exploration of epigenetic mechanisms,particularly DNA methylation.This review comprehensively surveys recent human-centered studies that investigate whole genome DNA methylation in Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology.The examination of various brain regions reveals distinctive DNA methylation patterns that associate with the Braak stage and Alzheimer’s disease progression.The entorhinal cortex emerges as a focal point due to its early histological alterations and subsequent impact on downstream regions like the hippocampus.Notably,ANK1 hypermethylation,a protein implicated in neurofibrillary tangle formation,was recurrently identified in the entorhinal cortex.Further,the middle temporal gyrus and prefrontal cortex were shown to exhibit significant hypermethylation of genes like HOXA3,RHBDF2,and MCF2L,potentially influencing neuroinflammatory processes.The complex role of BIN1 in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease is underscored by its association with altered methylation patterns.Despite the disparities across studies,these findings highlight the intricate interplay between epigenetic modifications and Alzheimer’s disease pathology.Future research efforts should address methodological variations,incorporate diverse cohorts,and consider environmental factors to unravel the nuanced epigenetic landscape underlying Alzheimer’s disease progression.

A Corpus-based Contrastive Study of Conceptual Metaphor-A Case Study of English and Chinese Financial Reporting

Up to now there have been no contrastive studies of conceptual metaphor in English and Chinese economic field. In this paper, a corpus-based approach is adopted in comparing the conceptual metaphors in Chinese financial reporting (CFR) with those in English financial reporting (EFR). To make a contrastive study, this paper categorizes the conceptual metaphors identified in two corpora into two parts: same conceptual metaphors and different conceptual metaphors, and for the analysis of each conceptual metaphor, linguistic entity, frequency and percentage are taken as the three standards for comparison, which is analyzed with Concapp.

A Corpus-based Contrastive Study on Hedging in English Business Cor-respondences between Chinese English Learners and Native Speakers

This is a corpus-based contrastive study projected to find out the differences in using hedges in English business corre spondences between Chinese English learners and native speakers.

Pharmacodynamic Study of Parallel Groups Comparing the Effect of Rivaroxaban 20 Mg (Laboratorios Leti, S.A.V.) vs Rivaroxaban 20 Mg (Bayer Laboratories) on Prothrombin Time

Background: The prevalence of both atrial fibrillation (FA) and diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing and they often occur together and constitute a high risk of thrombosis. Rivaroxaban is a Factor Xa inhibitor with a rapid onset and disappearance of action after oral administration;it acts by inhibiting the active form of the coagulation factor. In order to reflect the effect of the action of Rivaroxaban, we used the prothrombin time (PT);however, it′s not the most accurate, but it is the one available in our community. Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, analyst-blinded, parallel group clinical study to verify the efficacy of Rivaroxaban Leti 20 mg (RL) (12 volunteers vs Rivaroxaban Bayer 20 mg (RB) (13 volunteers). The variables were determination of PT and Partial Thromboplastin Time (aPTT) at baseline and at 24, 48 and 72 hours after administering a daily dose of 20 mg for three days. The determination was carried out with the IDG method (Integrated Diagnostics Group Sanzay Corporation) with an International Sensitivity Index (ISI) of 1.17 PT and aPTT were taken before the first dose, and then, every day during the next 3 days, three hours after the ingestion of their daily dose at 7 am. Results: The 25 healthy volunteers were similar in age, BMI, and SBP/DBP level with a greater number of men in the Bayer group. The efficacy of rivaroxaban was similar in both groups with prolongation of PTT to the 2nd day of treatment with PT, and percentage changes from baseline (14.46 ± 0.97 for RB vs 14.17 ± 0.94 RL p: 0.45), PTT results and percentage changes from the base (RB: 34 ± 4.53 RL: 33.46 ± 2.82). The safety of rivaroxaban was good in both groups with no serious adverse events. The equivalence in the logarithmically transformed PT result (ln) on day two, Mean and CI (90%) 99.2 (94.4-104) and 100 (99.5-100.8);neither the means nor the 90% confidence intervals of the PT variable transformed logarithmically to ensure its normality, were far from the 80%-125% allowed for declaration of similarity. Conclusion: The test formulation Rivaroxaban Asarap? 20 mg, manufactured by Leti Laboratories, is interchangeable or bioequivalent in clinical and laboratory response to the reference formulation Xarelto? manufactured by Bayer Laboratories.