A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Refusal Language Strategies

Using 80 short video examples about refusal language strategies on Douyin short videos as a corpus,this study explores the commonality and individuality,as well as the contradictory relationship between Chinese and British countries in the use of refusal language strategies by combining manual and graphical data analyses.It is found that Chinese people use more indirect ways of using refusal speech acts,and British and American countries use more direct ways of using refusal speech acts.In addition to this,both Chinese and British countries use non-verbal behavior to reject speech as a way of protecting the positive face of the addressee and reducing the threatening behavior to the face of the other party.This study also found that the ambivalent relationship between the emergence of refusal language strategies in both China and Britain is related to their personal psychological state,social values,and personal face.The results of this study have some values for sociology as well as pragmatics,which is conducive to the maintenance of interpersonal relationships.

High-context and Low-context communication: A Case Study of A Chinese Refusal

Edward Hall offers us an effective means of examining cultural similarities and differences,that is the classification of high-context and low-context culture.The paper attempts to analyze a case of a Chinese refusal from the perspective of highcontext and low-context communication and explores the differences between the two types of communication.

Speech Act of Refusal-A Proposal from an Interlanguage Pragmatic Perspective

This paper is to present a typology of refusal strategies which may be employed in the analysis of refusal performance from a discourse approach.Some previous research carried out is reviewed in order to classify non-native speakers' production of this speech act.Then,the suggested taxonomy will be described in a systematized way from an interlanguage pragmatic perspective and within a conversational analysis framework.Finally,it is emphasized that effective communicative competence plays an important role in the production of this face-threatening speech act of refusing.

A Genre——based Analysis of English Refusal Letters

The present study analyzes ten English refusal letters of two subcategories based on Swales' genre analysis model and finds that difference exists in the generic features of the two subcategorized types. Teachers should reveal the underlying rationale behind linguistic features of a specific genre so that students can not only identify genre but also apply it appropriately.

The Erasure of Signifiers and Refusal of Signification in Philip Larkin's Poem“High Window”

This paper tries to analyze Philip Larkin's poem"High Window"from a deconstructive perspective. It is to show that in the poem the key words/signifiers are always under erasure, and thus the chain of signification is endless since the poem is self-deconstructing. Then, the paper argues that the linguistic features of the poem paradoxically meaningful in the sense that it reflects the poet's skepticism and anxiety.

Exploring the Negative Perceptions Influencing the Refusal of Flu Vaccination in the Older Adult Aged Greater than 60 Years Old: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Aim: To review and investigate the negative perceptions influencing the refusal of flu vaccination in the older adult population age older than 60-year-old. Methods: This literature review focus on the qualitative studies or qualitative data from the mix-design research. A structural search of databases was performed for qualitative studies or mix-design research containing qualitative methods which were published in English between 2011 and 2021. There are eight studies selected in total, including 6 pure qualitative studies and 2 mixed-design studies with qualitative research methods. Only the qualitative data would be analyzed during this literature review. Results: Five descriptive themes emerged: “Insufficient promotion for influenza vaccination by healthcare professionals”, “Anti-vaccination influence”, “Insufficient local policies for encouraging influenza vaccination in elders”, “The negative personal experience of influenza vaccination” and “The negative perception of influenza vaccination from social network”. And one analytical theme was developed: “The cultural influence of influenza vaccination”. “Anti-vaccination influence” was the most significant theme out of the others, as this theme contained the greatest number of correlations to the other themes. Discussion: The six themes synthesized from the reviewed studies have correlations between them. The theme of anti-vaccine influence was the most significant theme with the evidence of the greatest number of correlations with the other theme. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors strengthen the effect of anti-vaccine perception in older adults, leading to refusal of influenza vaccination in older people population. Conclusion: The government should design new strategies for promoting influenza vaccination among older adults and acknowledge their needs culturally and financially. The cooperation of alternative medicine and mainstream western medicine maybe help for promoting influenza vaccination among older adults who adopted alternative medicine. Moreover, healthcare professionals also play a vital role in improving the influenza vaccination ratio in older adults as older adults are likely to follow the vaccination advice from healthcare professionals.

具有时滞效应的air2stream河流水温模型及应用研究

高精度河流水温模型对于深入了解水温的时空变化特征和河流生态修复具有重要意义。基于数据驱动的air2stream模型在保证预测精度的同时,避免了计算的复杂性,已成为河流水温模拟常用的模型。由于水的热惯性及水文条件等的影响,河流水温变化往往显著滞后于气温变化,而air2stream原模型并未考虑滞后效应,导致该模型在流量未知情况下实际精度偏低。为解决该问题,采用气温-水温皮尔逊相关系数计算时滞天数,构建具有时滞的air2stream新模型,进一步根据长江中下游地区两个监测站的多年实测数据验证新模型的有效性和稳定性。结果表明:新模型在不引进额外观测数据的条件下具有更高精度且性能更稳定。相比原模型,在两个监测站新模型的均方根误差分别降低约4.29%和5.85%。新模型具有精度高、水文要素需求少的特点,可为长江中下游的水环境影响评价和生态保护提供依据。

Physical Layer Encryption of OFDM-PON Based on Quantum Noise Stream Cipher with Polar Code

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing passive optical network(OFDM-PON) has superior anti-dispersion property to operate in the C-band of fiber for increased optical power budget. However,the downlink broadcast exposes the physical layer vulnerable to the threat of illegal eavesdropping. Quantum noise stream cipher(QNSC) is a classic physical layer encryption method and well compatible with the OFDM-PON. Meanwhile, it is indispensable to exploit forward error correction(FEC) to control errors in data transmission. However, when QNSC and FEC are jointly coded, the redundant information becomes heavier and thus the code rate of the transmitted signal will be largely reduced. In this work, we propose a physical layer encryption scheme based on polar-code-assisted QNSC. In order to improve the code rate and security of the transmitted signal, we exploit chaotic sequences to yield the redundant bits and utilize the redundant information of the polar code to generate the higher-order encrypted signal in the QNSC scheme with the operation of the interleaver.We experimentally demonstrate the encrypted 16/64-QAM, 16/256-QAM, 16/1024-QAM, 16/4096-QAM QNSC signals transmitted over 30-km standard single mode fiber. For the transmitted 16/4096-QAM QNSC signal, compared with the conventional QNSC method, the proposed method increases the code rate from 0.1 to 0.32 with enhanced security.

Workout Action Recognition in Video Streams Using an Attention Driven Residual DC-GRU Network

Regular exercise is a crucial aspect of daily life, as it enables individuals to stay physically active, lowers thelikelihood of developing illnesses, and enhances life expectancy. The recognition of workout actions in videostreams holds significant importance in computer vision research, as it aims to enhance exercise adherence, enableinstant recognition, advance fitness tracking technologies, and optimize fitness routines. However, existing actiondatasets often lack diversity and specificity for workout actions, hindering the development of accurate recognitionmodels. To address this gap, the Workout Action Video dataset (WAVd) has been introduced as a significantcontribution. WAVd comprises a diverse collection of labeled workout action videos, meticulously curated toencompass various exercises performed by numerous individuals in different settings. This research proposes aninnovative framework based on the Attention driven Residual Deep Convolutional-Gated Recurrent Unit (ResDCGRU)network for workout action recognition in video streams. Unlike image-based action recognition, videoscontain spatio-temporal information, making the task more complex and challenging. While substantial progresshas been made in this area, challenges persist in detecting subtle and complex actions, handling occlusions,and managing the computational demands of deep learning approaches. The proposed ResDC-GRU Attentionmodel demonstrated exceptional classification performance with 95.81% accuracy in classifying workout actionvideos and also outperformed various state-of-the-art models. The method also yielded 81.6%, 97.2%, 95.6%, and93.2% accuracy on established benchmark datasets, namely HMDB51, Youtube Actions, UCF50, and UCF101,respectively, showcasing its superiority and robustness in action recognition. The findings suggest practicalimplications in real-world scenarios where precise video action recognition is paramount, addressing the persistingchallenges in the field. TheWAVd dataset serves as a catalyst for the development ofmore robust and effective fitnesstracking systems and ultimately promotes healthier lifestyles through improved exercise monitoring and analysis.

The Realization of Politeness Strategies in Children＇s Refusal： A Case Study of Parents＇ Educational Background on Children＇s Utterances

Language as a means of communication is represented in two basic forms, written and spoken. Spoken is the first form mastered by language speaker, particularly children. Speech community consists of adult and children. In producing their utterance, children are supposed to be affected by their parents. As a result of different educational background of their parents, children may produce different utterances including refusal. Children from different parents＇ educational background vary their refusal. The tendency that the higher parents＇ educational background will result the more polite refusal produced by children is not proved.

Politeness Strategies in Refusal

The theory of politeness and face-saving proposed by Brown and Levinson （1978, 1987） has been up to now the most influential politeness model. Brown and Levinson＇s politeness theory contains three basic notions： face, FTAs （face threatening acts）, and politeness strategies. According to the authors, ＂face＂ refers to the public self-image of a person. Negative face shows the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others. Positive face shows the need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his or her wants are shared by others. It plays a leading role in the study of speech acts Brown and Levinson introduced five super strategies for politeness in relation to FTAs： bald on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness, off-record, and don＇t do the FTAs. The theoretical framework of this paper is based on Brown and Levinson＇s politeness theory and strategies

Request-Refusal Strategies in Contemporary Chinese Teledramas From the Perspective of Social Power

This study was designed to explore the issue of request-refusal strategies in Chinese setting by establishing a corpus of vedio clips of contemporary Chinese teledramas on the basis of an overview of previous studies on Chinese refusal strategies. In the present study, we chose 3,970 short sequences of video clips from 35 Chinese teledramas which vividly described the Chinese people＇s life in the contemporary times. Taking the two variables of power and distance as reference points, nine situations were designed in this study. Elaborate refusal strategies were consecutively elicited in the nine situations of the 35 contemporary Chinese teledrama serials from the perspective of social power in the study.

The comparison between written DCT and oral role-plays in investigation upon English refusal strategies by Chinese EFL students

The present study is a comparison study of research instrument in the field of interlanguage pragmatics. Sixty-two Chinese EFL university students participated in the study. Written DCT and oral role-plays were designed in four stimulus types of refusal strategies--refusals to invitations, suggestions, offers and requests. Chi-square test and frequency were used for quantitative data and transcription of the tests was used for the qualitative data. The results show that there is no significant difference between the two tests in terms of strategies choices, but written DCT can produce a longer sentence while oral role-plays can yield a more natural expression.

Exposure to TL in class and IL refusal development

The present study aimed to account for the different degrees of IL refusal development in terms of the amount of exposure to TL in class. The refusing responses to various elicitations were collected by means of the written DCT, the oral DCT and the role-play and were processed by employing component analysis. The comparison of refusal components between Group A （with full exposure） and Group B （with partial exposure） presents that the exposure in class does facilitate the development of IL refusal competence. The findings in this study bring some pedagogical implications for L2 teachers and academic inspirations to the researchers in IL pragmatic acquisition.

Cross-cultural Pragmatics within Speech Act:Refusal in Chinese and American Culture

This essay concentrates on the differences in one cross-cultural pragmatics within one speech acts-refusal in both Chinese culture and American culture.Some background theories are introduced at the beginning,followed by specific pragmatics situations of refusal.At the end of the essay,some concepts of cross-cultural pragmatics speech acts teaching are also discussed.

Refusal Speech Acts in Chinese and American English

Refusals are frequently performed in our daily lives.Based on the speech act theory of Austin and Searle,with the theoretical frame of the politeness theory put forward by Brown and Levinson,It presents a comparative study of speech acts of refusal in Chinese and American English.The results show that refusals vary in directness with situations and cultures;On the one hand,both languages employ the three directness types,namely the direct refusal speech act,ability of negation and indirect refusal speech act,and prefer indirect refusals.The situational variability of directness in both languages follows a similar trend.On the other hand,Americans are more direct than Chinese.Furthermore,Chinese shows the lower degree of situational variation in the use of the three directness types.People' s choices of refusal strategies are influenced by social power and social distance.From all these evidence,we maintain that the cross-linguistic differences are due to basic differences in cultural values.

Pragmatic Transfer and Foreign Language Proficiency A Study Based on Chinese EFL Learners ＇ Refusal

The present study is designed to investigate the relationship between pragmatic transfer and foreign language proficiency so as to test the hypotheses of previous researchers on this issue.The result indicates that evidence of pragmatic transfer exists in the refusals of learners’English at all three proficiency levels.Furthermore,pragmatic transfer increases as learners’proficiency increases.This phenomenon is possibly related to the traditional English teaching mode in China which put much attention to grammar and form instead of communicative and pragmatic competence development.To solve such problem,pragmatic instruction of English need be advocated:learners’pragmatic awareness should be developed as early as possible and pragmatic knowledge need be added all through the process of language teaching.

Dynamics of iron and aluminum storages in a subtropical forest headwater stream

The forest headwater streams are important hubs for connecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,with plant litter and sediments as the major carriers for material migrations;however,until now we knew little about the dynamics of trace elements such as iron(Fe)and aluminum(Al)in forest headwater streams.Here,we quantitatively identified the spatiotemporal dynamics of Fe and Al storages in plant litter and sediments and their influencing factors in a subtropical forest headwater stream,and assessed the potential pollution risk.The results showed that:(1)the mean concentrations of Fe and Al in plant litter(sediments)were 5.48 and 8.46(7.39 and 47.47)g·kg^(-1),and the mean storages of Fe and Al in plant litter(sediments)were 0.26 and 0.43(749.04 and 5030.90)g·m^(-2),respectively;(2)the storages of Fe and Al in plant litter and sediments significantly fluctuated from January to December,and showed a decreasing pattern from the source to mouth;and(3)storages of Fe and Al had no significant correlation with riparian forest type and the present of tributary and the Fe and Al storages in plant litter were mainly affected by water temperature and water alkalinity,and their storages in sediments were mainly affected by water temperature and frequency of rainfall;and(4)there were no anthropogenic pollution in Fe and Al in the forest headwater stream.Our study revealed the primary factors of concentrations and storages of Fe and Al in plant litter and sediments in a forest headwater stream,which will improve our understanding of the role of headwater streams in forest nutrient storage and cycling along with hydrological processes.

A Polite and Respectful Acceptance——Implicit Function of Refusal in Chinese from Pedagogical Perspective

This paper discusses the implicit function of refusal expressions that has been used by Chinese native speakers when responding to people’s offerings.By analyzing three conversations regarding how Chinese people have accepted people’s offerings during different time periods(1960’s,1980’s,and 2000’s),the author argues that the verbal refusal in reacting to people’s offerings(especially gifts)does not literally mean“No,I don’t want it.”Instead,it is a way to show humility,politeness,and respect to the gift giver,and it functions as an implicit form of acceptance.By referring to three excerpts chosen from The Book of Rites(Liji禮記),the author demonstrates the Chinese cultural values and cultural themes,focusing on what Chinese people say and do to show respect and politeness when dealing with gifts or other friendliness related offerings.The paper finds two pedagogical implications:1)it is the instructor’s responsibility to highlight the verbal and non-verbal behaviors that both native speakers and language learners do not ordinarily notice in language class,and 2)the repetitive contextualized performances in different levels of learning are necessary and play crucial roles in teaching and learning.

An Improved Framework of Massive Superpoly Recovery in Cube Attacks Against NFSR-Based Stream Ciphers

A critical problem in the cube attack is how to recover superpolies efficiently.As the targeting number of rounds of an iterative stream cipher increases,the scale of its superpolies becomes larger and larger.Recently,to recover massive superpolies,the nested monomial prediction technique,the algorithm based on the divide-and-conquer strategy,and stretching cube attacks were proposed,which have been used to recover a superpoly with over ten million monomials for the NFSR-based stream ciphers such as Trivium and Grain-128AEAD.Nevertheless,when these methods are used to recover superpolies,many invalid calculations are performed,which makes recovering superpolies more difficult.This study finds an interesting observation that can be used to improve the above methods.Based on the observation,a new method is proposed to avoid a part of invalid calculations during the process of recovering superpolies.Then,the new method is applied to the nested monomial prediction technique and an improved superpoly recovery framework is presented.To verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme,the improved framework is applied to 844-and 846-round Trivium and the exact ANFs of the superpolies is obtained with over one hundred million monomials,showing the improved superpoly recovery technique is powerful.Besides,extensive experiments on other scaled-down variants of NFSR-based stream ciphers show that the proposed scheme indeed could be more efficient on the superpoly recovery against NFSR-based stream ciphers.