“Top-down” and “Bottom-up” approaches to teaching listening,when and which approach may be more useful?

This paper mainly deals with two mainstreams in teaching listening comprehension:bottom-up processing approach and top-down processing approach.In the first part of the essay the importance of listening comprehension in language learning will be demonstrated briefly.Then the author will go on to explore the nature of top-down and bottom-up approaches in teaching listening.Lastly,at the third part of the essay,the author shall try to discuss the possibility of applying these approaches into practice,that is,when and why one of them is more useful.Furthermore in this section,a more integrated view will be introduced.

Three Approaches to Teaching EFL Reading

Many approaches to teaching reading are available now.However,what these approaches are and how to select one from them is still puzzling many English teachers.The paper analyses three current perspectives on how to teach reading and discusses how these affect the way reading is taught and gives an evaluation of these approaches.

Novel fabrication techniques for ultra-thin silicon based flexible electronics

Flexible electronics offer a multitude of advantages,such as flexibility,lightweight property,portability,and high durability.These unique properties allow for seamless applications to curved and soft surfaces,leading to extensive utilization across a wide range of fields in consumer electronics.These applications,for example,span integrated circuits,solar cells,batteries,wearable devices,bio-implants,soft robotics,and biomimetic applications.Recently,flexible electronic devices have been developed using a variety of materials such as organic,carbon-based,and inorganic semiconducting materials.Silicon(Si)owing to its mature fabrication process,excellent electrical,optical,thermal properties,and cost efficiency,remains a compelling material choice for flexible electronics.Consequently,the research on ultra-thin Si in the context of flexible electronics is studied rigorously nowadays.The thinning of Si is crucially important for flexible electronics as it reduces its bending stiffness and the resultant bending strain,thereby enhancing flexibility while preserving its exceptional properties.This review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent efforts in the fabrication techniques for forming ultra-thin Si using top-down and bottom-up approaches and explores their utilization in flexible electronics and their applications.

自上而下和自下而上相结合提高大规模生态修复规划的实用性和效率——来自社会生态系统的启示

Ecological restoration policies and their implementation are influenced by ecological and socioeconomic drivers.Top-down approach-based spatial planning,emphasizing hierarchical control within government structures,and without a comprehensive consideration of social–ecological interactions may result in implementation failure and low efficiency.Although many researchers have indicated the necessity to engage social–ecological interactions between stakeholders in effective planning processes,socioeconomic drivers of ecological restoration on a large scale are difficult to quantify because of data scarcity and knowledge limitations.Here,we established a new ecological restoration planning approach linking a social–ecological system framework to large-scale ecological restoration planning.The new spatial planning approach integrates bottom-up approaches targeting stakeholder interests and provides social considerations for stakeholder behavior analysis.Based on this approach,a meta-analysis is introduced to recognize key socioeconomic and social–ecological factors influencing large-scale ecological restoration implementation,and a stochastic model is constructed to analyze the impact of socioeconomic drivers on the behavior of authorities and participants on a large scale.We used the Yangtze River Basin-based Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program(CCFP),one of the largest payments for ecosystem service programs worldwide,to quantify the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale ecological restoration programs.Current CCFP planning without socioeconomic considerations failed to achieve large-scale program goals and showed low investment efficiency,with 19.71% of the implemented area reconverting to cropland after contract expiry.In contrast,spatial matching between planned and actual restoration increased from 61.55% to 81.86% when socioeconomic drivers were included.In addition,compared to that with the current CCFP implementation,the cost effectiveness of spatial planning with social considerations improved by 46.94%.Thus,spatial optimization planning that integrates both top-down and bottom-up approaches can result in more practical and effective ecological restoration than top-down approaches alone.Our new approach incorporates socioeconomic factors into large-scale ecological restoration planning with high practicality and efficiency.

A Participatory Assessment of the Impact of Flooding in Some Communities in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

The frequency and consequences of extreme flood events have increased in recent times, having huge impact on the socio-economic well-being of nations with the most significant impact being felt at the community level. Flooding is the most common environmental hazard in Nigeria, particularly Lokoja, with the frequency, intensity, and extent likely to increase due to the effects of global warming leading to climate change such as sea level rise, more intensive precipitation levels, and higher river discharges. While destructive impacts of flood events continue to increase, flood managers in Nigeria have continued to implement a top-down approach towards mitigating these impacts, without involving affected communities in planning and implementation of mitigation strategies. This study therefore employed a participatory approach to determine the causes and impact of flooding in the study area. Participatory research tools such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and questionnaire surveys using the purposive sampling method were deployed to elicit data on the perception of the communities about the causes and impact of flood events. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed to elucidate the major causes and areas of impact while qualitative analysis was carried out to corroborate the results and to make for a robust outcome. The Chi Square Test analysis was performed to empirically establish a relationship between the impacts and flooding. Results show that major causes of flooding are the release of water from dams (83% in Adankolo, 97% in Gadumo, and 100% in Ganaja), overflow of rivers, and heavy rainfall while flooding affects economic concerns, property and basic amenities. The Chi Square Test analysis determined empirically that a relationship exists between several areas of impact and flood occurrence. The research concludes that participatory flood research approach can provide flood managers and decision makers a bottom-up approach for effective and robust flood mitigation strategies.