Recently there have been two causal modelling approaches to indicative conditionals,i.e.extrapolationist(Deng&Lee,2021)and filterist(Liang&Wang,2022),although they all take an interventionist position on subju...Recently there have been two causal modelling approaches to indicative conditionals,i.e.extrapolationist(Deng&Lee,2021)and filterist(Liang&Wang,2022),although they all take an interventionist position on subjunctive conditionals.Motivated by the so-called OK pairs,they try to provide a convincing explanation of the intuition underlying the OK pairs.As far as we know,what they have done is to provide not only an explanation of the OK pairs,but also a way of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals.Although we agree with their success in explaining the OK pairs within a causal modelling framework,we argue that their ways of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals fail.Instead,we argue that their approaches can be used to distinguish between two readings of conditionals,the epistemic reading and the ontic reading.which can be applied to both indicative and subjunctive conditionals.We conclude by arguing that these two readings are related to two approaches to asking and answering causal questions:the“auses-of-effects"approach and the"effects-of-causes"approach.展开更多
Learning to handle hypothetical situations in a new language is always difficult(Catford,et al.,1974).This rule holds true for Moroccan Arabic(henceforth MA)speakers learning English because grammatical devices in the...Learning to handle hypothetical situations in a new language is always difficult(Catford,et al.,1974).This rule holds true for Moroccan Arabic(henceforth MA)speakers learning English because grammatical devices in the two languages differ in almost all equivalent situations.For instance,while English verb forms are used to indicate tense in conditional sentences,MA uses them to indicate aspect.Adopting the typology of conditional constructions suggested by Dancygier(1999)and Dancygier&Sweetser(2005),this study provides a contrastive analysis of conditionals in English and MA to predict the possible errors EFL/ESL learners are likely to make while learning English.The analysis shows that the main discrepancy between English conditionals and MA conditionals lies in the verb form used by the two systems.Accordingly,if EFL/ESL learners are influenced by verb form in their L1,they are likely to face some challenges while learning English conditionals.That is,they are likely to use the past tense in the protases of English predictive conditionals and generic conditionals since the perfective form of the verb is used in the protases of these two types in MA.Concerning the protases of English non-predictive conditionals,Moroccan EFL/ESL learners are likely to use either the past tense or the present tense since both the perfective and the imperfective forms of the verb are possible in the protases of MA non-predictive conditionals.However,due to the fact that the perfective form is the prototypical form in the protases of conditionals in MA,EFL/ESL learners are likely to use the past tense more often than the present tense.The analysis also shows that EFL/ESL learners tend to use the present tense in the apodoses of English conditionals since the prevalent form in the apodoses of MA conditionals is the imperfective.展开更多
The issue of whether online teaching could replace traditional classroom(TC)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers in the applied linguistics literature.The current study attempted to shed light on this p...The issue of whether online teaching could replace traditional classroom(TC)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers in the applied linguistics literature.The current study attempted to shed light on this proposition by testing it on the difficult linguistic target of conditional if-clauses in English.The difficulty of these clauses stems from the fact that different tenses are used to express meanings that are sometimes not related to the tense used.The study recruited 49 participants,who were divided into two groups(23 in the online group,26 in the TC teaching group)and given a multiple-choice task containing 20 items.The study adopted a longitudinal research design(pretest and posttest).Each group was pretested before receiving just one two-hour treatment session.Then both groups were posttested.The results showed that both groups struggled with the second and third types of conditionals more than the zero and first types.The TC teaching group improved in the posttest in all types of conditionals.The online group improved in only two types of conditionals(zero and first).The TC teaching group outperformed the online group in the second and third conditionals.The findings indicate that classroom learning is superior to online learning and that,depending on their type,some conditionals in English are more difficult to learn than others.展开更多
In order to provide scientists with a computational methodology and some computational tools to program their epistemic processes in scientific discovery, we are establishing a novel programming paradigm, named ‘Epis...In order to provide scientists with a computational methodology and some computational tools to program their epistemic processes in scientific discovery, we are establishing a novel programming paradigm, named ‘Epistemic Programming’, which regards conditionals as the subject of computing, takes primary epistemic operations as basic operations of computing, and regards epistemic processes as the subject of programming. This paper presents our fundamental observations and assumptions on scientific discovery processes and their automation, research problems on modeling, automating, and programming epistemic processes, and an outline of our research project of Epistemic Programming.展开更多
Conditionals are often divided into two categories: real conditional and unreal conditional. This paper will only discuss the former. As for the latter, it has been explained comparative exhaustively both in tradition...Conditionals are often divided into two categories: real conditional and unreal conditional. This paper will only discuss the former. As for the latter, it has been explained comparative exhaustively both in traditional grammar and contemporary grammar. In fact, real conditional is much more difficult than it is thought, because people have not described it as exhaustively as unreal conditional.展开更多
The mechanistic target of rapamycin(m TOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a pivotal role in cellular growth, proliferation, survival, and metabolism. In the central nervous system(CNS), the mTOR pathway regul...The mechanistic target of rapamycin(m TOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a pivotal role in cellular growth, proliferation, survival, and metabolism. In the central nervous system(CNS), the mTOR pathway regulates diverse aspects of neural development and function. Genetic mutations within the m TOR pathway lead to severe neurodevelopmental disorders, collectively known as “mTORopathies”(Crino, 2020). Dysfunctions of m TOR, including both its hyperactivation and hypoactivation, have also been implicated in a wide spectrum of other neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, highlighting its importance in CNS health.展开更多
This paper deals with Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations with weak monotonicity coefficients.We first establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions to Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic diff...This paper deals with Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations with weak monotonicity coefficients.We first establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions to Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations.Then we obtain a comparison theorem in one-dimensional situation.展开更多
This paper studies high order compact finite volume methods on non-uniform meshes for one-dimensional elliptic and parabolic differential equations with the Robin boundary conditions.An explicit scheme and an implicit...This paper studies high order compact finite volume methods on non-uniform meshes for one-dimensional elliptic and parabolic differential equations with the Robin boundary conditions.An explicit scheme and an implicit scheme are obtained by discretizing the equivalent integral form of the equation.For the explicit scheme with nodal values,the algebraic system can be solved by the Thomas method.For the implicit scheme with both nodal values and their derivatives,the system can be implemented by a prediction-correction procedure,where in the correction stage,an implicit formula for recovering the nodal derivatives is introduced.Taking two point boundary value problem as an example,we prove that both the explicit and implicit schemes are convergent with fourth order accuracy with respect to some standard discrete norms using the energy method.Two numerical examples demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the schemes,as well as the indispensability of using non-uniform meshes.展开更多
Ceratitis capitata(Wiedemann)is a cosmopolitan pest of economic importance.It is controlled by using the Sterile Insect Technique(SIT),which involves rearing and release of sterile males destined to mate with wild fem...Ceratitis capitata(Wiedemann)is a cosmopolitan pest of economic importance.It is controlled by using the Sterile Insect Technique(SIT),which involves rearing and release of sterile males destined to mate with wild females,causing generation-to-generation suppression.Medflies are colonized by microorganisms,primarily the Enterobacteriaceae,with the genera Klebsiella and Enterobacter being the most common.Such microbiota contributes to host fitness.During the SIT,diet with antibiotics and irradiation for sterility of adults alter microbiota.We aimed to determine the role of Medfly microbiota on resistance to abiotic stress conditions,evaluating its function under:(i)starvation,(ii)elevated temperatures,and(iii)dry environments.These conditions simulate challenges Medfly may encounter after release,which differ from controlled rearing environments.We compared adult survival between symbiotic and aposymbiotic individuals,under starvation,two thermal regimes(25 and 30℃)or two humidity regimes(20%-25%and 80%-90%R.H.).Aposymbiotic individuals were obtained after providing them with water containing a mixture of antibiotics and methylparaben.Treatment with antimicrobials effectively reduced the gut microbiota.While starvation had no significant effect on survival,a higher proportion of aposymbiotic individuals died earlier at 30℃ and under dry humidity,with the effect being more pronounced after 48 h.Our results suggest that microbiota plays a role in adaptation of Medfly under environmental stress.We report for the presence of a culturable yeast in the digestive tract of C.capitata,Zygosaccharomyces rouxii.Providing a probiotic adult diet with bacteria and Z.rouxii prior to release could improve SIT outcomes under adverse conditions.展开更多
The complex aerodynamic interaction between tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor directly affects the wing surface flow and rotor thrust,making it a critical factor during the tilt transition process of this configuration...The complex aerodynamic interaction between tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor directly affects the wing surface flow and rotor thrust,making it a critical factor during the tilt transition process of this configuration of rotorcraft.The aerodynamic interaction of tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor is investigated based on the CFD method.The aerodynamic effect of multi tilt-rotor is simulated as virtual disk modeling by adding source terms to the Navier-Stokes equations,effectively reducing the calculation time while maintaining the accuracy of aerodynamic interaction calculations.Aerodynamic forces and flow field characteristics of the tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor under different tilt angles are compared between cases with and without aerodynamic interaction.Furthermore,the differences in aerodynamic forces between dynamic tilt transition and fixed-angle conditions were compared.The results show that the aerodynamic interaction of multi-rotor obviously increases the lift of front tilt-wing at different tilt angles,the wing lift under interaction is increased by more than 40%compared with isolated wing at tilt angle of 15°for the computation in this paper,which is related to the increase of wing flow velocity and the suppression of flow separation caused by multi-rotor;the wing blocking effect will increase rotor thrust,especially near the tilt angles of 30°and 45°;the increases of rear wing lift and rear rotor thrust under aerodynamic interaction are not significant because of suppression by the front wing’s downwash;the unsteady effects during dynamic tilting have a relatively minor impact on aerodynamic interaction,with the aerodynamic forces on the rotors and wings during the dynamic tilting process showing little difference from those under corresponding fixed tilt angles.展开更多
Estuarine and bay ecosystems serve as crucial transitional zones for land-based pollutants entering the ocean.However,there is a critical gap in understanding the behavior of emerging pollutants in the numerous small ...Estuarine and bay ecosystems serve as crucial transitional zones for land-based pollutants entering the ocean.However,there is a critical gap in understanding the behavior of emerging pollutants in the numerous small estuaries and bays located in undeveloped coastal areas.This study provides insights into the fate of antibiotics in these small and scattered estuaries and bays in Shantou's coast,driven by land use types and hydrodynamic conditions.The findings indicated that estuaries were more heavily polluted with antibiotics than the bays(P<0.05),with tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones as the primary antibiotics.Antibiotic pollution levels were more severe in October than in June(P<0.01).Rainfall runoff,aquaculture tailwater,and river discharge were identified as the main sources of antibiotic pollution.Build-up land and aquaculture ponds were the primary land use types contributing to antibiotic pollution.The total antibiotic concentrations in June were positively correlated with the proportion of aquaculture ponds(P<0.05)and negatively correlated with the proportions of cropland and grassland(P<0.05).The concentrations of lomefloxacin and ofloxacin were positively correlated with build-up land.The antibiotic concentrations exhibited strong spatial heterogeneity within both bay and estuarine ecosystems driven by different hydrodynamic conditions.A comparative analysis of global estuaries and bays revealed that specific land-use types and hydrodynamic conditions produced similar trends in antibiotic fate.These insights offered new perspectives to safeguard the health of estuarine and bay ecosystems,such as altering landscape patterns and regulating aquaculture activities.展开更多
Upper Andean tropical forests are renowned for their extraordinary biodiversity and heterogeneous environmental conditions.Despite the critical role of litter decomposition in carbon and nutrient cycles,its dynamics i...Upper Andean tropical forests are renowned for their extraordinary biodiversity and heterogeneous environmental conditions.Despite the critical role of litter decomposition in carbon and nutrient cycles,its dynamics in this region remains unexplored at finer scales.This study investigates how micro site conditions influence litter decomposition of 15 upper Andean species over time.A reciprocal translocation field experiment was conducted over 18 months in 14 permanent plots within four sites in Colombian Andean mountain forests.Each plot contained three litterbeds(microsites),each with the 15 species,harvested at 3,6,12 and 18 months,totaling 2520 litterbags.Different forest variables,including canopy openness,leaf area index,slope and depth of litter,were measured in each litterbed.ANOVAs and linear mixed models were used to assess variation between sites and plots respectively,while multiple linear regression analyses evaluated the effects of forest variables on decay rates over time at the micro site scale.Results showed differences in absolute decay rates between sites but consistent relative decay rates,indicating varying magnitudes of decomposition,yet maintaining the same order based on their litter quality.Decay rates varied between species,with more variation in labile species compared to recalcitrant ones.Despite substantial variation in forest characteristics within sites,their influence on litter decomposition was minimal and declined over time.This suggests that,at finer spatial scales,the forest microenvironment plays a lesser role in litter decomposition,with litter quality emerging as the primary driver.This study is a step towards understanding the fine-scale dynamics of litter decomposition in upper Andean tropical forests,highlighting the intricate interplay between microenvironmental factors and decomposition processes.展开更多
Aerobic glycolysis,also known as the Warburg effect,and the accumulation of lactate that it causes,are increasingly recognized outside the field of oncology as triggers of chronic non-neoplastic disorders.This review ...Aerobic glycolysis,also known as the Warburg effect,and the accumulation of lactate that it causes,are increasingly recognized outside the field of oncology as triggers of chronic non-neoplastic disorders.This review integrates preclinical and clinical evidence to evaluate the ability of melatonin to reverseWarburg-effect-like metabolic reprogramming.Literature on neurodegeneration,age-related sarcopenia,type 2 diabetes,chronic kidney disease,heart failure and pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH)has been reviewed and synthesised.In all of these conditions,hypoxia-inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α)and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4(PDK4)inhibit the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.This diverts pyruvate away fromthe tricarboxylic acid(TCA)cycle and promotes glycolysis.In cell and animal models,melatonin consistently inhibits PDK4,destabilizes HIF-1αunder normoxic conditions,activates SIRT1/3-dependentmitochondrial biogenesis andmitophagy,and eliminates reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.These actions reduce lactate production,restore oxidative phosphorylation and attenuate tissue damage.This appears to induce cognitive and synaptic improvements in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease models,increased muscle mass and function in ageing rodents,improved insulin sensitivity alongside suppression of hepatic gluconeogenesis in diabetic models,reduced fibrosis in nephropathy,and normalization of vascular remodeling in hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH).Early-stage clinical trials corroborate a decrease in oxidative and inflammatorymarkers,improved sleep quality and modest cognitive benefits.However,they report conflicting effects on insulin sensitivity,which are largely related to the dose and timing of administration in relation to food intake.Overall,the current data suggest that melatonin is a pleiotropic metabolic modulator capable of counteracting the Warburg phenotype in multiple organs.However,human studies remain scarce,and well-designed randomised trials incorporating chronotherapy are needed before clinical adoption.展开更多
Cloud data sharing is an important issue in modern times.To maintain the privacy and confidentiality of data stored in the cloud,encryption is an inevitable process before uploading the data.However,the centralized ma...Cloud data sharing is an important issue in modern times.To maintain the privacy and confidentiality of data stored in the cloud,encryption is an inevitable process before uploading the data.However,the centralized management and transmission latency of the cloud makes it difficult to support real-time processing and distributed access structures.As a result,fog computing and the Internet of Things(IoT)have emerged as crucial applications.Fog-assisted proxy re-encryption is a commonly adopted technique for sharing cloud ciphertexts.It allows a semitrusted proxy to transforma data owner’s ciphertext into another re-encrypted ciphertext intended for a data requester,without compromising any information about the original ciphertext.Yet,the user revocation and cloud ciphertext renewal problems still lack effective and secure mechanisms.Motivated by it,we propose a revocable conditional proxy re-encryption scheme offering ciphertext evolution(R-CPRE-CE).In particular,a periodically updated time key is used to revoke the user’s access privileges while an access condition prevents a malicious proxy from reencrypting unauthorized ciphertext.We also demonstrate that our scheme is provably secure under the notion of indistinguishability against adaptively chosen identity and chosen ciphertext attacks in the random oracle model.Performance analysis shows that our scheme reduces the computation time for a complete data access cycle from an initial query to the final decryption by approximately 47.05%compared to related schemes.展开更多
The carbonylation of amines offers a promising route for synthesizing N-substituted carbamates with high atom economy.However,conventional catalysts exhibit limited catalytic efficiency,and the underlying proton trans...The carbonylation of amines offers a promising route for synthesizing N-substituted carbamates with high atom economy.However,conventional catalysts exhibit limited catalytic efficiency,and the underlying proton transfer mechanism remains elusive.Herein,we reported a metal-free,room-temperature strategy utilizing 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene(TBD)as a dual hydrogen bond catalyst to synergistically activate propylamine(PA)and dimethyl carbonate(DMC).This green catalytic system achieves a 10-fold acceleration in reaction rate compared to other hydrogen bonding catalysts under mild conditions.This is enabled by dual hydrogen bonding of TBD with PA and DMC,which facilitates rapid proton transfer and stabilizes tetrahedral intermediates.Theoretical calculations confirm that the dual hydrogen bond system significantly lowers activation energy compared to single hydrogen bond analogs.Furthermore,it was revealed that the hydrogen bonding network within the product is the primary factor responsible for the sluggish reaction rate.This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a dual hydrogen bond system in accelerating the carbonylation of amines and provides a green route to access carbamates.展开更多
In wave-equation migration and demigration,the cross-correlation imaging/forwarding step implicitly injects an additional copy of the source wavelet,so that the amplitude spectrum of the wavelet is applied redundantly...In wave-equation migration and demigration,the cross-correlation imaging/forwarding step implicitly injects an additional copy of the source wavelet,so that the amplitude spectrum of the wavelet is applied redundantly(effectively imposing a wavelet-spectrum weighting,often akin to an amplitude-squared bias).This redundancy degrades structural fidelity and amplitude balance yet is frequently overlooked.We(i)formalize the mechanism by which cross-correlation duplicates the source-wavelet amplitude effect in both migration and demigration,and(ii)introduce a source-equalized operator that removes the redundancy by deconvolving(or dividing by)the wavelet amplitude spectrum in the imaging condition and its demigration counterpart,while leaving phase/kinematics intact.Using a band-limited Ricker wavelet on a two-layer model and on Marmousi,we show that,if unmanaged,the redundant wavelet spectrum broadens main lobes,introduces ringing,and suppresses vertical resolution in migrated images,and inflates spectrum mismatches between demigrated and observed data even when peak times agree.With our correction,images recover observed-data-consistent bandwidth and sharpened interfaces,and demigrated data also exhibit improved spectrum conformity and reduced amplitude misfit.The results clarify when source amplitudes matter,why cross-correlation makes them redundantly matter,and how a lightweight spectral correction restores physically meaningful amplitude behavior in wave-equation migration/demigration.展开更多
After securing a market for their dried red chilli peppers in China,elated farmers in Uganda are expanding the spicy crop cultivation to thousands of acres.China’s increasing appetite for international cuisine and sp...After securing a market for their dried red chilli peppers in China,elated farmers in Uganda are expanding the spicy crop cultivation to thousands of acres.China’s increasing appetite for international cuisine and spices has created a most welcome demand for high-quality chillies.And given Uganda’s unique climate and soil conditions that allow for diverse chilli varieties,the East African country has a competitive edge.This has led to Uganda and China now having trade agreements in place,facilitating exports.展开更多
To ensure the compatibility between rolling stock and infrastructure when dynamically assessing railway bridges under high-speed traffic,the damping properties considered in the calculation model significantly influen...To ensure the compatibility between rolling stock and infrastructure when dynamically assessing railway bridges under high-speed traffic,the damping properties considered in the calculation model significantly influence the predicted acceleration amplitude at resonance.However,due to the normative specifications of EN 1991-2,which are considered to be overly conservative,damping factors that are far below the actual damping have to be used when predicting vibrations of railway bridges,which means that accelerations at resonance tend to be overestimated to an uneconomical extent.Comparisons between damping factors prescribed by the standard and those identified based on in situ structure measurements always reveal a large discrepancy between reality and regulation.Given this background,this contribution presents a novel approach for defining the damping factor of railway bridges with ballasted tracks,where the damping factor for bridges is mathematically determined based on three different two-dimensional mechanical models.The basic principle of the approach for mathematically determining the damping factor is to separately define and superimpose the dissipative contributions of the supporting structure(including the substructure)and the superstructure.Using the results of a measurement campaign on 15 existing steel railway bridges in the Austrian rail network,the presented mechanical models are calibrated,and by analysing the energy dissipation in the ballasted track,guiding principles for practical application are defined.This guideline is intended to establish an alternative to the currently valid specifications of EN 1991-2,enabling the damping factor of railway bridges to be assessed in a realistic range by mathematical calculation and thus without the need for extensive in situ measurements on the individual structure.In this way,the existing potential of the infrastructure with regard to the damping properties of bridges can be utilised.This contribution focuses on steel bridges,but the mathematical approach for determining the damping factor applies equally to other bridge types(concrete,composite,or filler beam).展开更多
In this paper,we consider a robust semi-infinite interval-valued optimization problem with inequality constraints having an uncertain parameter.The parametric representation of the aforesaid problem is also considered...In this paper,we consider a robust semi-infinite interval-valued optimization problem with inequality constraints having an uncertain parameter.The parametric representation of the aforesaid problem is also considered in order to derive the necessary and sufficient optimality conditions.Furthermore,we formulate a mixed-type dual problem and derive duality results which associate the robust weak efficient solution of the primal and its dual problems.Several examples are given to illustrate the results in the manuscript.展开更多
The dynamic characteristics of the track system can directly affect its service performance and failure process.To explore the load characteristics and dynamic response of the track system under the dynamic loads from...The dynamic characteristics of the track system can directly affect its service performance and failure process.To explore the load characteristics and dynamic response of the track system under the dynamic loads from the rack vehicle in traction conditions,a systematic test of the track subsystem was carried out on a large-slope test line.In the test,the bending stress of the rack teeth,the wheel-rail forces,and the acceleration of crucial components in the track system were measured.Subsequently,a detailed analysis was conducted on the tested signals of the rack railway track system in the time domain and the time-frequency domains.The test results indicate that the traction force significantly affects the rack tooth bending stress and the wheel-rail forces.The vibrations of the track system under the traction conditions are mainly caused by the impacts generated from the gear-rack engagement,which are then transferred to the sleepers,the rails,and the ballast beds.Furthermore,both the maximum stress on the racks and the wheel-rail forces measured on the rails remain below their allowable values.This experimental study evaluates the load characteristics and reveals the vibration characteristics of the rack railway track system under the vehicle’s ultimate load,which is very important for the load-strengthening design of the key components such as racks and the vibration and noise reduction of the track system.展开更多
基金supported by China’s MOE project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities(22JJD720021)the project of Shandong University(11090087395308).
文摘Recently there have been two causal modelling approaches to indicative conditionals,i.e.extrapolationist(Deng&Lee,2021)and filterist(Liang&Wang,2022),although they all take an interventionist position on subjunctive conditionals.Motivated by the so-called OK pairs,they try to provide a convincing explanation of the intuition underlying the OK pairs.As far as we know,what they have done is to provide not only an explanation of the OK pairs,but also a way of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals.Although we agree with their success in explaining the OK pairs within a causal modelling framework,we argue that their ways of distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive conditionals fail.Instead,we argue that their approaches can be used to distinguish between two readings of conditionals,the epistemic reading and the ontic reading.which can be applied to both indicative and subjunctive conditionals.We conclude by arguing that these two readings are related to two approaches to asking and answering causal questions:the“auses-of-effects"approach and the"effects-of-causes"approach.
文摘Learning to handle hypothetical situations in a new language is always difficult(Catford,et al.,1974).This rule holds true for Moroccan Arabic(henceforth MA)speakers learning English because grammatical devices in the two languages differ in almost all equivalent situations.For instance,while English verb forms are used to indicate tense in conditional sentences,MA uses them to indicate aspect.Adopting the typology of conditional constructions suggested by Dancygier(1999)and Dancygier&Sweetser(2005),this study provides a contrastive analysis of conditionals in English and MA to predict the possible errors EFL/ESL learners are likely to make while learning English.The analysis shows that the main discrepancy between English conditionals and MA conditionals lies in the verb form used by the two systems.Accordingly,if EFL/ESL learners are influenced by verb form in their L1,they are likely to face some challenges while learning English conditionals.That is,they are likely to use the past tense in the protases of English predictive conditionals and generic conditionals since the perfective form of the verb is used in the protases of these two types in MA.Concerning the protases of English non-predictive conditionals,Moroccan EFL/ESL learners are likely to use either the past tense or the present tense since both the perfective and the imperfective forms of the verb are possible in the protases of MA non-predictive conditionals.However,due to the fact that the perfective form is the prototypical form in the protases of conditionals in MA,EFL/ESL learners are likely to use the past tense more often than the present tense.The analysis also shows that EFL/ESL learners tend to use the present tense in the apodoses of English conditionals since the prevalent form in the apodoses of MA conditionals is the imperfective.
文摘The issue of whether online teaching could replace traditional classroom(TC)teaching has attracted the attention of researchers in the applied linguistics literature.The current study attempted to shed light on this proposition by testing it on the difficult linguistic target of conditional if-clauses in English.The difficulty of these clauses stems from the fact that different tenses are used to express meanings that are sometimes not related to the tense used.The study recruited 49 participants,who were divided into two groups(23 in the online group,26 in the TC teaching group)and given a multiple-choice task containing 20 items.The study adopted a longitudinal research design(pretest and posttest).Each group was pretested before receiving just one two-hour treatment session.Then both groups were posttested.The results showed that both groups struggled with the second and third types of conditionals more than the zero and first types.The TC teaching group improved in the posttest in all types of conditionals.The online group improved in only two types of conditionals(zero and first).The TC teaching group outperformed the online group in the second and third conditionals.The findings indicate that classroom learning is superior to online learning and that,depending on their type,some conditionals in English are more difficult to learn than others.
基金Supported in part by The Ministry of EducationCulture+1 种基金SportsScience and Technology of Japan under Grant-in-Aid for Explor
文摘In order to provide scientists with a computational methodology and some computational tools to program their epistemic processes in scientific discovery, we are establishing a novel programming paradigm, named ‘Epistemic Programming’, which regards conditionals as the subject of computing, takes primary epistemic operations as basic operations of computing, and regards epistemic processes as the subject of programming. This paper presents our fundamental observations and assumptions on scientific discovery processes and their automation, research problems on modeling, automating, and programming epistemic processes, and an outline of our research project of Epistemic Programming.
文摘Conditionals are often divided into two categories: real conditional and unreal conditional. This paper will only discuss the former. As for the latter, it has been explained comparative exhaustively both in traditional grammar and contemporary grammar. In fact, real conditional is much more difficult than it is thought, because people have not described it as exhaustively as unreal conditional.
基金supported by grants from Simons Foundation (SFARI 479754),CIHR (PJT-180565)the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada (to YL)funding from the Canada Research Chairs program。
文摘The mechanistic target of rapamycin(m TOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a pivotal role in cellular growth, proliferation, survival, and metabolism. In the central nervous system(CNS), the mTOR pathway regulates diverse aspects of neural development and function. Genetic mutations within the m TOR pathway lead to severe neurodevelopmental disorders, collectively known as “mTORopathies”(Crino, 2020). Dysfunctions of m TOR, including both its hyperactivation and hypoactivation, have also been implicated in a wide spectrum of other neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, highlighting its importance in CNS health.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(12001074)the Research Innovation Program of Graduate Students in Hunan Province(CX20220258)+1 种基金the Research Innovation Program of Graduate Students of Central South University(1053320214147)the Key Scientific Research Project of Higher Education Institutions in Henan Province(25B110025)。
文摘This paper deals with Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations with weak monotonicity coefficients.We first establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions to Mckean-Vlasov backward stochastic differential equations.Then we obtain a comparison theorem in one-dimensional situation.
文摘This paper studies high order compact finite volume methods on non-uniform meshes for one-dimensional elliptic and parabolic differential equations with the Robin boundary conditions.An explicit scheme and an implicit scheme are obtained by discretizing the equivalent integral form of the equation.For the explicit scheme with nodal values,the algebraic system can be solved by the Thomas method.For the implicit scheme with both nodal values and their derivatives,the system can be implemented by a prediction-correction procedure,where in the correction stage,an implicit formula for recovering the nodal derivatives is introduced.Taking two point boundary value problem as an example,we prove that both the explicit and implicit schemes are convergent with fourth order accuracy with respect to some standard discrete norms using the energy method.Two numerical examples demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the schemes,as well as the indispensability of using non-uniform meshes.
基金Fund for Scientific and Technological Research of Argentina(FONCyT PICT 2018 number 03521).
文摘Ceratitis capitata(Wiedemann)is a cosmopolitan pest of economic importance.It is controlled by using the Sterile Insect Technique(SIT),which involves rearing and release of sterile males destined to mate with wild females,causing generation-to-generation suppression.Medflies are colonized by microorganisms,primarily the Enterobacteriaceae,with the genera Klebsiella and Enterobacter being the most common.Such microbiota contributes to host fitness.During the SIT,diet with antibiotics and irradiation for sterility of adults alter microbiota.We aimed to determine the role of Medfly microbiota on resistance to abiotic stress conditions,evaluating its function under:(i)starvation,(ii)elevated temperatures,and(iii)dry environments.These conditions simulate challenges Medfly may encounter after release,which differ from controlled rearing environments.We compared adult survival between symbiotic and aposymbiotic individuals,under starvation,two thermal regimes(25 and 30℃)or two humidity regimes(20%-25%and 80%-90%R.H.).Aposymbiotic individuals were obtained after providing them with water containing a mixture of antibiotics and methylparaben.Treatment with antimicrobials effectively reduced the gut microbiota.While starvation had no significant effect on survival,a higher proportion of aposymbiotic individuals died earlier at 30℃ and under dry humidity,with the effect being more pronounced after 48 h.Our results suggest that microbiota plays a role in adaptation of Medfly under environmental stress.We report for the presence of a culturable yeast in the digestive tract of C.capitata,Zygosaccharomyces rouxii.Providing a probiotic adult diet with bacteria and Z.rouxii prior to release could improve SIT outcomes under adverse conditions.
基金supported by the National Key Laboratory of Helicopter Aeromechanics Fund(No.2024-CXPT-GF-JJ-093-05).
文摘The complex aerodynamic interaction between tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor directly affects the wing surface flow and rotor thrust,making it a critical factor during the tilt transition process of this configuration of rotorcraft.The aerodynamic interaction of tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor is investigated based on the CFD method.The aerodynamic effect of multi tilt-rotor is simulated as virtual disk modeling by adding source terms to the Navier-Stokes equations,effectively reducing the calculation time while maintaining the accuracy of aerodynamic interaction calculations.Aerodynamic forces and flow field characteristics of the tandem tilt-wing and multi-rotor under different tilt angles are compared between cases with and without aerodynamic interaction.Furthermore,the differences in aerodynamic forces between dynamic tilt transition and fixed-angle conditions were compared.The results show that the aerodynamic interaction of multi-rotor obviously increases the lift of front tilt-wing at different tilt angles,the wing lift under interaction is increased by more than 40%compared with isolated wing at tilt angle of 15°for the computation in this paper,which is related to the increase of wing flow velocity and the suppression of flow separation caused by multi-rotor;the wing blocking effect will increase rotor thrust,especially near the tilt angles of 30°and 45°;the increases of rear wing lift and rear rotor thrust under aerodynamic interaction are not significant because of suppression by the front wing’s downwash;the unsteady effects during dynamic tilting have a relatively minor impact on aerodynamic interaction,with the aerodynamic forces on the rotors and wings during the dynamic tilting process showing little difference from those under corresponding fixed tilt angles.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Nos.2022YFF0801104 and 2021YFD1700600)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51809177)the Science Foundation of Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology,Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.NIGLAS2022GS08).
文摘Estuarine and bay ecosystems serve as crucial transitional zones for land-based pollutants entering the ocean.However,there is a critical gap in understanding the behavior of emerging pollutants in the numerous small estuaries and bays located in undeveloped coastal areas.This study provides insights into the fate of antibiotics in these small and scattered estuaries and bays in Shantou's coast,driven by land use types and hydrodynamic conditions.The findings indicated that estuaries were more heavily polluted with antibiotics than the bays(P<0.05),with tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones as the primary antibiotics.Antibiotic pollution levels were more severe in October than in June(P<0.01).Rainfall runoff,aquaculture tailwater,and river discharge were identified as the main sources of antibiotic pollution.Build-up land and aquaculture ponds were the primary land use types contributing to antibiotic pollution.The total antibiotic concentrations in June were positively correlated with the proportion of aquaculture ponds(P<0.05)and negatively correlated with the proportions of cropland and grassland(P<0.05).The concentrations of lomefloxacin and ofloxacin were positively correlated with build-up land.The antibiotic concentrations exhibited strong spatial heterogeneity within both bay and estuarine ecosystems driven by different hydrodynamic conditions.A comparative analysis of global estuaries and bays revealed that specific land-use types and hydrodynamic conditions produced similar trends in antibiotic fate.These insights offered new perspectives to safeguard the health of estuarine and bay ecosystems,such as altering landscape patterns and regulating aquaculture activities.
基金supported by the Universidad del Rosario(Small grant ID:IV-FPD003)。
文摘Upper Andean tropical forests are renowned for their extraordinary biodiversity and heterogeneous environmental conditions.Despite the critical role of litter decomposition in carbon and nutrient cycles,its dynamics in this region remains unexplored at finer scales.This study investigates how micro site conditions influence litter decomposition of 15 upper Andean species over time.A reciprocal translocation field experiment was conducted over 18 months in 14 permanent plots within four sites in Colombian Andean mountain forests.Each plot contained three litterbeds(microsites),each with the 15 species,harvested at 3,6,12 and 18 months,totaling 2520 litterbags.Different forest variables,including canopy openness,leaf area index,slope and depth of litter,were measured in each litterbed.ANOVAs and linear mixed models were used to assess variation between sites and plots respectively,while multiple linear regression analyses evaluated the effects of forest variables on decay rates over time at the micro site scale.Results showed differences in absolute decay rates between sites but consistent relative decay rates,indicating varying magnitudes of decomposition,yet maintaining the same order based on their litter quality.Decay rates varied between species,with more variation in labile species compared to recalcitrant ones.Despite substantial variation in forest characteristics within sites,their influence on litter decomposition was minimal and declined over time.This suggests that,at finer spatial scales,the forest microenvironment plays a lesser role in litter decomposition,with litter quality emerging as the primary driver.This study is a step towards understanding the fine-scale dynamics of litter decomposition in upper Andean tropical forests,highlighting the intricate interplay between microenvironmental factors and decomposition processes.
基金supported by Government of the Principado de Asturias through the Fundacion para el Fomento en Asturias de la Investigacion Cientifica Aplicada y a la Tecnologia(FICYT)and also co-founded by the European Union,GRUPIN(IDI/2024/000719).
文摘Aerobic glycolysis,also known as the Warburg effect,and the accumulation of lactate that it causes,are increasingly recognized outside the field of oncology as triggers of chronic non-neoplastic disorders.This review integrates preclinical and clinical evidence to evaluate the ability of melatonin to reverseWarburg-effect-like metabolic reprogramming.Literature on neurodegeneration,age-related sarcopenia,type 2 diabetes,chronic kidney disease,heart failure and pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH)has been reviewed and synthesised.In all of these conditions,hypoxia-inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α)and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4(PDK4)inhibit the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.This diverts pyruvate away fromthe tricarboxylic acid(TCA)cycle and promotes glycolysis.In cell and animal models,melatonin consistently inhibits PDK4,destabilizes HIF-1αunder normoxic conditions,activates SIRT1/3-dependentmitochondrial biogenesis andmitophagy,and eliminates reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.These actions reduce lactate production,restore oxidative phosphorylation and attenuate tissue damage.This appears to induce cognitive and synaptic improvements in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease models,increased muscle mass and function in ageing rodents,improved insulin sensitivity alongside suppression of hepatic gluconeogenesis in diabetic models,reduced fibrosis in nephropathy,and normalization of vascular remodeling in hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH).Early-stage clinical trials corroborate a decrease in oxidative and inflammatorymarkers,improved sleep quality and modest cognitive benefits.However,they report conflicting effects on insulin sensitivity,which are largely related to the dose and timing of administration in relation to food intake.Overall,the current data suggest that melatonin is a pleiotropic metabolic modulator capable of counteracting the Warburg phenotype in multiple organs.However,human studies remain scarce,and well-designed randomised trials incorporating chronotherapy are needed before clinical adoption.
基金supported in part by the National Science and Technology Council of Republic of China under the contract numbers NSTC 114-2221-E-019-055-MY2NSTC 114-2221-E-019-069.
文摘Cloud data sharing is an important issue in modern times.To maintain the privacy and confidentiality of data stored in the cloud,encryption is an inevitable process before uploading the data.However,the centralized management and transmission latency of the cloud makes it difficult to support real-time processing and distributed access structures.As a result,fog computing and the Internet of Things(IoT)have emerged as crucial applications.Fog-assisted proxy re-encryption is a commonly adopted technique for sharing cloud ciphertexts.It allows a semitrusted proxy to transforma data owner’s ciphertext into another re-encrypted ciphertext intended for a data requester,without compromising any information about the original ciphertext.Yet,the user revocation and cloud ciphertext renewal problems still lack effective and secure mechanisms.Motivated by it,we propose a revocable conditional proxy re-encryption scheme offering ciphertext evolution(R-CPRE-CE).In particular,a periodically updated time key is used to revoke the user’s access privileges while an access condition prevents a malicious proxy from reencrypting unauthorized ciphertext.We also demonstrate that our scheme is provably secure under the notion of indistinguishability against adaptively chosen identity and chosen ciphertext attacks in the random oracle model.Performance analysis shows that our scheme reduces the computation time for a complete data access cycle from an initial query to the final decryption by approximately 47.05%compared to related schemes.
基金financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2023YFC3905400)the Clean Combustion and Low-carbon Utilization of Coal,Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Grant No.XDA 29000000.
文摘The carbonylation of amines offers a promising route for synthesizing N-substituted carbamates with high atom economy.However,conventional catalysts exhibit limited catalytic efficiency,and the underlying proton transfer mechanism remains elusive.Herein,we reported a metal-free,room-temperature strategy utilizing 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene(TBD)as a dual hydrogen bond catalyst to synergistically activate propylamine(PA)and dimethyl carbonate(DMC).This green catalytic system achieves a 10-fold acceleration in reaction rate compared to other hydrogen bonding catalysts under mild conditions.This is enabled by dual hydrogen bonding of TBD with PA and DMC,which facilitates rapid proton transfer and stabilizes tetrahedral intermediates.Theoretical calculations confirm that the dual hydrogen bond system significantly lowers activation energy compared to single hydrogen bond analogs.Furthermore,it was revealed that the hydrogen bonding network within the product is the primary factor responsible for the sluggish reaction rate.This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a dual hydrogen bond system in accelerating the carbonylation of amines and provides a green route to access carbamates.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42430303)Strategy Priority Research Program(Category B)of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB0710000)+2 种基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(42288201)the National Key R&D Program of China(2023YFF0803203)the IGGCAS start-up funding(Grant No.E251510101).
文摘In wave-equation migration and demigration,the cross-correlation imaging/forwarding step implicitly injects an additional copy of the source wavelet,so that the amplitude spectrum of the wavelet is applied redundantly(effectively imposing a wavelet-spectrum weighting,often akin to an amplitude-squared bias).This redundancy degrades structural fidelity and amplitude balance yet is frequently overlooked.We(i)formalize the mechanism by which cross-correlation duplicates the source-wavelet amplitude effect in both migration and demigration,and(ii)introduce a source-equalized operator that removes the redundancy by deconvolving(or dividing by)the wavelet amplitude spectrum in the imaging condition and its demigration counterpart,while leaving phase/kinematics intact.Using a band-limited Ricker wavelet on a two-layer model and on Marmousi,we show that,if unmanaged,the redundant wavelet spectrum broadens main lobes,introduces ringing,and suppresses vertical resolution in migrated images,and inflates spectrum mismatches between demigrated and observed data even when peak times agree.With our correction,images recover observed-data-consistent bandwidth and sharpened interfaces,and demigrated data also exhibit improved spectrum conformity and reduced amplitude misfit.The results clarify when source amplitudes matter,why cross-correlation makes them redundantly matter,and how a lightweight spectral correction restores physically meaningful amplitude behavior in wave-equation migration/demigration.
文摘After securing a market for their dried red chilli peppers in China,elated farmers in Uganda are expanding the spicy crop cultivation to thousands of acres.China’s increasing appetite for international cuisine and spices has created a most welcome demand for high-quality chillies.And given Uganda’s unique climate and soil conditions that allow for diverse chilli varieties,the East African country has a competitive edge.This has led to Uganda and China now having trade agreements in place,facilitating exports.
基金funded by the Austrian Federal Railways(ÖBB Infrastruktur AG)in the context of the research project‘VeMoDiss’(acronym)。
文摘To ensure the compatibility between rolling stock and infrastructure when dynamically assessing railway bridges under high-speed traffic,the damping properties considered in the calculation model significantly influence the predicted acceleration amplitude at resonance.However,due to the normative specifications of EN 1991-2,which are considered to be overly conservative,damping factors that are far below the actual damping have to be used when predicting vibrations of railway bridges,which means that accelerations at resonance tend to be overestimated to an uneconomical extent.Comparisons between damping factors prescribed by the standard and those identified based on in situ structure measurements always reveal a large discrepancy between reality and regulation.Given this background,this contribution presents a novel approach for defining the damping factor of railway bridges with ballasted tracks,where the damping factor for bridges is mathematically determined based on three different two-dimensional mechanical models.The basic principle of the approach for mathematically determining the damping factor is to separately define and superimpose the dissipative contributions of the supporting structure(including the substructure)and the superstructure.Using the results of a measurement campaign on 15 existing steel railway bridges in the Austrian rail network,the presented mechanical models are calibrated,and by analysing the energy dissipation in the ballasted track,guiding principles for practical application are defined.This guideline is intended to establish an alternative to the currently valid specifications of EN 1991-2,enabling the damping factor of railway bridges to be assessed in a realistic range by mathematical calculation and thus without the need for extensive in situ measurements on the individual structure.In this way,the existing potential of the infrastructure with regard to the damping properties of bridges can be utilised.This contribution focuses on steel bridges,but the mathematical approach for determining the damping factor applies equally to other bridge types(concrete,composite,or filler beam).
基金supported by the MATRICES,SERB-DST,New Delhi,India(No.MTR/2021/000002).
文摘In this paper,we consider a robust semi-infinite interval-valued optimization problem with inequality constraints having an uncertain parameter.The parametric representation of the aforesaid problem is also considered in order to derive the necessary and sufficient optimality conditions.Furthermore,we formulate a mixed-type dual problem and derive duality results which associate the robust weak efficient solution of the primal and its dual problems.Several examples are given to illustrate the results in the manuscript.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52388102)the Sichuan Science and Technology Program(No.2024NSFTD0011)the Fundamental Research Funds for the State Key Laboratory of Rail Transit Vehicle System of Southwest Jiaotong University(No.2023TPL-T11).
文摘The dynamic characteristics of the track system can directly affect its service performance and failure process.To explore the load characteristics and dynamic response of the track system under the dynamic loads from the rack vehicle in traction conditions,a systematic test of the track subsystem was carried out on a large-slope test line.In the test,the bending stress of the rack teeth,the wheel-rail forces,and the acceleration of crucial components in the track system were measured.Subsequently,a detailed analysis was conducted on the tested signals of the rack railway track system in the time domain and the time-frequency domains.The test results indicate that the traction force significantly affects the rack tooth bending stress and the wheel-rail forces.The vibrations of the track system under the traction conditions are mainly caused by the impacts generated from the gear-rack engagement,which are then transferred to the sleepers,the rails,and the ballast beds.Furthermore,both the maximum stress on the racks and the wheel-rail forces measured on the rails remain below their allowable values.This experimental study evaluates the load characteristics and reveals the vibration characteristics of the rack railway track system under the vehicle’s ultimate load,which is very important for the load-strengthening design of the key components such as racks and the vibration and noise reduction of the track system.
