The green peafowl (Pavo muticus) is facing a high risk of extinction due to the long-term and widespread threats of poaching and habitat conversion. Here, we present a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of the green peafowl with high contiguity and accuracy assembled by PacBio sequencing, DNBSEQ short-read sequencing, and Hi-C sequencing technologies. The final genome size was estimated to be 1.049 Gb, while 1.042 Gb of the genome was assigned to 27 pseudo-chromosomes. The scaffold N50 length was 75.5 Mb with a complete BUSCO score of 97.6%. We identified W and Z chromosomes and validated them by resequencing 14 additional individuals. Totally, 167.04 Mb repetitive elements were identified in the genome, accounting for 15.92% of the total genome size. We predicted 14,935 protein-coding genes, among which 14,931 genes were functionally annotated. This is the most comprehensive and complete de novo assembly of the Pavo Genus, and it will serve as a valuable resource for future green peafowl ecology, evolution, and conservation studies.

Richards model is a nonlinear curve with four parameters. Usually, the estimation of parameters in Richard model is complicated; and there is little literature on the gray prediction in Richards model is found. Facing these problems, this paper presents a algorithm consisting of the following steps: First, replacing approximately the original data with an arithmetic sequence to rapidly estimate the four parameters of Richards model; then, using them as the initial values to fit the original data by nonlinear least squares, the optimized parameters of Richards model are obtained. The algorithm along with “Kernel” and “IAGO” principles are used for the prediction of grey Richards model. The results from the experiments show that the above algorithms have good practicability and research value.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature of blended learning by practically implementing best practices in employee training. Design/methodology/approach In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, an organization had modified its training procedures over the course of three years to improve employee and organizational outcomes. Employee candidates who were onboarded into sales positions during the years 2019–2021 were given the opportunity to learn the content in an online format and subsequently evaluated prior to their in-person training and final evaluation to provide them with a self-paced blended learning experience. Both evaluation scores, along with the length it took to complete the trainings, were used to determine the trainings effectiveness and efficiency respectively. Findings The findings for the study showed that the organization was successfully able to improve upon the efficiency of the training by reducing training length and the effectiveness by improving employee outcomes. Research limitations/implications The study’s design was limited to the probation process, which resulted in issues drawing conclusions for employee outcomes that were relevant to their long-term organizational success. This emphasizes the importance of comprehensive investigations for future practical studies. Practical implications The findings allow for the improvement of blended learning models within real-world organizational contexts that provide organizations with the opportunity to improve employee outcomes while reducing time costs. Originality/value This study provides data from applied blended learning procedures that were validated using empirical findings, which contributes to the practicality of blended learning in workplace training.

Unlike alphabetic letters, Chinese characters, as orthographic symbols, can represent the meaning of a word. According to Peirce’s triadic division of signs, we believe that a Chinese character is an iconic sign for the referent that its meaning denotes; that is to say, there is something perceptually in common between the character and its denotatum; however, we could be misled by the simple definition of this “similarity” because perceptual experience is not naive but something conventional. Based on the degree of conventionality among iconic signs, we distinguish their iconic nature (i.e., iconicity) into primary and secondary kinds - the former having an obvious similarity between the sign and its referent and the latter showing a sophisticated reflection of an analogical relationship. The construction of the Chinese character system has resulted from the superposition of different iconic relationships, while their differentiation has led to the classification of Chinese characters playing an important role in the recognition of their meanings.

Purpose This study aims to examine how incorporating gamification elements into an offline training program influences learner engagement and learning outcomes in a non-academic, organizational setting. Design/methodology/approach A randomized pretest–posttest control group experiment was designed to investigate participants’ levels of affective, behavioral and cognitive engagement (learner engagement), as well as their scores on a knowledge and skills assessment (learning outcomes) under two training conditions – traditional instructional strategy (TI) and gamification instructional strategy (GL). Training content, which was the same in both groups, included disease-related information, diagnostic expertise and product operational assistance. Participants (N = 98) were medical sales representatives from a multinational company. Findings Participants in the treatment group had higher levels of learner engagement in comparison to those in the control group. Additionally, participants in the GL group had outperformed their counterparts in the control group on the knowledge and skills assessment. Originality/value This is one of the first studies demonstrating how incorporating gamification elements into corporate training can improve medical sales representatives' learner engagement and learning outcomes.