This study examined the motivation of Chinese mature students toward learning English. The participants in the study were ten Chinese mature learners, of whom four were English majors and six were non-English majors. Each underwent a semi-structured interview. Their responses were then coded and analyzed based on Matsuzaka-Carreira’s motivation framework. Furthermore, the Keyword Extraction and Link Terms techniques of PolyAnalystTM were used for further analysis. The results showed that English majors tended to be goal-oriented, and non-English majors were more likely to be means-oriented. English majors were identified as having additional integrative motivation. The factors influencing the motivation of English majors were more diverse than those influencing their non-English major counterparts. The obvious distinction between the two groups was their attitude towards the target language and culture. These findings suggest that instruction for adults should be aligned with mature learners’ practical needs and individual characteristics.

Objectives: Biliary atresia (BA) is a rare neonatal liver disease of which the early diagnosis remains a challenge for clinicians. Our center has established a nomogram diagnostic model based on clinical characteristics and liver function characteristics. We aim to develop and validate a nomogram that includes additional ultrasound and finds hepatobiliary abnormality with better BA early screening performance.Methods: In this single-center, retrospective cohort analysis, 1,001 neonatal obstructive jaundice (NOJ) patients between 2012 and 2015 were enrolled. Multivariable analysis was used to identify clinical characteristics, laboratory liver function characteristics, and ultrasonic features that may early screen BA. A nomogram was developed to predict the probability of BA using multiple logistic regression analysis. This nomogram was subsequently validated using another cohort of 501 NOJ patients between 2015 and 2017. Calibration curve analysis and decision curve analyses were performed to evaluate and interpret the nomogram's clinical benefits.Results: Gender, direct bilirubin (DB), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), fasting gallbladder visibility, fasting gallbladder filling, and common bile duct visibility were found to have profound statistical significance between the BA and non-BA groups (P < 0.05). The significant features were used to build the nomogram. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) value of the novel nomogram (0.87) was superior to those of the former nomogram (0.83) and GGT alone (0.81) in the prediction of BA. The calibration curve revealed a close resemblance between the predicted and actual BA probabilities. Also, the net benefit from the decision curve analysis (DCA) of the nomogram (0.54) was superior to those of the former nomogram (0.49) and GGT alone (0.45) at 80% of threshold possibility.Conclusions: The nomogram has demonstrated better performance for BA screening by including additional information of the US finding, holding a promising future as a non-invasive method for BA patients.

The eastern cultural elements, especially represented by Chinese traditional cultural elements, are widely applied in the fashion design when some major international fashion brands introduce the latest design to the world. Silk as one of main factors of Chinese culture has caught lots of attention of international fashion designers and has won great recognition in the western world. The mixtures of cultural elements give those international fashion brands big profits both in the publicity and economy. However at present in china silk is mainly employed into the bed clothing design, underwear design and craft design. Although there are some designers who try silk into the fashion design, the patterns they use are mostly the Chinese traditional ones. The limit of patterns and styles of silk design puts the domestic silk fashion design in the dilemma. The success of the employment of eastern cultural elements of those international fashion brands inspires a new trend of the silk fashion design. This thesis will try to explore approaches to combine the western cultural elements and Chinese traditional cultural elements into the silk fashion design. And at the same time, we like to talk about the concepts of using the Chinese traditional ways of sewing and embroidery in the showing western cultural elements by silk. Also we want to discuss the new access of the silk to the international fashion design world.