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The two-year longitudinal case study reported in this paper documents a Putonghuaspeaking mainland Chinese undergraduate student's language learning experiences and strategy use in an English-medium university in Hong Kong. Using a sociocultural approach, this paper focuses on three biographical episodes, which recount how the student attempted to create alternative ways of learning and seek new learning opportunities within the learning context, how she came to realise the limitations of her efforts and withdrew from her early active pursuits, and how she followed other mainland Chinese students in memorising words and attached her own meanings to her memorisation efforts. The paper highlights the social, cultural and political aspects of her strategy use and argues that learners' biographical experiences are an important avenue for us to understand learners' strategy use as a complicated phenomenon revealing the interplay between learners' agency and context. ; published_or_final_version

Employing network analysis, this study explores the changing dynamics of intergovernmental collaboration throughout the whole process of post-disaster destination management. Jiuzhaigou National Park after the Jiuzhaigou earthquake forms the subject of the case study. Our empirical analysis indicates the following findings: first, intergovernmental collaboration is developed both hierarchically and horizontally at the emergency, intermediate and long-term recovery stages of post-disaster destination management, but it is largely dominated by hierarchical interactions; second, local government increasingly acts as a lubricant role in facilitating the functioning of intergovernmental collaboration during the whole process of post-disaster destination management. These findings contribute to greater insights into the changes of intergovernmental collaboration dynamic in comprehensive post-disaster destination management. This study also provides implications for governments and tourism destinations to improve intergovernmental collaboration for more effective destination management in the context of post-disaster.

The pursuit of sustainability has been at the forefront of contemporary planning initiatives. However, most recent research has focused on the environmental and economic aspects of developing sustainable urban environment, whilst largely neglecting the social aspects. Contemporary political thinking in the UK often disregards the potential of the urban infrastructure to improve social equity. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of transport infrastructure on a variety of social measures, in an empirical and ideologically unbiased fashion, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. We selected "Tramlink" as a case study: a light-rail system in the London Borough of Croydon which began operation in 2000. We used quantitative methods, including advanced spatial statistics, to produce a more detailed analysis of social equity than has been previously published. This acknowledges that determining localised issues can produce more informed and effective policy interventions. Our results demonstrate that the physical properties of transport infrastructure and the non-physical attributes of society, in combination, help to create opportunities for individuals to succeed. We also find that in order to reduce the negative effects of austerity, public money could be more effectively spent if diverted to areas that are most in need which can be highlighted through localised investigations.

Air pollution contributes to 9400 deaths annually in London and diesel vehicles are considered a major source of lethal air pollutants. Consequently, the UK government announced its intention to ban diesel vehicles by 2040 to achieve a sustainable zero-carbon road transport system. Since no empirical studies have used a bottom-up approach to seek Londoners' views, it is therefore worth investigating the public opinion regarding this forthcoming ban. This paper aims to fill this research gap by taking London as a case study. A survey was designed, and fieldwork was conducted to distribute questionnaires to Londoners. Completed questionnaires were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings revealed that the majority of Londoners would be in favour of the ban if they were sufficiently exposed to the appropriate sources of information and were favourably disposed towards environmental protection measures. The results also showed that Londoners were more likely to switch to electric vehicles (EVs) if they were offered generous incentives and encouraged to use scrappage schemes. The present study makes a strong case for enforcing the ban well before 2040. The significance of this research is to provide clearer signals regarding the future of diesel vehicles, which in turn will strengthen the EV policy and uptake.

Abstract. The 14 April 2010 Ms = 7.1 Yushu Earthquake (YE) had caused severe damage in the Jiegu township, the residential centre of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. In view of the fragile geological conditions after YE, risk assessment of secondary geohazards becomes an important concern for the reconstruction. A quantitative methodology was developed to assess the risk of debris flow by taking into account important intensity information. Debris flow scenarios were simulated with respect to rainfall events with 10, 50 and 100 yr returning period, respectively. The possible economic loss and fatalities caused by damage to buildings were assessed both in the settlement area and in the low hazard settlement area regarding the simulated debris flow events. Three modelled building types were adopted, i.e. hollow brick wood (HBW), hollow brick concrete (HBC) and reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. The results suggest that HBC structure achieves a good balance for the cost-benefit relationship compared with HBW and RC structures and thus could be an optimal choice for most of the new residential buildings in the Jiegu township. The low hazard boundary presents significant risk reduction efficiency in the 100 yr returning debris flow event. In addition, the societal risk for the settlement area is unacceptable when the 100 yr returning event occurs but reduces to ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) level as the low hazard area is considered. Therefore, the low hazard area was highly recommended to be taken into account in the reconstruction. Yet, the societal risk might indeed approach an unacceptable level if one considers that YE has inevitably increased the occurrence frequency of debris flow. The quantitative results should be treated as a perspective for the reconstruction rather than precise numbers of future losses, owing to the complexity of the problem and the deficiency of data.

Abstract This study aims to apply a generalized linear model for investigating the relationship between road traffic accidents and the resulting fatalities in Nigeria. The main objectives are to determine the most suitable model fits, compare the models used, and examine the relationship between the total cases and log deaths by modelling the number of road traffic accidents in Nigeria. The study adopts Poisson regression and negative binomial regression model for data analysis to achieve the set goals. The data used for this research are secondary data collected from annual reports on road traffic accidents of the Federal Road Safety Commission of Nigeria between 1960 and 2017. The study establishes that the number of traffic accidents on roads in Nigeria is continually increasing, and efforts by the government and relevant agencies have been mostly unsuccessful in addressing this danger. Moreover, the highly dangerous conditions on Nigerian roads result in a daily loss of innocent lives that otherwise would have significantly contributed to economic growth.

Endogenous anti-inflammatory annexin-A1 (ANX-A1) plays an important role in preserving left ventricular (LV) viability and function after ischaemic insults in vitro, but its long-term cardioprotective actions in vivo are largely unknown. We tested the hypothesis that ANX-A1-deficiency exaggerates inflammation, haematopoietic stem progenitor cell (HSPC) activity and LV remodelling in response to myocardial ischaemia in vivo. Adult ANX - A1 -/- mice subjected to coronary artery occlusion exhibited increased infarct size and LV macrophage content after 24-48 h reperfusion compared with wildtype (WT) counterparts. In addition, ANX - A1 -/- mice exhibited greater expansion of HSPCs and altered pattern of HSPC mobilisation 8 days post-myocardial infarction, with increased circulating neutrophils and platelets, consistent with increased cardiac inflammation as a result of increased myeloid invading injured myocardium in response to MI. Furthermore, ANX - A1 -/- mice exhibited significantly increased expression of LV pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic genes and collagen deposition after MI compared to WT counterparts. ANX-A1-deficiency increased cardiac necrosis, inflammation, hypertrophy and fibrosis following MI, accompanied by exaggerated HSPC activity and impaired macrophage phenotype. These findings suggest that endogenous ANX-A1 regulates mobilisation and differentiation of HSPCs. Limiting excessive monocyte/neutrophil production may limit LV damage in vivo. Our findings support further development of novel ANX-A1-based therapies to improve cardiac outcomes after MI. ; This work was supported in part by both the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, including APP1045140 (to R.H.R., X.M.G., Y.H.Y.), APP1083138 & APP1106154 (to A.J.M.), and the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. R.H.R. and X.J.D. are NHMRC Senior Research Fellows (APP1059960; APP1043026 respectively), A.J.M. is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow (APP1085752) and a NHF Future Leader Fellow (100440). A.A.S. and S.B.F. are supported by Australian Postgraduate Awards.

This paper presents the first results of the measurements of trace gases and aerosols at three surface sites in and outside Beijing before and during the 2008 Olympics. The official air pollution index near the Olympic Stadium and the data from our nearby site revealed an obvious association between air quality and meteorology and different responses of secondary and primary pollutants to the control measures. Ambient concentrations of vehicle-related nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at an urban site dropped by 25% and 20-45% in the first two weeks after full control was put in place, but the levels of ozone, sulfate and nitrate in PM(2.5) increased by 16%, 64%, 37%, respectively, compared to the period prior to the full control; wind data and back trajectories indicated the contribution of regional pollution from the North China Plain. Air quality (for both primary and secondary pollutants) improved significantly during the Games, which were also associated with the changes in weather conditions (prolonged rainfall, decreased temperature, and more frequent air masses from clean regions). A comparison of the ozone data at three sites on eight ozone-pollution days, when the air masses were from the southeast-south-southwest sector, showed that regional pollution sources contributed > 34-88% to the peak ozone concentrations at the urban site in Beijing. Regional sources also contributed significantly to the CO concentrations in urban Beijing. Ozone production efficiencies at two sites were low (similar to 3 ppbv/ppbv), indicating that ozone formation was being controlled by VOCs. Compared with data collected in 2005 at a downwind site, the concentrations of ozone, sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), total sulfur (SO(2)+PM(2.5) sulfate), carbon monoxide (CO), reactive aromatics (toluene and xylenes) sharply decreased (by 8-64%) in 2008, but no significant changes were observed for the concentrations of PM(2.5), fine sulfate, total odd reactive nitrogen (NO(y)), and longer lived alkanes and benzene. We suggest that these results indicate the success of the government's efforts in reducing emissions of SO(2), CO, and VOCs in Beijing, but increased regional emissions during 2005-2008. More stringent control of regional emissions will be needed for significant reductions of ozone and fine particulate pollution in Beijing.

Facilities: Liverpool:2 m, FTN, OO:0.65, MLO:1 m, BAT, OAO:0.5 m, Swift, Mayall. Software: IRAF (v2.16.1; Tody 1993), Starlink (v2015B; Disney & Wallace 1982), APHOT (Pravec et al. 1994), HEASOFT (v6.16), XIMAGE (v4.5.1), XSPEC (v12.8.2; Arnaud 1996), XSELECT (v2.4c), R (R Development Core Team 2011). ; The Andromeda Galaxy recurrent nova M31N 2008-12a had been observed in eruption 10 times, including yearly eruptions from 2008 to 2014. With a measured recurrence period of Prec = 351 ± 13 days (we believe the true value to be half of this) and a white dwarf very close to the Chandrasekhar limit, M31N 2008-12a has become the leading pre-explosion supernova type Ia progenitor candidate. Following multi-wavelength follow-up observations of the 2013 and 2014 eruptions, we initiated a campaign to ensure early detection of the predicted 2015 eruption, which triggered ambitious ground- and space-based follow-up programs. In this paper we present the 2015 detection, visible to near-infrared photometry and visible spectroscopy, and ultraviolet and X-ray observations from the Swift observatory. The LCOGT 2 m (Hawaii) discovered the 2015 eruption, estimated to have commenced at August 28.28 ± 0.12 UT. The 2013–2015 eruptions are remarkably similar at all wavelengths. New early spectroscopic observations reveal short-lived emission from material with velocities ∼13,000 km s^−1, possibly collimated outflows. Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the eruption provide strong evidence supporting a red giant donor. An apparently stochastic variability during the early supersoft X-ray phase was comparable in amplitude and duration to past eruptions, but the 2013 and 2015 eruptions show evidence of a brief flux dip during this phase. The multi-eruption Swift/XRT spectra show tentative evidence of high-ionization emission lines above a high-temperature continuum. Following Henze et al. (2015a), the updated recurrence period based on all known eruptions is Prec = 174 ± 10 days, and we expect the next eruption of M31N 2008-12a to occur around 2016 mid-September. ; A.F.V., and V.P.G. acknowledge support from RFBR Grant No. 16 February 00758. J.F., J.J., and G.S. acknowledge support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) grant AYA2014-59084-P, the E.U. FEDER funds, and AGAUR/Generalitat de Catalunya grant SGR0038/2014. S.F. acknowledges support from the Russian Scientific Foundation (grant N 14-50-00043) and the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University. M. Henze acknowledges the support of the Spanish MINECO under grant FDPI-2013-16933. M. Hernanz acknowledges MINECO support under grant ESP2014-56003-R.K.H. was supported by the project RVO:67985815. J.P.O. and K.L.P. acknowledge funding from the UK Space Agency. VARMR acknowledges financial support from the Radboud Excellence Initiative. S.C.W. acknowledges a visiting research fellowship at LJMU. This work has been supported in part by NSF grant AST-1009566 and NASA grant HST-Go-14125.012. ; Peer-reviewed ; Post-print