BackgroundAlthough many studies have documented health effects of ambient temperature, little evidence is available in subtropical or tropical regions, and effect modifiers remain uncertain. We examined the effects of daily mean temperature on mortality and effect modification in the subtropical city of Guangzhou, China.MethodsA Poisson regression model combined with distributed lag non-linear model was applied to assess the non-linear and lag patterns of the association between daily mean temperature and mortality from 2003 to 2007 in Guangzhou. The case-only approach was used to determine whether the effect of temperature was modified by individual characteristics, including sex, age, educational attainment and occupation class.ResultsHot effect was immediate and limited to the first 5 days, with an overall increase of 15.46% (95% confidence interval: 10.05% to 20.87%) in mortality risk comparing the 99th and the 90th percentile temperature. Cold effect persisted for approximately 12 days, with a 20.39% (11.78% to 29.01%) increase in risk comparing the first and the 10th percentile temperature. The effects were especially remarkable for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. The effects of both hot and cold temperatures were greater among the elderly. Females suffered more from hot-associated mortality than males. We also found significant effect modification by educational attainment and occupation class.ConclusionsThere are significant mortality effects of hot and cold temperatures in Guangzhou. The elderly, females and subjects with low socioeconomic status have been identified as especially vulnerable to the effect of ambient temperatures.
Emotions are critical to learning. However, the function of emotions in the emerging context of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been under‐researched. The present study complemented this line of research by modelling the relation between learner emotions, engagement with videos, engagement with assignments, and self‐perceived achievement in a small private online course—a localized instance of an extended MOOC. The results suggested that whereas enjoyment, excitement, boredom, and annoyance were all significant predictors of video engagement, only excitement and annoyance were significant predictors of assignment engagement. Excitement, in particular, was the strongest or stronger predictor of both types of engagement. In addition, both types of engagement predicted self‐perceived achievement, but video engagement predicted self‐perceived achievement via the mediation of assignment engagement. Implications for designing more effective MOOCs were proposed.
Instructional videos play a central role in most online English courses of the current generation. However, previous research on the design and production of these videos has not been adequate, with direct feedback of learners largely neglected. To address the gap, the present study provides an explorative investigation of the perspectives of EFL learners on instructional videos used in online English courses. Through content analysis of students' comments on three existing instructional videos, it reveals the most favorable features of an instructional video, the means to actualize these features, and students' perceptions of different aspects of the physical design of an instructional video. The findings provide video producers with suggestions on the design and production of instructional videos used in online English courses.
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