Search Results (2)

The precipitation conce ntration degree (PCD) and precipitation concentration period (PCP) in the Liaohe River basin (LRB) from 1960 to 2020 were calculated depending on the daily precipitation data derived from meteorological stations. The mutations of the PCD and PCP were identified by sliding t-test, and spatiotemporal evolution characteristics before and after the mutation point were further analyzed. Cross wavelet transform (CWT) was used to reveal the influence of four low-frequency climate factors (Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Arctic Oscillation (AO), El Niño -Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Sunspots (SS)) on precipitation concentration. The results were presented as follows: Mutations occurred in the PCD sequence in 1980 and the PCP sequence in 2005 in the LRB. Spatial distribution of the PCD generally increased from the southeast to the northwest and tended to flatten. Over the past 60 years, the annual PCD tended to decrease, with a variation range of 0.53 to 0.80. The PCP was relatively concentrated in early July to early August, decreasing before and increasing after the mutation. Important climatic factors driving the mutation of PCD included PDO, SS, and AO. However, the resonance between climate factors and the PCD was characterized by complexity and diversity. The PCP was mainly affected by AO and SS before the mutation. ENSO had an important influence on both PCD and PCP, but had no significant correlation with mutation occurrence. Full article

In this era of globalisation, translation technologies have become more popular in daily communication, the education sector, and the translation industry. It is observed that there is a prevalent use of machine translation (MT) among translation learners. The proper use versus abuse of MT can be a critical issue regarding its role in and impact on translation teaching. This exploratory study aims at investigating learners’ and instructors’ knowledge of MT, experience in MT use, perceived MT quality, ethics of MT use, and the perceived relationship between MT and translation training, in order to figure out the usefulness of MT in translation competence acquisition and the necessity of MT training. To this end, we conducted surveys and semi-structured interviews and found that the influence of MT in translation competence acquisition is determined by the properties of MT and learners’ quality. MT is particularly helpful in gaining lexical knowledge and knowledge to ensure translation efficiency, but not in bicultural knowledge. However, such usefulness builds on learners’ language proficiency, analytic ability, and learning motivation. In light of the findings, issues including the sustainability of MT from ethical and linguistic perspectives, and the potential and proper use of MT to inform translator training, are discussed. Full article