The physical-mechanical characteristics of leather are crucial in the tanning industry since they determine whether the leather satisfies quality standards for various product manufacture. This study's goal was to assess the physical-mechanical characteristics of leather that could be washed and used for garments after the Zetestan-GF polymer was added during the tanning process. The data gathered from the physical-mechanical analysis of two treatments—one a control with white leather (T1) and the other with leather treated with Zetestan-GF polymer (T2)—were compared for the development of this work. Each treatment was performed in triplicate, undergoing three washes, yielding a total of 24 samples for analysis. Following the acquisition of the leather, a control was applied and the various treatments were compared. SAS software version 9.0 was utilized for the data's statistical analysis. The physical-mechanical properties of the control leather and the leather treated with Zetestan-GF polymer were compared using a one-way ANOVA, and any differences in the means (p < 0.05) were assessed using the Tukey test. The findings showed that while the polymer's application during the tanning process affects the parameters of softness, tensile strength, elongation percentage, and dry and wet flexometry, it has no effect on the lastometry parameter. In conclusion, the physical-mechanical characteristics of the product made by tanning cow hides can be greatly impacted by the inclusion of a polymer.

This empirical study explores the influence of Hollywood product placements on cultural perceptions and teaching practices of preservice English teachers in higher education in China. Hollywood movies and TV series routinely use product placements as a tactic to blend commercial goals with compelling storylines, which could possibly influence the perceptions, and potential teaching practice of Chinese preservice English teachers. The purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which material culture in the form of product placement in Hollywood affects preservice English teachers’ image of America, and their future teaching practice, altering their expectations and goals as well as how they view the West. The study uses a quantitative study method by means of an online questionnaire (N = 497) and applies structural equation modelling to conduct data analysis. The results find notable significant relationships including those from food, architecture, transportation, and electronic devices to positive image of America, as well as architecture and transportation to potential teaching practice. The most prominent path is from image to teaching. However, certain relationships, including those from fashion to image and food to teaching, do not demonstrate statistical significance. These results contribute to the theoretical and practical understanding of how preservice English teachers see Hollywood’s material culture, and how it affects their perception and possible teaching methods. The findings also demonstrate how preservice teachers’ perceptions and educational approaches are shaped by Hollywood’s material culture in the form of product placement, while simultaneously emphasizing the significance of integration of media literacy and upholding their cultural identity amidst these influences.

With the implementation of China’s national strategy of “Culture Going-out”, it is important to translate Qingdao folk culture well in order to promote the effective communication of Qingdao folk culture worldwide. However, the uniqueness of folk culture poses certain difficulties for translation. Skopos theory can effectively guide the translation of Qingdao folk culture. From the perspective of this theory, the author analyzes the principles and strategies of English translation of Qingdao folk culture and proposes four translation methods, such as literal translation with notes, equivalent translation, phonetic translation with notes and free translation. Translators can choose the appropriate translation methods according to specific translation purposes.

The rapid expansion of smart cities has led to the widespread deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices for real-time data collection and urban optimization. However, these interconnected systems face critical cybersecurity risks, including data tampering, unauthorized access, and privacy breaches. This paper proposes a blockchain-based framework designed to enhance the security, integrity, and resilience of IoT data in smart city environments. Leveraging a private blockchain, the system ensures decentralized, tamper-proof data storage, and transaction verification through digital signatures and a lightweight Proof of Work consensus mechanism. Smart contracts are employed to automate access control and respond to anomalies in real time. A Python-based simulation demonstrates the framework’s effectiveness in securing IoT communications. The system supports rapid transaction validation with minimal latency and enables timely detection of anomalous patterns through integrated machine learning. Evaluations show that the framework maintains consistent performance across diverse smart city components such as transportation, healthcare, and building security. These results highlight the potential of the proposed solution to enable secure, scalable, and real-time IoT ecosystems for modern urban infrastructures.

With the requirements of New English Curriculum Standards, English teaching has shifted towards organising content thematically, focusing not only on the transmission of linguistic knowledge but also on the improvement of students' comprehensive quality during language learning. This evolution undoubtedly raises higher demands on English instruction. Unit-based integrated teaching, as an innovative pedagogical model, is characterised by its holistic, interconnected, progressive, and comprehensive features. It can help students to build a correlated knowledge network facilitates the establishment of connections between disparate pieces of knowledge, deepens students' understanding and enhances their retention, improves their overall linguistic competence and learning ability, so as to foster the comprehensive development of core literacy. Therefore, this article takes the teaching of English in compulsory education as an example, and explores and elaborates on the design and implementation path of integrated teaching of English units under the new curriculum standards from four aspects: teaching objectives, teaching content, teaching process, and teaching evaluation, in order to provide reference for promoting integrated teaching of English units in compulsory education.