Many Chinese students further their master’s study in translation, however, only a few of them become translators at last and most of them gradually decrease their language learning motivation in the translation program. Based on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, the study adopted a sequential mixed methods design with both questionnaires and interviews to collect the data. We collected 446 questionnaires to explore what types of affordances influence their language learning motivation most. After that, we interviewed six participants to explore how these affordances influence their motivation. Findings from the questionnaires showed that the affordances of the mentor can be divided into strong academic ability, rich academic resources, caring students, and strict requests; affordances of the instructor can be divided into informative courses, being serious in class, strong teaching ability, practical courses, new teaching methods, and the reasonable course planning; affordances of the peer can be divided into peer pressure, shared learning resources, mutual encouragement, and mutual supervision. Affordances of the institution can be divided into a good learning atmosphere, sufficient internship opportunities, abundant library resources, good infrastructure, and scholarships. Findings from the interview showed that different interpretations of affordances lead to different effects on language learning motivation; affordance has little influence on intrinsic language learning motivation. This study provided some insights for policymakers and teachers on how to cultivate and promote translation students’ language learning motivation.

UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlights the crucial role of education in securing a promising future for humanity, especially in today’s digital era. However, the prevalence of smartphones has fostered an increase in students’ usage and subsequent digital multitasking tendencies, posing a significant threat to education process, especially in higher education. To gain further insights into this phenomenon, this exploratory descriptive study surveyed 519 students from China university to investigate the magnitude of students’ digital multitasking, motivation behind digital multitasking, and beliefs about reducing phone use. The study found that, (1) despite many respondents reporting the existence of phone limits, no possible reduction in phone use frequency was observed; (2) digital multitasking was positively correlated with mobile phone dependence and non-study motivation; (3) while a majority (86.71%) students expressed their intent to reduce digital multitasking, they were mostly hesitant to follow the moderate or strict rules on phone use; (4) no clear consensus was established (49.90% vs. 50.10%) regarding whether schools should pose more restrictions to encourage such reduction. Our research provides further insights into students’ digital multitasking to improve learning quality and sustainable education.

Nonlinear multi-stable piezoelectric energy harvesters show broadband frequency spectra and excellent energy harvesting performance, owing to their high output power related to inter-well transitions. However, existing quad-stable piezoelectric energy harvesters contain too many structural parameters, which makes the systems clumsy, and increases the difficulties of dynamic analysis and structural optimization. Herein, a nonlinear quad-stable piezoelectric energy harvester, with only one external magnet, is proposed based on the magnetic force characteristics between a ring magnet and a rectangular magnet. Under selected structural parameters, as the magnet spacing increases, the stability characteristic of the harvester changes from quad-stability to bi-stability, and then to mono-stability. The transformation of the stability characteristic results from the changes in the variation rate of the vertical magnetic force. Subsequently, under the filtered Gaussian white noise within the frequency range of 0–120 Hz, the energy harvesting performance of the harvester is simulated by the classic fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Simulation results show that the performance of the harvester under the quad-stable structural parameters is better than that under the bi-stable structural parameters, independent of whether the excitation acceleration is small or large. This result is related to the potential well characteristics under the quad-stable and bi-stable structural parameters. More specifically, the potential well depths under the quad-stable and bi-stable structural parameters are almost the same, but the distance between the two outer potential wells under the quad-stable structural parameters is larger than that under the bi-stable structural parameters. Finally, a fabricated prototype is used to measure the experimental performance of the harvester. The experimental data and the estimated data share the same trend. This study provides a new conception and technical method for the design, optimization, and application of quad-stable piezoelectric energy harvesters.