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Community-based organizations (CBOs) serving older ethnic minority adults, especially older immigrants, are vital to satisfy their complex social, health, and behavioral health needs. This study uses organizational theories and a case study approach to examine how the organizational responses to the multifaceted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and progress beyond the pandemic-related responses. Four CBOs serving older Chinese immigrants in New York City were examined. Results indicate that driven by unmet psychosocial needs of older Chinese immigrants and public health measures, CBOs modified practice protocols and established (or strengthened) collaborative relationships with medical providers and other CBOs. COVID-19 responses include CBOs' transformations in organizational structures (e.g. collaboration) and operational activities (e.g. telehealth). Successful transformations of CBOs were primarily due to prior adaptiveness to integrated care reform and assured needed resources before the pandemic; the transformation reflected orderly organizational progress rather than a temporary management strategy. PRACTICE POINT: CBOs modified practice protocols, established (or strengthened) collaborative relationships, and increased service coordination to address the unmet psychosocial needs of older Chinese immigrants and public health measures. Amidst evolving pandemic-related challenges, community-based organizations (CBOs) fostered collaborative partnerships and provided integrated care services, playing a crucial role in addressing the mental health needs of older immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizational theories explain CBOs' adaptive behaviors during the pandemic, as they provided essential services to vulnerable older immigrants while navigating normative and coercive pressures to meet evolving needs and secure funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) model, social work students based in three different countries (U.S. China, U.K.) were invited to participate in intercultural discussions about the development of the welfare systems in these countries. The discussion forum and COIL activities were conducted using synchronous virtual meetings via Zoom which were referred to as ‘virtual cocktail parties.’ Fifteen synchronous sessions were offered, and a total of 91 students participated in the COIL classes. This endeavor aims to enhance students’ utilization of a peer learning format for intercultural effectiveness, thereby fostering a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the intricate aspects of social work practice. Through discussions with their peers in different countries, social work students recognized how, interculturally, they were impacted by social problems and professional situations. Learners also reflected, dialogued, and shared in contexts marked by cultural diversity. COIL appears to encourage students to develop a sense of global citizenship, fostering a deeper understanding of their roles and responsibilities in an interconnected world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since decision-makers in reality are not always able to analyze problems perfectly rationally, a pursuit evasion game algorithm based on bounded rationality is proposed. It establishes a pursuit evasion game model and first solves the saddle point strategies of the two players under perfect rationality. Introducing the bounded rationality level- k model, a structural assumption is made on the level of thinking strategies for pursuers and evaders. It allows both parties to have different strategic reasoning abilities, and gives corresponding levels' value functions and strategies, which satisfy the HJI equation. As the level increases, the strategy will eventually tend towards Nash equilibrium. Due to the difficulty in directly solving the HJI equation, an actor critic algorithm based on reinforcement learning is used to solve it. The algorithm is designed to enable pursuers to estimate the thinking level of evaders and adopt appropriate strategies. Simplify the motion of a ship as a two-dimensional mathematical model, this paper establishes a ship pursuit and evasion game model, and performs algorithm simulation verification on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation methods can affect the type and dispersion of Cu species, as well as the interaction between Cu species and supports in catalysts. Cu/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalysts with Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 sosolid as the support and Cu loading (mass fraction) of 15% were prepared by deposition precipitation, ammonia evaporation, impregnation and co-precipitation methods, respectively. The phase compositions, texture properties, Cu dispersions and microstructures of the catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 physical adsorption/desorption, N2O titration, SEM, etc. And the catalytic performances of the catalysts for methanol steam reforming to produce hydrogen were evaluated in a fixed-bed reactor. The results show that compared with the Cu/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalysts prepared by another three methods, the Cu/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalyst (Cu/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2-DP) prepared by deposition precipitation method has the largest specific surface area (82.5 m2/g) and Cu specific surface area (206.0 m2/g), as well as the highest Cu dispersion (30.5%). Under the reaction conditions of 250, atmospheric pressure, n(deionized water):n(methanol) of 1.3:1.0 and liquid space velocity of 6 mL/(g·h) for 24 h, Cu/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2-DP shows relatively optimal catalytic performance with methanol conversion rate of 95.2%, hydrogen production rate of 286.8 mmol/(g·h) and CO selectivity of 0.86%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Lin. Lin, Qingwen. Xu, Feipeng. Xu, Caijin. Zhou, Xianjin. Huang, Rihong. Chen, Haiping. Jiang Background: To summarise data from previous reports and perform a meta-analysis to compare the short-term [...]

Objective: The study aimed to reinvestigate psychological mechanisms of the influence of construction workers' experience on hazard recognition performance, with signal detection theory (SDT) and electroencephalogram (EEG) readings. Background: Existing evidence regarding the effect of experience on hazard recognition performance in the construction industry remains inconsistent. Behavior-wise, identification of dominant hazard recognition factors (sensitivity or response bias, or both) would help determine appropriate training strategies to improve hazard recognition. In terms of neuro-responses, induced gamma-band activity was expected to reflect the cognitive functions mediating the psychological effects of experience. Method: Seventy-seven construction workers participated in a predesigned hazard recognition task, in which participants judged whether a hazard was present from a series of construction scenario pictures. We computed and compared the sensitivity and response bias of SDT and time-frequency representations of recorded EEG signals of the two experience-level groups. Results: Novice workers had higher hazard recognition rates. Behavior-wise, novices were more sensitive than more experienced workers. Compared with experienced workers, novices showed stronger gamma-band difference power (hazardous minus safe) in the left frontal and right posterior parietal areas during the hazard recognition process. Conclusion: Novices performed better at hazard recognition, indicating their sensitivity to the hazards without a clear difference in response bias. Based on the EEG data, novices' sensitivity may be attributed to more efficient working memory and attentional control. Application: There is a need for continuous refreshment of hazard recognition skills for experienced workers for safety interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary presents a virtual special issue on the global growth of community psychology (CP), particularly, but not exclusively, as reflected in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP). CP exists in at least 50 countries all over the world, in many of those for over 25 years. Yet, aside from several early Israeli articles, AJCP rarely published work from or about countries outside the US and Canada until the early 2000s, when the number of international articles began to rise sharply. The focus of CP developed differently in different continents. CP in Australia and New Zealand initially followed North America's emphasis on improving social service systems, but has since focused more on environmental and indigenous cultural and decolonial issues that are as salient in those countries as in North America, but have drawn much more attention. CP came later to most of Asia, where it also tended to follow the North American path, but starting in Japan, India, and Hong Kong and now in China and elsewhere, it is establishing its own way. The other two global hotspots for CP for over 40 years have been Europe and Latin America. The level and focus of CP in Europe varies in each country, with some focused on applied developmental psychology and/or community services and others advancing critical and liberation psychology. CP in Latin America evolved from social psychology, but like CP in Sub‐Saharan Africa, is also more explicitly political due to a history of political oppression, social activism, and the limitations of individualistic psychology to focus on social change, overcoming poverty, and interventions by (not just for) community members. Despite those differences, CP literature over the past 23 years suggests an increasingly common interest in social justice, multinational collaborations, and decoloniality. There is still a need for more truly (bidirectional) cross‐cultural, comparative work for mutual learning, sharing of ideas, methods, and intervention practices, and for CP to develop in countries and communities throughout the globe where it could have the greatest impact. Highlights: Presents a special issue on global growth of international community psychology (CP) in relation to American Journal of Community Psychology.CP in Europe focused most on applied development, services, and critical and liberation psychology.CP in Latin America, Africa, Oceania studied social justice, indigenous cultural, & decolonial issues.CP came later to Asia, starting in Japan, India, Hong Kong, & Thailand, now in China & Central Asia.CP needs more international cross‐cultural, comparative work, & sharing of ideas, methods & practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid urbanisation and population growth in the cities, the People's Republic of China has recognised the importance of community development based on an ever-increasing demand for social services. In 1994, the Chinese government adopted community service as an alternative way of providing the supplemental safety net in urban areas. Along with this top-down approach, resident-initiated activities, participation and grassroots organisations at the community level are growing at an incredible pace. Using a case study, this study explores the context and aspects of community services, participation and community development in a Chinese urban community. Results indicate that China's reformed market economy and welfare system presses ordinary urban people to reconnect to the local community to ensure welfare security and quality of life. Community participation in China has rediscovered the path of community development and re-interpreted the top-down and bottom-up approaches in the context of community services. © 2006 The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.

With the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, welfare recipients are faced with new work requirements and sanctions, including a five-year time limit on receiving public assistance. Due to difficulties in adjustment to American society and lack of human capital for the labor market, Asian immigrants and refugees face obstacles transitioning from welfare to work. The majority of individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area who have reached the five-year time limit since January 2003 are of Asian descent. Without adequate welfare-to-work services, restrictions and time limits are leaving many Asian recipients without the proficiencies required for employment, as well as without the cash assistance needed for survival. Using a qualitative study approach by conducting three focus groups with Asian welfare recipients in the San Francisco Bay Area, findings of this study indicate that existing welfare-to-work programs do not meet the unique needs of this population. Their barriers for achieving self-sufficiency are not adequately addressed by welfare reform’s “work first” approach. Instead, findings suggest that welfare-to-work program strategies for this population should incorporate culturally competent support services, human capital development, and strength-based approaches. As more Asian immigrant families lose cash assistance as a result of reaching the five-year time limit, the need to improve welfare-to-work programs and policies for this population has become increasingly urgent.

In the aftermath of 1996 welfare and immigration reforms, service utilization is particularly challenging for mixed-status families in which U.S.-born children live with undocumented parents. This study used both qualitative interview data and quantitative survey data to document Latino immigrant parents' service utilization for their U.S.-born children and the perceived impact of the existence of detention and deportation on their service utilization. Results indicate that Latino families headed by undocumented parents accessed services for their citizen children at a level similar to that of Latino families headed by documented parents. Although undocumented participants reported that detention and deportation affected their service utilization, their social networks embodied in Latino/a relationships helped them to navigate systems, increased their efficacy, counteracted their fears, and contributed to their family resiliency. Hospitals and schools, in particular, served as the entry points for Latino immigrant families to access a broad range of services. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Purpose: This study examines different types of individual-level social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) and their relationships with physical and emotional health among older Chinese living in urban and rural settings. Design and Methods: Using the 2005 China General Social Survey, physical and emotional health were regressed on social capital controlling for sociodemographic variables by urban and rural Chinese aged 65 years and older. Results: Bonding social capital was significantly associated with physical and emotional health (beta = 0.14; p less than 0.001 and beta = 0.11; p less than 0.01, respectively), and linking social capital was significantly associated with physical health (beta = 0.11; p less than 0.01) among the urban older Chinese. No significant associations between social capital measures and health were found among rural elders. Implications: The relationship between social capital and health outcomes should take into account geographical setting. Efforts to increase social capital in the hope of decreasing health disparity might be inadequate without eliminating China's unique rural-urban distinction in distributing economic and social resources. Further conceptualization of social capital may be required for the Eastern context.

In China, rapid development has prompted massive migration from rural to urban areas. Migrants' participation in Urban Residents Committees (URCs) and other community organizations offers opportunities for the development of social capital and democracy in contemporary China. We use 2006 survey data from a stratified convenience sample of 3,024 migrant workers in 7 Chinese cities to examine individual and community social capital and their relation to 3 types of community participation: (a) amount of contact with community organizations, (b) frequency of help sought from community organizations, and (c) the rate of participation in URC meetings. Multiple regressions yield, among 12 measures of individual and community-focused social capital, only neighborhood interaction and organizational social capital as consistently and significantly associated for all 3 types of participation. Other measures were associated with certain types of participation, or were nonsignificant. Implications for migration policy, community participation, and social capital in China are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

Each year, state juvenile courts provide thousands of immigrant and refugee children with access to consistent and reliable caregiving and a stable environment. To examine how courts interpret "the best interests" of immigrant and refugee children, this article examines 24 cases in courts across the United States, which indicate they use a territorial approach when evaluating the best interests standard. Although legal status was not an issue, many related factors were. Consequently, the courts restricted immigrant parents' rights in caring, guiding, and visiting their children; increased the risk of wrongfully terminating parental rights; and intensified the unpredictability of immigrant and refugee children's welfare in the long run. This article suggests an approach that encourages communication between social workers and the courts to address the special needs and circumstances of immigrant and refugee children on three key topics: the material and moral welfare of the child, and social welfare for immigrant and refugee families.

Along with a series of reforms of the household registration, or the hukou system, there has been a sustained call for its reforms to further integrate rural migrants into cities and sustain the national strategy of urbanization. Nevertheless, does hukou still matter? Is it still a major obstacle to the inclusive development of post-reform urban China? Recently, the effect of the hukou system and its reforms has become a debatable topic. To address the question, in this article, we examine the "luohu" of rural migrants, i.e., rural people who work and/or live in the city obtaining urban hukou, to evaluate the effects of hukou reforms. We argue, along with the improvement of China's social security system in both urban and rural areas, as well as the increased rights of rural migrants in cities, that the gap between the "value" of urban and rural hukou is decreasing: the boundaries set between urban and rural territories have been diminished; meanwhile, the intentions of rural migrants to luohu in the city have declined. This dilemma indicates that the impact of hukou system per se is fading, which is closely linked to the reforms of other social policies such as welfare and pension systems. As such, to promote the integration of rural migrants in Chinese cities, the focus of China's hukou reforms should shift from the registration system to more inclusive social policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmission line parameters vary with the change of temperature, which has a significant impact on power system state estimation (SE). Based on the theory of electro-thermal coordination (ETC), this paper proposes two ETC-SE approaches with the consideration of transmission line temperature. The heat balance equation (HBE) is combined with the conventional weighted least square SE for establishing an ETC-SE model. Moreover, an augmented Jacobian ETC-SE approach is developed by integrating the HBE into pseudo measurements and the line temperature into state vectors. The Jacobian matrix is augmented correspondingly and the partial differential coefficients of measurements to line temperature are provided, which enables to calculate line temperature and voltage phasors simultaneously. Furthermore, in order to accelerate the solving process, an improved two-step ETC-SE algorithm is proposed, in which the SE and temperature estimation are decoupled and solved via alternate iteration. The effectiveness of the proposed ETC-SE approaches is verified by the IEEE 14-, 39-, and 118-bus systems. The results show that the proposed ETC-SE approach is effective to reduce the calculation errors and possesses good convergence performance with varying environmental circumstances and ill-conditioned branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]