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Advanced grid technology represented by smart grid and energy internet is the core feature of the next-generation power grid. The next-generation power grid will be a large-scale cyber-physical system (CPS), which will have a higher level of risk management due to its flexibility in sensing and control. This paper explains the methods and results of a study on grid CPS's behavior after risk. Firstly, a behavior model based on hybrid automata is built to simulate grid CPS's risk decisions. Then, a GCPS risk transfer model based on cooperative game theory is built. The model allows decisions to ignore complex network structures. On this basis, a modified applicant-proposing algorithm to achieve risk optimum is proposed. The risk management model proposed in this paper can provide references for power generation and transmission decision after risk as well as risk aversion, an empirical study in north China verifies its validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the remarkable achievements by Chinese scientists and engineers who have contributed to the multiscale process design, with emphasis on the transport mechanisms in stirred reactors, extractors, and rectification columns. After a brief review of the classical theory of transport phenomena, this paper summarizes the domestic developments regarding the relevant experiments and numerical techniques for the interphase mass transfer on the drop/bubble scale and the micromixing in the single-phase or multiphase stirred tanks in China. To improve the design and scale-up of liquid-liquid extraction columns, new measurement techniques with the combination of both particle image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics have been developed and advanced modeling methods have been used to determine the axial mixing and mass transfer performance in extraction columns. Detailed investigations on the mass transfer process in distillation columns are also summarized. The numerical and experimental approaches modeling transport phenomena at the vicinity of the vapor-liquid interface, the point efficiency for trays/packings regarding the mixing behavior of fluids, and the computational mass transfer approach for the simulation of distillation columns are thoroughly analyzed. Recent industrial applications of mathematical models, numerical simulation, and experimental methods for the design and analysis of multiphase stirred reactors/crystallizers, extractors, and distillation columns are seen to garnish economic benefits. The current problems and future prospects are pinpointed at last. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative modeling is necessary for semiotic inquiry. To better theorize such pursuits, a reflexive turn is in order: comparative modeling needs comparative modeling. In search of experientially grounded analogies better suited for understanding, validating, scrutinizing, and accounting for the situation of the semiotic inquirer, this paper applies insights from Peircean process semiotics and Göran Sonesson's extended theory of cultural semiotics toward two ends: one theoretical, the other applied. First, I undertake a critical review of recent scholarly and creative works that attempt to adapt concepts of "parallax" as a source domain for comparative modeling activities. I do this in order to continue laying groundwork for a more complex, systematic theory of reflexive semiotic modeling in human inquiry, building on my earlier work. Second, I explore a specific case study of comparative intercultural modeling: namely, nationalist ethnic classification strategies in China and Vietnam. While many researchers have considered the onomastic and geopolitical dimensions of state-sanctioned ethnic categorization programs in these two countries, little has been done to unpack the powerful visual and narratological strategies employed by both; and little has been done to compare the intercultural categories these strategies serve to legitimize. The Vietnamese classification program is clearly modeled on its Chinese counterpart historically, but important categorical mismatches emerge between the two that indicate the presence of hidden diversity. Comparing the two systems also leads to a number of discoveries with implications for further developing the theory of cultural semiotics. Ultimately, the function or purpose of parallax modeling is shown to both comprehend and point beyond nascent intercultural and intracultural models toward more complex blends, by holding all such relations in a comparative frame, not as irreconcilable positions but as a more developed composite sign indicating the presence of yet more deeply buried dynamic objects to be searched out through further collateral experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over two decades from 1949 until the resumption of the diplomatic relations between these two countries in 1972, West German companies never gave up on the Chinese market despite substantial difficulties caused by Cold War frictions. This paper exams the payment transactions and terms of credits for financing industrial projects between the PRC and West German companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation of the incorporation of Au within pyritic ore from the Qiucun epithermal Au deposit, China. The new data provide insights into the mode of occurrence of Au during fluid-rock interactions within epithermal systems. The distribution and mode of occurrence of Au within arsenian pyrite were investigated using a chemical and structural characterization-based approach combining laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) trace element analysis, megapixel synchrotron X‑ray fluorescence analysis (MSXRF), and atom probe tomography (APT). The resulting data indicate that invisible Au is present at elevated concentrations in the form of a homogeneous solid solution within As-rich pyrite domains, which yields Au concentrations that positively correlate with As. Arsenic-induced lattice defects, such as stacking faults and the expansion of the pyrite unit cell, provide evidence of the effect of As on the incorporation of Au into pyrite. The nucleation and crystallization of electrum preferentially occurred at the fluid-pyrite reaction interface or along fractures and grain boundaries within the pre-existing pyrite. This study indicates that changes in physicochemical conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, and sulfur fugacity) during fluid-pyrite interactions are key controls on the development of nanometer- or micrometer-scale clusters of gold. The systematic compositional and textural observations documented in this study provide new insights into the mechanisms responsible for the different modes of occurrence of Au (ionic vs. particulate) and enable us to further understand the processes involved in the formation of Au mineralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike any other form of professional communication, legal discourse, especially in a legislative context, is unique in the sense that it is full of contradictions. Firstly, it is highly depersonalized, as its illocutionary force is independent of any specific writer or reader, and yet it is meant to address a diverse range of audiences. Secondly, it is meant for ordinary citizens, but is written in a style that is meant only for legal specialists. Thirdly, although its primary function is to assign rights and impose obligations to act or prohibit action, it is written in a highly nominal style (language of thinking) rather than verbal style (language of doing). And finally, legislative provisions are meant to be "clear," "precise," "unambiguous," on the one hand, and "all-inclusive," on the other, which can be seen as a contratdiction in terms. Most of these seeming contradictions make it difficult for the various stakeholders, which include specialists as well as non-specialists, to manage "socio-pragmatic space" in the construction and, more importantly, interpretation of such provisions, particularly when they are interpreted in broadly socio-political contexts. Drawing on some of the contradictory interpretations of certain sections of the Basic Law, widely regarded as the mini-constitution of Hong Kong, this paper will identify and discuss key theoretical issues emerging from a diversity of meanings attributed to somewhat innocuous legislative constructions, which precipitated the "Occupy Central" movement, largely popularized as the symbolic "Umbrella Movement." The paper thus attempts to highlight two rather different aspects of interpretation of legal meaning, one in the court of law for the negotiation of justice, and the other in wider socio-political and public domains where law is interpreted broadly with wider social implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected speech processes (CSPs) occur randomly in everyday conversations of native speakers; however, such phonological variations can bring about challenges for non-native listeners. Looking at CSP literature, there seems to be very few studies that involved young foreign language learners. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the development of connected speech perception skills by focusing on 201 9- to 12-year-old Chinese EFL children. It also incorporated systematic error analysis to further probe into the specific perceptual difficulties. The results indicate that: (1) Despite a significantly ascending trend for the overall growth of perception skills, no significant differences were found between 11 and 12 year olds in elision and contraction, which suggests that the developmental trend varied depending on different CSP types; (2) Although random errors decreased with age, the number of lexicon and syntax errors gradually increased, and the distribution of perceptual errors shifted from the level of words and syllables to that of phonemes; (3) The primary types of errors resulting in the perception difficulties for elision and contraction were consonant errors, grammatical errors and morphology errors. Ergo, this study enhances the understanding of connected speech perception among EFL children and provides some implications for EFL/ESL listening instructions., (© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

China has set a new goal of reaching carbon peak by 2030 and becoming carbon neutralization by 2060. To achieve this goal as well as provide a strong and reliable energy supply for comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China, special action is planning by Northeast China power grid (NCPG). Current situation of renewable energy in NCPG is introduced at first. As the primary method for renewable energy accommodation in Northeast China, the existing rules of ancillary services (AS) market are then analyzed. However, considering the rapid growth of renewable energy installed capacity, the existing market has some limitations. In this paper, we take the structural reform on generation side as thread and market demand as guidance. Initiatives and suggestions for high quality development of renewable energy in Northeast China are then proposed for each implementation stage. Through the improving of market rules, expansion of market scale and cultivation of new market entities, NCPG may realize full consumption of the generated renewable energy. The transition from generation side upgrade to the aggregation of source and storage and finally to the cooperation of source-grid-load-storage will be facilitated and accelerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers in this special issue on Chinese ‘face’ and im/politeness collectively raise very real challenges for the ways in which the now well-known distinction between first order and second order approaches is conceptualized and operationalized by face and politeness researchers. They highlight the difficulties we inevitably encounter when analyzing face and im/politeness across languages and cultures, in particular, those arising from (1) the use of English as a scientific metalanguage to describe concepts and practices in other languages and cultures, (2) the inherent ambiguity and conservatism of folk concepts such as face and politeness, and (3) the difficulties in teasing out face and im/politeness as important phenomena in their own right. In this paper it is suggested that these issues arise as a consequence of the relative paucity of critical discussion of the first-second order distinction by analysts. It is argued that the first-second order distinction needs to be more carefully deconstructed in regards to both its epistemological and ontological loci. It is suggested that equating first order approaches with an “emic” perspective and second order approaches with a “scientific” perspective masks a number of important distinctions that are too often glossed over by those who make claims to being either first or second order researchers. It is concluded that rather than treating the first-second order distinction as a simplistic dichotomy, it is much more productive to deploy the multiple loci of the first-second order distinction in clarifying the various focal points for analysis and theorization in face and politeness research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through reviewing the historical development of the English term face and the Chinese terms mianzi and lian, and drawing upon examples of the use of the terms mianzi and lian in the business domain in mainland China and explanations of negotiations in which the author has been personally involved, this paper argues that mianzi and lian (and by reference ‘face’) are not sub-concepts lying essentially at the heart of Chinese politeness, but separate concepts which, while overlapping with politeness in some instances, frequently operate in ways which are entirely removed from any accepted notions of politeness. In this way, this paper claims that concern for mianzi and lian in Chinese business interaction is just as likely to engender acts of impoliteness as it is to link with examples of politeness, and concludes that the sooner we accept the disassociation between Chinese ‘face’ and politeness, the more we will find ourselves better placed to understand crucial nuances of cross-cultural interaction between Chinese and non-Chinese interactants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines within the theoretical framework of intertextuality the mobilization of glocalization as an international marketing strategy in Nike's and Adidas's 2008 advertising campaigns in China. Intertextuality is seen as a form of mediation through which the glocalization strategy conducted within the domain of global marking is taken up in the domain of advertising communication. The paper also assumes the interrelations of intertextual performance to value orientations and group affiliations. By analyzing intertextuality in relation to affinity groups, it aims to resolve to some extent the conundrum of Nike's more successful than Adidas in the sportswear market of China in a social-semiotic perspective. Two print ads constituting a representative example of the corpus were selected for a qualitative analysis. The comparative analysis of intertextuality reveals the contrasting methods of glocalization applied by Nike and Adidas in their 2008 advertising campaigns, thus offering an explanation for Nike's triumph in competition with Adidas in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the main research question of what the critical roles and competencies of data curation are in supporting research data life cycle management, this paper adopts a multi-case study method, with data governance frameworks, to analyze stakeholders and data curators, and their competencies, based on different contexts from cases from enterprises and academic libraries in mainland China. Via the context and business analysis on different cases, critical roles such as data supervisor, data steward, and data custodian in guaranteeing data quality and efficiency of data reuse are put forward. Based on the general factor framework summarized via existing literature, suggestions for empowering data curators' competencies are raised according to the cases. The findings of this paper are as follows: besides digital archiving and preservation, more emphasis should be placed on data governance in the field of data curation. Data curators are closely related but not equivalent to stakeholders of data governance. The different roles of data curators would play their own part in the process of data curation and can be specified as data supervisor, data steward, and data custodian according to given contexts. The roles, competencies, and empowerment strategies presented in this paper might have both theoretical and practical significance for the fields of both data curation and data governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kann eine Lehrmethode weltweit eingesetzt werden oder muss sie jeweils an lokale Bildungskontexte angepasst werden? In diesem Beitrag wird ein Forschungsprojekt von 2015 bis 2016 vorgestellt, in dem die aus Deutschland stammende Methode „Lernen durch Lehren" an der chinesischen Zhejiang-Universität getestet und evaluiert wurde. In der Methode „Lernen durch Lehren" (LdL) erarbeiten Lernende eigenständig Unterrichtsthemen und vermitteln den Lehrstoff in der Rolle der Lehrkraft. Aus den Forschungsergebnissen der Studie geht hervor, dass die Methode auch mit TeilnehmerInnen (TN), die geringe Erfahrungen mit kommunikativer Didaktik haben, erfolgreich angewendet werden kann. Insbesondere in den Bereichen Sprechfähigkeit und Hörverstehen konnten erhebliche Erfolge verzeichnet werden; der Sprechanteil der TN erhöhte sich im Pilotprojekt ebenso wie die Lernerautonomie und Informationskompetenz der TN stark. Jedoch führte die Unterrichtsvorbereitung zu einer hohen Arbeitsbelastung für die Studierenden, denen es an didaktischer Erfahrung mangelte. Auch kulturelle Konzepte wie der Gesichtsverlust und ein durch das chinesische Schulsystem geprägtes Verständnis der Lehrerrolle beeinflussten die Implementierung. In diesem Beitrag wird die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass das Implementationsdesign der Methode LdL für den Einsatz in China kultursensitiv angepasst werden muss. Can teaching methods be applied globally or do they have to be adapted to fit the specific cultural environment of the classroom? This paper discusses a research project at Zhejiang University where the method learning-by-teaching (LBT) was applied and assessed in the context of Chinese Higher Education in 2015/2016. In LBT classes, students take over tasks that are traditionally performed by teachers: They explore content independently, find ways of teaching the subject matter and enable student learning by correcting other students or giving them feedback. The project at ZJU revealed that learning-by-teaching can be beneficial in the Chinese context, even though the learners had little experience with communicative methods. LBT showed positive results especially in promoting speaking and listening comprehension, by enhancing autonomous learning and creating an active and collaborative learning atmosphere. But in the case study, the participants described problems understanding student-taught grammar sections. Generally, they found it hard to comprehend other student-teachers. As the students lacked teaching experience, they faced an increased preparation time. This paper suggests that the previous learning experience of the participants in the Chinese school system and their exposure to Chinese cultural values (regarding teacher roles for example) had an influence on the results of the study. Consequently, the implementation design of the method should be adapted culture-sensitively if used in China. However, the quick progression of the learners in terms of speaking and listening comprehension contradict the wide-spread idea of a static Chinese type of learner and show the potential of the method in the PRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicholas Jose has been advocating "transcultural writing" for more than three decades, with Avenue of Eternal Peace (1989) as an early part of his practice. In 1990, Avenue was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Prize but failed to win this Australian national award. Judged by Chinese semiotician Zhao Yiheng's reception model of narratives, this is a "message blocked" case. Using the framework of Roman Jakobson's communication model, this paper reinterprets the six constitutive factors and functions to investigate the elements that blocked the message. My main argument is that "contact", "context", and "code" jointly blocked the communication; the three Cs reflect three long-standing problems in Australian literature: the issue of cultural identity, the dark side of White Australian Dream, and the Orientalist representation of "the other" culture. The failure in literary communication analyzed also suggests that Wally's perception of China follows a Saussurean dichotomy which presupposes a closed linguistic system and excludes the role of the subject and the extra-semiotic object in signification. The Peircean trichotomy better captures the process of concept formation and is a better approach to transcultural writing in the contemporary postmodern situation. Transcultural writing challenges its readers; we need to transcend our confined nationality and persistent prejudice, and develop adequate "transnational literacy" to appreciate this new form of cultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents occupational inheritance – that is, children's inheritance of their parents' occupations – in China, India, and other countries. Among the causes of the prevalence of occupational inheritance, we target two broad categories that impede growth: labor market frictions and barriers to human capital acquisition. Counterfactual experiments based on a tractable occupational choice model suggest that if the impediments mentioned above were reduced to the US levels, labor productivity would grow by 60–75% in China and 107–178% in India. China realized 74–89% of this growth potential from the 1980s to 2009. In addition, this productivity gain is accompanied by a decrease in the correlation of intergenerational incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of risk shock on the Chinese economy using a New-Keynesian model with financial frictions. The study shows that risk shock is an important driving force for the fluctuations of GDP, investment, capital, credit, and credit spread in China. However, the role of risk shock in driving China's business cycles is not as crucial as in the US economy (see Christiano, Motto, and Rostagno 2014). There are three main reasons that explain the different performance of risk shocks in China and the US: the volatility of risk shock, the effect of equity shock, and the influence of macroeconomic policies are all different in China and in the US. Our paper contributes to an understanding of the business cycles in China during the period from 1999 to 2015, particularly in comparison with business cycles in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Back in the early 1990s, Gu Yueguo formulated the Politeness Principle and its maxims to explain Chinese politeness phenomena, as a counter reaction to Brown and Levinson's politeness theory, which claims that politeness is a universal phenomenon in language usage. Despite the fact that Gu's illustration of politeness phenomena in Chinese has attracted considerable attention from pragmaticians, this paper points out that there are at least three major issues in his study: failure to provide a generalized high-level definition of politeness, improper construction of some of the maxims, and inadequate adoption of Leech's theoretical framework for analysis of Chinese data. With the increasing call for culture-specific research on im/politeness, it is of great necessity to rethink these issues regarding Chinese politeness phenomena. Therefore, this paper attempts to reconstruct the Politeness Principle in Chinese by reexamining and clarifying Gu's approach. It argues that politeness can be defined as appropriate behavior in social interaction. Based on this definition, the Politeness Principle and four maxims of Modesty, Respectfulness, Friendliness, and Refinement are coherently reconstructed in a clarified and refined form. The reconstruction demonstrates that polite behavior in Chinese is exhibited in an appropriate or acceptable way in accordance with these maxims as social norms or regularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) IP strategy is an integral part of China's national IP strategy. It is of great value for the implementation of the Strategy to study the status quo of the patent protection of TCM and its impact on the related industries. This paper gives a multidimensional illustration of the current of the patent protection of TCM in China in view of the following aspects: patent applications, patent grants, PCT and the object of the patent protection of TCM. It demonstrates the impact of patent protection on the TCM industry after a detailed analysis of the R&D expense, social effects, human resources in TCM institutions and their output of scientific/technical papers. Finally, it analyzes the challenges facing the patent protection of TCM and discusses some tentative solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures monetary and non-monetary poverty among urban local and rural migrant groups in the urban labour market in China, capturing incidence, intensity and inequality of poverty. To measure non-monetary poverty in multiple dimensions the chosen indicators are education, health status, health insurance and pension insurance. Using data from the China Household Income Project for the years 2002, 2007, and 2013, it appears that although monetary poverty in both groups is low, migrants have higher levels of non-monetary deprivation for various levels of poverty thresholds. Compared to the urban locals, the rural migrants experienced relatively less severe poverty than mild or moderate poverty during 2002 and 2007. Our Shapley decomposition exercise on non-monetary poverty measure reveals that the incidence contributes most to the urban-migrant gap, and the contribution of intensity is higher than that of inequality. The most important factors in multidimensional poverty for both groups are health insurance and pension insurance in all years. Our logit analysis shows that the effects of demographic characteristics, level of contract, occupation, and the industry have different impacts on these two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-speed railway (HSR) surveying system in China has developed into a modern large-scale precision surveying system with multi-stage structure, large scale, and high precision and reliability requirements. The effective control of the surveying data quality in each stage and each link is a complex but important issue in the processing of surveying data. However, as an important part of surveying system, the study on the data quality control of vertical control network has not attracted as much attention as that of plane control network. Constrained adjustment is the essential link of surveying data processing of HSR vertical control network to obtain the height of new control points. Before that, in addition to the gross errors checking of observations, the compatibility diagnosis of datum points should also be an important step, which is often neglected in practice. In this paper, the likelihood ratio (LR) test with the highest power among all the competitors for simple hypotheses problem is extended to solve the problem of composite hypothesis, resulting in a new multiple incompatible datum points identification strategy (ICDPI-LR). With a benchmark along route control network and a CPIII vertical control network as the example, the performance of the proposed method is demonstrated, and showing the importance and necessity of the identification of incompatible datum points in vertical control network for HSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In emerging economies such as China, marked by profound regional disparities in terms of socio-economic wealth and technology, different regions use not only different levels of inputs into the innovation process, but also produce different outputs with qualitative diversity that is seldom sufficiently acknowledged. This paper uses structured expert interviews (AHP) to provide insights into the innovation profiles of four selected Chinese regions: Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Kunming. It combines information on drivers of innovation as well as innovation characteristics and objectives to establish and compare regional innovation profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the evolving multimodal features in educational settings, modes other than language further enable the diversity in the realization of meanings and pedagogic goals. This paper explores modality in multimodal pedagogic materials for teaching English as a foreign language in China. Drawing upon the social semiotic approach to modality in visual media, this study provides a comparative analysis of modality markers in different elemental genres that constitute the macrogenre of a teaching unit, with a focus on explaining the underlying reasons for the different choices in terms of coding orientation. It is shown that different degrees of deviation from the accepted coding orientation are employed in different constituent genres of the macrogenre of a given text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to establish the existence of ground-state solutions to a class of Schrödinger equations with critical exponential growth involving the nonnegative, possibly degenerate, potential V: - div ⁡ ( | ∇ ⁡ u | n - 2 ⁢ ∇ ⁡ u) + V ⁢ (x) ⁢ | u | n - 2 ⁢ u = f ⁢ (u) . -\operatorname{div}(\lvert\nabla u\rvert^{n-2}\nabla u)+V(x)\lvert u\rvert^{n-% 2}u=f(u). To this end, we first need to prove a sharp Trudinger–Moser inequality in ℝ n {\mathbb{R}^{n}} under the constraint ∫ ℝ n ( | ∇ ⁡ u | n + V ⁢ (x) ⁢ | u | n ) ⁢ 𝑑 x ≤ 1. \int_{\mathbb{R}^{n}}(\lvert\nabla u\rvert^{n}+V(x)\lvert u\rvert^{n})\,dx\leq 1. This is proved without using the technique of blow-up analysis or symmetrization argument. As far as what has been studied in the literature, having a positive lower bound has become a standard assumption on the potential V ⁢ (x) {V(x)} in dealing with the existence of solutions to the above Schrödinger equation. Since V ⁢ (x) {V(x)} is allowed to vanish on an open set in ℝ n {\mathbb{R}^{n}} , the loss of a positive lower bound of the potential V ⁢ (x) {V(x)} makes this problem become fairly nontrivial. Our method to prove the Trudinger–Moser inequality in ℝ 2 {\mathbb{R}^{2}} (see [L. Chen, G. Lu and M. Zhu, A critical Trudinger–Moser inequality involving a degenerate potential and nonlinear Schrödinger equations, Sci. China Math. 64 2021, 7, 1391–1410]) does not apply to this higher-dimensional case ℝ n {\mathbb{R}^{n}} for n ≥ 3 {n\geq 3} here. To obtain the existence of a ground state solution, we use a non-symmetric argument to exclude the possibilities of vanishing and dichotomy cases of the minimizing sequence in the Nehari manifold. This argument is much simpler than the one used in dimension two where we consider the nonlinear Schrödinger equation - Δ ⁢ u + V ⁢ u = f ⁢ (u) {-\Delta u+Vu=f(u)} with a degenerate potential V in ℝ 2 {\mathbb{R}^{2}}. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates empirically whether firm ownership structures contribute to varying levels of legal compliance, which ultimately influence the likelihood of winning a lawsuit. I hypothesize that private companies are more likely to lose employment lawsuits because the rule of law within the company is rarely established. Using collected 2756 employment judgments decided by district courts in Beijing between 2014 and 2018, I test this hypothesis against three other types of ownership structures in China: state-owned enterprises, wholly foreign-funded companies, and partly foreign-funded companies. The statistical result confirms that private companies are more likely to lose cases, thus supporting the proposed hypothesis. In addition, the company's scale and the company's life span also have a significant influence on the employment lawsuit result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the story continuation writing task (SCWT) has attracted much research attention, few studies have investigated the construct of the task, particularly with respect to which language competence it focuses on. In addition, although some studies have demonstrated that China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE) provides comprehensive insights into the development of Chinese learners' English language proficiency, little research has investigated the relationship between CSE and SCWT. This study drew upon the CSE to develop an SCWT language use inventory to address the above research gaps. A total of 358 high school students were asked to complete the questionnaire, of which 277 valid responses were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the CSE-based questionnaire revealed the presence of six factors, namely language correctness, language variety, task planning, connecting-and-generating, selecting-and-mining, and organizing. The strategy of connecting-and-generating was the only significant predictor of the learners' SCWT scores. The paper also discusses the findings relating to the SCWT rating and other integrated writing tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's digital age, the online public domain, particularly social networking websites, is the new frontier for the battle between censors and dissidents. This paper examines linguistic trends in the ways in which Chinese web users exploit Chinese phonology, morphology, and orthography to avoid notice by online censors through the lenses of pragmatics and critical discourse analysis. The linguistic transformations can be divided into 1) phonologically derived transformations, e.g. the well known "river crab" (héxiè, ...) in place of the word "harmony" (héxié, ...); 2a) character suggestion (phono-orthographical) e.g. referring to former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (WenJ iabao, ...) as "Teletubby" (tianxiàn baobao, ...) because of the two names' shared character ... (bao); and 2b) character suggestion (morpho-orthographical) e.g. the made-up word ... (mù tián, "eye field") being substituted for ... (zìyóu, "freedom"). Consequently, introducing multiple linguistic transformations, in particular introducing elements of foreign languages and ideograms, drastically increases the level of encoding. This paper presents examples of combination methods, including Chinese-English compound words that connote disparate yet interdependent meanings in multiple languages meanings, as well as the youth culture phenomenon of Martian language, or ... (..., huoxing wén). In characterizing the ways in which web users manipulate Chinese language, this paper aims to demonstrate that these transformation techniques are inherent to the Chinese language as well as a byproduct of the relationship between web users and censors, reflected in the encoded subversive messages heavy reliance on political and cultural references. Thus, interpreting the output strings of subversive messages requires both linguistic knowledge and social context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accompanying the rise of China in the world economy, intellectual property right protection comes to be the major issue apropos of international trade disputes in recent years. This paper, adopting the transaction costs paradigm and applying the contract theory, investigates and examines a form of contractual protection effectuated by market forces. The study shows that the contractual arrangement constituted by joint venture agreement with offsetting contractual arrangement is a form of intellectual property right protection driven by market forces. This contractual arrangement, though arising under the state policy of joint venture control, functions as an effective protection of intellectual property rights by fully pricing and protecting such hardly enforceable rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores issues related to prisoners’ Christian conversion experiences in the Chinese context of Hong Kong: How common are conversions? What motivates them? How are they experienced? What impacts do they have? How sustainable are they and how are they to be understood? The paper works through quantitative and qualitative steps: Quantitatively, it surveys the frequency, motives, and subjective experiences of prisoners’ conversions. Through extended interviews with a small number of inmates and former inmates, the paper investigates subjective experiences of transformation and establishes factors that help to sustain conversions. Finally, the paper considers the consequences for pastoral ministry with people in prison and with ex-inmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we modify the multivariate nonlinear causality test to be panel nonlinear causality test and we apply these and other existing related tests to examine the causal relationship between growth in economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and real housing returns in China and India using quarterly data from 2003:01 to 2012:04. Both panel linear and nonlinear Granger causality tests suggest the existence of only linear and nonlinear unidirectional causality relationships from growth in EPU to real housing returns in both China and India, and bivariate linear Granger causality tests suggest the existence of only linear unidirectional causality relationship from growth in EPU to real housing returns only in China. However, nonlinear bivariate Granger causality tests conclude the existence of nonlinear bidirectional causality relationships between growth in EPU and real housing returns in both China and India and cross bivariate linear and nonlinear Granger causality tests discover that there is only a linear causality relationship from Indian growth in EPU to Chinese housing returns. The results confirm the relevance of EPU data to better understand and predict the future behaviour of housing market returns in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mark Ravenhill’s 2007 Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat is a relevant state of the nation(s) play drawing an acid portrait of Anglo-American nations and their self-congratulatory ‘freedom and democracy’ propaganda in Irak. Other committed voices have made themselves heard on the British stage in addressing worldwide political and ethical issues. This paper focuses on Lucy Kirkwood, a young British dramatist whose pungent style was revealed in Tinderbox (2008), a dystopian farce set in 21st century England. Today, Lucy Kirkwood (33) who sees herself as ‘a radical young dramatist,’ continues to explore the confused landscape of western democracy: she sketched the relations between the USA and China in Chimerica (2013), an epic drama which won her an Olivier Award for Best New Play. In the wake of Brexit and the Trump election, Lucy Kirkwood has recently announced that she would pursue her investigation of the leading nations’ policies: “The whole of democracy looks fragile and farcical. After writing about communist China in Chimerica, you suddenly look at western democracy and think: is this necessarily better? Maybe this is the endgame” (Lawson, “Chimerica”).This paper explores Kirkwood’s vitriolic portrait of today’s leading nations, and her questioning of universal concerns experienced on a personal level such as power and privacy, nationalism and identity, profit and subservience. I will examine her peculiar ability to reformulate a ‘state-of-the-nation’ format and associate innovation and convention in her treatment of subject matter, language, dramatic form and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When in the late sixteenth century the third Dalai Lama travelled to the Mongolian regions, he was accompanied by Buddhist monks of different Tibetan schools, Gelugpa, Sakyapa, Kagyüpa and others. Many of them built monasteries and temples in Mongolia, funded by Mongolian nobles. Although Gelugpa Buddhism quickly became dominant in Mongolia, the other schools remained present and active in the country until today. From the start, however, most Mongolian historians described the spread and development of Buddhism in the Mongolian lands as the endeavor of just one school, the 'glorious Gelugpa', ignoring the plurality of the Tibetan-Buddhist schools in the Mongolian religious field. This paper aims to analyze how and to what aims Mongolian historians created a uniform Gelugpa Buddhism, which taxonomies they used and which narratives they employed to present Gelugpa Buddhism as the religion of the Mongolian peoples. Moreover, the paper explores which impact Mongolian historiography had (and has) on modern scholarship and its narrative of Mongolian religious history. I argue that modern scholarship helps to perpetuate the 'master narrative' of Mongolian Buddhist historiography, presenting Mongolian Buddhism as a 'pure', exclusive Gelugpa Buddhism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of a German-Chinese comparative research project on the provision of services by non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the field of migration. It argues that NPOs and local governments deploy similar strategies in their joint attempt to tackle social problems, regardless of their political backgrounds. From a top-down perspective German and Chinese local governments show similar outsourcing modes, while from a bottom-up perspective NPOs show similar practices of network governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to improve our understanding of the social psychology of code-switching by investigating societal attitudes towards two types of Chinese-English code-switching, insertions of English words in Chinese sentences and switching to English at clausal boundaries in Chinese. It examines how subjects' evaluation of code-switching is influenced by their general language attitudes and language use associated with network exposure. The subjects were recruited from four different cities in mainland China. They participated in an online perception experiment and completed a socio-biographical questionnaire. Quantitative analyses show that clausal switching was rated as the least likable CS mode, but at the same time was considered as having high status as an indication of high English proficiency. Their evaluation was mainly influenced by their general attitudes towards English language and culture. Network exposure also played a marginal role, affecting their judgement of the speaker's English proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a narrative inquiry of a Hong Kong female undergraduate student's second language (L2) learning experiences in an English-medium university in Hong Kong, with a focus on her participation in classroom oral activities and identity negotiation. Using ideas from situated learning theory and Norton's (2000) notions of identity and investment, the paper analyzes how the student negotiated her classroom participation and identities over the course of her studies in the university. Findings suggest that the student's classroom participation in the English-medium university appeared to be a complex and dynamic process which involved ongoing negotiations of identities, competence and membership in the classroom in response to the challenges she faced. It was found that the student's participation and identity (re)construction in the classroom were mediated by the contextual complexities in specific classroom communities and were contingent upon the agentive choices made by the student in investing in different classroom activities. Findings also indicate that the student's participation evolved over time alongside a changing sense of competence and showed signs of gradual yet non-linear progression from peripheral to full participation in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A police interrogation is goal-oriented, conventionalized with repeated and distinctive features of institutional discourse that arise from its communicative purpose as identified by police officers of the professional community. In China, the written notes of police interrogations are indispensable documents in the prosecution process and are presented as evidential confessions. By comparing the two versions of police interrogations - the written notes and the oral interrogation, that is, the tape-recordings, the paper finds that the written notes do not accurately reflect the whole question-and-answer process. Based on the concept of genre and taking oral police interrogation as a genre in legal settings, this present study regards the written notes as a transgenre, a body of translated legal documents that do not fully comply with textual conventions of either the source or the target text. The present study examines the generic structure and lexical-grammar features of the written notes and the tape-recordings to unravel the transfer inside the genre of police interrogations. From the perspective of semiotics, the paper explores the constraints of other sign systems, such as law, professional culture, and socio-culture on transgenre in police investigative settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of a government tax policy in a growth model with economic transition and toxic housing bubbles applied to China. Such a policy combines taxing entrepreneurs with a one-time redistribution to workers in the same period. Under the tax policy, we find that the welfare improvement for workers is non-monotonic. In particular, there exists an optimal tax at which social welfare is maximized. Moreover, we consider the welfare effects of setting the tax at its optimum. We show that the tax policy can be welfare-enhancing, comparing to the case without active policies. The optimal tax may also yield a higher level of welfare than the case even without housing bubbles. In addition, our simple numerical exercise shows that the optimal tax rate is about 23%;, and social welfare is significantly improved with such a tax policy. Finally, we extend the benchmark economy to a multi-period setting and calibrate the model to China. Our results show that a 20%; tax rate can speed up economic transition and increase output growth. Between 1998 and 2012, aggregate consumption is 4.86%; higher under active tax policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shen Congwen (1902-1988) was a high-profile modern Chinese writer, and one of the most discussed Chinese writers within and outside China. For his whole life, he considered himself a "countryman", different from his contemporary writers, and he employed his regional background to his advantage. His attention on the Miao ethnic culture in his home region, West Hunan Province, was constant. In the first half of the twentieth century, while the cities of China started to move towards modernity, the Miao people in West Hunan Province remained relatively primitive and marginalized. With his re-imagination and possible over-romanticism of the marginalized Miao culture, Shen became one of the most unique modern Chinese writers. This kind of marginalization in both folk music and literature clashed with modern China's interest and need to revitalize its society. This paper will argue that, with the application of psychoanalytical and cultural anthropological theories, the folk music of a minority group that was incomprehensible to mainstream modern China exactly brought out the "marginally" modernist quality of Shen Congwen's literary works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the participation of genetics and other disciplines, the controversy on the origins of the domestic chicken has returned. As the resource of primary data, archaeology plays an extremely important role in this dispute. Taking an archaeological standpoint, this paper aims to establish a set of bone morphological identification standards for domestic chicken bones unearthed at archaeological remains, beginning with the bone morphology as the most basic but also the least studied aspect. By this set of standards, we reanalyze available chicken bone materials and relevant pictorial and textual materials for domestic chicken candidate samples as mentioned by previous scholars. The results show that no confirmed domestic chicken bones have been found in China's early to mid-Holocene remains to date; meanwhile, there is no substantial archaeological evidence to support China as the earliest place of origin of domestic chicken. Future work seeking to advance research on the origin of the domestic chicken should first pay proper attention to the archaeological background; only continuing scientific analyses and exploration on the origin of domestic chicken based on scientific morphological identification will prove the most convincing methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings based on ALOS-1 and GRACE satellite data for the purpose of monitoring land surface subsidence due to groundwater extraction and underground mining activities in the Ordos Basin, China. 42 ALOS-1 PALSAR data (22 images from Frame 790 while 20 scenes from Frame 780) acquired between 8 January 2007 and 19 January 2011 are utilized in the time-series InSAR (TS-InSAR) analysis while the total water storage observations derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data are integrated with hydrological modeling results (for soil moisture modelling) to estimate the groundwater depletion rate. Since the results have vast difference in spatial resolution between GRACE (~300 km) and InSAR (~10's of meters), the two measurements are not comparable over the same region. Instead, we applied them to Haolebaoji surrounding region and ALOS covered area, respectively. The groundwater change series of about -7.3 mm yr-1 between December 2006 and June 2012 is detected, which is then being exploited to explain the groundwater induced subsidence in Haolebaoji, Inner Mongolia. Within ALOS covered region, time-series analysis was carried out to explain the local subsidence. Then the total area size of underground mining sites is estimated, and we concluded that human involved activities contribute a lot to the total velocity and this part of subsidence should be excluded before estimating the final mean velocity (-4.9 mm yr-1 in vertical direction) when comparing with GRACE-based groundwater depletion series. Last but not least, some suggestions are given on how to make a rational comparison between the InSAR derived mean velocity with GRACE-based groundwater depletion trend together. This study could help the local government and associated geotechnical engineers to have a better understanding of the groundwater induced subsidence in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do the citizens have a role in constraining policies in autocratic governments? Usually the political and economic literature model autocracy as if the citizens have no role in constraining leader's behavior, but actually autocratic government are afraid of possible citizens' revolts. In this paper we focus on contemporary China to analyze how citizens might induce an autocratic government to adopt congruent policies. Although there is no party or electoral competition, the leader fears deposition by coup d'état of the selectorate and revolutionary threats from citizens. We build a three player political agency model to study the role of both these constraints and we show that the effectiveness of the selectorate and of revolutionary threats are crucial factors in determining the policy outcomes. In particular, we show that the citizens can effectively discipline the leader because of the revolution threat notwithstanding the selectorate size, but this may result in a failed state when the costs of revolting and the selectorate size are small. As the size of the selectorate and the costs of revolution vary dramatically across countries, our result explain why different types of autocracies arise. In particular our model and results provide a useful framework to interpret China policy in the last twenty years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how three adult groups - experienced L2 English listeners; experienced D2 (second dialect) listeners; and native L1/D1 listeners - categorise Australian English (AusE) lax front vowels /ɪ e æ/ in /hVt/, /hVl/ and /mVl/ environments in a forced-choice categorisation task of synthesised continua. In study 1, AusE listeners show predictable categorisations, with an effect of coarticulation raising the vowel in perception for nasal onset stimuli, and a following lateral lowering the vowel in perception. In study 2, Irish (D2) and Chinese listeners (L2) have different categorisations than AusE listeners, likely guided by their D1/L1. Coarticulation influences the D1/D2 groups in similar ways, but results in more difficulty and less agreement for the Chinese. We also investigate the role of extralinguistic factors. For the Chinese listeners, higher proficiency in English does not correlate with more Australian-like categorisation behaviour. However, having fewer Chinese in their social network results in more Australian-like categorisation for some stimuli. These findings lend partial support to the role of experience and exposure in L2/D2 contexts, whereby categorisation is likely still driven by native categories, with increased exposure leading to better mapping, but not to a restructuring of underlying phonetic categories., (© 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston.)

This paper provides insights into the use of first-person pronouns as means of self-presentation in the Confucian Classic Analects. There are four first-person pronouns in the Analects: wu ..., wo ..., yu ... and zhen .... While there is a relative consensus that zhen ...is used only by emperors, and so it has a special function, Chinese grammarians have not been able to adequately explain the reason for the coexistence of the three other first-person pronominal forms. The traditional approach differentiates them in terms of subject, object, and possessive case; however, since they overlap in all these grammatical positions, this explanation is questionable. The present paper shows that in historical discourse, first person pronoun forms were chosen according to contextual factors, most importantly, the subject matter and the relationship between the interactants. By approaching pronominal forms from an interactional perspective as a means of self-presentation, it becomes possible to describe how pronouns index different types of self in facework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Never before has it been more critical to address the prospect of natural disasters that affect millions of people around the world every year. Efficient military involvement in domestic disaster relief (MI/DDR) is supposed to facilitate disaster response operations. This paper, based on a case study of Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s engagement in DDR, aims to theorize the key legal variables of MI/DDR and offer an analytical framework for it. This paper theorizes five key legal dynamics: legitimacy, domain, command, support, and cost. It also suggests that MI/DDR is, first and foremost, a function of law enforcement and should be one of the visible ways through which a government demonstrates the rule of law. The insufficiency of Chinese MI/DDR within the current legal underpinning illustrates the need to reconsider the re- structuring and application of the aforementioned legal dynamics. This study proposes that comparative studies are needed to further explore the complexities of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that Chinese people have traditionally been ambivalent about humor in the following three manners: (1) they tend to value humor but consider themselves to lack humor; (2) being humorous is not associated with being an orthodox Chinese; (3) humor is important but not for everyone. The paper also proposes that the Chinese ambivalence toward humor is largely due to an appreciation-despising complex about humor that is deep-rooted in Chinese culture. To verify this, this author conducted a survey study among a sample of 337 undergraduates in Hong Kong and Huhehot. Results show that (1) participants all rated highly on importance of humor but low on perception of self humor; (2) male students considered themselves to be more humorous than female students; (3) the top ten important characteristics for humor are fundamentally different from the top ten characteristics important for Chinese personality; (4) perception of humor is more positive than that of the Chinese personality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the psycho-social implications of the present findings on studies and enhancement of humor in Chinese society as well on some thoughts on further directions of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic positions vary greatly as regards attitudes towards and expectations of global English around the world. In this paper, I focus on the English language learning context in China and use data collected during the period when Beijing was preparing for and hosting the 2008 Olympic Games (2006-2008) to examine how English and the study of English are perceived and accessed by learners engaged in teaching and learning English outside formal educational institutions, namely, Olympic community English classes and English corners. In particular, I will explore, via interviews and group discussions, the reasons underlying learners' voluntary choice of English learning; their perceptions of the status of English relative to Chinese in a globalizing context, the potential influence English imposes on Chinese language and culture, and the significance of English to Chinese society. My research findings show that my informants associate English (learning) with multiple benefits to life and career; they express a strong confidence that English will not be a threat to the Chinese language and culture and they claim that English is useful to the development of China both now and in the long run. In this paper, I posit that my informants' opinions reflect a view of the social world from a particular historical, economic or political perspective or several perspectives combined and I relate their positions on the global spread of English in China to issues of language ideologies. I believe that the nonlinguistic socio-economic, social-historical and socio-political factors exert a crucial role in the emergence of dominant ideologies. Hence, besides presenting and interpreting the prevailing English language ideologies as captured in the discourse of my research respondents, in the last part of the paper, I will explore the possible social, cultural and political factors which caused the ideologies of language to emerge and the implications borne out by these ideologies in the context of China's ongoing globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of marital status on job finding in China using the correspondence methodology. Fictitious CVs are sent to job advertisements through an online job board website, focusing on financial and accounting jobs, and the callback rate is measured. We vary the gender and marital status on otherwise identical CVs. The previous literature suggests that being married has a negative impact on the labor market outcomes of females, but a positive impact for males. In contrast, for the Chinese labor market, we do not find a significant effect of marital status on job finding for either gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal transplants are considered a significant factor in the evolution of legal systems. One example of transplant of a legal institution through its prestige is the diffusion of the trust from the English legal system to other common law systems and to many civil law countries. One of these is China that in 2001 enacted the Trust Law of the People's Republic of China. This paper wants to analyse the trust under the Trust Law and to compare it with the original model in the English legal system, understanding how far or how close it is from the original one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the use of information communication technology (ICT) to seek antiretroviral therapy (ART)-related knowledge among people living with HIV (PLHIV) taking antiretroviral treatment in Guangxi, China. A total 1902 participants who undertook ART and had used ICT were recruited from 12 sites with the highest cumulative HIV incidence. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data on the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, clinical outcomes, infections in the family and comorbidity, access to healthcare resources, ICT using behavior in HIV management, and ART-related knowledge. The results showed that 15% of the participants had searched HIV-related information online, fewer participants had contacted healthcare providers via computer (1.6%) or text messaging (11.9%), and only 7.7% of the participants had contacted other PLHIV using ICT. Education had a positive impact on the knowledge level of all three categories of ART-related knowledge. Participants with better medication and mechanisms knowledge were more likely to search HIV-related information online and less likely to contact healthcare providers using text messages. Findings of this study suggested that ICT was used as an effective approach to acquire some type of ART-related knowledge. ICT was underutilized in health communication among the PLHIV in this study due to low education level and insufficient eHealth literacy. Future intervention programs should address the customization of the communication tools and focus on improving the education level and eHealth literacy of the PLHIV to better promote ICT as an efficient platform for ART-related knowledge seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although, the male labor force participation rate is comparable in China and India, female labor force participation rate remains very low in India. In this paper, we examine the factors responsible for the difference in female labor force participation rate between the two countries by carrying out decomposition exercise at three points of time covering two decades. We find that the differences in female labor force participation rate are not explained by the differences in characteristics across the two countries in each of the three year studied. The differences in returns to these characteristics explain most of the differences in participation rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel dynamical system with time delay to describe the outbreak of 2019-nCoV in China. One typical feature of this epidemic is that it can spread in the latent period, which can therefore be described by time delay process in the differential equations. The accumulated numbers of classified populations are employed as variables, which is consistent with the official data and facilitates the parameter identification. The numerical methods for the prediction of the outbreak of 2019-nCoV and parameter identification are provided, and the numerical results show that the novel dynamic system can well predict the outbreak trend so far. Based on the numerical simulations, we suggest that the transmission of individuals should be greatly controlled with high isolation rate by the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]