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Preparing today's children and youth to become active, responsive adults in transforming global societies requires that schools change dramatically. To work towards this goal is daunting in light of educational policies and school structures that hinder teamwork and creativity. Despite challenges due to education policies, traditional school structures, and teacher-culture expectations, teacher leadership and teamwork have nonetheless emerged in many countries. This article reports interesting and even surprising preliminary findings about education in China gathered through onsite school observations and interviews with teachers and principals. The popular belief that Chinese education is uniformly creatively impoverished and that schools are nothing but robotic learning environments are dispelled.

This study seeks to understand the emotional connection of teachers' academically productive talk (APT) with student learning from the students' perspective. Using a sample of 2,225 students (N[subscript 7th grade] = 1,146 and N[subscript 8th grade] = 1,079) from 16 middle schools in a city of China, we investigate the relationship between students' perceptions of their teachers' APT, student emotions (enjoyment and anxiety) and their discursive engagement with others in the mathematics classroom. Results from structural equation modelling and mediation analysis show that after controlling for gender, family resources and mathematics achievement, student-perceived teacher APT was positively associated with their discursive engagement with classmates. Furthermore, student enjoyment and anxiety in class mediated the relationship between student-perceived teacher APT and student discursive engagement with classmates. Multi-group analysis revealed that the model was invariant across genders and grades, indicating that the associations were applicable to male and female students as well as to seventh and eighth graders. These findings shed light on the emotional relationship of teacher APT with the discursive engagement of their students. Although prior research observes a positive relationship between teacher productive classroom talk and student discursive engagement primarily through classroom observations and teacher reflections, this study provides evidence from the students' perspective and highlights the mediating role of student emotions in the relationship.

The language learning strategy question has been debated on a number of levels, including definition, the strategy/success relationship and strategy coordination. In addition, awareness has been steadily growing of the importance of taking an holistic view of the strategy phenomenon and examining strategies not just in isolation but as part of an overall picture which includes learning situation, learning target and individual learner characteristics. This article will first of all review the literature and the previous research on these controversial issues, and suggest a workable definition. Then, in order to illustrate the importance of such an holistic view, the results of a small scale study which looks at the strategies used by 16 successful language learners who were all either teaching English or teaching in English at university level will be reported. The quantitative results indicated that these successful learners used many strategies, especially those that suited their goals and their situations; they also frequently used and carefully orchestrated strategy repertoires which suited their own individual needs. The responses of one highly successful respondent were also examined qualitatively. The implications of these findings and the importance of viewing learners holistically are discussed and suggestions are made for ongoing research.

China has been experiencing rapid economic growth over the past few decades accompanied by an overwhelmingly large number of rural habitants out-migrating to urban areas for work and better earnings. However, children of migrants are not entitled to free schooling provisions in these urban destinations and so millions of school-aged rural children have to be "left behind" by their migrating parent(s) in their home place. This study investigates the educational aspirations of Chinese "left-behind children". Via an ethnographic, qualitative case study approach it captures the impact of "left-behind-ness" on aspirations Findings indicate that whilst educational aspirations are embedded in left-behind children's disadvantaged social background, they are also shaped by the consequences of being "left-behind". By doing so, it seeks to highlight an important area as well as illustrating the value--or not--of using Western theories of social inequalities with an Eastern context.

After witnessing creativity in China's test-centric culture, the author calls for developing learners' creativity as a global proficiency emanating from a belief in one's capacity to create.

Organisational information security (ISec) protection is undergoing a turbulent shift in the workplace environment. In an environment of ever‐increasing risks of insider threats and external cyberattacks, individual employees are often expected to take the initiative to solve organisational security problems. This study therefore focuses on employees' proactive information security behaviours (ISBs)—behaviours that are self‐initiated, change‐oriented, and future‐focused—and the motivations that compel employees to protect organisational assets. We ground our study in Parker et al. (2010) proactive motivation theory (ProMT) and develop an integrated multilevel model to examine the respective effects of proactive motivational states, that is, can‐do, reason‐to, and energised‐to motivations, on employees' proactive ISBs. We also explore the roles of individual differences and contextual factors—namely, proactive personality and supervisory ISec support—and their influences on proactive motivational states. Data were collected from 210 employees situated in 55 departments distributed among multiple organisations located in China. The results show that supervisory ISec support positively influences employees' proactive motivational states and thereby boosts employees' proactive ISBs. Proactive personality negatively moderates the effect of supervisory ISec support on flexible security role orientation (reason‐to motivation). By identifying the antecedents of employees' proactive ISBs, we make key theoretical contributions to ISec research and valuable practical contributions to organisational ISec management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plethora of work has been done to examine the dynamics of learning in higher education contexts to foster positive learning outcomes. The 3P model (Biggs in Teaching for quality learning at university, Open University Press, Birkshire, 2003) is one theoretical model that has been well researched. However, much of the work to date has focused on examining relationships of two factors (either presage and process; or process and product) of the model, with relatively less effort made to test the interactivity among the three factors in entirety. The present study examined the variables from all three factors of the 3P model longitudinally. Specifically, epistemic beliefs were tracked as the presage variable, alongside students' perceptions of the learning environment and use of study approaches as process variables, finally with academic performance and epistemic belief at later time point as product variables. Two hundred and eighty-four Chinese college students participated in the study. Self-reported instruments were used to measure epistemic belief at two time points (Lee and Chan in "Asia Pac Educ Res" 24(4):603-612, 2015), approaches to learning (Biggs et al. in "Br J Educ Psychol" 71(1):133-149, 2001) and perception of learning environment (Taylor et al. in "Int J Educ Res" 27(4):293-302, 1997). A structural equation model showed that epistemic beliefs at Time 1 yielded a direct effect on academic performance without being mediated by any process variables; there seemed to be a disjuncture from presage to product variable as conjectured in the 3P model, and this warrants future investigation.

This case study focuses on creativity and collaboration in preparing Chinese preservice teachers. The research question was "Can aspiring Chinese teachers discover creativity where encouraged and under conducive conditions?" The purpose was to find out whether, with explicit instructions to be creative, candidates could demonstrate creativity alone and in groups. Within the low-income rural municipality, the 4-C creativity model from psychology informed four activities: personal experience of creativity essay (individual), 3D paper poster of the 4-C creativity model (group), postreflection report and presentation (group), and summative course assessment (individual). These data sources, once qualitatively analyzed, produced themes. Anonymously assessing their experience, the undergraduates all valued the model. They also strongly favored group over individual activities, anticipating transfer of select activities to their classrooms as teachers. Historical, cultural, political, and scholarly lenses are invoked for probing the rote-based learner stereotype attributed to Chinese students. Implications for creative learning environments end this discussion.

This study examined the role of computer-supported knowledge-building discourse and epistemic reflection in promoting elementary-school students' scientific epistemology and science learning. The participants were 39 Grade 5 students who were collectively pursuing ideas and inquiry for knowledge advance using Knowledge Forum (KF) while studying a unit on electricity; they also reflected on the epistemic nature of their discourse. A comparison class of 22 students, taught by the same teacher, studied the same unit using the school's established scientific investigation method. We hypothesised that engaging students in idea-driven and theory-building discourse, as well as scaffolding them to reflect on the epistemic nature of their discourse, would help them understand their own scientific collaborative discourse as a theory-building process, and therefore understand scientific inquiry as an idea-driven and theory-building process. As hypothesised, we found that students engaged in knowledge-building discourse and reflection outperformed comparison students in scientific epistemology and science learning, and that students' understanding of collaborative discourse predicted their post-test scientific epistemology and science learning. To further understand the epistemic change process among knowledge-building students, we analysed their KF discourse to understand whether and how their epistemic practice had changed after epistemic reflection. The implications on ways of promoting epistemic change are discussed.

The collapse of the former Soviet Union signaled failure of large-scale experiment in communitarian property. Privatization reform consequently was taken as the start point to transfer the planned economy to a market economy by the post socialist countries. This also occurred in economic transition countries such as China. However, in overcoming the tragedy of the commons privatization might create anticommons problems. Here we develop a nested common-private interface framework from the perspective of resource system and resource units and apply this framework to explain reforms of rangeland property in China and Kyrgyzstan. We confirmed that the root of the dilemma, either caused by commons or anticommons, can be attributed to the interface mismatch between individual elements and common elements. Trying to overcome the dilemma by changing property arrangements alone cannot eliminate the incentive mismatch caused by the common-private interface. Institutions aimed at alleviating the mismatch are accordingly required. Theoretically, this framework converts Ostrom's concept of commons into liberal commons that the members have options to exit, which is becoming increasingly common in the current global context of marketization. In the real world, this framework can serve to understand the property reform progress of transition countries, and may enlighten future property reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia attracts international nursing students from China to maintain its economic advantage and to alleviate the projected nursing shortage; conversely, China needs its best and brightest citizens who have trained abroad in nursing to return to cope with current challenges within its healthcare system and nursing education. This paper explores whether China can lure its foreign-trained nurses home to achieve its goals; whether China or Australia will win the nursing talent war; and do Chinese nursing students want to remain abroad or return home. The insight gained can support the development of successful human capital investment for all parties involved.

As a healthcare ICT4D solution, mobile health (mHealth) can potentially improve users' well‐being during pandemics, especially in developing countries with limited healthcare resources. Recent ICT4D research reveals that providing end‐users with access to ICT is insufficient for improving well‐being and, thus, understanding how mHealth empowers end‐users to enhance well‐being against stressful events is important. However, prior research has rarely discussed the issue of empowerment in the domain of mHealth or the context of major disruptive events. This paper contributes to the literature by conceptualizing the psychological empowerment of mHealth users (PEMU) and investigating its nomological network during pandemics. Drawing upon theories of psychological empowerment and event characteristics, we developed a research model and tested it through a mixed‐methods investigation, containing a quantitative study with 602 Chinese mHealth users during COVID‐19 and a follow‐up qualitative study of 326 online articles and reviews. We found that PEMU, driven by three technological characteristics (perceived response efficacy, ease of use, and mHealth quality), affects well‐being through both (a) a stress‐buffering effect, which counterbalances the detrimental, stress‐increasing effects of event criticality and disruption, and (b) a vitality‐stimulating effect, which is intensified by event criticality. These findings have important implications for ICT4D research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research to date in mainland China has mainly focused on children with autistic disorder rather than Autism Spectrum Conditions and the diagnosis largely depended on clinical judgment without the use of diagnostic instruments. Whether children who have been diagnosed in China before meet the diagnostic criteria of Autism Spectrum Conditions is not known nor how many such children would meet these criteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate children with a known diagnosis of autism in mainland China using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised to verify that children who were given a diagnosis of autism made by Chinese clinicians in China were mostly children with severe autism. Of 50 children with an existing diagnosis of autism made by Chinese clinicians, 47 children met the diagnosis of autism on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule algorithm and 44 children met the diagnosis of autism on the Autism Diagnostic Interview--Revised algorithm. Using the Gwet's alternative chance-corrected statistic, the agreement between the Chinese diagnosis and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule diagnosis was very good (AC1?=?0.94, p?

This paper surveys examples of dialogic pedagogy in creative practices in the areas of Visual Studies and Creative Writing at universities in Hong Kong and Macao. The authors describe their own participant-observer experience of evolving pedagogy for creative practice through on-site and remote interaction, with colleagues and with and between students. The creative writing practices discussed refer to extra-institutional translation and publishing activities of a Macao non-governmental organisation--the Association of Stories in Macao. Samples of published output are positioned within its history of poetry translation/publication activities. The practice of workshop translation is situated as an apprenticeship for bilingual poets, to explain how dialogic activities (face-to-face and virtual) catalyse the co-evolution of collaborative learning and publishing strategies. The visual arts practices refer to a series of collaborative drawing projects that use conventional mail for the transmission of works-in-progress between collaborators. We describe the history and rules of one of these collaborations, provide examples of its output and consider feedback from participants. We draw on the literatures of play, dialogue, pedagogy, community and gift economies (Huizinga, Freire, Bakhtin, Mauss) to theorise a common framework for understanding the role of purposive dialogue in collaborative and cross-cultural arts apprenticeships.

Limited studies have investigated the latent autistic traits in the mainland Chinese population for autism spectrum conditions (ASC). This study explored the psychometric properties of a Mandarin Chinese version of the CAST in a sample consisting of 737 children in mainstream schools and 50 autistic cases. A combination of categorical data factor analysis and item response theory suggested a good-fit model of a two-factor solution for 28 items on the Mandarin CAST including social and communication, and inflexible/stereotyped language and behaviours (Goodness-of-fit indices: RMSEA = 0.029, CFI = 0.957, TLI = 0.950, SRMR = 0.064). The correlation between the two factors was moderate (GFC = 0.425). This study provided evidence for the CAST as a multidimensional measure for ASC screening in a Chinese population and also showed that the symptom manifestation of ASC in Chinese children shares similarity with western populations.

The purpose of this study was to design and examine a computer-supported knowledge-building environment and to investigate both collective knowledge-building dynamics and individual learning in the context of a tertiary education course in mainland China. The participants were 102 students in four intact Year-one tertiary business classes. Two classes experienced a knowledge-building environment (CKB) and the other two were taught using a regular project-based approach (RPBL). Data were obtained from interactions in the forum, writing quality, group-learning portfolios, and surveys. Quantitative analyses indicated that the knowledge-building groups outperformed the comparison groups on academic literacy assessed in terms of conceptual understanding and explanation, and obtained higher scores on beliefs about collaboration. Within-group analyses indicated that the students' engagement in Knowledge Forum was a significant predictor of their academic literacy. Qualitative contrastive analyses of high- and low-performance groups identified different patterns of conceptual, metacognitive and social processes, and showed that student groups engaging in more collective and meta-discourse discourse moves performed better on individual scores in academic literacy. The implications of examining both collaborative dynamics and individual learning and designing computer-supported knowledge building for tertiary students are discussed.

Little is known about research on Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) in mainland China. The few available studies in mainland China have shown the screening and diagnostic instruments for ASC used in mainland China were different from the West. Literature on screening and diagnostic instruments and criteria were reviewed and current available instruments were identified and evaluated. Eight screening instruments and two diagnostic instruments were identified. The Clancy Autism Behaviour Scale (CABS), the Autism Behaviour Checklist (ABC) and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) were the most frequently used instruments in mainland China. They were adopted from the West more than two decades ago for detecting individuals with Childhood Autism but not the whole autism spectrum. Standardised instruments need to be validated and adopted into autism research in mainland China. (Contains 3 figures.)

Little is known about the current situation regarding Autism Spectrum Conditions in mainland China. Electronic databases and bibliographies were searched to identify literature on service provision for ASC in both English and Chinese databases. 14 studies and 6 reports were reviewed. The findings of identified papers on service provision were summarized according to four settings for ASC including healthcare, mainstream education, private special education, and state-run special education. The literature on the situation of the healthcare system and educational services for children with ASC in China was profoundly limited. There were great financial problems faced by the parents of autistic children which were partly due to the under-developed healthcare and educational system for ASC. (Contains 2 tables.)

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with service providers regarding the current healthcare provision and education services for children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and their families in mainland China. 10 service providers described the current policy and identified unmet needs within current practice. Providers perceived that children with ASC were an important but under-served group in mainland China. Two levels of service provision related to ASC were identified: (1) healthcare services mainly provided by government authorities; (2) education services mainly provided by the parents of children with ASC. Little cooperation was reported between the two types of providers. The structure of service provision for ASC is under-developed. There is an important need to establish coherent healthcare and education policies to support children with ASC and their families. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Direct seeding is a more cost-effective method for plant community restoration than transplanting pot-grown plants, but this method is not applicable to all plant species and all regions. To evaluate the effectiveness of direct seeding to restore mined cold desert vegetation without irrigation, Atraphaxis frutescens (L.) Ewersm., Calligonum junceum (Fisch. et Mey.) Litv., Peganum harmala L., and Seriphydium gracilescens (Krasch. et Iljin) Poljak. were directly sown in the bottom of dry furrows and on a flat site in the mined wasteland before the second snowfall in late autumn. Seedling emergence, survival, and growth were monitored for 3 years. For the four species, cumulative seed germination in the furrows ranged from 6.4 to 23.6% and the highest germination was 23.0 and 23.6% for A. frutescens and C. junceum, respectively. Survival at the end of 3 years was 7.0–56.1% for the four species. In the flat area, cumulative seedling emergence for C. junceum, A. frutescens, P. harmala, and S. gracilescens was 0, 0, 0.7, and 1.4%, respectively, and all seedlings died with the onset of drought. Thus, under natural precipitation conditions, the success of direct seeding depends on the microsite and species. We conclude that direct seeding can be an effective method for establishing the shrubs A. frutescens and C. junceum in mined wasteland if seeds are sown in furrows that have been created across the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of appendages on the maintenance of viability and germination of the diaspores of the three shrubs Calligonum junceum (Fisch. et Mey.) Litv., Atraphaxis pungens (Bieb.) Jaub. et Spach. and Reaumuria soongarica (Pall.) Maxim. that have high potential for restoration of degraded temperate arid regions. It has been hypothesized that appendages on diaspores of A. pungens, C. junceum, and R. soongarica help maintain seed viability during dry storage at room temperatures and during moist storage in soil outdoors, but they inhibit seed germination. Fresh diaspores of each species were tested for germination; and diaspores with and without appendages were stored in moist soil outdoors in Xinjiang Province of northwest China; and dry diaspores at room condition for 4 months. Viability and percentage of diaspores with and without appendages that germinated during burial were determined. After burial or dry storage, diaspores with and without appendages were tested for germination. Regardless of storage condition, appendages had no effect on diaspore viability of C. junceum and A. pungens but significantly reduced mortality of R. soongarica diaspores by 50%. During burial outdoors, appendages inhibited germination of C. junceum diaspores but not of A. pungens; no diaspores of R. soongarica germinated. After burial, appendages inhibited germination of A. pungens diaspores but had no effect on C. junceum. Appendages had no effect on germination of R. soongarica diaspores after storage in both locations. To use these three species for revegetation, it is recommended that appendages should be removed from diaspores of C. junceum and A. pungens before storage and sowing, but appendages should be retained on seeds of R. soongarica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider why students in poor and rural regions of China are dropping out of school in numbers that may be greater than official statistics admit. With questions about education quality among the most intractable in Education for All initiatives across the developing world, we sketch a portrait of education in a remote mountain village community as it might be painted from the perspective of a primary school dropout: a portrait in which education quality is well in the shadows. We indicate the limits of the view that commonly relates the phenomenon of school dropout primarily with poverty, a lack of school resources and inequities in resource distribution, suggesting that the picture is more nuanced and subtly shaded at local levels. Our research indicates that the education system in the radically transitional society that China is today brings with it values that clash with those of its citizens, particularly those who are marginalized and cannot easily adjust, perhaps because of their disadvantaged socio-economic, cultural and geographic location. In an ethnographic study in a poor, rural area in Yunnan province, we found significant disjunctions in values: between those of the school system and those of parents with regard to the aims and purposes of education; between those of the curriculum and those of teachers with regard to their role in the classroom vis-a-vis knowledge as represented in textbooks; between those of government education policy and the concerns of the remote rural poor with regard to resource distribution; and between those of a newly market-oriented society and educational ideals about teachers' and students' abilities. We also offer some insight into the scale and complexity of the problems associated with a lack of education quality and students' dropping out of school as a consequence, which cannot be revealed by the official 1% dropout rate.

This research investigated the similarities and differences between countries in young children's early numeracy skills related to age, culture, and gender. The participants were five-year-old children from Beijing (People's Republic of China), England, and Finland. The rationale for the cross-cultural comparison originates from research results with older children showing that Asian children outperform children from America or Europe, and from the lack of such information concerning younger children. The results showed that in all locations older children performed better than the younger children. Cultural differences were found: young children from Beijing outperformed those from England and Finland in overall early numeracy performance, as well as in sub-tests for understanding of quantities and relations (i.e. relational skills), and counting skills. Finnish children had better scores than English children in the whole early numeracy scale and in the relational scale. The results are discussed in relation to culture, instruction in preschools, and learning support at home, as well as the effects of language characteristics. The culture's appreciation of and approach to mathematics learning in early childhood is a plausible explanation for the cross-cultural differences found in this study. (Contains 6 tables and 5 figures.)

This study compared first and second language (L1/L2) reading rate and task performance on five tasks (scanning, skimming, normal reading, learning, memorizing) in two groups of Mandarin speakers (Canada group, China group). A repeated measures ANOVA design was used with one between-subject factor (Group), two within-subject factors (Language, Task), and L2 proficiency as a covariate. The results indicated substantial L1/L2 rate gaps for all tasks, but, for the most part, this gap was not the same across tasks. Comparing L1 and L2 task performance, the results indicated some decrease in L2 scores on three tasks (scanning, skimming, memorizing). Regarding group differences, the China group had faster reading rates on two L2 tasks (scanning, skimming) and on all L1 tasks; the Canada group scored higher on the memorizing task, a written recall. L2 proficiency was not a predictor of L2 reading rate but was a predictor of L2 performance on two tasks (learning, memorizing).

Relatively few public school students are currently learning the Chinese language, but experts predict the number of K-12 schools offering such instruction will soon soar. With China poised to become the next global economic superpower, policymakers say it is essential that American schools expand their Chinese studies. Here, the author discusses the emergence of Chinese language instruction into U.S. Schools. The author discusses English-Chinese dual language immersion program by a certain school district. The author also discusses the problems encountered including the lack of certified teachers and teacher certification programs. Some states and larger school districts are borrowing teachers from China to start programs in U.S. Schools.

This paper analyzes the relationship between students' motivations and their intention to participate in study abroad programs using a model based on expectancy theory. We surveyed U.S., Chinese and French business students who studied in their home countries. Results suggest that certain motivations are common among students from the three countries. We found that the direction of the relationship between motivations and the intent to study abroad varied among the three countries, that nationality moderates all of the relationships, and that different levels of the barriers moderate the relationship between motivations and the intention to study abroad. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.)

Explores science and social science early career researchers' (ECRs) perceptions and experiences of peer review, seeking also to identify their views of any pandemic-associated changes that have taken place. Data are drawn from the Harbingers-2 project, which investigated the impact of the pandemic on scholarly communications. Peer review, one of the activities covered, is singled out as it proved to be the activity of greatest concern to ECRs. Findings are obtained from interviews, which covered around 167 ECRs from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK and US, supplemented by an international survey that took the data out to a bigger and wider audience for confirmation and generalisation. Results obtained are enhanced by comparisons with pre-pandemic evidence yielded by Harbingers-1, the forerunner of the present study, and anchored in an extensive review of the literature. Main findings are: 1) most ECRs were experienced in peer review, both as reviewers and authors, but few had formal training; 2) half the ECRs had a lot or some reservations as to whether peer review vouches for the trustworthiness of research; 3) inadequate reviewers and slow processes were the main peer review associated problems; 4) there was a strong feeling that some kind of compensation, whether monetary or reputational, could help in dealing with these problems; 5) the pandemic impacted most on the speed of processing, with the majority of ECRs saying it had slowed the process; 6) nearly everyone thought that any pandemic-induced impacts would be temporary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy with socialist characteristics has had a profound effect on China's cultural industries. This paper adopts a case study approach to illustrate the challenges that have shaped the administration of public museums as a consequence of China's economic reforms. By drawing upon an example of cross-cultural collaboration between Western cultural institutions and China's Nanjing Museum (南京博物院: nanjing bowuyuan), we uncover the tensions that exist between China's cultural policy preferences and the encroaching values of the market economy. In doing so, this article contributes towards a richer exposition of the local practices guiding cultural management, reflecting the broader challenges endemic among China's cultural industries. Primarily, we seek to illustrate how market imperatives have influenced local practices, creating a context unique to China that deviates from the central tenets of neoliberal development and market management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a descriptive quantitative methodology for categorical data analysis, investigates whether Chinese students' conceptions of learning included memorization. Explains that the University of Hong Kong students (n=25) ranked six conceptions of learning. Includes references. (CMK)

Chinese nurse educators (n=11) assessed the relevance of American Association of Colleges of Nursing baccalaureate curriculum guidelines. A majority of 21 key concepts were supported, reflecting universality of philosophies, beliefs, and values. However, some concepts were not culturally transferable, including autonomy, critical thinking, global health care, and health care policy. (Contains 18 references.) (SK)

Recounts a technical writing institute presented by a delegation of North American technical communication faculty to Chinese English as a foreign language teachers. Discusses planning the 10-day technical writing institute; challenges and assumptions about teaching technical communication in China; institute lectures and activities; and institute evaluations. Offers concluding observations. (SR)

Objective: The consequences and impact of violent behavior in schizophrenia are often serious, and identification of risk factors is of great importance to achieve early identification and effective management. Methods: This follow-up study sampled adult patients with schizophrenia in primary mental health care in a rural area of southern China, in which 491 participants completed a comprehensive questionnaire at baseline and the 2-year follow-up. Sociodemographic, clinical and psychological assessment data were collected from all participants. Paired sample T-Tests and the McNemar Test were performed to examine changes over the follow-up period. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) were used to analyze the risk factors for violent behavior. Results: The results showed that about two in five community-dwelling patients with schizophrenia reported violent behavior in the past year. At follow-up, participants were significantly less employed, had more times of hospitalization, more psychotropic medication, and severer depressive symptoms, but had better health-related quality of life than at baseline. Use of clozapine and better insight into medication decreased the possibility of violent behavior, while more severe positive symptoms, insomnia, as well as use of second-generation antipsychotics other than clozapine, antidepressants and mood stabilizers increased the possibility of violent behavior. Conclusions: Risk evaluation, prevention and management of violence in patients with schizophrenia are demanded in primary mental health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Communication at the end-of-life (EOL) is complex and multidimensional. Although culture is acknowledged as a key influence, there remains a gap in knowledge about intracultural aspects of EOL communication in the Chinese context. This review presents a synthesis of practitioners' accounts of communication at the EOL in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan.Methods: This review was registered prospectively on PROSPERO (CRD42021297052). Five databases were systematically searched using the terms 'communication', 'End-of-Life', 'Hong Kong', 'China' and 'Taiwan'. Empirical research published between 2015 and 2021 was downloaded and appraised. Fifteen articles were included in the review.Results: Findings highlight the influence of Chinese culture and philosophy, inadequate communication skills training and psychological support for practitioners and legislative and organisational factors.Conclusion: Education and training for practitioners and public education about the EOL needs strengthening. Enhanced understanding of how culture influences EOL communication will strengthen service delivery and enhance awareness in multicultural communities.Practice Implications: EOL workers need practical and workplace-based support to engage in meaningful communication practices. The influence of culture and the readiness of patients and families to engage in communication are also important considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-based global media efforts are rapidly expanding and have attracted a wide audience reach. Instagram, a rapidly growing photo- and video-sharing platform, however, remains understudied. To fill the gap, this study examines the audience-targeting strategies of CGTN (China Global Television Network) Instagram account about the United Nations’ institutional definition of statehood: territorial control, population control, governance, and capacity for alliances. Using topic modeling, this study reveals that CGTN Instagram, by intention or happenstance, promotes China’s relative institutional strength in relation to other countries through its targeted use of statehood-based posts across different languages. The study discusses a comparison of the divergent strategies of CGTN and RT statehood posts. Whereas RT adopts more aggressive rhetoric to showcase its military might and undermine the institutional legitimacy of rival states, CGTN adopts more celebratory means to expand its influence and promote its institutional successes. This study expands understanding of China’s global media operations, China-Russia comparative information strategy, and audience interaction on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in China in December 2019 has posed a major challenge to health systems in all countries around the world. One of the most relevant epidemiological measures to consider during the course of a pandemic is the proportion of cases that eventually die from the disease (case fatality ratio, CFR). Monitoring the evolution of this indicator is of paramount importance because it allows for the assessment of both variations in the lethality of the virus and the effectiveness of the control measures implemented by health authorities. One of the problems with estimating the CFR in practice is that the available data only show daily or weekly counts of new cases and deaths; there is no information on when each deceased patient was infected and therefore it is not possible to know exactly how many cases there were at the time the patient became infected. Various approaches have been proposed for calculating the CFR by correcting for the time lag between infection and death. In this paper, we present a novel methodology to perform a non-parametric estimation of the evolution of the CFR by initially identifying an optimal time lag between infections and deaths. The goodness of this procedure is assessed by means of a simulation study and the method is applied to the estimation of the CFR in Spain in the period from July 2020 to March 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the launching of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Chinese leaders have sought to diffuse this ambitious overseas infrastructure drive into the Central and Eastern European bloc. From the literature on policy diffusion, we refer here to a process whereby a dominant actor (China) has vigorously promoted a particular strand of its own domestic development policy in other emerging economies. Our focus is on the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, all EU members since 2004. We draw on Etel Solingen's (2012. Of dominoes and firewalls: the domestic, regional, and global politics of international diffusion. International Studies Quarterly, 56 (4), 631–644) seminal framework on policy diffusion, which considers the stimulus, the medium, political agents, and outcomes. It is the dearth of BRI loans and China-backed infrastructure projects in this sub-region that we seek to explain. Our main finding is that China has been its own biggest firewall in the diffusion of BRI into Central Europe. China needs to formulate policies that surpass the pursuit of its own economic interests and devise approaches that resonate with the more developed status of these three Central European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Gynomonoecy, the occurrence of both pistillate (female) and perfect (hermaphroditic) flowers on the same plant, has received little attention compared to gynodioecy and other plant sexual systems. Eremurus anisopterus is a perennial ephemeral in the cold desert of northwest China with a hermaphrodite–gynomonoecious sexual system in the same population. The primary aim of this study was to compare the early life history traits and inbreeding depression between progeny from pistillate and hermaphrodite flowers in hermaphrodites and gynomonoecious individuals. All of the traits of progeny from outcrossed pistillate flowers on gynomonoecious plants were significantly greater than for other pollination types. Selfing (vs. outcrossing) resulted in a decrease in all traits, indicating inbreeding depression (ID) during early life history stages of gynomonoecious and hermaphroditic plants. ID for seed mass, seed germination and seedling survivorship under water stress for pistillate flowers on gynomonoecious plants was significantly higher than it was for hermaphrodite flowers on both gynomonoecious and hermaphrodite plants. The advantage of the offspring of pistillate (vs. hermaphrodite) flowers may contribute to the maintenance of gynomonoecy in E. anisopterus in its cold desert sand dune habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Recent research has drawn attention to the tension between the Central and local governments in China regarding their roles in environmental protection. This paper aims to explore this tension and examine the extent to which local/provincial government's environmental oversight has influenced the quality of corporate environmental disclosure in China. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 198 listed companies in heavily polluting industries were selected to examine the relationship between their environmental disclosure quality and the respective local government's environmental oversight level. Findings: The results provide evidence that local/provincial government's environmental oversight significantly influences environmental disclosure in China. Despite the coercive pressure from the powerful Central government on corporate environmental disclosure, local/provincial governments are able to buffer the pressure and adjust the intensity of their environmental oversight on companies during the implementation of central policies to retain local economic and political interests. This may partially explain the persistent issue of low environmental disclosure quality in China. Research limitations/implications: This study enriches our understanding of the significant role of local governments in China in enhancing or sometimes discounting the regulatory enforcement of the Central government on corporate environmental disclosure, pointing to the need for concerted efforts by both local and Central governments to advance environmental disclosure development. Originality/value: Research on environmental disclosure in developed countries has been well established in the literature. However, such research in developing nations is still limited, especially in China, the world largest developing country. The existing literature on environmental disclosure in China links it with either market demands, or regulatory enforcement from the Central government. The importance of local/provincial governments and their environmental oversight has long been ignored, which motivates this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Acute pain is a prevalent problem for dementia residents in nursing homes. A variety of intervention strategies have been applied to address this problem. However, there remains an issue of inadequate pain control. This study aims to explore the analgesic efficacy of auricular acupressure (AA) for dementia residents with acute pain in nursing homes. Methods. A multicenter, single-blind, randomized, and sham-controlled clinical trial was performed in three nursing homes in Yinchuan, China. All of the 206 eligible patients with acute pain were randomly divided into two groups for real AA therapy or sham AA (at sham point stimulation) therapy. The primary outcome was measured with a face pain scale revised (FPS-R) score before the procedure, 5 min after the start of the intervention, and 5 min after finishing the procedure. Secondary outcomes covered three physiological parameters, adverse reactions observed, satisfaction level of caregivers, acceptance of patients, and additional use of analgesics. Results. There was a significant difference in pain scores based on FPS-R between the two groups (p < 0.01). Pain score in the true AA group was 1.84 ± 0.23, compared with 2.22 ± 0.81 in the sham AA group. No adverse events were found during the whole procedure for all patients. The satisfaction level of caregivers and acceptance of patients in the real AA group were significantly higher than those in the sham AA group. Conclusion. This study shows that real AA was an alternative analgesic modality in reducing acute pain in patients with mild dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: China's controversial one-child policy has been blamed for creating an ageing population, a generation of employees without siblings and a 4-2-1 family structure that places eldercare responsibility, primarily on women. Current understanding of how this affects contemporary employees' work–life interface is lacking. This study examined the moderating roles of family structure and gender in the relationships between work–life conflict (WLC), job satisfaction and career aspiration for university academics. Design/methodology/approach: Online and self-administered surveys were used to collect data, which involved 420 academic staff in three Chinese research universities. Findings: Our results revealed that WLC is positively related to career aspiration, and this relationship is stronger for academics with siblings and, within the only-children group, significantly stronger for women than for men. WLC is also negatively related to job satisfaction, and this relationship is stronger for only-children academics. Research limitations/implications: Results were limited by a cross-sectional sample of modest size. Nevertheless, this study contributes to the understanding of gender roles and changing family structure in the work–life interface of Chinese academics. Practical implications: Our findings have implications for both universities seeking to improve staff well-being and for wider society. A number of support mechanisms are proposed to enhance the ability of only children, especially women, to operate as effective members of the labour market. Originality/value: Our results showed that only-children academics face a unique set of difficulties across career and family domains, which have been previously neglected in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores folktales from China, Africa, and Russia suggesting ways to utilize them in the social studies classroom as a means to teaching children about other cultures. Warns that when using folktales it is important to explain that the folktales do not bear a one-to-one relationship with present-day societies. (CMK)